As Promised

Well, here they are, folks. A bunch of glorified gauge swatches. :) I think there are a few in there that can certainly rival Geo's "ugly", but there are a few that I'm pretty pleased with, too. Toward the end I had to lessen the technical difficulty (double my triple salchow, if you will) in order to get them all done in time, but hopefully there's enough artistic merit in there to still impress the judges. I am so glad to have participated in the afghan project. Thanks again for the great idea, Jamaica! I have all these new projects brewing in my head from these stitches. I have finally, after many attempts, had some success with lace patterns in these blocks and that has totally inspired me! The other thing this project has done, though, is unleashed my inner yarn snob. I'm so sick of knitting with cheap acrylic yarn!

I took my stitches out of The Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns (my Christmas present from my mom and a really great book!). Even though you probably can't see them too well in the picture, I'll list them in the order they appear, just in case anybody cares:

1. Honeycomb
2. Left Diagonals
3. Trinity Stitch
4 & 5. Garter Stitch (done in my last desperate hour and half on Saturday night)
6. Dewdrops (which looked lovely and dainty in the picture in the book, but when knitted in my Pepto-Bismol pink yarn looked horribly, horribly ugly)
7. Column of Leaves (my favorite)
8. Overlapping Waves
9. Tweed
10. Gentle Curves
11. another Trinity Stitch
12. Open and Closed Fans

I have really enjoyed this experience and being able to hear about everyone else's progress. And I have been SO impressed with all of your projects! Thanks, everyone, for the encouragement and positive vibes!

Team Business

I know that we've only just finished, and that we still have posts to come in about our projects but I'd like to put a few things out there for team members to think about.

1. I want to say how great it was, in my opinion at least, to have been part of a small and closely connected team like ours. I know that some of you in "Deseret" get to meet in person to knit, but this was a little like having some of you out here with me. Thanks for the fun and companionship, for me, that was the best thing to come out the Knitting Olympics. I think everybody should be proud of their accomplishments and that we will soon have enough blocks to donate a "Team Deseret" afghan to a great cause like Warm Up America.
2. Speaking of that, I'd like to remind whoever will collect them to let us know where we should send the blocks. I bet it would make a great party to get toegether and assemble them. Very "sewing bee," I'm jealous.
3. Finally, I'm not sure how others feel in the team, but I would hate for this to be the end of the online LDS knitting presence. I'd like to put it out there that I hope we will continue in this or some other incarnation for fellowship and building of the community. I'd like to encourage everyone to think of ways to facilitate this, if any of you think as I do that we should continue.

Once again, congratulations to everyone who participated whether you finished your projects or not, and best wishes from Manhattan.

Finished Object: Fair Isle Beret

I wrote a full post with two other pictures and my opinions on my Olympic experience here.

This beret was the "Fair Isle Beret" from p. 41 of Vintage Knits by Sarah Dallas. I knit it with 1 skein each of Knit Picks Palette 100% wool fingering weight yarn in Grass, Mint, Pool, Petal, Lemon, and Mist. I cast on around 8:30 p.m. on Friday, February 10 and finished around noon yesterday, Saturday, February 25. I estimate that I spent between 25-30 hours on the project. The beret measures 10" (25.5 cm) across flat and has a circumference of 22" (56cm) around my head at the opening point (much wider of course at the wider part of the beret.)

So, I wore it to church today, even though it was pretty darn cold here in Manhattan. I found that despite my ambivalence towards the color that people (suprisingly the men) liked it and told me it seemed like springtime, which was what I was going for. This picture and the ones on my blog are so funny because the wind was going in these huge gusts and I was afraid the thing would fly off because it is as light as a piece of paper. You can see my hair flying around in this one, and in the one with me and my dog on my blog, if you click on it you can see how red my face is from the cold! So after all the frustration of making this thing, I definately am looking forward to the more comfortable days that it represents.

