Olympic Sweater (But which Olympics?)

In order to post about this sweater I hope you'll bear with me through a wee bit of background...

At one time, not so long ago I had a very nasty, very protracted, almost scarring experience with a certain cotton cabled pram cover. It almost killed my interest in knitting. I set that pram cover out of view for months and months at a time but I was also determined not to invest in knitting yarn of any kind for myself until it was properly finished.

In the end the infant for whom the pram cover was started when he was still in the womb was in grade two by the time that 7 year war between myself and the pattern was over!

One winter evening shortly after it was finished I went on line looking for inspiration to at last start a new knitting project just for me! It would be the first sweater I would knit for myself in many many years.

I found a site called a "knitting blog". (I had to ask someone the next day what "blog" meant!) The thing had stories about the author's knitting projects. I bookmarked it certain that this was a rare find that might prove worthy of visiting again for additional inspiration at a later date. (Its hard to believe reading this now but that was my thinking at the time!)

The next day I visited a yarn store with a plan to make a sweater out the current Vogue Knitting. I went home with a bag of Sirdar yarn and cast on.

Since the Pram Cover Wars had been so hard won I felt I deserved to really dive right into this new project so I set my usual activities aside for the next few hours and knit while I watched Men's Curling from the Olympics. Over the next couple of weeks I watched Olympic coverage in the snowy afternoons while I knitting my sweater.

I didn't realize it but I was having my own personal knitting Olympics utterly unaware so many others were doing the same. Even once I discovered other knit blogs and saw Knitting Olympics buttons I still erroneously imagined they referred to a travelling speed knitting contest held at shopping malls or something.

So its funny now this week to read of people planning their projects for this next Olympics or announce they won't do Olympic Knitting for whatever reason that I'm finally posting my FO report on my last Olympic Knit.

Pattern: "Artful Sweater" by Kirsten Cowan

Source: Vogue Knitting Winter 05/06

Yarn: Sirdar Denim Chunky

Needles: Aero 5.5mm

Started: Winter 2006 Finished: July 7, 2008

Pattern Mods: Changed Neckline from Zippered Turtleneck to wide crew neck

Like its predecessor the Pram Cover, "issues" with this knit lead to long periods of neglect following a fun and fast beginning and it took a ridiculous amount of time before the last bit was finished. I think there are errata in the pattern at the neck line although I have never been able to find corrections. I emailed VK about it but never heard back. In the end two weeks ago at the cottage I sat down and changed the neck and upper yoke construction completely, omitting the zipper. I'm happy enough with it as it is. I now know I should have used a two stranded cast on of some kind for better stretch at the bottom edges of all pieces. It could also have been longer to better suit my body type.

Nonetheless it will be a great ski sweater and its classic style will mean I'll always get wear out of it. Up until the neck it was great fun to knit. The braided cables were new to me and I really like how they differ from the usual cables you would expect to see.

As for the next Olympics, my travelling back and forth to the cottage where there is no television or Internet means I'll be watching little if any Olympic coverage. What will I be knitting by then though? I'm looking very forward to figuring that out soon!