I am once again challenging myself to knit as much as possible during the Olympics! This time the focus is on miniskein sets.
The first project will be Land of Sweets by Helen Stewart using the majority of the Beatrix Potter minskein collection from Canon Hand Dyes, plus a set of pastel mystery minskeins also from Canon Hand Dyes. I have used Squirrel Nutkin from Beatrix Potter and the pale peach from the pastel set for faces of gnomes, but the rest of the sets are untouched.
Here is the progression of colors for the cowl.
I have wound all those miniskeins into balls in preparation. It was a huge PITA, let me tell you. But each color has its own baggy with the label in it and I have listed out the order of colors so I can remember where they all go.
I prepped a second project too, since I’m sure I’ll at least get the first one done. It’s a crochet project which is kind of shocking. I haven’t crocheted since 2013 which was the last time I made this very project! I’ll have to look up how the basic stitches go since I can’t remember how many loops a single vs. double crochet involve, but I’m sure it’ll be just like riding a bike. Except I actually did forget how to ride a bike. The pattern is Eye of the Storm by Ryan Hollist. It was a pattern to go with the Giftapalooza yarn one year with indigodragonfly.
It wasn’t as much of a pain to prep as the miniskeins are much larger in this set. There are only 6 colors this time. It’s also in a rough gradient. It’s Canon Hand Dyes John in Captain’s Lady.
This prep also involved a lot of math. The pattern only calls for a fade between two colors, but as I’m using 6 colors I had to figure out where to start the fades for each color. This involved a swatch and weighing the swatch and then figuring out the number of stitches in the swatch, then figuring out the number of stitches in each round, which increases every round as it starts from the middle and builds out. I did figure it out though. At least I hope. So there’s notations on the back of the pattern about where to start alternating rows of colors for each fade.
I debated whether to prep a third project. I hope I’ll get to a third, but I can’t guarantee it and I hate winding yarn into cakes when I’m not immediately going to knit it. So I stopped at just two. The first project is a long skinny-ish cowl, but it’s in small miniskeins which can be quite addictive to knit. You’re always so close to changing colors you’re encouraged to just keep going!
I remember the Eye of the Storm shawl being pretty quick, probably because it’s crochet and crochet tends to be quicker than knitting.
The Olympics technically isn’t supposed to start till Thursday, with the opening ceremony weirdly being on Friday, but my DVR says there are some Olympic activities starting Wednesday afternoon (Mixed Doubles Curling and Alpine Skiing), so that’s when I’ll be starting. Since I’m not participating on Ravelry anymore and instead am knitting along on Discord the “rules” are much more relaxed. They’re basically whatever I want.
I prepped the projects so early though that I’m left just kind of twiddling my thumbs waiting for the Olympics to start. I already finished my easy zoom project (no pic yet), and I finally tackled the heel of the second sock of the Twisted Goth Socks, but I’m finding that the short 9″ needle I’m using for the foot is leaving my right hand numb after knitting on it for a bit. So I’m not really that motivated to work on that. Instead I started a quick project to see if I can get it done in the two days I had left before the Olympics. It’s a small stuffie called Monte by Heather Sebastian. It uses a small mini skein kit from indigodragonfly that I ruled out for the Olympics cause I wanted to actually challenge myself and use some of the bigger kits. I knit most of the body yesterday. It’s kind of a warmup for the Olympic knitting I guess.
The Secret Life of Yarn 