Olympic Knitting Update

As of last night I'm onto the second sleeve - those are the thumb holes I was initially planning on doing without but which in the end I did include.

As for yarn, at the halfway point in the knitting save the generous cowl, I think I will probably have just enough of the light grey to finish (hopefully!). The announcers frequently say "anything can happen in the Olympics!" I'm trying to accept that (and the lack of a dedicated sports/knitting psychologist!) and just keep working away despite the uncertainty."

The back and first sleeve are done, the sleeve having been shaped on the fly, the back stopped and put on stitch holders twice but then lengthened after judging stretch and so as to match the sleeve cap. There are just a couple of increases between wrist and elbow for a narrow sleeve fit and to preserve yarn but after that I increased two stitches every right side row so the  sleeve would work with the body pieces.

To further ensure  decreases for the shoulder would match I did them per the pattern while trying hard not to freak out at the difference in the stitch counts for my Alpaca gauge (16/4") and that stated for the Wool yarn (13/4") of the pattern.

Live Olympic coverage here in Ontario runs from about 7:30 pm until the wee hours. I start out strong but after three hours or so start to loose mental steam. Like a finely trained speed skater, I no doubt have lactic acid build up. Its just mine is in my brain rather than my legs because I only have some pattern numbers, measurements, kind of an idea how the pieces should go together and how the whole thing might stretch once assembled. I can exert that effort at the end of the day for only so long before it really "hurts" to to maintain speed and form!

Like an Olympian I'm trying to feed on the "pain" and perform despite it. Knitting to my body rather than tracking through a pattern goes well with watching TV, however, being half asleep doesn't go so well with knitting so there has been some ripping back but not too much.

Bottom line, "The Challenge" (knit only while watching live Olympic coverage and without using a fully planned out pattern) is, well, challenging so I guess I'm on track as far as that goes!

Whether I'm going to finish on time? Like I said at the outset of this project, only a few athletes "medal" I may not be one of them but still I'm nonetheless getting a lot out of my "games". "Own the Podium"? How about just look at it with great admiration  from a distance! I'll be good with that too!

Oh and if anyone still cares about poor Tangled Yoke (I know I've pretty much lost all affection for the thing!) I've had some stupid errors in the last few inches of the button hole band suddenly come to my attention as I sewed on the buttons. I will not share with you the words I said when I discovered that little "treasure". I will however say... I WANT AN FO POST ON THAT BEAST BEFORE MONTH END!