I’ve heard that there are people out there that just watch the Olympics. They sit in front of the TV with their hands empty and just watch. I find this hard to understand. For me, the Olympics is a time to pick out a new project and knit like, well like I’m knitting for a gold medal.
My project for this Olympics was a Leftie. To up the ante a bit, I invited my friends Maryanne and Troy to knit a Leftie with me. We each cast on at roughly the start of the Opening Ceremonies. Maryanne and Troy are both in Washington state, so we had a time zone difference, but that only came into play when I texted at 6 am our time.
Maryanne and I both finished our shawls within hours of each other, and Troy was close behind. I had an unfair advantage as not only do I have Fridays off, but I also had some unexpected knitting time crop up. Addie and I were sick one day, and I spent most of that day parked on the sofa. Then, I made a trip to Winnipeg, Canada for an Optimist Club convention. I know I’ve talked about the Optimist’s before, my local club knits hats for babies and now several clubs in our area are knitting for children. It’s a great club, check out the link or google Optimist International to see if there’s a club near you. The seven hours in the car and the hours that I spent in meetings were put to use knitting.
The Details:
Pattern: Leftie
Needles: 2.5mm circular needles. I started with a 16″, switched to a 24″ and would have liked a 40″ by the time I was done.
Modifications: None. The pattern is very well done and slightly addicting. I love switching colors! I weaved in about half of the ends at one point so I didn’t have as many to do at the end. My intention was to weave them all in as I went, but the motivation just wasn’t there. Since a lot of people at the convention wanted to see the completely project, I was really anxious to weave in the ends and block it Saturday night.
Yarn:
The brown (Chocolate Frosting) is handspun from Knitting My Way Home. Sharon does amazing work. The spinning was incredibly even and beautiful. If you haven’t knitted with handspun, you should really give it a whirl.
The pink (Chocolate Covered Cherries) is a locally dyed yarn that I’ve had in my stash for a long time. Probably longer than I care to admit. The brand is Knit Me Now Yarn and is available locally or at etsy.
Aren’t the leaves adorable? I blocked this in my hotel room but the blocking shots turned out terrible. Hotel rooms do not make for good iPhone photos.
I liked this pattern so much that I started another Leftie on the way home from Winnipeg. Both of these yarns are from Lisa Souza Knitwear. I’m thinking of donating one of the two shawls to a Dinner Auction that we do every year for the school. Which one would you like to win at an auction?
Knitting Up North 