I Believe In Miracles

11:28 pm. That's what time I cast off the last stitch of Charity Block #12.
Four and a half hours. That's how long I had been knitting continuously (ok, one bathroom break) prior to that moment.
Two days ago I had completed 5 blocks and thought I'd be lucky if I finished 8, 4 short of my goal. Who says Olympic dreams don't come true?
I've got to go to bed. I'll post some pics tomorrow. Night-night, everybody.

Putting the needles to bed

Ah me, what wonders you've created, Team Deseret! And we haven't seen 'em all yet.

I finished stitching my two necklaces, though I had to abandon the wire plans and go with actual fiber. I'll get back to my wire experimentation later--I decided that it was more important to be flexible and actually reach my olympic goal by this evening. So, wool it was. Okay by me--I love wool!

It's tough not to compare my basic blocks and necklaces with the beauties the rest of you have worked up, but I am reminding myself that the challenge was the thing. For me, right now, these little bits were a challenge. The stretching came in making time, even a little time, for something I love to do: knit, and in doing so for somebody(ies) else. I got to take care of me and also get out of myself for a minute. To tell you the truth, for me, the most fun of all has been interacting with and watching you all.

So, yeah, I'm done clicking and clacking for now. I'll take tomorrow off. I still need to block a necklace that looks very very strange at the moment, but will hopefully improve with some OCD steaming and pressing and pinning. I still need to weave in ends on the other two uglies I made for the humanitarian afghan. I need to sew a button and string some beads. But the durn stitching is done. Monday I will think about our awards. Tomorrow I read in the tub and think about what's next.

I'll post a photo or three on Monday. I hope to see more from the rest of you. She Who Wins Blue Ribbons In County Fairs brought over some finished blocks, so I'll post some photos for her too.

Enjoy your Sabbath, folks. Love ya.

Blocking on the Bed

I didn't want Christy to be the only one with a red shawl pinned to the bed, so here's Kiri. She got a nice warm soak with Italian bath gel before her trip to the bedroom. And just so everyone knows, Christy wasn't the only one knitting with dirty hair! I think I do my best knitting in my jammies with greasy hair sticking straight up. Trust me, it's the only time my baby fine blonde locks stand up. The only difference between Christy & me that I can tell is in the beverage of choice---diet coke for me. Lots of it! Well, that and the fact that the snowdrop shawl is much more difficult than Kiri. I have snowdrop saved for a future time. Like maybe the Vancouver olympics????

I have some more pictures on my blog (www.beadntat.blogspot.com) The obligatory "bee-hind" shawl pix are yet to come---after Kiri gets up from her nap. It's been a blast knitting with ya'll!

Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful

The Snowdrop Shawl is blocking. She's extremely happy to be off the needles and glad to have her border. I can't believe I'm finished. I feel like those cross country skiers that fall down in a heap as soon as they cross the finish line. I wrote an extended entry on my personal blog. You can find it HERE!

I made it!

I'm all done with my beret, and it is blocking now. I plan to wear it to church in the morning so I can take a nice picture while I'm still dressed in my Sunday clothes. Until then, I'm finishing my second charity afghan block. Congrats to everyone else who has finished, and there are still a few hours left for those of you who haven't so hang in there.

Wheeee! Casted off this morning

Wheeee! I'm done. It was quite a performance last night. Those last few rows of Kiri are so long! I knit madly on the edging as I watched the Ladies Figure Skating. I correctly predicted the silver medal, only the gold and bronze medalists did the flip flop on me. But Shizuka Arikawa of Japan skated beautifully--a truly olympic performance. Just like my shawl, huh? I finished knitting the last row last night, but opted to cast off this morning so it would be nice and even. I'll post another picture once I've finished blocking. I admit I am very pleased with myself over this one :-)

Finished

The toddler socks/slippers are done. The don't fit quite as well as I'd hoped, but they will fill the measure of their creation nonetheless. Also, I'm really glad for this project--I'd forgotten how much I enjoy knitting. Go team go!

