Let the Games Begin

I did it!  I finished my RHSS socks this afternoon, just in time to cast on for my Knitting Olympics project tonight.  I really love these socks and I think they'll be perfect for Valentine's Day.  Again, these are the Embossed Leaves Socks from IK Winter 2005.  I really liked the leaf pattern on these which was easy to memorize, but the toe was something new to me and I really like it.  I will be using it on other socks in the future, because there's no Kitchenering involved.  I actually have no problem doing the KS, but on socks I always end up with two little dog ears which really bugs me.  With this toe you decrease down to 8 stitches and just pull the end of the yarn through the stitches and you are through.  It also fits my feet very well.

Well, on to the KO!  It took me all week to come up with a pattern and I was getting more and more nervous.  I went through all my books and patterns numerous times.  The yarn I wanted to use is from my stash, 20 balls of GGH Aspen.  This is a bulky wool/acrylic blend I got to go with a particular pattern.  As it turned out, when I swatched for the pattern, the yarn was all wrong and I couldn't get gauge with a nice fabric, so a search was begun. 

I ended up getting my first Rebecca copy yesterday and it has several patterns written specifically for Aspen.  I can't believe I got this far along never knowing that Rebecca was written by Muench and therefore, uses only their yarns.  If I had known that last week things would have been much easier.  Anyway, the pattern is from issue # 24 which is one of the old ones written in German with English translations only for the patterns.  I really wish I could read all the German!  I swatched this last night and this morning and it looks like it will go smoothly.  At least until I get to the dreaded seaming!  I don't really expect to finish this in 16 days, but it could happen, so I'll try my hardest.  I didn't ever send in an email to the Yarn Harlot, so I won't be in the running for her gold medals or prizes at the end.  No matter, I'm on Team Wales and I'll do the best I can for them!