Not the Smoothest of Starts

The Olympic Crazed knitting was off to a slow start for me, as I was distracted by my spinning on Friday afternoon - I had all the good intentions of starting my knitting promptly at 2pm local time, but just couldn't bring myself to leave that full bobbin alone and unplied until the end of the Olympic undertaking. Look here to see how it turned out.

Anyhow, Day One (or the day of Opening Ceremonies) otherwise was off to a creeping and slightly bumpy start - I think I finally cast on around 4pm or so. Progress was slow, with the twisted rib pattern going slower than conventional ribbing. About 2/3rds of the way through the leaf chart, I realized I had made a mistake in my knitting, and had to rip back to fix it, as I could think of no easy way to drop and re-pick up the stitches in a manner that would resolve the problem. I called it a night after I did my first set of sleeve increases.

Day Two - a day dedicated to knitting - I had hoped to finish off the sleeves, but apparently I was plagued with YO forgetfulness - meaning I forgot to insert a YO or two, and couldn't figure out why my count was wrong (I wasn't paying attention - I was too busy watching the Olympics on TV) Anyhow, like the minor fiasco of the previous day, there was no simple dropping and picking up the stitches to fix the problem - so rip rip rip I went....ending the night just after the last set of sleeve increases (and the ends of my first two balls of yarn).

Day Three - was supposed to be an off day, with knitting relegated to the car, but between the possibility of the forest being closed down (thanks to some foolish git who failed to put out their campfire properly) and sheer exhaustion, plans got mucked up and much sleeping ensued. Regardless, I finished off the sleeves, leaving enough yarn attached to graft them to the shoulders of the body once I get that far.

Seems I can't go a day without *some* issue with my knitting - in addition to finishing off the sleeves, I did cast on for the top of the sweater and discovered not one, but two discrepancies with my plans - the first was a math error on my part, resulting in uneven placement of the shoulders - that wouldn't do, and was quickly resolved. The 2nd was a combination of the pattern as written in the book and my math - (something about the increases for the shoulders - the number of stitches just weren't adding up properly - neither in the book nor in my converted notes). I think I've corrected it properly - we'll see once I get all the increases done. I have to say I'm loving this yarn (SWTC Optimum) - it's wonderfully soft - Lilac wouldn't be my first choice for color, but the price was right when I bought the yarn - we'll just pretend that my color choice is inspired by the Purple Leaf Plum Tree, shall we? :)