14,196

That's the # of stitches in my Oly Scarf, and I did it in 17 days, phew! This was my project for Ravelympics 2008.

The events I chose were Scarf Stroke and Cable Steeplechase. What a bunch of fun it was.

It's as long as I am tall, LOL. sorry for the crappy photo quality

Project Specs

Yarn: 3 skeins of ShiBuiKnits Merino Alpaca
Purchased yarn at Thistledown Shoppe, Suttons Bay, MI
Needles: 10" aluminum straights (vintage)
Pattern: Irish Hiking Scarf



Amazingly, despite physical challenges, sock interruptions and having a full time job, I actually got it done in the allotted amount of time.

Cast-on 8/8/08 and finished 8/24/08 at 10:45am eastern time.

It was definitely a challenge but worth every stitch. As I finished the last few rows I thought about all the courageous, hard working athletes in this 2008 Olympic games they worked so hard to achieve their goals. And all the exciting events I watched in the past couple weeks.

It makes me so proud to have been a part of this fun even. I now can say I came to compete and I accomplished my goal.

Thanks to my family and friends who encouraged me and kept me going during the tough times, lol. Especially Rena, she's a great supporter - and a pretty good nurse too!

The Saint even let me use him as a prop for my shoot this morning...thanks Honey!

the stash is taking over Chez B...

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit...a flurry of migraines last week had me pretty much out of commission but I'm back and good as new. Thanks for askin.

Tonight I finally took out most of my stash all but that big tote under the bottom shelf in the corner, lol and arranged it on the bed so I could take in the full scope of what I was dealing with here.

I hate to point out that's a king-size bed, gah!

Speaking of yarn, I was at the Michigan Fiber Fest over the weekend and purchased 3 skeins of sock yarn...I really didn't need any more sock yarn...I'm sure some of you out there can relate...can't you?




I'm thinking I can use the skein of plain black yarn with all of my leftovers and make a pair of knee socks alternating stripes of black with stripes of the leftovers...it might work - please tell me it might...

I finished a pair of socks and started another - I know - it's some kind of sock-itis I think, lol.
Panda Silk, yummy! I also found a few WIPs while I was rooting around for skeins of yarn that were hiding in the office/sewing/crafting room. Another Irish Hiking Scarf, the Thistledown Shawl, a dishrag that I can't figure out how to do the border on, The Saint's Big A$$ Sweater...whew, I thought I had more than that, guess I'm not doing so bad after all.

Oops, forgot about the crazy ribbon shawl I have hidden in the drawer of the chair, and I think there's something else in there too but I'm not gonna look today, I'm too tired.

How's everybody's Ravelympic projects going? I'm hoping the 3rd skein of yarn I ordered for the scarf gets here so I can finish in time. The ShiBuiKnits is looking pretty fabulous and I decided since it looks so good I might as well make it long enough to look super decadent.

If you're gonna make something nice shouldn't you make it super nice?

The Saint is traveling again this week. St. Louis this time for the IBT National Black Caucus. He's staying right across the street from the Arch and he's made a trip over there to check it out already today between meetings. His comment was "you know, there is a museum below that Arch?". Who knew? Since he's a history hound I'm sure he really enjoyed his visit there. I hope he doesn't get too used to all this travel, I miss him.

It's time for bed and I haven't watched any Olympics tonight, I'm a little bummed about that but I am glad with what I've accomplished. I think I got all my stash photographed tonight and can start posting it all on Ravelry tomorrow evening while I'm waiting to go to Rena's for our weekly knitting visit.

Everybody have a great week. Thanks for stoppin in and please leave an opinion about the striped socks while you're here.

Pile 'o Socks and a scarf and DRT too

Hello evrybodee! Thanks for stopping in today. It's so nice to see you all. Are you ready for the Dish Rag Tag Sequel? It's gonna start soon and if you didn't sign up it's too late now :-(

I'm on Team #7 and I noticed the team I'm on is all new people. Yay, I get to make some more really fantastic friends just like last year with DRT. I got to know so many great folks during that little contest. What fun!

I had no idea I had knit so many socks...I have been doing a big clean-out/reorganization here at Chez B the past week and a half and have made some amazing discoveries, LOL. The most amazing of all was this...


I moved my clothing to a different closet so I was sorting out my sock drawer and I can't believe how many pairs of self-made socks there were hiding in that drawer. And I thought I wasn't accomplishing anything! Ha!

On Friday I cast on my Oly Scarf for Ravelympics. Isn't it pret-ty?

It'll be 2 skeins of ShiBuiKnits Merino Alpaca and it is springy & sproingy and very soft. Check out that SUPER CUTE project bag up there...Rena made it for me and it goes perfectly with the Oly Scarf! Isn't she just amazing?

Here's a closer look...


Well, I guess I'd better get myself off to work. Have a great day!

Wind Me Up and Turn Me Loose

I've been working so hard on socks the past couple of months that I'm beginning to get the urge to do something bigger. And anyone who knows me, knows I like bigger, LOL, ahem, I am claustrophobic!

Boxes are not a good way to transport a winder and swift from one place to another as I've been doing for a while now. I'm thinking LynnH's big bag would be the perfect carrier for these larger yarn tools, and it would be better looking too.

Friday evening Rena came over and we got busy winding yarn. I barely made a dent in my stash but it's a start, isn't it a nice pile? (click for bigger pic) This is 15 cakes of yarn, Rena took home at least 6 more, phew, that's a lot of winding, my arm may fall off.

I've got a list as long as my aching arm of things I want to accomplish when I finish these socks...

Irish Hiking Scarf (for the Scarf Stroke/Cable Steeplechase events in Ravelympics) with the red ShiBuiKnits


from Thistledown Shoppe...



socks with this fabo J. Knits
I got at Threadbear...

ZigBagZ with the brown & gold Araucania



from Rae's Yarn Boutique...


more socks with this pretty lavendar Gems Quartz also from Threadbear...










and perhaps a nice felted something with this fabulous yarn that Rita of Yarn Hollow fame painted. It's looking like it would cling to itself nicely - if you biggen the pic you can see how very hairy it is.

I'll have to give this yarn








from CreativelyDyed some thought, it's amazingly beautiful and shiny, I'm thinking a lacy scarf of some kind as it is too beautiful to put on my feet!

and just maybe, another pair.of.socks with this Jitterbug I couldn't resist that was in Lorilee's City Knitting booth at the Charlevoix Fiber Fest last weekend...I'm thinking all that water influenced my color preference at that show.



In an effort to distract myself for a bit I went for a little competitive knitting yesterday - a garter stitch (yawn!) bib from Mason Dixon Knitting. Rena's friend is gonna be a mama soon and she needed a shower gift. We kinda had a race to see who could get their bib done first. She beat me, by just a couple minutes, she spent some time figuring out how to do the button hole, lol. And I took a break to work a few rows on my socks so maybe we could have had a tie...and I didn't think to take their picture when we were done, drat! Love you Rena, that was fun! Hey, let's go wind some more yarn, wanna?

Hope everybody has a great week. Thanks to you all for stopping in and saying hello. It's always nice to hear from the faithful few folks who de-lurk with comments.

Don't forget to go sign up for Dish Rag Tag if you haven't already. The deadline is August 8th. Loads of fun will be had by all. And it's not too late to commit to Ravelympics!

I'm rolling up on my blogiversary in a couple months, anyone interested in a contest for some of my pretty yarn? hmmm?