Better late than never?

So you know how sometimes you start on a pair of socks and then you finish the first one and then you set it aside and don't cast on for the second one for over a year? Yeah... me neither.



I finally finished my Spiral Boot Socks... Ravelry tells me I cast on for these September 2008... That is a looooong time ago.

They're not quite knee highs, but I wouldn't have had enough yarn to make knee highs anyway, so I'm happy with them the way they are. The 2 skeins were not quite the same shade which is odd but not unwearable.



Also odd but not unwearable is the fact that I followed the directions for the toe for the 2nd sock but apparently not for the first one. The first sock is a little bit shorter in the length of the foot than the 2nd.

I can't seem to get a decent picture of the actual color of the socks. It's a rich kettle dyed brown that I love.



Pattern: Spiral Boot Socks by Veronik Avery in Interweave Knits Summer 2007 (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Knit Picks Essentials Kettle Dyed in Oak
Mods: nothing intentional... One sock is shorter in the foot than the other. Oops.

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So, this coming Friday there's a little sporting competition happening in my country. In Vancouver, BC to be exact. You may have heard something about it. They call it the Olympics.

I'm such a dork. I could not be more excited about the Olympics! I plan to be glued to my TV for as much of the coverage as I can. I love (watching) winter sports and to have this huge event so close to home is really exciting for me and the whole country.

I had planned to do the Ravelympics this year but I'm not sure if I have to sign up for an event in advance or... ? I signed up for team Canada but do I need to declare an event? I don't know why this is so confusing to me! Are any of you doing the Ravelympics? How about the Knitting Olympics over at the Yarn Harlot's site? I did that challenge in 2006 and really enjoyed it. Maybe I should just do that. Why am I rambling so?

So this brings me to my next question: What Should I Knit for Ravelympics and/or Knitting Olympics? My first instinct is to knit socks. I seem to have developed a hole in one sock of each pair of my knit socks (not all of them, just the older pairs). I don't understand why it's in the same place for each pair but for each pair it's only one sock. I don't always wear the same sock on the same foot. How can that be?

I think I've begun to ramble. Knitting Olympics/Ravelympics: So I have all this sock yarn and a need for socks. I have a tendency to put off finishing socks or use them just as "travel knitting" or "in my bag in case I have to wait" knitting. I need socks, I like socks and I want to have more socks. It would be a challenge for me to finish not one but several pairs of socks during the Olympics. They would be on the plain side but that suits me fine.

(It should be noted that The Boy is moving house right smack in the middle of the Olympics and, barring some sort of broken limb or severe illness I can't imagine how I can get out of helping that I won't be helping him for at least part of the time, which will limit my knitting time AND my watching the actual Olympics time. Sob.)

A second idea I've been knocking around is a sweater. A cardigan to be precise. I'm torn between a true challenge like knitting the Tangled Yoke Cardigan (IWK Fall 2007 Rav link) or a plain round yoke stashbuster cardigan with some sport weight mystery yarn and the odds and ends of sock yarn I have... But I kind of think that a whole sweater in small gauge would be setting myself up for a lot of crying. But then again, if it's the only thing I'm working on? who knows.

Rambling again. A more reasonable idea is the Snowdrift Cardigan by Michele Rose Orne (from Inspired to Knit--Rav Link) which is at a larger gauge and would be much more manageable. It too would be a stashbuster and I think I would get a lot of use out of it. And, who doesn't love those Cabled cuffs? Come ON!

So... If you've made it this far, thank you... and please speak up. Are you participating? In which challenge (or both)? In which event(s)? Any thoughts on what you think I should knit?