The Knitting Olympics!!!

Knitters all over the place are jumping all over this. I think almost every blogger is plotting their entry. It's the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics. You pick a project and cast on during the opening ceremonies (February 10th). You have to complete it by the end (February 26th) to get a Gold Medal. We all know that I may be the worst knit-alonger in blogland but I can't resist a challenge and before I knew it, there was my "I'm in!!!" in the comments section before I'd even finished reading her post!

I have (or have ordered) yarn for 3 separate sweater projects so it will be one of them. They are the Rebecca ruffled wrap sweater, Blue Sky Alpacas Snap Cardigan, and Rebecca Cabled sweater.

I got the GGH Soft Kid yarn for the wrap sweater today and promptly marked it off my list for the Olympics. I know I won't be able to resist that long! This yarn is fabulous! I couldn't even resist knitting a little swatch. Plus, when I looked over the directions, they seemed a little odd in spots (like Rebecca patterns tend to be) so I figure there will be some frogging.

The Rebecca Cabled sweater pattern looks a little more straight forward than the wrap sweater. It's made in GGH cashmere and at a cost of $340 at KnitHappens, it was slightly out of budget. Just a lil bit. I went with a very unromantic, unexciting, very non-yarn snob choice: Plymouth Encore. I picked this for its washability and cost. It's soft, holds up pretty well, and I mostly want this sweater to be a weekend, trip to the mall, wear around town kind of sweater Thus I really want to be able to wash it. The fact that I've spent quite on yarn lately led me toward this option instead of a superwash wool.

And then there's the other choice, the Snap Cardi. I got the pattern with my Knit Happens order. I am leaning toward it over the Rebecca cabled pattern. Any sweater pattern will be a challenge to complete in that time frame but I think this one is a little more achieveable. Doing it for the challenge will benefit the project in another way. I've decided that I'll likely put a zipper in it instead of the snap tape. I'm scared of zippers. But if I have a goal to finish it, there's no way it will linger at the bottom of my knitting basket, unworn, until I get the nerve to install a zipper!

I do need to work out some shaping and sizing issues for the Snap Cardi. The smallest size is a 39.5 so I'll need to size it down. I should be okay simply subtracting the multiple of stitches between that and the next largest size, maybe adding on one or two on each edge. That would give me a couple inches of ease. It also doesn't have any shaping, and I really like cardisthat have a little shaping. That's no big deal to add, usually, but I need to figure out how to work that with the 5X2 ribbing that makes up the bottom 5" of the sweater.

From last night's basketball game. Patrick Sparks (#22) has a big game to end his horrid season long shooting slump and leaves the game with a big smile on his face, getting a giant bear hug from the Coach and butt pats from his teammates. I got tears in my eyes. I'm a sap. That's why I love the Olympics. I love all the patriotism and sappiness.