I'm seriously starting to lose it...

I am reposting comment I made on Harlot's blog, as am trying to save knitting time. I'm sorry team, I think I'm letting you down. (This post is more realistic, if read aloud without taking a breath - just do confused british/american accent and you'll sound just like the crazy limey that wrote it).

I hear you loud and clear. Last night I woke up to use the bathroom around 2:30pm and considered whether I should not go back to bed (although I had only been in bed for an hour) and knit. I made myself go back to sleep but dreamed of knitting. If only the amount of knitting I accomplished while sleeping had magically appeared, I would be done. Unfortunately, tis not so. I feel like I am skiing down the hill with the avalanche chasing behind me, getting closer and closer to the inevitable doom of not completing.
I was off to such a great start with the first sleeve finished in 3 days and 2nd sleeve a week later (I was slowing down), then I hit the ribbing on the body and time stood still. AND THEN, my body decided to become ill (which was of you sneaky olympic countries sabotaged me with illness), 3 of 4 kids became ill and then husband informed (reminded) me that we're going out of town for some boring dental conference (oh yeah, and 14th wedding anniversary) in chicago. Which just happens to be the weekend of the pinewood derby, where the pack was so kind as to say that siblings could have cars to race too. I put my foot down at only the 10, 7, and 4 year participating - 13 mo old will just have to hold this against me and drag up on Dr. Phil shows as evidence of psychological abuse later in life. So, 3 cars later - well, actually I have to go help 4 year old paint, calm husband as he profanes about "who hated parents enough to invent such an annoying event" as he tries to get them to the correct weight.
This is a long comment, I know! Did I mention that I was knocking down all the Vitamin C and Echinaeca (spelt wrong) plus beautiful Diet Coke (seriously 6 cans today) to try to complete preparing home for babysitter, knit, pack, cook, pack, laundry (8 loads), knit and I think possibly cry.
Oh, but don't worry I'm not complaining!! ha ha
P.S. How much Diet Coke in the bloodstream constitutes olympic doping? Because if more than 6 is illegal, then I'm pleading the 5th (which I'm not sure I can do, as I'm a british citizen living in the US - Do you have to be american to plead the 5th? and would it even matter if they had this comment as evidence.)
Oh crap! I've lost my ever-knitting-loving mind!

Speed Dining

1. No time to eat with hands. I am now resorting to being "fed" by my trainer.

2. Greasy hair. No time to shower.

3. No makeup. Not even my brand new eyeshadow!

4. Cramping in my left arm. Feel the burn.

5. Three days left. Note to self: go and buy some Depends undergarments. Cannot waste any more time on the toilet.

Snowdrop Shawl

I don't have time right now to re-do my post on the Snowdrop Shawl so I'm just going to refer you to my website. The kids have had enough of me blogging today and are banging down the door!

See my Olympic progress here.

Block-o-rama!

I thought I'd give you all an update on my Olympic afghan progress. I have completed seven blocks and am working on an eighth. Obviously, some of them will require some blocking to look more presentable, but I didn't want to wait any longer to take a picture (and I'm hoping you all will be forgiving!)

Photo 1 (at left): top left--King Charles Brocade; top right--Tuck stitch; bottom left--Harris Tweed ribbing; bottom right--Knit Twist Lattice.

Photo 2 (at right): top left--Tweed pattern; bottom left--unnamed lace pattern that is supposed to look like diamond-shaped leaves (although it looks like a big mess at the moment); right--unnamed stitch pattern that gives a cool woven effect. (If I ever wanted to knit a placemat--who knows?--this would be the stitch I'd choose).

Three of these came from my Vogue Knitting book, one from a Leisure Arts book called 99 Knit Stitches, one from a pattern I've been eyeing in Jean Frost Jackets, and two from a booklet called "Knitting Primer," copyright 1968, which was mysteriously unearthed in my Grandmother's basement despite the fact that neither she nor anyone in her family ever knit a stitch as far as I know.

