Olympic Update

The training went well: See how innocent and simple this swatch looks?




Progress: uncertain. Yes, knitting sportsfans, it’s been one hellofa day at the Olympic knitting pool. I knew this shawl would be challenging to finish in 17 days – that was the main reason I chose a pattern from Victorian Lace Today that was labeled “easy”.




Either Jane Sowerby lies, or my latent dyslexia has burst suddenly on the Knitting Olympic scene and displayed itself in the most unwanted ways.

I was having huge issues with the shawl, resulting in dropped stitches, missed stitches, lost stitches and stitches gone where no knitter has gone before!

The result? A complete scratch performance.




I tore out all 140 rows on Wednesday and devised a new and more comprehensive plan to deal with this difficult race to the finish. At this point, I am hoping I can finish the triangle of 230 rows before the closing ceremonies and the torch is extinguished. If I get even one side of the triangle finished with the lace trimming, it will be an Olympic Triumph!



Here are the first hundred rows in all their newly knitted perfection!

Booties and Squares!

I think my neice’s new twins need booties, don’t you?

Yes, I did make them baby quilts and baby bags, etc.

However, they are the first of the next generation in my family, so what can I say?

Here’s the latest project in process:



I should have them finished before the Summer Olympics begin!

Squares

I am a real sucker for a swap. In fact, I have to stay away from the HGTV message boards because every time I go there I sign up for one! Fortunately, my Quilting Guild is sponsoring an exchange of charm squares. This is perfect for me! Controlled swap madness!

The next swap is “neutrals”. I have two sets of 48 squares ready to swap. I’ll get 2 sets of 48 squares in return, 2 of each 10 inch square. Here are my squares:



The last swap of the year is for “Winter Frost” fabric. I wasn’t at all certain what this meant until I saw some of it at the quilt show last weekend. I bought enough to swap. It’s a mottled background with an iridescent type overlay. Very pretty! I’ll have to collect more of this fabric:

Summer Olympics and continuing projects

I have just about decided on my project for the Summer Olympics! I have been fawning over Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby since I bought it. My quandary in deciding has been how big a project I could reasonably take on within the short time period of the Olypmics: 17 days. That is not a long time for a lacework project – at least for me. I considered some of the more sophisticated scarf projects and then some of the simpler more manageable ones. I think I have finally decided to go with one of the simpler shawls. It will be a challenge in that the directions and process is taken directly from Victorian times. The laceweight yarns are fine and the stitches are not always as easy to “read” or count. Mistakes can be fatal during the best of times – and 17 days will add a great deal of pressure.

Once I get my swatch finished I think I will also practice the directions for knitting on the lace edging. I find these instructions to be less than clear, so let’s hope it doesn’t send me off looking for something entirely different to enter!

Current Embroidery Project

I pretty much dropped everything to finish up the Houswif project before the deadline of September 1st. Now that it is finished without any problems well ahead of schedule, I hope to have time to return to this embroidery project:



As program chair for my local Embroidery Guild, I brought in Ann Strite-Kurz as one of our special teachers this spring. This piece is called Country Geese and originally had a pair of geese stitched in the center. I will be substituting intertwined initials instead. These will be based on the Victorian Monograms and I am really excited about stitching them.

The piece is currently about two thirds finished. I am currently finishing up the “powdering” section at the very top of the piece. Here’s a close-up:



I’ve finished stitching all the flowers and am currently working on the background fill stitches. I’ve really enjoyed working on this piece; it reminded me of how much I love canvas work. I’ve spent countless hours on it already and it will take many more to finish it.

New Yarn

You know what unscheduled trips to the yarn store mean: New Yarn!

This bamboo was on sale…wonder what I’ll do with it?




Something fun, for sure!