Olympic Dreams Derailed and Defeated by Startitis

My dreams of Knitting Olympic Gold were side-lined by an intense case of Startitis, that bane of crafters everywhere. I had a particulary bad case, as it attacked not only on the knitting front, but on the sewing front as well.
So, I have yet to complete the embroidery on the Duckie Onesie. It is so cute and perfect, and I’m afraid I will ruin it. So I have decided to practice first on a swatch. This decision, wise though it seems, has set things back considerably. Luckily, it’s turning out to be more like 6-month size than newborn size, so if it’s a 3-month-old gift, it will be perfectly appropriate, size-wise.

Actually, it’s probably the impending birth of my friend Molly’s baby that sent me over the edge. I went to her shower, where I observed no newborn sized hats and no handmade blankets, but I did see tiny perfect (non-handmade) socks. All of these things inspired me. The incredibly beautiful and sweet hat and tiny awesome booties that I knitted left my hands without a photo to mark their existence, but I’m proud to report that they, along with the bright, lovely and oh-so-soft blankets I sewed, are going to the hospital with Molly to be among the first things to comfort her new baby.
Here's some pics of the blankets:
The animal print is soft cotton flannel.

The back is remnants of cotton. I had a lot of fun making this.

I adore the owls. They are bright and psychedelic.

The back is a red fan print, which has a weird optical effect
that makes it look shimmery when it covers a lot of space.
Hopefully stimulating for baby's young mind.

So, I didn’t finish the Onesie or my Dropped Rib Cardi, and so I didn’t take Gold. But, I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished anyway. There’s always 2014!

The Knitting Olympics

I got a wild hair and decided to join Stephanie Pearl McPhee’s Knitting Olympics, which apparently is separate from the Ravelympics. My goals were to finish the Gaia shrug and the Duckie Onesie. The Onesie, though an easy knit, requires embroidery, which I haven’t attempted for about 30 years, Seriously, 30 years!

I was expecting the Gaia shrug to be simple and quick, and I planned to use my lovely red and purple alpaca/silk handspun. Of course, I hit a major snag, which was that no matter how many different ways I measured, I could not get the patterns dimensions to match mine. This is a problem because I had calculated the amount of yarn I would need by following the pattern. I figured that I need to knit at least 6 more inches (66 square inches) to make a shrug that will fit me, but I don’t have that much yarn. Sigh. I realized this after I was about 4 hours into my knitting.

So plan B. I went and bought 4 skeins of gorgeous Malabrigo worsted in Intenso:

The knitting in the pic is a swatch, not the shrug.
I’m going to make this shrug (because 'shawl collar vest' is too long and boring a name,henceforth my version will be called Dropped Rib) , only with a different stitch pattern, which I‘ve wanted to knit for a long time. I expect it to take longer than my original plan, but wow, these colors vibrate with awesomeness and I’m inspired to knit this!

Naturally I completely neglected the Onesie (which I'm calling 'Just Duckie') while I was driven to figure out my shrug plan. Luckily it is small. I’m using a lovely yellow shade of Bliss Cashmerino DK, which immediately tangled hopelessly. I think I need one of those yarn socks to keep the ball intact.

That’s been my last couple of days. Happy Valentines Day, and good luck to my fellow Knitting Olympians!