wooden spindles - hatchtown

http://www.hatchtown.com/highws.html#JERR

Ravelympics

I had a lot of fun and will definitely participate in the next Ravelympics. I learned that…

• Next time, I’m still going to try to make 2 pair of socks, but they will NOT both be fingering weight on size 1 needles. One will be DK, to give my hands a break. And next time, I will at least cast the 2nd pair on before the end!
  
  
• Next time, I’m sticking with stockinette or a favorite sock pattern, because I actually WATCH the Olympics! An unfamiliar lace pattern was not the best choice!
  
  
• Next time, if I try to spin two batts for the Handspun Heptathalon, they need to be different fibers so I don’t get bored and abandon the second batt halfway through.
  
  
• Trying to make myself work on something that isn’t making me happy doesn’t work. It’s better to screw the deadline, take a day or two off, and play with something that makes me happy.
  
  
• It is possible for me to frame things as “Next time I’ll do this” rather than “I am so stupid”. Takes some work, though. :)

I finished spinning Olympic Roses.


I finished Olympersimmon socks, although I will NEVER use the Orchid lace pattern again as LONG AS I LIVE.


Got halfway through the Olympic Butterflies batt, and didn't even cast on the Olypomotamus socks. (See above list of lessons learned.) But I had fun!

sock blockers

http://www.purrfectlycatchydesigns.com/sockblockers.htm
Gorgeous wooden sock blockers with animal cutouts. (Hedgehog! Cat! Raven!)

jitterbug

Resolved: that I shall always have skeins of Jitterbug in my stash.

It is so restful to knit with size 2 dpns, and socks are done so quickly in compairson to size 1 projects. So of course, bouth socks for Ravelympics are size 1. Hmm. I've still got time to swatch -- I wonder if the Persimmon yarn might like size 2 smsll. Ooh, and I should swatch the Pomatomus pattern to be sure size 1s won't drive me fucking spare.

Ravelympics!

I am so excited about Ravelry's Ravelympics. I was planning an Olympic knit-along anyway (which is half the reason I skipped Tour de Fleece), and it's fun to be part of a group. I'm fairly sure I've overcommited, but if people can knit an entire damn sweater during the Olympics, I should be able to manage 2 pairs of socks and 2 rovings! Right?

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Team Ankh-Morpork

This is my main team. I couldn't figure out what team to join until I realized that I spent the weekend rereading some of my favorite Discworld witch novels. I've signed up for 3 events:

• Sock Put -- Olympomatomus socks. Pomatomus socks in a screaming vivid fushcia/yellow superwash merino from The Accidental Knitter.
  
  
• Handspun Heptathlon -- Olympic Roses baby alpaca/bamboo. I've only got around 2.5 oz to spin, and I'm going to aim for a balanced 2-ply laceweight as practice for my other handspun event.
  
  
• Handspun Heptathlon -- Olympic Butterflies Merino/Bamboo. This is 4 oz of multicolored gorgeousness and I'm going for a 2-ply laceweight or light fingering.

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Team OkieKnitters

I had to join the home team for this sock -- the yarn colors make me think of home.

• Sock Put -- Olympersimmon socks. This is going to be interesting -- it uses the beautiful Orchid pattern overlaid on Cat Bordhi's Riverbed sockitecture. Riverbed puts all arch increases beneath the sole, so the Orchid pattern will float along the top of the foot. And I'll be using Bordhi’s toe-up master reinforced heel, which is rapidly becoming my favorite. The yarn is Persimmon SW merino from pigeonroofstudios. It's a beautiful golden yellow purple orange brown white blend that makes me think of autumn in Oklahoma.

autumn's joy finished!

I'm really pleased with this. It was my grand experiment with 3-ply fractal spinning, and it's a beautiful blend of structure and randomly placed color. 1 ply is a short color repeat and 2 plies are long repeats. I didn't try to match up the long repeats -- I like a little randomness in my structure. :)

Roving


Singles wound for plying


Plying




Plied




Finished