I’m noticing that there’s a lot of tension in my hands and arms and I feel like I’m fighting still to get the stitches moving along the cable. I’m going to try swapping down again to a shorter length.

But I’m officially throwing in the towel on trying to complete it in time because it just clicked in my brain that the closing time in Beijing means sunday MORNING my time.

Sure enough… 9am for me. That’s 8 hours left! And I’m supposed to be asleep! Time to dig out all the almost finished WIPs and finish them.

Looks like the biggest “start to finish” project I’ll have done is a simple Tudora.

Oh well, the whole thing has been a fun exercise and got me moving into doing more things.

Just feel bad that I didn’t really do any of the fingerless glove projects when my participation in the Ravelympics started out of the Fingerless Gloves Fanatics group on Ravelry.

Oops just remembered the Moon Beads cowl. Such a shame that I didn’t finish that one.

But then again I have to remember that I lost a whole weekend to the camping trip and some of my week nights too (and that new toy, the Ball winder!)

I think I’m going to enjoy not feeling any kind of rush for a deadline. It was always supposed to be something as a fun challenge for myself and it worked because it got me finishing several things and trying something very new to me (the cowl).

BTW I didn’t make it to the Post Office until closing so no complaints registered but I was mollified when the guy from yesterday knocked on my door and handed me the package in question.

I really really love the “Iron Maiden” that Jen did for her limited edition Medival Torture line. I think it’s a real shame that this is one of a kind that will not be repeated because the greys and blacks and red go so well together and in a way that you don’t normally see!

Maybe tomorrow after the closing bell has chimed, I’ll give myself permission to sit down and start charting out the pattern for the original design that Jen’s recent colors inspired in my head (hint: La Belle et Le Bête)

So difficult because there’s so many ideas I want to try out as well as existing patterns I want to do. And there’s my Louhi! Really need to write about that one.

Only the first post is posted so far (which explains what Ravelympics is), and I’m reminding myself that there’s plenty of time to take and post the photos but I’ve only got about 24 hrs worth of knitting time left before the final bell sounds (closing ceremony Beijing time).

I’ve got a bunch of projects at the nearly done state, namely bunnies and some older WIPs. Going to focus on either working on the sweater bag or finishing the WIPs. No more casting on for new things unless I finish it all with some hours to go. Then I might do Berroco’s Foliage Bear pattern which looks quick & simple.

Will post again when the diary is completely posted. Will back date them to the appropriate days.

Started round 1 of the Sweater Bag (first round after the 12 rows of ribbing) and am currently about to start round 17. Definitely not knitting very fast.

Half of the 100 stitches are involved in cable work which isn’t too bad once I get a feel for how the cables are running. Then I don’t have to keep looking it up to see which way to twist the stitches.

However the problem is that the “plain knitting” on what will be the interior of the bag is done in purl. Purl is much slower for me than knitting.

I’m knitting this on Denises and at first I was using too long of a length but even with one that’s 3-4 inches shorter, still feel like I’m struggling to get the yarn around the cable.

A little more than another hundred rows to go. At least the strap should be quick and easy.

In other news, frakkity frak frak!! The Hollywood post office continues to shock me with just how badly organized and committed to their job they are. I’ve never had much trouble with any post office in the past but this one? They’ve lost 4 of my 6 packages mailed on a single day. Disappeared into the ether. They piss and moan and then get nasty with attitude when I try to get them to scan the paper that registers packages as being received by the post office. And they didn’t even know what it was! Hello… this has been around for some time now, do you have no training at this place?

They’ve told us that our bldg is located on an “open route” which means it’s passed along to whoever is free to do it that day. Problem is that some of these carriers are fucking lazy as hell. They won’t check the outgoing mailbox next to the mailboxes. I bought a clip and put it on the box so we could at least clip the mail to the OUTSIDE of the box so they couldn’t miss it. Twice in the past two weeks, I’ve seen mail in the clip in the morning before they’ve come and seen it still there afterwards when the mail had been delivered.

