Great Expectations

With all this knitting olympic fever in the house, I decided it was time for some ground rules. Specifically, ground rules related to the other people in my house, in support of my knitting. I found a great list of Support Team Roles and Responsibilities, published by Megknitficent. It clearly outlines what I expect of DH and the kids during this period of extreme knitting.

What event is this?

I had to break out my calculator today. Apparently my math is rustier than I thought, because I had figured out the short rows for my Tiger pants and the repeats for my Hippie Tunic all wrong. Apparently I was planning on knitting dresses for Zeke and I, instead of pants and a tunic. I had 78 rounds for Zekes pants instead of 35 (forgot to divide in half for front and back and allow for short rows in back), and I had 31 repeats of the lace pattern instead of 31 rounds in the lace pattern for the Hippie Tunic.

I discovered all this when figuring out how much knitting I need to do each day to finish on time. With my incorrect numbers, the task seemed very daunting. Now that I have everything worked out right (hopefully), it seems much more manageable.

I'm nearly finished with my first pair of baby socks!

I think the next pair I'll knit a little bigger, as these are a little short for my big footed baby. Have I mentioned before their shoe sizes? At 37 months, Jackson wears a toddler 10. At 19 months, Nicholas wears a toddler 6 (he has very thick ankles). I have no idea what size Zeke is, but I figure he's on par, since his feet are quite long. These socks will work for him for a little while, but not too long.


I had to rip back a few rows on these to reposition the short rows. Can you see how beautiful the Malabrigo stitches are? They're so uniform and smooth... I love it.

I'm about 10% done with the Hippie Tunic. I need to knit aproximately 15 rounds a day to finish before the Olympics are over. So far, I'm on track.

I love the pattern. It reminds me of a crochet afgan my mother once made. I think that's how I associate it so well with "hippie." I do keep thinking I should have knit it in hemp...

Keep watching, I hope to have my first FO tomorrow!

Opening Ceremonies

I watched the beginning and ending of Opening Ceremonies last night. It was spectacular! I saw the 2008 drummers (that's two-thousand eight musicians/artists) with the syncronized drumming. I loved the colors - the gold and red together. I may have to look for some yarns in a similar colorway. Anyway they were all together, perfectly syncronized. Their drumsticks and drums lit up as well. It was REALLY cool.
I cast on for Tiger Pants and for Hippie Tunic. Pictures are forthcoming - a friend borrowed my camera for a wedding. Anyway, casting on for Tiger Pants was hell - my figures were off. The directions say you need an even number of stitches, but I found I needed stitches divisible by 4 for the 2x2 ribbing. I ripped it out 3 times before i finally got it right. I'm now past the ribbing and the first set of short rows, and it's looking good! I have no doubt that it will be finished in time.
The Hippie Tunic didn't give me quite as much trouble, except that I cast on a little tight and the first row is a lace pattern row. I had a hard time with the ssks and k2togs. That I also had to rip back about 70 stitches on. I believe that when you first start a project, it is important to start it right to build a good foundation for what is to come. I insist on fixing small problems that I would probably let slide later in my knitting.
I'm going shopping later for needles for the baby socks. I have to decide if I want to Magic Loop them or use DPNs for size 3s. Any preferences? Maybe bamboo?
Oh yes. I went to AuneGirl's for the Opening Ceremony for the knitting olympics. It was a great party! HiLite had some music selected, and she and AuneGirl had a torch ceremony all planned out. I made some Sweet Taffy Apple Tartlets for everyone.