A Sticky Situation

With the Olympics going on, everyone is off doing their Olympic knitting. I am super impressed with what people have been able to accomplish since the beginning of the games and what they have learned in the process. I am not officially participating, but I am in the spirit of competition. I officially admit, I didn't cast on with the torch-lighting, nor will I finish by the time it is extinguished. But I am doing a project that challenges me and has given me new skills to add to my arsenal.

Behold the WiP.........aided by the decorative pine cone.

I can't believe how far I have gotten in a week. This thing is breezing by and it is so much freakin' fun to knit. (Yes, I know I am calling attention to myself and the knitting gods are going to smack me for it, but whatever.) I am about 12 rows into the pattern and have begun the waist shaping. I have taken the suggestion of spit-splicing the ends together for this portion and have found it very nice, even though I got even more weird looks in the employee dining room on my break. A word to the wise though: DO NOT spit-splice if you have been eating Jolly Ranchers. It does not make for happy knitting. Trust me.

I am glad that I didn't just jump into this project without having had some fair isle experience. When I was making my mittens, I came across several people telling me to hold my yarns several different ways. I have determined, figure it out for yourself. Because whatever works best for you is going to give you the best chance at keeping even tension, and that is even more important on this project. Start with something small, get used to your fair isle technique, then jump on in!

Other things that have helped:What I have found very helpful with this project is my KnitPicks pattern holder (keeps everything together), my rigged, clipable row counter (doesn't get lost), a blown-up copy of the color chart ('cause I'm blind), a copy of the pattern ('cause I scribble on stuff), and a row-by-row listing of the decreases ('cause I get distracted....SQUIRREL!!).