An Etiquette Question

Sigh . . . Olympic knitting is taking up all too much of my time, and it looks like I sadly still won't be done when that final flame is extinguished.

However, I have, due to this challenge of mythic (and Olympic) proportions, started knitting in the oddest times and places. To wit: Is it ever OK to knit at Symphony Hall, during a concert? Even if the program is nothing but Schoenberg? Even if the hall is half empty and everyone else around me is asleep?

Forgive me, James Levine.

Finally

So I had this grand vision of providing daily updates to my Olympics project. Ha! Turns out that when you're spending all of your spare time knitting, there's not much time for blogging. But I finally got a picture of the completed sweater back to post here:

The good news is that all this intensive knitting has resulted in one new development--I can now read and knit at the same time! At least when I'm doing something mindless like the ribbing at the bottom of the sweater. Good thing, too--I have three book reviews due between now and the closing ceremonies, and all my former reading time is now taken up by knitting.

Right now the main (very scary) threat to my project is that I'm fairly sure I'm going to run out of yarn. Those cables just eat up yarn like crazy! I ordered 5(!) more balls yesterday--here's hoping they get here by the time I get back from my weekend in New York City.

Speaking of which, I probably won't be updating until Monday. Let's hope I have a finished front by then--if not, there are going to be some seriously late nights around here next week--I may actually get to watch that overnight Olympic coverage after all!

Time Out!

OK, I'm coming up for air from a weekend spent in heavy duty Knitting Olympics mode. Fortunately, the snowy weather here in Boston contributed to long stretches of uninterrupted knitting time, with brief pauses for shoveling.

I'm hoping to have some progress photos by tomorrow. Things are moving along, although I'm a little worried that I won't be able to finish without tracking down some more yarn. Yikes!

Nearly Instant Gratification

OK, so I desperately needed a break from the endless ribbing of the Ribby Cardi sleeves and I needed a quick, satisfying warmup to the Knitting Olympics project (in nearly the same color, btw). The Odessa hat from the newest Magknits fit the bill perfectly. I had a small store credit at my LYS, so I headed down there on Saturday and picked up one ball of Rowan Cashsoft DK, cast on, and three days later I'm done.
Beads aren't really my thing, and this hat is for me, so I left them off this time. I'm itching to reknit this, though, especially now that I know that I have enough yarn left over to make it an inch or so longer. Next time, I'll make it in black, add beads, and give it away. This is a quick and easy gift project that looks a lot harder than it is!

Pattern: Odessa from Magknits
Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft DK, color SH509
Started: 2/4/2006
Finished: 2/7/2006

In non-knitting related developments, I sold a story yesterday to Skirt! magazine--it'll be in their August issue. They rejected one of my submissions but accepted the other one--that's just the kind of positive karma I need right now!

We Pause for a Public Service Announcement

I don't have my camera today, so I figured I'd put in a quick plug for a project I've gotten involved with. It's called LibriVox. LibriVox is a collaborative project intended to make digital audio versions of public domain literary works available for free! They're brand new, so their catalog isn't too big yet, but they have a lot of projects in the works (a full book takes a few months to record).

If (like me), you've always wanted to be an audiobook reader, this is your chance. All LibriVox books are read by volunteers. All you need is a microphone, a computer, and some (free) sound recording software. So far, I've submitted an entry to LibriVox's Weekly Poetry program, and I've signed up to record several chapters of Anne of Avonlea. If that goes well, I want to try to do a whole book as a solo project. Anyway, I think this is a great undertaking, and I'm trying to let lots of other people know about it as well. I'll keep a link to the LibriVox site in my sidebar.

In Training

I spent part of yesterday reading Sports Illustrated's Olympic Preview issue, and I felt suitably inspired by all those athletes about to seek out their moment of glory. You see, I'm in training too . . .

That's right, I'm swatching for my Knitting Olympics sweater! I decided to use Debbie Bliss's Alpaca Silk that I got at the Wild & Woolly sale, and I think the cables are going to show up really well. I got entirely too giddy while I was working on this swatch, especially since I was watching the State of the Union speech at the time. Here's hoping the rest of the sweater is as much fun to work on.