Woohoo!

Let the record show that it is 5:01 a.m. Atlantic on the last day of the Olympics and I am DONE.


Note:

All ends have been woven in.

Holes (expected, according to the pattern -- how weird is that?) have been sewn tight.

There are TWO of them.


Miracle of miracles. A full pair!!

More in the morning. This Olympian needs sleep!

I write with the wristwarmers on my hands!!!!!

Hey J and Rebecca...I got my wristwarmers finished!! After I saw yours last week I ripped out the fingers in the one I had finished; the fingers felt a little bulky with the yarn and needles I used and I decided to go with the band at the top instead - I like it way better.

I finished the Shrug on Thursday, tried to recuperate on Friday and got crackalackin today. Finished number two and then had to sew in soooo many ends - my stupidity for putting so many colours but I was having fun while I was doing it (I so hate freaking finishing I must say).

Anyway, they are done and I did have Ed, my hubby, model the wristwarmers so I could photograph them for you! He said to tell you that they "floating like a butterfly and sting like a bee." This was while he was air punching with his newly knitted practice gloves (I did remind him that they fit me better!). I still have to wash and block them; note the top edge of the one on the right is rolled back a bit (I have since fixed this little problem).

I have to thank you both for the challenge. I have had a lot of fun and I have to say that I will be knitting myself a pair of wristwarmers in Noro from the Stitch 'n Bitch book.

I am really glad that curling is also so hot right now thanks to our boys from the rock. I used to curl in Montreal when I was a teenager and I have a lot of fond memories of the hurry hard rocks. Thanks for the fun times women!

Finito!

I'm done! The handwarmers, they are complete!



The astute among you will notice the colours don't exactly match up. Pity. The turquoise on the second ball started too far in for me to start there - I would have run out of yarn. I suppose I could have just joined the excess when it ran out, but I sort of like the fact they're a very unique pair, like fraternal twins.



Modifications:

I cast on 36 stitches instead of 32, 12 stitches on each needle. I needed the extra width for my muscular forearms *ahem*.

The thumb gussets are 17 stitches instead of 13. Again, needed the extra width.

On the second handwarmer (the one on my left hand, which is on the right in the picture) I accidentally started the thumb gusset on row 31 instead of 30. If I hadn't pointed that out, you wouldn't have known - oh well!

But I'm done! I'm done, I'm done, I'm done! Now to make some squares for Project Linus!

The Third Half

After a few problems with my first handwarmer yesterday, I finally got past the purple and finished handwarmer #1!

Woohoo!

[ Strategically posed so you can compare it more readily to that of La Rebecca. ]

A few things:

1 - First, the thumb gusset caused me some kind of mental block. I can't explain it, but I screwed it up the first four times. In end, even this thumb gusset is not quite as the pattern intended. The pattern "suggests" that the new stitches in the first two rows of the thumb gusset be "made" stitches, and then that the knitter add stitches at either end by knitting into the front and back of the first and last stitches. This knitter, however, stopped paying attention after the initial instructions and assumed she was supposed to keep "making" the stitches on either end. So. Not really a big deal, but a careless mistake.

2 - I'm not a big fan of this thumb gusset pattern, even beyond my mistakes. It's a little holey right at the base of the thumb and where it joins the hand (thumb webbing). The pattern does not recommend picking up stitches, just to divide the gusset stitches over three needles, join the round and knit. Well. I don't like it. Picking up at least two extra stitches achieves a bit smoother result in my book. So I did that.

3 - So far, I give the pattern a six, the yarn a nine, and the knitter a five. Most of these issues are my own, I know.

Half a Hurry Hard

Hey Ladies....I just wanted to let you know that I have one handwarmer done! I have done half my shrug for the Olympics and didn't want you to think I wasn't taking this seriously...so today I got my first handwarmer done. I have to finish the rest of my shrug and then it will be hurry hard two!!

Hope you like my colours!!!

Progress!

As of yesterday morning, I had finished the first handwarmer. Regard:



You can't really see the pattern very well. Partly because of the colours, mostly because it's a crappy picture.

The modifications:

• Casting on 36 stitches instead of 32 - it amounts to one extra stitch on needles one and three, and two extra on the second. The two extra stitches on the second needle were both purl stitches, on either side of the pattern. I thought it added an extra bit of framing to it.
• Using 5mm needles instead of 4.5mm.
• The thumb gusset calles for 13 stitches (two stitches every row) between the markers before putting them on a marker. My hands are slightly wider at that point, so I waited until there were 17 stitches between the marker. I'm going to do the same with the second armwarmer, but on future pairs I'll do 13 on every other row.

Radio Silence (or, why I've been flying below the radar for a few days)

At 3 pm Atlantic on Friday, the best I could do was to wish my 4000 (wow!) fellow Knitting Olympians the best of luck (good luck! break a finger!) as I continued working the day away. The work day finally ended (longest Friday EVER) and I ran to my LYS, local bookstore and home on the bus. I crossed a half dozen things off my list, took terrible pictures of myself casting on and fell into bed for a quick nap.


I dreamed olympic dreams and woke up minutes later. Or so I thought.

In reality, I had been asleep for nearly five hours and was seriously late for a date with my boyfriend.

I grabbed the phone, conferred briefly with my L, ran around cleaning up and throwing a few things in a bag before running out the door fifteen minutes after waking up. Needless to say, it was lunchtime on Saturday before I even thought about my handwarmers again. Last night, finally, I picked them up, joined the first row and I was off the races.

Today included quite a bit of progress, and a fair amount of tinking after I fouled up the base of the thumb gusset. Regardless, things are going good now and the new and improved thumb gusset is coming along nicely.

Check it out!!!


Thankfully, my sister (the recipient designate)'s hands are smaller than mine. Stretchy or not, these are a *touch* narrow at the moment!

Get ready, get set.....

Are the clothes from the week picked up and is the bed made? No.

Is the laundry done? Not even sorted.

Has the bathroom been cleaned yet? Nope.

Has the kitchen floor been swept yet? Non.

Is the vacuuming done? Hell no!

Are the dishes done? Well... yes. I can't do anything unless the dishes have been washed. I'm sort of anal that way.

Have you cast on for your knitting olympics project? Oh yes!



Let the games begin! And good luck to all the athletes and knitters!

I will be rooting for both hockey teams, the curling teams (of course!) and specifically, Jeff Buttle (men's figure skating) and Devon Kershaw (cross-country skiing), both of whom are Sudbury natives!

Finally

Hey ladies - finally got the small button up (thank you, thank you) on my blog and gave you both a shout out for the project. Will update you on my progress; probably won't start the handwarmers until I get my Olympic project done. Good luck to you both.