But boy they bitch and bitch about us getting the mailboxes fixed. They’re all fired up about doing THAT right.

Another time I happened to walk out and the carrier had a package too big to put in the box. I saw him trying to use the “call box” which according to the tenant (and former bldg mgr) who has lived here for 18 years… has NEVER BEEN hooked up. I told him “that doesn’t work, it doesn’t go to any of us, you have to go knock on the door”.

I then watched him pull out a form, fill it out, open the boxes back up and drop it in and then get in his truck and drive away. Lazy son of a bitch couldn’t be bothered to go to the door of a 8 unit bldg and knock!

A week or so ago, I had to go to the post office which was also the same day the carrier didn’t pick up the mail. I took it with me and asked to speak to the supervisor and entered a complaint about the shoddy service we get. And of course it happens again this past Wednesday.

And now today, I’m given another reason to go back and register another complaint. I’ve a package that was not delivered last week. Usually the carriers leave it at the door but at least one person who does the route refuses to do so and writes out orange slips instead and sticks it in the door (not the mailbox! which means the wind can blow it away). I know that they don’t leave packages if they think it’s not secure but nothing ever gets taken here and packages are left all the time without a problem. The inconsistency bothers me big time.

Anyways so I get a 2nd orange slip and remember that I can request redelivery. I did it Wednesday night to be delivered today when I would be at home. Carrier gets here and I go out and…. he has no package for me.

Who wasn’t surprised at this? Who actually expected it to be the case? I doubt anyone’s got the time to notice or care that the person requesting the redelivery was the same person who took the time to file a complaint but gee…. awfully coincidental.

Oh well, I’ll go in tomorrow with a print out of the redelivery request (I took a screenshot of the page for proof) and file another complaint and get my gorram package.

Sad really because until this sorry outfit, I’d never had any real problems with the post office and had good feelings about them even with long waits in lines and etc.

Oh, why this rant is in the Ravelympics diary is that it contains the indie dyed yarn from Squibstitcher’s Fresh From the Cauldron line that is intended for an original design of fingerless gloves that I’ve got queued as a Ravelympics Designer Discus project. But at this rate, I don’t even have the design charted yet nor have I seen the yarn in person and figured out if I’ve got the right colors (can’t always be sure that the color as I see it on the screen will match in person – as what happened with the yarn from the Sweater Bag).

Oh well, it was a pie in the sky thing anyways. Maybe I’ll put it as one of my Fantasy Knits instead which I have to finish doing this weekend.

But I did cast on and get the k2/p2 ribbing done for 12 rows as required for the bottom of the Sweater Bag! I’m excited even though I’m not as thrilled at the color of this yarn as I’d like to be. The rest of my impulse Ebay buys were better than this so all in all I didn’t do badly at all!

I’m still excited about the skein of 100% silk in a beautiful blue color that I want to make in a Tudora for Aunt Ann. I could probably cast on and finish it if I devoted one of the weekend days to it. After all I did the other one in about 5 hours of knitting on the first Saturday from cast on to cast off.

Another thing I’m excited about is that I think I’ve figured out what to do with my stash of Lion Brand Chenille. I’ve got a lot of black and a lot of the multi color “print” colorways which are named for cities. London & Paris which are both very purply & blue and then Amsterdam which has both but leans more towards teal for an deep ocean kind of tone. I knew I wanted to make a blanket with it but was having trouble deciding on a pattern. Was thinking something that would evoke the ocean but hadn’t seen a good pattern or had any inspirational visions of a pattern I could design myself.

But then I was crusing the Afghan event thread in the Ravelympics group and saw people talking about the Cathedral Rose Throw. PERFECT!! I have a lot more Amsterdam than London & Paris but can use the latter two for the smaller accents. Some finished ones: one gal did two, picture of the original FO, a version in browns & reds, and I’m sure you can find more via google as I did.

