2010 Ravelympics

OK, I know I owe you a follow up post on the Pinewood Derby, but I got distracted by the 2010 Ravelympics! So I'll post about it next time.

Anyway, the 2010 Ravelympics, which coincides with the 2010 Winter Olympics, is almost over. The closing ceremonies will begin before too long and I'm proud to say I accomplished most of my goal for these games. I did not plan on competing as many projects as the 2008 games...nor did I intend to compete in WIPs Dancing (I'm already sick of my WIPs, which is why they're still WIPs). Instead, I planned to try to use up as much old stash as I could. And with the crazy month I've had, I'm very happy with my performance.

The games started with a Team Hopelessly Overcommitted Everlasting Synchronized Bag Jump...using Knitty's Everlasting Bagstopper pattern, we had a mass team cast-on during the opening ceremonies. That I know of, there were 12 team members ready to go on this...though it looks like only 9 managed a start (at least according to our tags). But it was great fun nonetheless! It seems fitting that the bag I cast-on for the start of the games was the last thing I finished at the close of the games.



I somehow managed to make this bag 4 rows shorter in the lace section than my previous bag. Not sure how I did that as I carefully measured both bags. Oh well! This can be the bread or produce bag. :D And how could I not be happy with a bag that finished gold in the Bag Jump and Stash Compulsory Dance?

I also competed in Junior Olympics, Mittens Moguls and Stash Compulsory Dance with my Chocolate Dipped Blueberry Mittens for Thing 2.



Just before the games started, I finished a matching pair for Thing 1...Mixed Berry Mitts. (Clearly, I shouldn't name projects when hungry.)



Now if only I could have finished both pairs of mittens in time for the 5" of snow we had the day before starting them! LOL Oh well! There's enough growing room in them to wear again next year.

Then I had 4 projects compete in Charity Curling, Single Skein Speed Skate and Stash Compulsory Dance (noticing a theme here?).




I think it's pretty interesting to see the differences in these squares. They're all using the same pattern, same yarn, same dyelot, but very different effects. I had hoped to finish 2 more (and thus using up all of this yarn I had), but other things kept getting in the way and besides, my hands were hurting at that point. But I will finish those other 2 squares and then find a good home for them. The original charity I had planned on donating them to is no longer accepting squares, but I've been given information about several others that would be happy to have them. I'll let you know where they go when they're all done. And I think I'll be making more squares for charity as well this year. It's for a great cause and uses up stash to boot! :D

Then there was a new event for these games...Aerial Unwind. I have to say, this may have been my favorite event! I had 4 projects medal here as well, but that also means I have 4 fewer WIPs! :D For this I frogged my Bamboo Scarf (loved the yarn and the pattern, just not together), my Luscious Lace Scarf (couldn't get the pattern to look right with my yarn), my Hand Spring Mitts (again, loved the yarn and the pattern, just not together...wished I'd had another skein of the yarn to hold double for it), and finally, my first attempt at a sweater for me...my Hey, Mom! OK, that last one was hard. I really liked the pattern and the yarn and the two together, but it's been so long since I've worked on it, I couldn't figure out where I was. I had also been having problems with adjusting the pattern to in the round without having big sections of stockinette at the center front as the pattern indicated. Rest assured, I'll try this one again!









So, all in all, I'm very happy with my performance in the games this year! :D And Malabrigo March Madness, our Village Hopelessly Overcommitted Cast-On Mania, and National Crochet Month all start tomorrow! It's going to be a fun fun month! :D

Happy Crafting! :D

Catching Up Post Ravelympics

Wow! Has it really been that long since I've posted???? I guess between vacation and the Ravelympics I got totally carried away! :D Well, the Ravelympics are over now :( and I had soooo much fun! Guess this will be a picture heavy post just to get updated! LOL

For the Ravelympics, I entered 36 projects total. I completed 24 of those during the games and of the ones I didn’t complete, 4 were alternates anyway and the rest are at least farther along than they would have been otherwise. There were only 2 new projects that I didn’t get to at all. And I earned a medal for all 6 of the events I entered. I'm quite pleased with how I did. :D

And just before vacation (right at the start of the games), I received the yarn I won from Knit It Up's Name the Skein contest. Thanks to my wonderful husband, who came up with the winning name "Taffy", I received this...
I think the knitting Gods must really want me to make socks cause this is the second skein of sock yarn I've won in the last month! LOL So I'm working on it. I cast on Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Basic Sock just before the games (pre-game warmup) and I'm now working on them in the car after school while waiting to pick up my son. I'm just about an inch away from turning the heel now. So far so good, I think...

And just to catch up completely, here are the projects I completed during the Ravelympics and just before:

Kid's Nap Sacks (checked off the Summer goals list!!!):

Fairy Tale Finger Puppets; My second pair of socks...this pair is for my daughter to coordinate with her twin brother who recieved the first pair; My Nutcracker Scarf:

Hostile Bunni and his Evil Minions for my oldest; a Doughboy for my Hubby as a joke (I got a little carried away and stuffed his hat too...I shouldn't have.); Mintley, the Cafe au Lait Miniature Thread Bear. (I over-dyed the ecru thread with coffee.):

The kids Buddy Bags (working on writing up a pattern for the Star Wars Finger Puppets...more on that later):





My In Bloom Bag (photo of the outside of bag is pre-seaming); and the Draft Stopper for my oldest:

The other 10 were Fantasy Knits and were only done in my head. LOL

That catches us up a bit. I'll talk more about the Death Star Buddy Bag and the wonderful friends I made during the games next time. And about some other GREAT news regarding the CLF Patch! :D

Until next time...Happy Crafting!

