Gold Medal for Canada!

Guess what world?

That’s right- I’m a gold medalist! I knit 2 pairs of socks in two weeks and I just managed to finish on time! Knitters participating in the Olympics were asked to select something that would challenge them. You’ve seen me knit countless pairs of socks, but the challenge I knew would be time.

AND HOO BOY, it was close. I finished Sunday, the 28^th, around noon. (Thank goodness because there’s no way I would have knit a stitch during that hockey game nail biter.) Time was even more of a challenge than I thought. I didn’t really start until the Sunday I got back from Maui (Feb 14^th). I jumped right in, knitting Grandpa’s socks first- and man they were huge! Unfortunately I was presented with a challenge when I got back to work. There was a tsunami, (because tidal wave is just not adequate to express the size) of work waiting for me. There were late nights at work that took away sock knitting time. And yet, somehow I finished Grandpa’s socks in a flurry of efficiency.

Just when I thought I could manage Grandma’s socks, because I had caught up with work, life threw me another obstacle- namely a nasty cold. I knew that the end of my week I’d be helping my sister with her move, so I had planned for efficient knitting in the earlier parts of the week. Except I became a one man snot factory and when I wasn’t blowing my nose, I was feeling too tired to think about knitting. (The fear of another work tsunami kept me in the office, but I won’t lie, I wasn’t an A+ employee last week, I was working on a C average.) And yet, with maybe a few late nights thrown in, I did manage to finish grandma’s socks.

Pattern: Nutkin by Beth Lapensee

Yarn: OnLine Supersocke 100 – Florida Color in “1131” (Gah, I hate when yarn doesn’t have names!)

Needles: US 2, I purposely made sure to knit these a little bigger since I knit rather tightly and really wanted these to fit on Grandma’s legs!

Thoughts: I modified this pattern quite a bit- and outlined the changes here on Ravelry. I just did a ribbed cuff, heel flap and a regular toe instead of the pattern’s changes. Nutkin is a ridiculously easy pattern to memorize and I know why a lot of people have knit this one! I'd recommend it to beginners- but with my modifications.

I’d like to thank my sister for allowing me to sneak a few rows in while I was helping her move and my husband, the supplier of Kleenx, for his patience in not making any plans on the weekend so I could knit. I’d also like to thank my country, and the team I knit for, Canada, because you put on one hell of a great show. Today is the first day I haven’t watched Olympic coverage on television. For the last two weeks I have been RIVOTED to my television, jonesing for “hit” after “hit” of Olympic coverage.

I cheered with Alexandre Bilodeau who seemed so deserving of the status of being the Olympian who won the first gold on Canadian soil. And I cried like a big sap when he hugged this brother. I cheered, (and cried again), when the Canadian ladies of the speed skating track brought in their medals. I cried for Jeremy Wotherspoon who just wanted a medal so badly, and deserved it, and walked away empty handed. I cheered through every Canadian hockey game, I celebrated the Virtue and Moir skate, I cried at Joannie Rochette and didn’t breathe during the entire third period of that last hockey game. (Sydney Crosby for Prime Minister!) I watched everything there was to watch! I have cheered harder and cried more during these games than I have ever before. I am just so proud of my country and how we presented ourselves and who knew it would make me so emotional!? Anyways- thanks Canada, it was fun to be on your team, even if you haven’t recognized the knitting “sport”… yet.

I’m so proud of my "Bob" from the Ravelympics:

AND, my medal from the Yarn Harlot:

*In all fairness to myself in this photo- my sinuses are still kinda swollen!