Really need to come up with a good method for keeping track of what projects that I’ve got planned where I’ve got the yarn and pattern (and needles) ready for casting on. Instead of it all being cattywumpus over my apt and brain and I end up forgetting the plans and wind up wondering what was I going to do with this yarn?

This picture made me fall in love with the pattern though the knitter of this bag told me that her yarn didn’t hold up well to use (pilled and turned ratty looking).

Pattern requires bulky yarn and I don’t have much. I’m not sure how the multi-colored part will work out but the yarn is smooth enough that there should still be good enough stitch definition to resist being drowned out by the color changes. Also the yarn is predominately an intense maroon with splashes of other colors.

It wasn’t til I took the photo of the swatch the next day that I realized that one of the other colors was a dk green. There’s a surprising range of color in the yarn so should make for an interesting bag!

Not sure if I’m going to keep it for myself or give it away as a present to someone else. We’ll see.

Oh I also knitted some more on the square for “Dark Doe”.

Found them while looking for the cotton dishcloth yarn for redoing the Sunflower Hotpad. Did it in 2004 from a booklet but neglected to notice that it called for doubling the yarn.

Couldn’t figure out where I put the booklet but was able to reverse engineer again from the previous FO.

Finished it (yea finished item #2!) but am annoyed because it also doesn’t lay flat. When you fold it in half, it’s not a half circle so I think all along there should have been fewer increasing done. Thinking about trying to aggressively block it to force it to lay “flatter” and call it a day.

Did a lace repeat on Merletto Mitts and started on 3rd skein of yarn for Grrlfriend Bag #2.

Kept wishing that I had a nice long stockinette project to do as I just wanted to knit without much concentration. But didn’t feel like pulling out the Jayne stuff even just to finish the ear flaps on my personal which is one of the WIPs listed for Ravelympics too.

Evangeline would count but I’m bummed about realizing that I’m short of yarn and not able to get more from the place I bought it from. Plus I’m still in the light lace area so some concentration required.

I guess for Day #13 when I get home, if I still want mindless stockinette, I might cast on and do the last of the helmet liners. I also really should get to finishing my Waterlily top and/or cast on for finishing the 2nd of the Perkele mitts.

One bit of good news, a very mangled package finally arrived containing the issue of Interweave Crochet with the Citrine Skirt & Sapphire Skirt patterns that I’ve been wanting to do. I was a little dismayed that the pictures of the latter were SO BLURRY which is appalling for a PRINT MAGAZINE but what upset me more was realizing that the skirt can’t be worn by itself. It’s far too “see through” for it and the model was wearing leggings to match the main blue of the skirt. The same pictures were also online but I thought the blurry grainyness that made it hard to see anything of the skirt aside from the big flower motifs was due to poor image manipulations for the web. The print version was at least bigger and showed enough more detail that I could see the leggings now.

I really like the look of it but clearly will have to reinvent it to a more solid pattern if I get around to making it.

Citrine doesn’t disappoint though and I look forward to trying it out. I think I’ll try the Sailor yarn first and then perhaps the HP 31 Print by Lana Grossa.

Though I was exhausted when we got back between 7 & 8pm Monday night, I got the trailer parked, unhitched and dragged the bulk of the stuff into my house before collapsing on the couch.

Feeling frustrated at being 11 days into 17 days of Ravelympics, I dug out the Candy Cane #2 scarf and added the last 12 pieces of fringe in white Microspun which I’d found and wound neatly into a cake the previous week.

Finally an FO to cross the finish line with!

And here’s my “medal” for finishing!

Worked some on the Merletto Mitts and got out of the ribbing and into the lace pattern.

Also finished knitting out the Grrlfriend bag out to the end of the 2nd skein of yarn. Debating about whether to finish off here or keep going for a third one to make it bigger. Bag feels heavy already though.

Thinking that Adara is too heavy for this bag pattern, perhaps a crocheted one instead that uses chains for mesh?

Didn’t really work on anything else because I was also trying to get preparations done for the camping trip to Pinnacles.

Bound off on the body late Thursday night and set it aside.

