It doesn't get much better than this!

Guess what Hubby managed to win this week:

4 tickets to the University of Minnesota Golden Gopher vs. University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldog hockey game in Duluth on Saturday;

Oh, and a luxury coach bus ride with free food and beverages to and from the game;

AND a pre-game dinner party at Grandma's with Coach Doug Woog;

As well as 4 t-shirts for us to wear at the game.

Can you spell e-x-c-i-t-e-d!

Best part, long bus ride to and from to knit like a maniac so I might just possibly finish Cables and Lace before the Olympic Closing Ceremonies, as planned.

Yeah, Hubby.

Oh, and Go Gophers!

My first 2 medals - Squeee!

The American Girl Sweater Set was entered in 4 events and two of the medals have come through so far. I feel so proud!

This is, by far, the most fun KAL I've ever done. Go Teammn2010!

Ravelympics Progress

After all that soul searching, poll taking and decision making, you'd think I'd have a clear goal for the Ravelry Olympics. After all, I spent weeks agonizing over which sweater to attempt. I spent 2 weeks drafting and rewriting the chosen project's pattern. I even fussed a bit at my husband when he surprised me with a dinner invitation on Friday night, when I'd planned to cast on with the thousands of other Raveletes during the opening ceremonies.

So what did I do . . .

Started a different project and finished it - all before I was 6 inches into my Ravelympic project.

Granted, this is a special gift for a lovely little girl who invited Peeps to her birthday party on Friday. Being a American Girl Doll fanatic, it only made sense that I could whip up a sweater set for her favorite doll. And I certainly did whip through this project.

Cast on Monday night at about 5:00 pm. Finished knitting everything by 10 pm Tuesday night. I finished the buttons at 9:00 am this morning (Wednesday). I used some Deborah Norville yarn I had in my stash and made up the sweater pattern, hat pattern and scarf as I went. I also invented little crocheted flowers to embellish everything. I am going to put this project up on Ravelry as an Olympic project, too, even though it is going to be a last minute entry. After all, I did start and finish it within the required time frame.


However, now I am back on track with my original Ravelympic project. It is moving along fairly smoothly but I am concerned that 5 of the original 14 days has already passed. I am really going to have to buckle down and focus if I'm going to cross the finish line in time.

And pray that no one else has a birthday party invite for my girls in the next 2 weeks.

Gotta go for the Gold!

Oh My Goodness!

Look what just popped up on Knitty!!!

Whaaaaaa! And I have already committed to knitting Cables & Lace for the Ravelympics! (Ravelry link)

Alas, I have been working very hard on rewriting Cables & Lace as a top-down raglan pattern. Even though I can't cast on until 8:00 tomorrow night, I've been "training" very hard this week (i.e. swatching, drafting the pattern, calculating gauge, etc.).


I'm just about ready for the Olympic Opening Ceremonies tomorrow. A little more pattern refining, a little more measuring and I'm all set to compete.

Oh, and my new reward for finishing Cables & Lace before the Closing Ceremonies: Casting on Skew!

Talk about going for the Gold!