Olympics, etc.

I've been negligent on this blog. The entire Ravelympics happened and I didn't post once! Many apologies.

For those who don't know, the Knitting Olympics goes like this: you decide on a project ahead of time that would be a personal challenge for you. Then you do it within the time span of the Olympics.

I decided to do the Dollar and a Half Cardigan by Véronik Avery. I used a lovely colorway of Valley Yarns Northampton. And here it is!






And I only had this much yarn to spare!



Here's a picture of it on me. An unfortunate picture of me, but we do what we can.



I finished the cardigan in nine days, including blocking and drying. I feel like I should have challenged myself more. Then again, I really didn't do anything else during those nine days. I think the biggest thing I learned was how far I've come as a knitter. Two years ago, for the Knitting Olympics, I attempted to make socks, and I failed. This time I tried a bigger project and really breezed through. Wow. Maybe next time I'll make a blanket. Or maybe I'll get really into insane fair isle and do some really amazing Starmore pattern. Hehe, very ambitious.

Since I finished the cardigan, I finished some wristwarmers for my friend Kyra.



They're the Rose's wristwarmers pattern, inspired by a dramatic episode in the new Doctor Who series. They're made with Classic Elite Inca Alpaca. This yarn is amazing, soft, beautiful, and warm.

I've also been working a very little bit on Emerson's gansey and the Bayerische socks. In the meantime, I started the Pea Pod baby sweater (a Kate Gilbert pattern) for Alina, the daughter of some friends. I've got the body done and started one sleeve: one and a half sleeves to go, sewing up, then the collar. Next on the list is the Yarn Harlot's Baby Yours sweater for my next cousin-to-be.

Still, I feel like I'm in a bit of a knitting lull post-Olympics. I finished up a lot of stuff so I wouldn't have to do it during the Olympics, and now the stuff I have going has been in hibernation for awhile. Maybe I'll start the Christmas knitting. Two thirds of the year is already over!

stuff I've eaten

This doesn't relate to knitting at all, except that some of my knitting friends have done it too. But it's fun!

Here's the original list with Wikipedia links.

Note: a lot of my answers are guesses. There are many things I've eaten in Taiwan that I don't know the exact identity of. If I wasn't sure, I mostly said I hadn't eaten it.

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more -- probably, I've had malt whiskey with Scott, whose tastes run really expensive.
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel MMM one of my favorites
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal -- that's right, never had a Big Mac.
56. Spaetzle mmm another one of my favorites. I want some right now...
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian -- and I don't know why people think it smells so bad.
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini -- but not together, as far as I can remember.
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate -- no idea
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor -- I think yes, but it may have been lobster Newburg.
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Total: 57.5/100. Pretty good, I think!

Free Tibet!

None of us are free until ALL of us are free!

Students for a Free Tibet

In other news, Knitting Olympics are go!

summer knitting again

So... I've sort of given up doing work this summer and am now spending all of my time knitting. What have I been knitting, you may ask.

Well, for one thing I finished those Baudelaire socks. I knit the second one with the instructions for the larger instep, decided I liked it better, ripped out the cuff of the first one, and reknitted it. I'm pleased with the results.



Then I started the Bayerische socks, which are basically totally nuts. They're out of a gorgeous shade of Shibui sock (much darker than pictured.) I love them to bits. I've finished one and most of the cuff of the second. I put them down for a bit because I think the tiny needles and twisted stitches were beginning to hurt my hands. Also because Snowflake gave me the new Civ game for the DS (!!!).



The scariest thing about the Bayerische sock was that I came really close to running out of yarn for the first sock. That is, I bought two hanks, and was really hoping that the first sock would take only one. I made it! This is what remained.



I've also been working on a couple of test knits for Kristin. A Faroese shawl, much closer to maroon in real life.



And a Tilli Tomas one-shoulder top, which will eventually have a sleeve.



I also dragged my friend Kyra to Woolcott on basically the flimsiest excuse ever. (She mentioned that she didn't have a measuring tape, we were in the area,...) So now I'm making her a pair of wristwarmers, the ones that Rose wears in that one episode of the new series. One is done, and it's in a lovely browny-purple shade of Classic Elite Inca Alpaca. Also darker in real life. I think I should learn to take pictures.



In other news, I've signed up for the Ravelympics, Team Cellular Peptide Cake, Sweater Sprint event. I'm planning to make the Dollar and a Half cardigan by Veronik Avery in a gorgeous heathered browny-maroon colorway of Valley Yarns Northampton. It's all I can do but keep from casting on before the 8th. I even swatched.