The 2010 Winter Knitting Olympics

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        Nowadays when the summer or winter Olympics come around, knitters around the US (at least) put on their own version of self-imposed competition: the Knitting Olympics.  The rules are simple: You choose your project before the games.  If a shop or web site is hosting KO, you let them know what your project is.  If not, you just buy your yarn, then sit back and wait for the games to begin.  You cast on when the opening ceremonies begin, and finish the project by the end of the closing ceremonies.  This is about finishing your stated project, not about who finishes first.  Plus, it is suggested that each project offer its knitter some challenge in the form of a new technique or unusual spin on something familiar.  Training?  Sure, knitters can train (practice) techniques before opening ceremonies, as long as they are not knitting the actual project.

        In honor of the Olympics being in Vancouver (and a lot of growing eagerness on my part for a couple of months), I chose a Cowichan (koh-WEE-kun) cardigan sweater as my KO project.  The Cowichan Band (tribe) is native to Vancouver, so this project made a lot of sense in light of the Olympics taking place there.  (For more information, including some of the controversies surrounding their traditions, click here.)  However, unlike knitters in the Cowichan Band who knit in images relating to their culture (many designs come from their weaving and basketry), I would base my sweater on the theme of Yellowstone National Park, specifically the front desk of the Old Faithful Inn, where I worked for the 2000 summer season (5 1/2 months and 170 miles hiked in the wilderness).

        Project decided, I joined up with The Lamb Shoppe in Denver's Congress Park section, one of many shops around the country hosting KO. My only concern: I am going to knit this in 17 days??? 

        Here were my tools for the task:







Clockwise from lower left: Knitting in the Old Way by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts (this is my "bible", which includes a sizeable section on Cowichan sweater techniques), a "training" sample on which I practiced gauge, plackets and shawl-collar shaping, 40" circular needle in US size 10.5, balls of yarn and a skein yet to be wound (in all, eight skeins were used), the folded piece of paper is a "cartoon" that helped me visualize sweater details like numbers of stitches, yet another circular needle, a book about the Old Faithful Inn (its photos provided useful memory jogs towards planning and charting images to go on the sweater), another training sample on which I practiced knitting in reverse, a "tool box" loaded with stitch markers and yarn needles.  Not shown: a photo from a geyser gazer of a fireplace grate at the Old Faithful Inn and a lot of knitting graph paper!

        Knitters reading this page will be interested to know that a US size 13 needle is suggested for the yarn (Lamb's Pride Burly Spun, by Brown Sheep in Nebraska).  But, because Cowichan sweaters need to be dense, almost like a windbreaker, a gauge of 3 sts/in. is essential.  I got gauge with a US size 10.5 circular needle (I knit a little on the tight side, btw).  That's pretty hard on the body!

        My personal knitting challenges were:

  • knitting in reverse with two colors (to always see borders and images appearing on the knit side of the sweater)
  • applying plackets (for buttons and buttonholes) after knitting the body
  • the shawl collar
  • mastering Bulgarian intarsia (I'd done some back in 2007, but on a very basic level)
  • set-in sleeves: I had made these on a previous sweater, so had already gotten training in this about a month before
  • choosing and charting the graphic images that would go all over the sweater.

        Note: The Cowichan sweater is traditionally knitted in one piece.  No seams, no sewing.  This is MY kind of knitting!


Let the Knitting Olympics Begin!

        This is the condensed story of my progress (which is still pretty long).  I took at least one photo at the end of every day (only some of these are shown here), and kept a brief journal describing what was accomplished.




        I cast on at about 6:45pm MST on Friday, February 19.  The hip band was completed during opening ceremonies.  Even though I am a combination knitter, the snug gauge made knitting less than speedy.  Still, what you see here is about 3.5 inches of ribbing.

        Notice the stitch markers amidst live stitches.  These mark where increases will go for the body of the sweater on the next row.  Two black markers earmark the center back stitches.

 

 

 

 

 

        Day 8: Once color-stranded knitting began (on Day 2!), I needed a way to manage several balls of working yarn attached to the piece.   A long, partitioned box kept them organized.  Count the yarns between the box and the sweater and you will see that eight balls are attached here!