Even more impressive is the fact that I have successfully restrained myself from knitting anything else besides afghan blocks! I will admit I am counting down the days till I can pull out that cabled cardigan and finish it, though.

Team Deseret should have marched in the Parade of Nations

. . . wearing these!


Oh, I'm mourning for our lost opportunity, but hey, there's always Vancouver in 2010 . . . .

Pic Posted

Okay I was able to post a few pics, and here is one for you guys. The other ones are here.

Fair Isle Beret Updates

Hi everybody.

I have not updated my blog yet with pictures, but I have managed to untangle some of the problems I had with my project.

The Fair Isle Beret is now 20% complete. I would say 25% of the pattern but all the little weaving in ends will take a long while on its own. I do them after each pattern repeat, there are 4 repeats, and I've finished the first. This means that when I post my next pics, you will be able to see how it will mostly look.

Now, I have a few thoughts on it. First, I vacillate on whether I like the colors or not. You can see from this post which I picked, but I have to admit that though I was going for "springtime" colors, I didn't really want it to look like an easter egg. Sometimes I look at it and say, "wow this is gorgeous" and others I look at it and think a food dye truck crashed all over it. Second, becuase I had the needle problem, and ended up knitting it flat, I have this whole two-handed purling problem. That is, I have purl rows where I have to use two colors. Now, I picked up continental knitting very easily, and when I have knit rows it is no problem for me to hold a color in each hand. However, for some reason, I just cannot get my left hand to purl no matter what method I try. So this means I have to pick up one color and put down the other the entire time. It's a very slow method.

I don't know. The pictured beret from the book is lovely, and mine looks like it, but I'm feeling sort of irritated and dissatisfied with the project at the moment.

Good luck to everybody else!

Olympics Day Five: Kiri Grows

Five days into the olympics and my Kiri shawl is growing fast. And as Kiri grows so does Kiri's rows grow. Now seven repeats into the shawl, the rows are getting very long! This is a new experience for me for sure. I'm continuing to journal it all on my blog.

I wish I could join ya'll KIPing at the B&N tonight. I know where you're at though, does that count???? I consoled myself by pulling weeds in my garden in the 50+ degree sunshine. I have 3 more daffodils ready to burst into bloom any day now and my hyacinths are coming up quickly. Am I making you snowbunnies jealous yet???? Even when it does snow here in the hills of Tennessee, it doesn't stay for long. I miss many things about living in Utah but the long dark, cold, snowy winters I do not miss at all. No Sam I am, I do not like them, not one bit! Give me warmth, give me flowers in my garden, I do not like the snow. My winter flowers have suffered much, though, as the wild rabbits have chosen to eat all my pansies. My next door neighbor has lots of fat blooms, but mine are all gone. It's a good thing I love the bunnies, but I think I'll be trying out the red pepper spray to deter their nibbling. Last year they really chomped the liatris in my rose garden, so I think I have to take action this year. So sorry little bunnies!

{{{hugs}}} Kristina www.beadntat.blogspot.com I think I got the url right this time :-)

Olympic Trials Completed

Just an update to let you know that I finally finished sleeve one of Philosophers Wool Color Your Own today. Yeah - according to PW info though, I am only 1/6 of the way there. I better get cracking then. I love the colors and is has been such an interesting pattern, yet still one I can watch tv with. Loving it!

Come on everybody else, I'm eager to see updates on how our team is progressing. Remember, there is no "I" in TEAM.

Fair Isle Beret Updates

Hi everyone, I'm Bev, and I'm glad to have joined Team Deseret. I was excited to find this group because I don't know a lot of LDS knitters out east by me. I'm a knitter of 2 years and I love to knit socks and do stranded colorwork. My project for the Knitting Olympics is the "Fair Isle Beret" from p. 41 of Vintage Knits by Sarah Dallas, and I will be contributing a square to the charity afghan as well.

