Green Sleeves

Knitting furiously on Saturday wielded me great results. No it wasn't a gold medal, like Michael Phelps, but I did manage to complete sleeve #2 of Buddy Bill's sweater.

Even better than that, after some concentration and studying, and quite a bit of courage, I gathered up my sense of adventure and sat down today to join the sleeves to the body! All aboard for the short rows and learning of wrap-and-turns. The yoke of this sweater is now commencing!

Absent-Minded Professor has been cheering me on. Yay, Mom! He won't learn to knit, but he's always interested to see how my projects come together.

Maybe there will be a Cobblestone sweater in his future.

UFOlympics

If you're on Ravelry, you probably know all about the Ravelympics. I decided NOT to compete, because I have so many UFO's (unfinished objects). Instead, I joined the UFOlympics; an event in which one chooses one or more incomplete knitting projects and declares them as Olympic events. Basically, you pledge to complete them during the Olympic Games, starting at the opening and stopping your knitting when the torch is extinguished.

I entered just one single project/event.

Nearly a year ago, I started knitting a Cobblestone Sweater for Buddy Bill. Jared Flood's design is fabulous! Why, exactly, this wonderful sweater was set aside, I can't say for sure. I know at one point holiday knitting took over. Then College Kid's striped socks came along. Anyway, Bill's sweater will hopefully be completed, or be close to completion, by the end of the Summer Games. I vow that Bill will have his green sweater to wear this fall and winter!

Prior to the start of the Games, I had knit the body up to the armpits, and just cast on for one sleeve. Since the Games started, I have completed that sleeve up to the point where one stops to join it to the body. I am currently knitting the second sleeve.

Once the second sleeve is complete - tonight or tomorrow - I will join them to the body and begin knitting the yoke of the sweater. The yoke is garter stitch, like the cuffs and side panels. Wish me luck. I know the Olympic athletes are working harder than I am, and while my payoff won't be a gold medal, it will still be pretty darn satisfying.

Hello... Goodbye

Hello August. Where in the hell did you come from?

You know what that means, right? Work. Yep. High school counselors go back to work much earlier than junior high counselors and I have already been at the high school learning the new student scheduling program and fixing student schedules. My senior and junior schedules are done. I started on the sophomores this morning. School doesn't even start until Aug. 27, but there's so much to do!

Along with saying goodbye to summer already, my knitting friends and I are saying goodbye to a fellow knitter who has become family to us. Jen arrived here in May to do an internship for college, just for the summer, and she's heading back to Tucson to finish school. We hope it's temporary. Like I said, she's become family to a bunch of us. I know her mom and dad and boyfriend can't wait to get her back, but we have talked about kidnapping her and keeping her hidden in a cornfield. Jen, I won't think of spinning, FOP Fest or giant zucchini without thinking of you!



My Dream in Color shrug is nearly complete and I have completed two cotton washcloths that I am also going to say goodbye to. My Knitters for Obama group on Ravelry is collecting items for homeless shelters that help U.S. Veterans. Specifically requested items are washcloths, hats and scarves. It took no time at all to make this one, and another in a different color. The pattern is called DW Dishcloth.



Lastly, I decided that I needed to organize some of my books, knitting and yarn. Off to Target I went and found the cubby shelves and fabric bins to put inside. I already had the Longaberger baskets. This really helped me pull knitting and books from different places around the house and make a more central place for my knitting supplies. This is by no means all of it, but the baskets and most of the books were previously stacked along the back of my sectional sofa.

What have you been up to?