Sunday, August 17, 2008

An update from the Beijing Ravelympics (aka the sofa)

(NB originally composed on Day 8 - Saturday 16th August. Blogger wasn't playing...)

Well, we are now half way through the Olympics and Ravelympics and although Team GB is having one fantastic day, I have to 'fess up and admit to something most of you already knew - I've bitten off more than I can chew!

I can't provide photos of the knitting, or indeed the few days we spent in the Lakes, since the camera battery needs recharging and I'm too busy knitting to do it. Or cook. Or clean the house.

No change there then.

Anyway.... as of Day 8, the halfway point, the Mint Choc Chip scarf clocks in at about 50 inches (that's over four foot, people - it's getting bit cumbersome for my lap!) and the Swallowtail Shawl only has 23 more rows to go, so the end is definitely in sight. I am confident that I can get those two items completed. I am motoring towards the end of the second square for Best of Both Whirls, but also had the sickening realisation that I need to make eight if I'm going to make a cushion out of them, not four as I have been reckoning on (It's only been five and a half years that I've been labouting under that misapprehension...)

And Pondemonium... well, the less said, the better, I think. Sorry.

I will post some photos in the next couple of days, and also put some photos up from our trip to the Lakes... I went down Memory Lane on the West Cumbrian Coast and got a bit misty eyed...

Friday, August 08, 2008

Ravelympics

So it's been nearly six months since I've shown any knitting content on here. Today was the start of the Beijing Olympics and simultaneously, the start of the Ravelympics. (Non-Ravelers, don't worry, this is just another sign of my madness. Go with the flow and humour me...)

I have signed up for WIP Wrestling, where I am determined to finish Best of Both Whirls (top left - started over five years ago), Pondemonium (top right) before the child in question grows out of it and my Swallowtail shawl (bottom left) to keep Elleyon quiet.

Foolishly though, because I am part of Team Posh, I felt the need for some Posh Yarn on my needles, so signed up for the Scarf event, and yesterday, whilst listening to the Opening Ceremony on the radio whilst sat in the car park of Walton Hall Gardens waiting for a friend, I cast on a chevron scarf (bottom right) using some stashed Posh Yarn Emily in Polynesia and Mocha. Elizabeth at Fibre and Clay looked at the colours last night and waxed lyrical about how they reminded her of the rich brown earth and springtime leaves. Me? Well, you might well recognise my inspiration if I tell you I've called it my Mint Choc Chip scarf...
So guess what I'll be doing over the next 16 days. Only time will tell if I will complete any of my goals, or die of humiliation at the end (or at a bare minimum develop RSI)