Things haven't been going so well for me on the Fair Isle Beret. I've had some needle and instruction trouble and progress has been slower than I'd like. I've posted two updates with pictures to my blog since we began and they are here and here. Good luck to everyone else, I am enjoying seeing how all the other projects are doing - let's all give it our best gold medal effort!

Ugly

Hey, I'm finished with my first afghan block except for weaving in the ends. It's the simplest of the simple--done in stockingette stitch, and decorated with a pinwheel flower in the center. I don't know what I was thinking, but I used a variegated acrylic yarn in pale colors (and for those of you who know my general preferences, this is already wierd). Actually, I do know what I was thinking: "Omigosh, the opening ceremonies are starting, and I haven't dug out my charity afghan yarns yet! Oh, wait, I'll just quickly finish this little scarf for my latest stuffed bear and then I'll cast on with the same yarn. It's perfect--it won't shrink!" A few rows into the block I realized that this was going to be rather uninteresting. That's when I decided on the flower embellishment. A raging debate began in my head: "I should pull this out and start over.Everyone else is doing phenomenally pretty blocks. This one's going to be the leper of the bunch." "No way! Don't let your pride overtake you. Just get a block done. It'll blend. It'll look better with a flower." So, I knit.

This morning, I sheepishly showed my wierd block to Rob. His job was to tell me, "It's not so bad. The flower definitely improves it." He didn't do his job. Instead, we both started laughing and he said, "Yep, that's ugly!" I teased him and pretended to be indignant, but you know, he's right. He tried to make it better by praising my knitting skills--they're "perfect" now, of course--and it was wholly the yarn's fault for being unexciting. We both laughed a lot over breakfast about this. Poor inglorious little block. Orphan block. Can we still take pity on this block?

I will post a photo later on, if only to help the rest of you feel better about whatever it is you're working on. I think I've only ever made one thing worse than this, and that was a pair of baby booties that would have made Frankenstein blush. Interestingly enough, I was also using an acrylic variegated yarn that was left over from someone else's project, but in truly toxic colors. I guess I'm just out of my element.

Thwarted

I'm thwarted at every blogging turn today. I spent a while dumping my thoughts to my own blog and now have nothing to show for it and just now, I took pictures of my knitting project to mark my progress and can't get the photos off the camera. So you'll just have to trust me, the first half of sock/slipper no. 1 is looking mighty fine. I even think it's going to fit!

I'm impressed with the other products that are getting pumped out. And necklaces? I'm intrigued; please post a picture of this finished product! Have any of you seen any Torino footage yet? Not me (sadly). The only thing that would make this more fun is if we could all knit in the same physical space. You sundog-serial-knitters have got it good!

Snowing Down South

Snow in Februrary was commonplace when I lived in the State of Deseret but gee, I didn't think joining Team Deseret would cause it to snow in Tennessee! After all, there's a reason why I think skiing is what you do on water behind boats. I had to dig in the back of the closet to find my Utah snow boots yesterday. I guess my feet have changed 'cuz those boots hurt once I had them on. Blech! forget snow boots and gimme my clogs.

I'm making nice progress on Kiri. so far I have 4 repeats done--4 down and 8 to go. I have the rudimentary elements of a blog where I'm tracking my olympic event. I'm nervous to admit it, but go take a peek if you get the chance. www.beadntat.blogspot.com

I woke up with a wretched migraine this morning so I missed church. I guess that's the bad news. The good news was I got to see the tab choir broadcast on BYU-TV and my dear friend and former VT companion Laura Garff-Lewis sang a delicious solo. She has the yummiest, creamy tone to her voice. Full-fat, full flavor, Haagen-daz ice cream creamy. It was such a treat for me to hear her that I wasn't at all sad to be playing hooky at home. It's hard to believe that it's been four years since she sang the olympic hymn at the closing ceremonies of the SLC games. Time does fly, doesn't it!

