Hurry Hard Handwarmalong

Woohoo!

2006-02-26T05:14:00.000-04:00

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!!!!!

2006-02-25T23:41:00.000-04:00

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!

2006-02-18T21:42:00.000-04:00

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

2006-02-18T20:47:00.000-04:00

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

2006-02-16T20:58:00.000-04:00

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!

2006-02-14T20:33:00.000-04:00

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)

2006-02-12T23:07:00.000-04:00

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.....

2006-02-10T21:46:00.000-04:00

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

2006-02-10T17:32:00.000-04:00

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.

Equipment Management

2006-02-08T23:20:00.000-04:00

With only 39.5 hours to go until the official Olympic cast-on, I'm taking stock of my official handwarmer-making equipment.

Pattern? Check!

Yarn? Check!

Swatch? Check!

Teammates? Check and check!

6 mm DPNs? Um...

Not check. So I have to go to my LYS tomorrow.

I know. I know. Poor me.

The Button

2006-02-04T00:19:00.000-04:00

Hey ladies,

Any chance of making the button smaller (or tell me how to??). I have tried to load it onto my blog several times (want to promote your crazy idea and give you guys props!) but it messes up my sidebars. I don't know how to make my borders wider - haven't gotten that far in my how to blogger book! Let me know.

I think I am going to use Malabrigo yarn - pattern undetermined but I will be ready to get going on Friday.

I am getting excited! Thanks alot.

Rebecca's Swatch, Part 2: The Swatch Strikes Back

2006-02-03T22:31:00.000-04:00

Now that I have my gauge and have decided on the yarn, it was time to test out the pattern to see if I could do it. After making up a page with a larger version of the chart and the corrected legend, I got to work on my second swatch.

This is the result of about an hour and a half's work, so I know it won't take forever to make these. I cheated slightly in doing this by knitting them on circular needles, and dragging them back to the far needle and running the yarn back to the beginning.

Errata reminder

2006-02-03T22:25:00.000-04:00

Just a reminder that there are errors with the chart legend in Stitch n' Bitch Nation. You can find the corrections on the official page. (On the sidebar, look for "Oops I knit it again", click on the link, then scroll down to the Hurry Up Spring Armwarmers. There's a link to the corrected legend, which you can then print out.)

Hello, Hello, Hello!!!

2006-01-31T18:00:00.000-04:00

I'm in! I'm in!! I don't know if you can see my happy dance but I'm in!!! Thanks to Rebecca and Jilanna for their great idea. It is like kismit because just this past weekend (while frantically trying to catch up on my blogging, button posting, blah, blah, blah...) my hands were freezing (the weather has been so nuts - cold, warm, cold, more cold) and I said to my husband, "I need to knit some handwarmers," and boom! I see the knitalong. I know I have so many projects on the go but I can't pass this up.

I actually curled when I was a kid and lived in Montreal (at the Baie D'urfe Curling Club) and I loved it! It has been a while. I have to state here and now that I still like the old style brooms and not the push brooms they have now. The slapping sound of the old brooms was just so much better!

I have two questions for you. Do we have to use the pattern from S&B or will any handwarmer pattern do? Is there any deadline date (other than my freezing hands!)?

I live in Warkworth, two hours east of Toronto and we love it here.

Again, glad to be on board!

Swatching à la canKNITian Part 1

2006-01-29T16:44:00.000-04:00

On Friday night, I picked up my SnB Nation book, two of those pointy things and one of my balls of Noro with the intention of swatching the cable and leaf pattern/chart.

Because the pattern is 11 stitches wide, I added two knit stitches on either end to create a border, knit a couple of garter rows to get started and began working the pattern. Initially, I began working the pattern on the RS. Everything, however, ended up bassackwards so I ripped it out. Then I had trouble knitting into the front, back and front of three stitches together, so I ripped it out again and moved from a 5 mm to a 6 mm to see if that would be more manageable (My tension is always even, but my gauge is always tight). Finally, things were working. Or so I thought.

I knit along until I reached the halfway mark. I spotted a bad stitch in a couple of places, but told myself “that’s why we swatch” and kept going. Around the halfway mark, I went to bed. Yesterday, I got up and went to examine my handiwork in the daylight.

“What in the blue *&^% is that?” I wondered.

The previous evening’s beautiful work had somehow morphed into the ugliest mofo the knitting world has ever seen. A few more mistakes appeared, but most heartbreakingly – the pattern seemed to be a wreck. I could kind of see the leaves, and could more or less pick out everything else…but I didn’t like it, and finally stopped believing that a little blocking would do the trick.

