Alas, No Gold for Guppies

I had high hopes. I was excited. I could do this! Unfortunately, it was not to be. Because of various familial and work related obligations, most of my time that could have been spent knitting has been spent in other ways, and I haven't had as much knitting time as I would like. But while I would have loved to have been able to say I finished, I knew chances were good it wouldn't happen. But I did what I set out to do. I learned cables. I started something personally challenging in knitting, and to me it was the participation in this fabulous group of knitters that was important to me.

It would have been nice to have finished, but I enjoyed the experience regardless.

So while there was no gold for me, I'll keep plugging away and finish my "Olympic" scarf. Congrats to all who finished! And Congrats to all who tried!

See you at the summer games in Bejing in 2008...

The Guppy
2006 Knitting Olympics Silver Medalist
aka The Fish With Sticks

Movin' right along...

So far...44 inches with 33 cable repeats.

This guppy is pleased.

The Guppy
aka The Fish With Sticks

Progress at last!

Last week was long and exhausting, so next to NO knitting was done. Drat! I was beginning to worry about finishing my Knitting Olympics scarf on time. So I buckled down. I worked diligently Saturday night, Sunday night, and now today. And my scarf is now over 30" long and I've started a second skein!

So that light at the end of the tunnel might not be the oncoming hubris train after all!

The Guppy
aka The Fish With Sticks

It's My Mother's Fault...

...Well, no, not really. But isn't that what every daughter says?

Due to family stuff, not a single stitch of knitting on my Knitting Olympics project was done.

Oh, well...There's always tomorrow.

The Guppy
aka The Fish With Sticks

And I Was Doing So Well...

Friday night...Opening Ceremonies... my needles were at the ready, and I was SET! I had swatched and figured what size needles I needed. And when the "shaman-like figure" struck the anvil for the first time and the flames shot out...I cast on! I know, the flame wasn't lit at that point, but since the rules said to cast on at 2 p.m. local time, and it was now nearly 10 p.m., I figured all was good. *grin*

So I worked...and worked... and wondered what the heck was with parts of the ceremonies... until I had my first two cable repeats. I can't tell you how excited I was.

Then the next morning I went to knitting class.

On Saturday mornings I take a class at my LYS. It's not a class on anything specific, it's just a way for a bunch of us to go and get help on whatever we're working on now. I had dropped a stitch in my HP Scarf, and I needed to learn how to fix it.

As I was sitting there with my knitting pal looking at my Knitting Olympic project, I decided that as pretty as my cables were, I really needed to go up a size needle. Using my size 8's were still too tight. So rather than frog what I had already on the off chance I liked it better on 9's, I dug out another ball of my yarn and started all over.

Yup. I liked it better on the 9's. Damn.

Frog...Frog...Frog...

Then I went to another knitting pal's house to sit and knit and watch the games, and I kept knitting... and knitting... and loading audio books to her computer... and knitting... and knitting...

But by the end of the day, look at what I had! Progress at last! It's still a little stiff, but I think it's the cables.

So finally...after a long two days...I'm FINALLY on the road to Gold!

And now for day 2...

The Guppy
aka The Fish With Sticks

Citius, Alitius, Fortius!

Let The Games Begin!

The Yarn Harlot has a new blog entry up officially opening the "Games"! And someone created a Frappr map, so go see where all the Knitters are! It's amazing. So far only 520 people have put their location into Frappr (and according to Stephanie, over 4,000 are participating) and I saw knitters from as far away as South Africa and Brazil and Iceland. Amazing.

Can't wait to cast on!

The Guppy
aka The Fish With Sticks

Can Fish Waffle?

...Because I know I just did. LOL

I signed up for Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics, and I was going to make the Irish Hiking Scarf from Hello Yarn. Unfortunately, in surfing through some blogs, I discovered the Karaoke Scarf, and I just couldn't resist. So...I'll be knitting that instead. Now to swatch and see how it looks.

After quite a bit of waffling and discussing it with some pals, the decision was pretty much unanimous. I think this is a better choice. Less stitches across (22 instead of 42), and I cable both in the front and in the back. My mother has informed me that not only does she prefer the Karaoke Scarf, but she wants one for herself in black. LOL We’ll see.

While she's waiting, here's my swatch.

The Guppy
Aka The Fish With Sticks

In The Beginning...

Over the summer I stopped in at my mom's house one day and she was talking about a knitting class she took with her best friend. I mentioned I always wanted to learn to knit, so she talked me into going with her next week. Well, that was my first class and, I believe, her last. I loved it. She'll stick with her other needle crafts.

Since then, I've knitted myself a pink garter stich scarf, a green scarf using the "Ribbed For Her Pleasure" pattern from "Stitch And Bitch" for my cousin for Christmas, and a funky blue scarf for my best friend for when she went back to Buffalo...BRRRRR. That's really all I've actually completed.

My current WIPs though, are a Harry Potter scarf using the POA pattern from Atypically Knit and a shawl that uses both Softwist and Crystal FX. I need to start a ribbon scarf for my mom for mother's day, and I've joined the Knitting Olympics and will be making the Irish Hiking Scarf (more on that later). I'm hoping to join the Cable Knit Team. Think they'll have me?

That's all for now. I'll post pictures in a bit.

The Guppy
aka The Fish With Sticks