Off to a shaky start

My Olympics project that is. I swear, I can over analyze a thing to death. I did a crochet provisional cast on directly onto the needle. Then I didn't know what to do after that. So I think I sat there for quite a while. Then I "got it" and I have three rows of Ice Queen done. Then I quit for the night.

The opening ceremonies were beautiful. I loved how they integrated the First Nations into the program. I was surprised at the time when it was all done. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't stay up that late normally.

Knitting Olympics time

Are you ready? I sure am. ... Well, lol, maybe not completely ready. I still have to learn a provisional cast on and I need a US 5 16-inch circular. But that needle is for the cast off and it's on order over at my LYS. Maybe if it doesn't come in time I can just use DPNs. ... maybe :-)

I am NOT waiting til opening ceremonies to cast on. I have to figure out the provisional cast on and I figure that could take me a while and I have to cast on 150-something stitches for Ice Queen.

It is going to be an exciting two weeks.

FO ~ Son's birthday socks

Yeah, his birthday was over a week ago. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the sock til now.

Yarn is a DK weight that I handpainted. Socks were knit with U.S. 5 DPNs. I'm quite please with how well it turned out. Though the photo doesn't quite do it justice.

In other news, I'm *this* close to being done with the first vanilla sock of the pair I'm working on in the background. I'm decreasing the toe. I'm feeling so OMGOSHWHYISN'TTHISDONEYET about the sock. But it's my only current project. I'm itching to start something else though.

I've got a swatch pattern

Today I put the final touches on a chart to make a guage swatch for my SSP. I'm excited and nervous. I absolutely love the idea of being able to see how the majority of the elements will look together.

In the back of my mind I'm a little nervous that it's not going to turn out quite like I have in my mind -- or worse, it's gonna look so terrible that no one will make it. On the flip side of that though, I will have a knit item that I will have the only one of. That's pretty cool. :-)

Olympics knitting project

So the BBs decided to have a Olympic KAL/CAL. I'm majorly excited about it. I stopped the the LYS today and got yarn to make the Ice Queen from knitty.com. I have beads, though I'm not sure if they will go with the pattern. I may be making another trip to the LYS.

I think this is the yarn. It's from Skacel knitting.com.

We have so much fun in the bunker. It's a great group of ladies and gentleman. Stuff going on all the time. This is the first time I will be able to participate in a KAL there. I was going to do the Febuary Lady sweater KAL, but I didn't have the right yarn.

January, the month of selfish knitting

I heard about January being the month of selfish knitting a couple weeks ago. First time I had heard of it since I started knitting.

Well, I sure wish I had known that sooner. The only selfish knitting I did this month was the blowsey scarf.

I finished my son's birthday socks this past Sunday. He put them on his feet right away so I haven't had the chance to take a photo of them yet.

The design is firming up

In my mind the design has fallen together in a way that was not originally conceived. I'm not surprised by that. My first idea was pretty grand and I knew it probably wasn't realistic. I have constantly reminded myself that it doesn't have to be complicated to work out. I want just enough interest so that the person knitting it isn't bored. Miles and miles of stockinette or garter stitch it is not. But I don't want someone to decide it's boring midway through. Midway through is kind of the most significant thing about it.

I haven't received any books from the library. Now I'm a bit nervous about that. What if I don't see anything in there. What if I see something that completely changes my thinking?

There is at least a couple more swatches to go before I can start charting and working the design, I think.