I hope everyone is recovering from physical bang-ups (fig) and visits to he frog pond during the warm-up runs. Gird up your loins team, fresh courage take! Two weeks is a long time left to accomplish our mission. Go team!

{{{hugs}}} Kristina

Lagging Behind in the Qualifying Heats

Well, I have (finally!) finished charity block #1. I'd better start knitting faster if I expect to meet my goal of 12. I, too, am feeling that I may have bitten off slightly more than I can chew here (sometimes I forget that I have a life other than knitting to deal with). But I will take inspiration from the many Olympic heroes who didn't give up and came back to win it in the end! :)

I hope you all enjoy my ridiculously close up picture there. We just got a digital camera and I'm infatuated with the macro function. And, oddly enough, the block actually looks a lot better this close.

The Elusive Snowdrop

Hi all! I'm Christy from Lincoln, NE. I just wanted to get a post in about what I'm doing for the Knitting Olympics. I've decided to do The Snowdrop Shawl (you can find the pattern on the Yarn Harlot's website for free). Now that I've started I realize that I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I should do about 17 snowdrops a day so I have time to do the border and block it before the closing ceremonies. I'm just finishing up number 9 and it's almost the end of day 2! This can't be good. I can forsee a lot of sleepless nights over the next couple of weeks. I don't have a picture of my progress yet. But, here is the yarn I'm using. It is a lovely red laceweight alpaca.

Warming Up! & Practice Runs

Here is the pic of the Cuff and first 4 rows on the PW sleeve. I need to get knitting. From what Ann & Eugene (from Philosophers Wool) have said, that once you have both sleeves done you are one third of the way there. That means that I need to be completed with both sleeves by Day 5 (ahhhh!) You know I'm almost grateful for this new medicine as my dr. wanted me to stay home all weekend and not go out because it can had some funky side effects. What a perfect excuse to sit and knit all day. Unfortunately 4 kidliwinks and HunkyHusband don't seem to have the same agenda as I do.

Links for olympians

Here's a great link! Get tips on knitting quickly and safely from the Beadlizard.

And here is The Knitting Olympics Athletes' Pledge.

Gimpy olympian

Would you believe that a day before the opening ceremonies I took a hard fall on some canyon ice and injured one of my knitting halves? Yup, it's true. I was doing my first day of my Idita Walk with my dog and a few seconds after taking him off his leash so he wouldn't keep dragging me no-traction-and-screaming down Rock Canyon's wintry path, I wiped out and how, coming down with a great force squarely on my left wrist and wrenched my arm and shoulder and neck too. Thought maybe I'd done some real damage for a while, but no, it appears that I am only going to be very stiff and sore for a bit. The first thing to cross my mind after "OWOWOWOWOWOW!!!!!" was "Oh no! How am I going to knit in the olympics?!" I did start a charity block last night, but didn't get through. I'm off to a slow start, but luckily I'm only racing against myself.

One down!

I finished my first Olympic Afghan block last night and wanted to share. I used it as sort of a gauge swatch, since most of the stash yarn I'm planning to use is good old WoolEase. I chose a simple knit/purl pattern called "King Charles Brocade" that I've always liked but never used before. Now that I know approximately how many stitches will give me a 7-inch-wide block, I'll be moving on to more challenging stitch patterns.

And speaking of challenges . . . my personal Olympic challenge is to work exclusively on charity knitting during this time. For some of you, that may seem like nothing. Trust me, though; I had to fight hard to keep from giving in to that almost-completed cabled cardigan as it kept whispering seductively from its project bag. ("Just a row or two on my nearly-finished second sleeve won't hurt!" "No one will know if you just swatch for my buttonband that you've been wanting to experiment with. I know you can't get it off your mind!") I did manage to ignore it, though, and wove in the ends on the above Olympic afghan block with only a sigh or two. Maybe it will get easier.

Let the Games begin!