I took its photo and begged it to smile, but all I got was this:

So I put it away, spent the day with my L, and sat down with it again this morning.

Rip, rip, rip.

First, I decided, I needed to knit for gauge. I know. I should have done that before tackling the pattern, but I was confident in my 6.0 mm decision. I decided that I needed to be systematic and figure all of this out properly; best guesses simply wouldn’t do.

I cast on 30 stitches to make sure the pattern would lay flat when I finally got around to it. Then I began knitting a few inches on my 6.0s, four garter rows as I changed needles and a few inches more on 5.5s. I finished with a couple of inches on 5.0s and finally laid it all out flat and took up my ruler.

In the end, I was right. 6.0s will give me 16 sts and 24 rows to 4”.

Still, a swatch that will lie flat around the pattern will be helpful. And might keep me from thinking ugly thoughts as I knit it. It’s probably something that everyone else does, but it didn’t occur to me in my sleepy Friday night fog.

Eight rows into the pattern, things are looking up.

Rebecca's Swatch, Part 1: The Swatchening

2006-01-28T23:57:00.000-04:00

In the eternal battle of which Noro yarn to use (Silk Garden and Kureyon), only one could be the victor. And it is.... Silk Garden! The colour is #211, and I'm loving how it looks.

The suggested needle size is 4.5mm, but since I usually have tight gauge, I went up a needle size to do it. The pattern gauge is 4 stitches per inch, and I got 5 stitches. So I went up another needle size, and was now getting 4.5 stitches. However, I found it too loose, so I'm going with the size 5mm needles.

Here's what it looks like:

Coming soon: what happens when I attempt the pattern with scrap yarn!

Warming up

2006-01-28T01:26:00.000-04:00

Every athlete knows you need to warm up before you undertake any strenuous activity to prevent injury. As a former athlete, I respect this.

In order to prepare for what will be a challenging two weeks of knitting, I'm working on a couple of quickie projects to psych myself up for success (also important - the psychological aspects of training!) If I can complete fast and easy projects, I will be able to ~~delude myself~~ ~~trick myself~~ visualize completing the handwarmers.

Wednesday night I started a scarf with a ball of Noro Iro I picked up with the rest of the Noro I found. It's a nice chunky yarn, three-quarters wool and a quarter silk, and the pattern I used is ridiculously simple:

Cast on: 120 stitches (it's knit lengthwise, so if you want it longer, cast on more)
Row 1: knit to end
Row 2: k1, *yo, k2tog to end

And you go back and forth repeating those two lines. Easy peasy! And fast! Here is the completed scarf being modeled by Freddy, my associate.

I can't remember what colour it is, since the tag is somewhere in my bag and I can't put my hands on it right now. Whatever it is, it's lovely, but I wish I'd had one more ball of it. It's not wide enough, and not quite long enough.

But, it's one warm up project complete!

Sweep! Sweep, for all you're worth!

2006-01-28T00:27:00.000-04:00

Hello all! Welcome to our knit-along-within-a-knit-along!

If I had to participate in an event in the Winter Olympics, it would probably be Procrastination, something at which I excel. However, since it isn't recognized by the International Olympics Committee (who do I write to to get this changed?), I could probably go for curling.

When I moved up here, a friend and I joined a local curling club just for the heck of it. In the end, we had more fun than wins, but I earned myself the nickname of Parking Lot, because I was known for my spectacular take-out throws. However, the other thing I was known for was my complete lack of aim, as teams on adjacent sheets can attest to.

Yet another thing that got me recognized in the club house were my fuzzy red gauntlets, which I knitted specifically for curling. Over the Christmas holidays, I bought some Noro Silk Garden and Kureyon to make the Hurry Up Spring handwarmers in Stitch n' Bitch Nation because they reminded me of the gauntlets I made myself. At the same time, J. also came into some Noro for unspecified purposes. After some discussion about what we wanted to do, we decided to do a mini-knit-along to make the handwarmers. Then, the Yarn Harlot announced the Knitting Olympics, and like a light bulb going on over our heads, we decided to make our mini-KAL an official event, and voila! - here we are!

And that, as they say, is the rest of the story.
Note: A slightly different version of this post appears on the Team Canada blog.

Stay tuned!

2006-01-26T23:38:00.000-04:00