        About the symbols emerging thus far:

  • Just above the hip band are railings found along the Old Faithful Inn's balconies.

  • The dark brown columns represent the log-cabin-style columns on the outside front of the Inn.  This design is finished, as the sweater has reached the underarm.

  • Old Faithful Geyser is beginning to erupt!  The bottom of edge of its earth mound represents our wedding date "in code".  Can you figure out what the date is?

                    



The step borders above both pockets represent change of life.  (2000 turned out to be a big life-change year.)

Note that holes for both pockets are in place.

 


 

        Day 14 (Thursday before closing ceremonies): Progress is lagging.  I cast aside that part of my day job devoted to book writing and went to Lamb Shoppe for both a change of scenery and to knit like billy-o.  On this day, an OFI monogram of my own devise was completed on the first sleeve, plus a wolf howling at the "moon".  For more about this knitting session, click here.

        The pink stitch holder hanging from the back of the neck holds live stitches of a collar stand that will elevate the shawl collar off the top edge of the sweater back once it's made.  Also notice the nifty shoulder seam, a traditional treatment for this sweater.

        At this point, I have two time problems: I have to be at church-choir rehearsal tonight to teach an anthem I composed, and I am going to the mountains for Day 15 and 16 to do a little snowmobiling and topped off by a very nice mountain-summit fondue dinner.  There will be time to knit, but how much?

 

 

 

        At 3:30pm on Sunday, Feb. 28 (Day 17, with closing ceremonies drawing near), the second sleeve is more than halfway finished.  Obviously I made some progress, but not quite enough.

   

The zigzags near both shoulders (left photo) represent mountain ranges.  This design appears above the Inn's dormer windows.  The spiral (right photo) represents the Inn's front doorbell.  (Yes, it really looks like that!)  The image below the doorbell states the year I worked in Yellowstone, designed to also look like interlocking wedding rings.

        After church, the next stop was home and back to the needles.  I finished the second sleeve at 7pm, and then my husband and I headed for The Lamb Shoppe to display my progress and watch the closing ceremonies on TV at the shop.




        Mary Carol Jehn, one of Lamb Shoppe's owners, wanted to be in this picture with me wearing my sweater, which is still in need of plackets, collar and pockets.  Somehow she declared my oeuvre done, yet at 11pm on Day 17, with closing ceremonies well past, I'd gotten only as far as half of one placket (see right).

 

   (Photo by Melinda Campbell)

 

        In fact, I had no way of knowing, until 12:30pm on March 2, that there would be 15 more hours ahead to finish all the knitting.  (The shawl collar alone took six hours.)  And then there would be seven more hours to darn in ends.
        Below left is the complete pile of trimmed ends, about 27 grams' worth!  The mass of fiber in the left photo is part of the 27g.  This mass used to be trimmed ends: In the center photo, I restored the medium brown ends to unspun fiber with wool combs, and then spun a couple grams of it into thinner yarn with which to sew on the antler buttons purchased from Idaho Antler Art.  See the small skein of worsted-spun, 2-ply yarn in the middle of the photo at left (the same skein appears in undone state in the photo at right).  The US quarter offers perspective on yarn thickness and amount.  (PS--I "ground up" the remaining ends into fiber and will spin them to knit into a matching accessory.  I wish there was enough fiber to knit a pair of fingerless gloves, but will have to settle for an around-the-neck change purse, or something else.)

       

 

 

 

 

        Knitters tend to be curious about what the inside of a project looks like.  Here is the sweater body, with one front's ends darned in and the other front's ends yet to be.  There were just as many ends on the cleaned-up front, with (thankfully) a lot fewer on the back and sleeves.  Now (maybe) you understand why it took seven hours to darn in the ends!
        Notice that the pockets are in place.  These were attached by knitting, not sewing.  The bulk of each pocket is white, so that I can see more easily any items that might be inside.

 

 

 

 

 

Outcomes

  • A pile of trimmed tail ends means that my Cowichan "story coat" is finished!  Here is what it looks like.  (I bought the hat during my work stint in Yellowstone in 2000.)

