I’m Knitting As Fast As I Can

I almost gave up on trying to finish the Olympic sweater last night, but cooler heads prevailed.  The Syracuse v. Villanova game was on TV (34,616 fans inside The Dome — madness!) so I grabbed a tapestry needle and hunkered down in front of the tube.

The game had the correct outcome, and so did the sweater.  Yay, Orange; yay sweater!

I waited ’til today to weave in all the yarn ends since I went to Park City and thought it would be appropriate to finish the sweater in the shadow of the ski jumping venue from the 2002 Winter Olympics.

All that remains is to finally attach the buttons during the Closing Ceremonies. But I’m torn between the two finalists.

Which button gets the gold and which comes in second??

Two weeks ago, I got swept up in the excitement of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies and impulsively started a new sweater, thinking it would be a perfect Knitting Olympics project.

I envisioned myself proudly wearing my new cardigan while I watched the Closing Ceremonies.

Wrong.

This seemingly straightforward project has kicked my arse.   If I had a nickle for every time I reknit the sleeve cap . . . well, you know what I mean.

Now here I am, one day before the end of the Olympics and I’m just blocking the pieces:

Will it be done by tomorrow?  No.  Well, I guess that depends on how I choose to define “done.”  I think I’ll be able to get all the pieces sewn.  And I might also be able to knit the neckband.  But, it will surely be button-less since I have no appropriate buttons and no time to buy any.

So, what do you think?  Do I make it onto the podium with a button-less cardigan?

Last week, I made my way through the smog to the Jitterbug Coffee Hop where we celebrated the anniversary of our Tuesday night Stitch ‘N Bitch group.  Like it has for several years, the celebration included a no-obligation swap.  This year, the theme was cowls.  If you brought a cowl, you went home with a different one.  I was the lucky recipient of this little green number contributed by Laurie.

It’s knit from Malabrigo worsted so it’s fabulously soft.  Although it clashes horribly with my winter coat, I’ve worn it every day since the swap.  Love it.

My cowl contribution landed in the hands of Eileen and, happily, it matched her coat perfectly. Seriously, can an off-white cowl not match a person’s coat?

The pattern for the cowl I made for Eileen is now available as a free download on Ravelry.  As I mention on the Ravelry project page, I had a hard time finding a pattern that was exactly what I had in mind for my cowl.  There are similar patterns available but the cables either crossed too closely or too far apart.  And the cables were either too sparse or too crowded.   As Goldilocks would say, “This one is neither too hot nor too cold. It’s just right.”

And the best part . . . I worked up three sets of instructions for three different weights of yarn.  So shop the stash and cast on!