As a long distance member of the team, I thought I should introduce myself during the opening ceremonies. My name is Kristina and I live in Knoxville TN. My other hometown is Salt Lake City. I'm a 40-something, still single, mother of Emmeline Eliza aka Miss Emme-a darling red mini dachshund who will turn 2 yrs. old on Feb. 25th. I'm a neonatal nurse and am currently working on my doctoral dissertation in nursing at the University of Tennessee (Go Vols!!!). Knitting is one of the things I do to keep calm and happy.

My inital plan was to knit my first pair of toe-up, short-rowed heel socks as my olympic event. I know I can succeed at socks, and it was a reasonable, safe project. But that was before I started knitting my first shawl--the flower basket shawl from inerweave knits in Knit Picks alpaca cloud. That was before I found a huge hank (1 lb., 2000 yds) of red 50/50 cashmerino laceweight yarn yarn at my lys for a bargain price. It's red! How American! It's Italian yarn! How olympic!!!! A red lace shawl...now that's a *real* olympic event. I didn't buy the yarn at first, but it followed me home anyway. I dreamt about it for days. I want that yarn! So last Tuesday I went back and bought it. I've been swatching for a couple of days now and have decided to knit the Kiri shawl from All Tangled Up. http://www.alltangledup.com/movabletype/my_images/my_patterns/kiri.pdf
It's an excellent lace shawl for beginners and I'm quite psyched to do it. Here's a pic of one of my swatches.

I'm tickled pink to be a part of Team Deseret. I wish you all good luck, God bless, and let the games begin!
{{{hugs}}} beadntat

All about Torino

Get the goods on Torino, compliments of Borders.

Borders left off one very important detail, however, and that is when it's noon in our lovely Deseret, it's 8:00 in Torino. Sheesh. Skip our time zone, why don't you!

The perfect send-off

How about this? She Who Wins Blue Ribbons in County Fairs emailed this wonderful blessing, in Italian and English, for all the members of Team Deseret:

"Voglio augurare a tutte noi della squadra due bellissime settimane agonistiche durante queste olimpiadi! Noi siamo atleti che sferruzziamo ... viva i giochi olimpici della maglia!!!! Che vinca il migliore, come si suol dire, ma che soprattutto noi tutte ci divertiamo durante le gare. Tre ... due ... uno ...viaaaaaa!!!!!"

"I want to wish to all of us on the team two exciting athletic weeks during these Olympic Games! We are knitting athletes ... long live the knitting Olympic Games!!!! May the best win, as the saying goes, but, most importantly, that we may all have fun during the Games. Three ... two ... one ...go!!!!!"

Thanks, She! We're so glad you're on our team!

Point of clarification

The Humanitarian Afghan Bobsled event is an option only. If you choose to contribute blocks to the communal afghan, you are welcome to commit to any number between 1 and a brazillion, but being a member of Team Deseret does not make this event mandatory. It's completely up to you to direct your own athletic prowess. Some wil do solo events, some team events, some both. As Bobsled Marva Mon says, "Don't worry; be happy!"

Humanitarian afghan

Anyone want to participate in a group event? Bobsled Marva Mon, our fearless faux-Jamaican, has graciously agreed to head up this project which will follow the construction and assembly guidelines found at Warm Up America! Check it out and then contact me with any questions you may have.

Team Deseret Olympic Anthem

Here it is, athletes, our very own anthem! Remember, you can find the tune here. I hope Eliza R. Snow won't mind my taking a few gentle liberties with her lyrics. (Eliza, you're my hero!)

In Our Lovely Deseret
(anthem of Knitting Olympics Team Deseret)

In our lovely Deseret, Where we knitters all have met,
There's a multitude of stashes all around.
We are generous and brave; We have dropped stitches to save;
Oh, the clack of needles is our fav'rite sound!

(chorus)
Hark! Our Olympic torch is burning in Torino, far away.
We're creating what we love, like our Father up above;
We're peculiar and we mean to stay that way!

Sing it, sisters! (Brothers are welcome too, but we haven't had any sign up to knit yet.)