I also worked on the new Grrlfriend bag and got it into the 2nd skein of yarn.

I casted on and got through the fiddly part. Perhaps it’s just me but Laura talks about it in the pattern itself too. It’s VERY hard to keep the DPNS (double pointed needles) from falling out after you’ve divided the stitches from the cast on. With two stitches on each needle and the yarn held loosely because you’re trying to be sure you’re attempting to knit from the correct needle and not accidently cabling… there’s nothing to really hold the needles in place so they keep falling out.

I finally solved it by dividing among two needles instead of 4. With that few stitches, you can get the first couple rows knitted before it becomes an issue with laddering and by then, you’re enough on the way that you can hold the yarn snugger and the needles will stay in.

One thing that was advantageous about making the pattern once already was now I know the pitfalls of how easy it is to mess up on the K2tog/YO row. If you get off at all, the lines of the stitches start reversing and going the other direction up the bag or branching instead of being a proper grid like a chain link fence. I didn’t mind it in the first bag so I left the mistakes in and instead just practiced on making sure I was on track.

The trick is, when you knit the 2 stitches together, the 2nd stitch should be the knitted YO from the previous row. If it isn’t, you’re off. So just pay an iota of attention to whether or not the 2nd stitch is correct and you’ll be fine.

Also be sure to remember the final YO at the end of the row, it’s very easy to forget when you hit the stitch marker that marks the end of the row!

I got the bottom done and about 5″ of the sides when I needed a break.

So I dug out the icy aqua balls and casted on for the Moon Beads since it’s crochet and not knit which makes it a very different project.

It said to chain loosely and to use H hook. I of course was bad and didn’t do any swatching so I was trying to figure out as I went along. When I got to 200 of 234 to chain, I held it around my shoulders and it already seemed too big. Decided to stop there and move on to the pattern.

After 3 rows of V Stitches, I finally decided that I didn’t like how loose it was coming out. I think the charm of the cowl requires tighter/smaller Vs. So I frogged it all (using the ball winder to wind up the yarn that had been used – that was tricky cause there’s still the original balls!) and started over using an F hook and being sure not to chain so loosely either. At 200 chains, I still thought that it was loose around the top of the shoulders so I went again with that number.

Didn’t make it to the V rows because it was time to go to bed and I was drooping. I couldn’t even finish the episode of Battlestar Galactica that I was watching.

I can see why people love the new BSG so much. I did the knitting & crocheting for today to the initial miniseries that kicked off the remake and then started the formal season episodes.

I couldn’t help it, the ball winder had arrived and I just had too much fun finally taking care of numerous half used ‘about to be a complete snarled mess’ skeins of yarn and winding them into neat yarncakes.

I even did the opened skein of expensive Colinette Giotto that was already too messed up to be able to use easily. Now I think finally all the mental obstacles I had about starting my Waterlily Top project with that yarn have been eradicated.

I took care of my “being afraid of making my first garment for myself in an expensive yarn only to wind up with something that doesn’t fit at all” fear by knitting it first in a cheaper yarn (Berroco Zen Colours). Now the “oh god it’s too much of a mess to be able to knit with, I’ll be stopping every 20 stitches to untangle another yard’s worth to knit with” is gone too cause no more mess!

I was so into it that I even dug out some snarled messes of Microspun skeins that I bought because it was on clearance for a great price and I knew I wouldn’t mind unsnarling it when the day came I finally got myself a ball winder. And I was right!

I am sometimes, so easily amused.

I think the only knitting I got done was a few rows of a new square for another Fuzzy Bunny. When I finished the Tudora, A & I were talking about the Fuzzy Bunny and how a mutual friend adored the pictures of the pink one I’d made. She suggested that I make one for him in all black and I was holding the remainder of the skein of Patons Brilliant which was plenty for making a square for Fuzzy Bunny with. Perfect! It’ll be the smallest one yet as I think I finally hit the recommended 6″ size from the pattern. Will just have to figure out something suitable for tail, something silvery I hope.