Sunday, February 28, 2010

Ravelympics 2010


Liesl #1
Originally uploaded by craftytails
After missing the last few Ravelympics events, I thought I would never get the chance to join the festivities. My participation online has historically been minimal and the Liesl cardigan was started with the full knowledge that it may end up in the UFO pile with the others. To my great surprise, the sweater was completed in a mere six days.

The Ravelympics is an event sponsored by Ravelry and its purpose is to inspire people to start and finish a challenging project during the Olympic games. While this pattern was not challenging in the area of personal skill level, the true test for me was following it to completion in a limited amount of time. I usually lack the dogged persistence others have seeing a project through to the end. In fairness, I must credit the incredibly talented pattern designer. The instructions are easy to follow and offer a lot of options with sizing and customization. For my sweater, I chose the three-button, wide neck version with 3/4-length sleeves. Since I have two more skeins of a different Malabrigo colorway burning a hole in my stash, my second Liesl will have cap sleeves.

Perhaps this small success will enable me to dust off the three sweaters in my UFO pile. I have been avoiding this task because they have languished for so long that I don't remember where I stopped. It doesn't help that my detailed pattern notes disappeared into a box somewhere. Surely they will fail to resurface until I have meticulously backtracked and finished the projects. This gets me a little depressed, but it isn't all bad news. I have finished a total of nine projects this year. Three hats, four scarves and a pair of fingerless gloves are either sitting in my drawer or awaiting their recipients.

Now if only I could figure out the charity knitting... Time is running out and I am determined not to buy new yarn until at least one of my plastic tubs is empty. I am a long way from fiber stash acceptance and organizing my craft life will hopefully have a positive impact on other areas needing attention.

1 comment:

Deb G. said...

That is incredibly gorgeous! It looks very well-shaped, and like it would drape beautifully.

I don't know much about knitting for charity auctions (as you know, since I asked you!), but I'll pass on my father's words of advice to me whenever I'm worrying about something, "Just start on it, and it will turn out fine. And if you're happy with it, and confident in it, chances are everyone else will be even happier with it." Easier said than done, I know... so good luck!!!