One down, many to go!

I really didn't forget to post, honest! I have just been super busy trying to get a crazy amount of projects done in a short time (ok, at least it's a crazy amount for me). And finally, I have some things to show you. But sadly, only one completely finished. Let's start with that!

This is the first of 2, make that 3, Nap Sacks I have to make from Vickie Howell's New Knits on the Block. Two were always intended and need to be done ASAP! They are for my 2 yo twins for our upcoming vacation. I wanted to finish them before we left so they could start using them and therefore have a comforting piece of home to take with them. Now that my 6 yo has modeled it for me (and amazingly he fit!), he wants one too! There's no way I can get that done in time with the other projects I have planned to finish before vacation (and I don't have the yarn). But I've put it on the list. I think though, I'll make his a little longer so he can use it for longer than a day! Darn kid keeps growing! LOL

It's nothing majorly spectacular. But it is huge and I'm quite proud at my math skills converting it into a machine knit pattern and adjusting for the difference in gauge. And I think it came out pretty close to the size in the original pattern. So, I'm quite pleased with it. :D

I've also been working on some "surprise" Buddy Bags from annypurls. I'm going to stuff these with surprise goodies for the kids to keep them entertained on the long car ride. The biggest surprise will be the finger puppets. I can't show you pictures of them yet cause I really want to keep those as a surprise (they see me working on the bags). But I have come up with something awesome for my 6 yo and pretty fun for the little ones. Or at least I think so. I promise there will be another post on the bags after the vacation. And I'm going to make myself one or two of them to use as small project bags. I'll just change the strap a little. It's a very adaptable pattern. I LOVE it!

And of course, I'm still prepping for the Ravelympics. I am now entered (as of today) in 5 events with 17 active projects (and 5 alternates). And am considering also entering the Fantasy DecKnitathalon. Since it's fantasy, I'm pretty sure I can do that! HeeHee Besides, what's another 10-20 projects for someone on Team Hopelessly Overcommitted. ;)

Now back to work on those projects! Happy Crafting!

Finished Socks and Ravelypmics

Yay! I finished my first pair of socks! And it only took me 3 to make a pair! :D Here they are...

The one I took on his feet came out really fuzzy. For some reason, 2 year olds just don't want to sit still! ;) I'm really happy with them. Thanks to all the great people on Ravelry and those of you that commented on my blog, I was able to make huge improvements. The holes are gone and the toe is round! YAY!!! I don't know if the sock bug has bitten, but it's a least nibbling. I'm going to go for a pair for his twin sister as part of the Gift Knit Pentathalon for the First Ravelympics!

That's right...Ravelympics! If you haven't checked it out yet, you should as registration ends Aug. 6th! I will be competing for Team Crochet and Team Hopelessly Overcommitted in WIPs Wrestling, Amigurumi-n-Toys Toss and the Gift Knit Pentathalon. Overall, I'm planning on 14 projects for the 17 day event. Screams overcommitted doesn't it? Perfect team for me! LOL

Anyway, for WIPs Wrestling, I will be attempting to complete the Daisy Afghan for my baby girl that was started while I was pregnant with her (she's now 2); the Monkey for my oldest DS that was supposed to be for Christmas last year; my first lace project - the Nutcracker Scarf that I finished most of in I think a week, but never quite finished; the Draft Stopper that was supposed to be for my oldest DS's room last winter; my very first ever knited project - a purse that needs a lining; my In Bloom Bag from Debbie Stoller's Happy Hooker book; the Annimeko Cat I started a few months ago but put on hold cause I couldn't find pellets (well I have now!); and the thing that was supposed to be my first ever miniature thread bear. I also have 5 or so projects waiting in the wings in case, by some miracle, I finish all those and still have time to kill.

For the Amigurmi Toss, I'm planning a gag gift for my DH for Christmas (who I just found out doesn't read the blog, but now he might); Fairy Tale Finger Puppets for all the kiddos; at least one brand new miniature thread bear; a Hostile Bunni for my oldest DS cause he loved the blog story about him; and of course what's a Hostile Bunni without Evil Minions? So I'm going to try to make at least 2 of those (another blog story we loved).

A lot of the Amigurumi's are cross competing for the Gift Knits Pentathlon. In fact, all of them except the thread bears will. In addition, I'll be trying to do those socks for my baby girl.

It's official now...I'm crazy! I have to be to try to do all of this in 17 days while also going on vacation and getting ready for school to start again. What was I thinking???? I don't know how much of all of that I'll actually be able to get done, but I'm certainly going to give it a good try. It'll be fun no matter what.

Oh, and if that's not enough, I'm also trying to get 3 to 4 Buddy Bags done in the next 2 weeks as well as 2 napsacks. I've almost finished the first Napsack (no new pics yet) and I'm about halfway done with the first Buddy Bag.

Of course, I've really messed up that Summer Goals list now. But by the end of it, I will have finished about half of all of those goals and then some. I'll just consider the rest to be rearranged for the Fall. Yeah! :D

And I know I haven't done all the links to the projects. If you're on Ravelry, you can check my profile (share32006) to see it all in my projects/queue or just plug the names into the pattern finder. I've got to go run and get dinner on and feed everybody so that maybe they'll go to bed at a decent hour tonight. And maybe I can get some knitting done! :D

Happy Crafting!