The Knitting Olympics

Like many other bloggers out there, I was intrigued by the Yarn Harlot's challenge to participate in her Knitting Olympics. As you probably know, in yesterday's post, she threw down the gauntlet and issued an invitation for all mentally challenged knitters (read: OCD knitters) to enter into the dark underworld of competitive knitting. Since knitting is definitely the only "sport" I have a chance of succeeding at, I immediately set about to come up with just the right project, the one that was doable in the time allotted but one that also was a challenge to my knitting skills. So far, there are three candidates that fit the bill.

First off is Rosita a lace sweater by Jaeger that definitely poses a time challenge because it is knit on size 2 needles. I already have the yarn for this one, but I don't yet have the pattern. Since we still have a couple of weeks until the torch is lit, I think getting the pattern is doable. I have seen the pattern, and it isn't charted, if you can believe it, so step 1 of knitting it will be to create a clever chart that will hopefully help, rather than hinder, my progress. It is a beautiful sweater, and I've seen the finished product in person - it is very impressive.

The second option is the dreaded Arisaig sweater, which I've droned on about on this blog (didn't realize until today that I was misspelling it). The reason this is a viable candidate is because half of this sweater is ribbing done on size 1 needles. I'm going to need to need some sort of motivation to finish it, and I think this self-competition is just the sort of thing to help me get through. I also already have the yarn for this sweater.

Finally, there is the Fair Isle Bag from Interweave Knits Summer 2004. I've been wanting to try fair isle knitting for a while, but I have definitely been intimidated. Although a sweater is out of the question (more power to the Harlot for going for the gusto), I think a bag could be just the ticket. It's knit on fingering weight yarn on size 3 needles, I believe, so it will pose a skill challenge as well as a time challenge. I don't have the yarn for this yet, but I think that Knitpicks Palette would be perfect for it, and cheap, too! It would also be fun to design the color combinations. I'm not really fond of the original colors in the design.

Now that I've taken a rather enjoyable trip to Fantasyland, I can get down to real knitting progress. I had hoped to be done with the front of my Under the Hoodie before my post today, but it just didn't happen. I had to frog a few inches, and I think that sealed my fate. Alas, here is what I've accomplished, in all of its glory:

The reason I had to tink back was because I was merrilly knitting away as if the front was identical to the back, not realizing that the neck split pretty much immediately after the stripe section. C'est la vie. Tomorrow, I'll finish the front and start thinking about the sleeves! Making the pocket was pretty interesting. I had to knit to the top of where the pocket would be, go back pick up stitches and knit the pocket to the same point, and then knit the stitches together. Here's how it looks close up:

It didn't turn out too bad, I don't think. I'm really looking forward to finishing this sweater and wearing it like it was a second skin. Thank goodness it's machine washable or I'd be in real trouble.

Until Friday...