                             

  Notice the stripes on the collar front                    Left sleeve; notice                             (I should have smoothed the collar down.                                Right sleeve.
(yes, I know: the bison are "strategically           stripes along collar back.                               The collar stand is doing its job!)
located", but that's the only place they could be!)
  Antler buttons make the perfect touch!

Lift either arm, and you find a log cabin column!

  • Unanticipated knitting challenges that cropped up along the journey:
    Revising Bulgarian intarsia.  This method is used for knitting in the round, and is applied best when the pattern and background yarns work their way across the pattern
           area pretty much equally (like in a snowflake).   However, I found a way to knit as many consecutive stitches in one color as I want without producing a long float
           of yarn on the wrong side.  (Bulgarian intarsia isn't supposed to work this way!)  Take a look at both sides of the wolf on the right sleeve below:  The right side
           shows row after row of several dark brown stitches, but when you flip the image over, all you see are short white floats, not long white floats.  (Yes, I am thinking
           about drafting a project by which to teach this in a class.)

   


           Pockets: I'd seen pocket welts on a couple of Cowichan sweater photos on the Internet.  I decided to add them after I'd begun the sweater, which would be long
                 enough to make their inclusion worthwhile.  The welts were easy enough to knit, but then it took almost a full day to figure out how they would play out on the 
                 inside of the sweater.  (Hmmm, I might have finished on time if it hadn't been for this.  I'm glad to have pockets, though.)
           How to really hide darned in ends.  (Wow, I found some great ways to do this!)
           Spinning matching sewing yarn for buttons with yarn remains.

           So, I really had 10 challenges in all!

  • The Lamb Shoppe offered a 20% refund on yarn purchases for all KO projects completed by March 2.  Because the knitting was finished (but not the darned-in ends--darn!) that day, I was able to hustle over to Lamb Shoppe in the evening to receive a refund of $26.07.  That'll help!  (After all, we knit to create heirlooms, not necessarily to save money.  This project is definitely one of a kind.)  Thanks, Lamb Shoppe!
  • At Lamb Shoppe's closing ceremonies party, I was awarded the highest honor of a blue-ribbon medal.  However, because I had no idea at that time that I would need to knit another 15 hours to free the sweater from the needles (which occurred late in the afternoon on Tuesday, March 2), I returned it.  Complexity of this project aside, other knitters finished their projects and deserve this award more than I do.  The sweater was completely finished ca. 7:45pm on Wednesday, March 3.  I may not have crossed the finish line on time, but at least I crossed it!  The abovementioned refund is reward enough.
  • This sweater--er, coat really--is heavy.  I haven't been able to weigh it yet, but guess it's around 4 pounds.  It's warm, it blocks the wind, and it fits!  Now I wait for the weather to get cold again so I can wear it for real.  Denver's temps upon completion were in the upper 50s the rest of the week!

        As you can imagine, I learned a lot from knitting this sweater, and am glad for all the new skills.  I feel like I can conquer anything with my needles.  Some techniques on this sweater I would execute differently next time (um, my husband a sweater with sandhill cranes on it), but the fact that I can knit a sweater at all, without a pattern and without sewing (that's right: NO pattern--I came up with all the numbers myself--and NO sewing), still amazes me, and this one came out more than respectably, I think.  (Thanks to Priscilla Gibson-Roberts and her editor Deborah Robson for Knitting in the Old Way, the book that gave me the courage and backbone to attempt this project--in a traditional manner, no less.  By the way, a new edition of Priscilla's Salish Indian Sweaters is to be released by Nomad Press, some time in 2010.)

        Would I participate in a Knitting Olympics again?  Sure!  It's good incentive, because it's all about completing your project in a specified time period.  I might have been better off knitting Interweave Press' "Central Park Hoodie"!  (Maybe the biggest lesson learned is to ditch my day job a little sooner if I need to, to be sure I reach the finish line with time to spare!  I limited most of my knitting to weeknights and good chunks of weekends.)  We'll see what the Summer Olympics bring a couple years from now.

        Hey, I'd love to hear from you about this project!     You are also encouraged to write to express interest in a no-pattern, no-sew sweater class (whose design will be much easier than this; promise!)

Take care!        Lucille

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