I'd like to call your attention to the right sidebar for a moment. Look at that! We have a Team Chiropractor and a Team Massage Therapist! What other knitting team can boast that? We're small, but we're mighty, and we're pampered! Go, Deseret!

On the subject of awards, I'm still working on that one. We'll definitely have them. Keep watching for details. A finished project is great in and of itself, but let's not be small-minded here; this is the Olympics!

NEWSFLASH! We've been validated!

Thanks so much for putting Team Deseret on the map, Kat! There we are, pretty as you please, listed under "Other Teams" and next-door neighbors to Team Angstylvania (definitely the wittiest team I've come across so far).

Wow, I feel like such a participant! How about you, Carina? Anybody else ready to commit? We want some teammates.

Olympic knitting bee

So, you want to knit with Team Deseret? Okay, try these qualifications on for size:

You have read and understand the the concept of the Knitting Olympics and agree to the basic rules.

YES?--Continue!
NO?--Visit Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's terrific blog, review the guidelines, then meet back here with a Yes.

You are familiar with LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley's "6 Be's" and are willing to give them an Olympic effort while you're representing Team Deseret.

YES?--Great! Why don't you re-read them now, for the sake of keeping them fresh in your mind.
NO?--Please follow the Yes people to this transcript of his address and enjoy the rest of your training.

You are fluent with the Deseret alphabet.

YES?--You're kidding, right? And you knit too? You already deserve a gold medal for being an overachiever.
NO?--Me neither. But here's a chart that could help you learn, if you're inclined. And here's another giving a brief history of Brigham Young's 38-character alphabet (you'll have to scroll down a bit). This site offers a free font download for the Deseret alphabet. Want to be my pen pal?

You know that quirky, sweet old hymn, "In Our Lovely Deseret" (and can't sing it without a smile).

YES?--Join the club. Or rather, join the team.
NO?--It's okay! You can learn the music; it's easy. Then you can come back here and sing the revised lyrics, which will be our Team Deseret Knitting Anthem (I'll have those lyrics posted by Monday).

You're committed to participating in no olympic knitting events on the Sabbath. This means you must finish your knitting event by February 25th, a day before the closing ceremonies in Torino.

YES?--You're in. There's no doubt that "this is the place" for you.
NO?--Let's talk. Don't think of it as three less days to get your project done; think of it as a way to show gratitude for those fabulous hands of yours, and to honor God. Besides, your hands are going to appreciate having those days off. If you're having doubts, get yourself a copy of Chariots of Fire, watch it with your loved ones, and take heart. We really can do it in 13 days!


One last suggestion I have is for you to review yet again the general 2006 Knitting Olympic rules, then make your choice as to what you'll work on for your event, start swatching, and contact me to be included on the official Team Deseret roster! Don't forget to check today's earlier blog post to check out our banners-to-date.


Next items of business will be awards and our team anthem. Stay tuned!

Latecomers with logos

It's less than a week till the Knitting Olympics get underway, so it's time to join the fray, so to speak, and get teamed up. I was about to pledge my allegiance to the USA team, but at the last moment I realized I was in a great position to start my own team: Team Deseret! I have team qualifications to post, information about medals, even an anthem . . . this is going to be much fun. For the moment, I only have time post the preliminary logos. If you already know you're interested in finding out more about this team, please drop me an email, and when I'm done helping my granny celebrate birthday #88 today, I'll get back to you! In the meantime, please check out founder Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's website to acquaint yourself with the general rules of the Knitting Olympics. Then please come back if believe you have what it takes to knit for Team Deseret! You have my promise: Guidelines will be posted next.

This was my first bit of playing around with a banner for this team. As you can see, it isn't quite finished. Maybe I'll get back to this once all the groundwork is laid.


Here are the official banners so far:


I don't yet have code for them to make them live links for your pages, but I'll get to that.

What "peculiar" thing will you knit in the Knitting Olympics?