Ravelympics...day 7

I have been way too busy knitting (and visiting with family) to post, but here is a quick update of my progress:

Hanami:

As of yesterday, I have completed 5 out of 7 repeats of the basket weave (7 repeats = approx half of stole).

My other big project (WHY did I sign up for 2??), February Lady Sweater (FLS). This was a WIP when I started, so here is the picture before the Ravelympics began (5 inches):

And here we are on day 6 (8.5 inches):

My FLS is my traveling project, so I have not spent as much time on it yet. We will be traveling this weekend, so I hope to make some big progress.

That's all I have time for now. Back to my marathon knitting...

Rattlesnake Creek Socks-SKP sock 3, WIP

Once the Olympics and Ravelympics start (early Friday morning here in Maine!), I will not have much time for the computer and will likely only be blogging about my Ravelympic projects. So to tie up some loose ends before then, I will share some WIPs and knitting misc over the next couple fo days.

Remember SKP (Sock Knitters Pentathalon)? Well, sock 3 was released on July 1 st and I am nowhere near finished. Here is my WIP:

And no, I have not completed the first sock yet. It is a fun and easy pattern; I just have not had the time. The pattern is "Rattlesnake Creek" and I am using Nova Sock colorway Peacock. These socks will be top priority after the Olympics.

The details for Sock 4 were released August 3. They will be stranded knit socks in 2 colors. If I wasn't so overwhelmed with all of the knitting I have in front of me for the next few weeks, I would be really excited about this!

Preparing for Hanami

"Hanami" from Wikipedia: Hanami (花見, Hanami? lit. "flower viewing") is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the beauty of flowers, "flower" in this case almost always meaning cherry blossoms...

I have wanted to knit this stole since last summer after doing MS3/Swan Lake. I found exactly the color yarn I envisioned from KnitPicks:

KnitPicks "Shimmer" yarn in color Sherry

The yarn is alpaca and silk. You can't really tell from the picture, but the beads are the color of cherry blossoms. As part of my "training", I made my swatch last night on size US5/3.75mm needles and I am happy with it. Now we wait for the opening ceremony!

I sat down with the pattern and calculated that I will need to knit approx 35 rows a day (95 sts/row) to finish in 17 days. That does not allow for any "sick" days. And I will also need to knit 1 inch of the body/ day of my February Lady sweater to complete that on time (a couple of 'sick' days allowed). I am guessing that I need about 3 hours/day to get that much knitting done. I can steal 1-2 hours a day for knitting, but the 3rd hour in the summer....this will be a challenge!

Knitting news...

Two pieces of exciting knitting news to share!

1. Have you checked out "Twist Collective"? After a couple of months of teasing us, the Premiere issue was released yesterday. It is a quarterly online knitting magazine where each pattern costs $ to download. From the website:

Free pattern sites are wonderful resources for knitters and designers on the web, but Twist Collective is something different. It’s a big world, and we believe there is room in it for many different ideas. Twist Collective believes good design comes from hard work, and such effort should be valued and compensated accordingly.

I totally agree! And they are collaborating with some of the best designers (IMHO). I am very excited about this, love the patterns and articles in the first issue, and hope they are very successful.

2. It's time for Mystery Stole 4 sign ups!! Click here to sign up. And luckily, the first clue will not be released until after the Olympics and once the kids are back in school: Sept 5. The materials list (there are beads!!) and swatch info have already been posted. Since I can't work on most of my knitting projects until the Olympics start, I hope to work on this swatch ASAP.

Already August?

Is that really possible? Wow. As I mentioned yesterday, not much knitting happened in July, but that will certainly change for August. Ravelry is hosting the Ravelympics 2008, similar to Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics which are held every 4 years during the Winter Olympics. Being the Ravelry junkie that I am, I of course have entered. So this month's knitting goals will revolve around the Ravelympics. Basically, I have from the start of the Olympics (Aug 8) until the closing ceremony (Aug 24) to complete my "events" (see below).

I am on 2 teams and doing a number of events. Here is the summary:
Team Monthly Adventures (my very active swapping group)

• Project: Start and Complete "Hanami Stole" from start to finish (pattern from June swap). Can swatch ahead of time (considered training). Events this project is entered in:
  1. Balance Beads
  2. Lace Weight Long Jump
  3. Shawl Relay
  4. Hand Dyed Hurdles (I will be dyeing the yarn sometime during the next week, but I did buy yarn that would work in case my first-ever dyeing attempt does not produce the results I am looking for!).

• Project: Finish my Seaglass Beaded Bag (from our swap back in March and April). Events entered:
  1. Balance Beads
  2. Bag n Tote Backstroke
     
  3. Holiday Handball
  4. WIPs Wrestling
     

Team Countrywool (with Claudia, the fearless leader of my knitting/spinning retreats)

• Project: Finish my February Lady Cardigan. Events this project is entered in:
  1. WIPs Wrestling
     
  2. Sweater Sprint
  
  

I will be really happy if I can get all of this done in 17 days. I'm not even sure it is possible, but I am willing to lose sleep trying!

After the Olympics, I need to finish my SKP sock 3 before the end of the month (I have barely started). Those are my knitting goals for August.