It's no world record

I've made the switch to double points. I've started the decrease for the top and should easily finish before Sunday's deadline. I really enjoy doing patterns like this. It's so fun to see them appear row after row. I will be blocking this when it's all done. Guess I'll have to find the proper sized bowl.

I have been working on some non-Olympic scarf knitting. I'll be showing that off when the hat is complete, wouldn't be fair otherwise!

Olympic Update

Well, folks, we're nearing the half-way point in Olympic knitting. Curling has been a real favorite here. I actually found the website for the Canadian Curling Association and acquainted myself with the General Rules of Curling. (I really just wanted to figure out the scoring.) Beautifully simple! Snowboard cross is also great to watch.

However, I'd like to comment on the how uninspiring the men's figure skating long programs were. Plushenko, the Russian who won, sure can jump, but not much artistic flow to the program. The Americans had much more interesting programs, but were unable to deliver on the jumps. Weir is all talk and nothing to back it up.

I'd like to know why someone who's been training to skate in the Olympics and has been competing on an international level, gets tired before the end of the program. Seems to me that stamina training is in order.

Speaking of stamina training ....

Nearing the half-way point on the Norweigan hat. It's soooooo nice. It's not a tight knit and the fabric of it is just right. I'm looking forward to some uninterrupted, marathon knitting time over the next three days, with the fire blazing in the fireplace.


Sam is begging food from his own seat at the kitchen table. Nice boy!

Blocks of knitting

I'm working up the nerve to do a modular knit sweater. Here's a sample block.

And here's four blocks together in a different gauge. I'm pleased with how well the blocks went together. I'm considering using Shine from KnitPicks. The samples are Berocco Cotton Tots. I've washed and dried the samples. I've not knit a sweater since I was in college about 30 years ago.

Olympic knitting is moving right along. I'm using Palette from KnitPicks in blue and white. Single strand on size 6 circular. So far, the hat has a really nice feel to it. Unfortunately, after a trip to the opthomologist this afternoon and having my eyes dialated, there was no knitting this evening.

The Flame is Lit!

Here's my pattern, reworked from using the mittens pattern. Scanned and made 8.5 x 11.

Here's Olympic knitting so far. Men's biathalon, women's moguls, pairs skating short program.

Here's my pattern, reworked from using the mittens pattern. Scanned and made 8.5 x 11.

And here's the hat in the presence of the pairs. So far, so good. More tomorrow.

Tonight history is turning a page here. A fire broke out about 4:30 this afternoon in a building formerly known as Fraser's Tavern. In this building, that was built in the early 1750's, was born the first white child in Bedford County, William Fraser. The fire has now been burning for more than five hours. A business is gone, a family has lost their home, firefighters are nearing exhaustion in freezing weather. At this point, the only hope is that the nearby buildings can be saved from the fire and that no one is seriously injured. A sad night, indeed.

Since I can't cast on for Olympic knitting until Friday, I've been playing around with some modular knitting. I have a pattern for a modular sweater that I'd like to make from some cream colored cotton blend. I'm really considering Shine from KnitPicks.

The yarn here is Lion's Brand Chunky. It's been hanging around in my stash and has unsuccessfully tried to be several other things. But it likes the modular piece, knit on 10 1/2 needles.

I also tried a patriotic combo that seems to work well too. So far, I'm just knitting for practice. One tip that I really like. The last stitch of each row is slid with the yarn in front. The first stitch of each row is knit through the back loop. It makes a very neat edge and easy to pick up the stitches for the next block.

I've been working on "Swatch your Step" socks from a "Knitter's" magazine from couple years ago. I'm not sure how well I like it so far. The process is great, but I resized the pattern. Three rows instead of two. And I'm not too pleased with where the ribbing comes together at the top. We'll see.

And finally we have finished mittens. A very enjoyable project. I used to do counted cross stitch and this was very similar. Again the pattern came from on older "Interweave Knits". There is a hat, too, but I don't think the hat pattern matched up with the mittens very well. So, I designed my own.

The braided cast on is very cool. I found a template for designing Norweigan style hats and mittens at HelloYarn.com and drafted my own pattern based on the mittens. It's slated to be my Olympic Knitting project.