The Olympics are in full swing, and there are ups, downs and surprises all over the place in South Korea. Canada is currently doing okay medal-wise, in third behind Norway and Germany. At the farmette, we cheer everyone. I was especially intrigued with the way the Finnish snowboard coach handled the pressure at the top of the hill - by knitting! I can totally relate. While my freelance writing work is perhaps not quite as fraught as an Olympic coach's, I find that making nice things with a couple of sticks and piece of yarn comforting and, in the end, rewarding.
So here, for your enjoyment, are some of my projects:
When the nieces were much younger and smaller, I was pretty ambitious with the traditional Christmas sweaters. I think Rachel was about nine or 10 in this one, with Grandma Harris - rest her soul.
I got fairly skilled with the circular needles and weaving in all the colours for this nordic pullover.
Fast forward to this Christmas, and the projects were quite a bit less ambitious. Here, Rachel at the age of 21 and three-quarters, models the cowl/scarf I made using a traditional Irish seed stitch. Erin got a similar one, with different colours, but I couldn't get her to stay still long enough for a picture!
Last year, it was a snood/cowl sort of thing with a straight-ahead knit and purl. Managed to get everyone lined up on the couch, and Hudson, my great-nephew decided he needed to be in on photo on his great-aunty's knee.
Over the last few years - since coming to the farmette - I've filled in the bigger projects with wee hats for babies. I can usually whip one of these up in an evening while watching, say, Mozart in the Jungle (a FANTASTIC series we've been glued to on Amazon - highly recommended).
Most of the toques will need delivering to the Children's Hospital in London, where they'll keep the preemies noggins nice and toasty.
Finally, I've just ordered a whack of yarn on-line to tackle my most ambitious project yet. A poncho for - drumroll - ME!
I've always wanted a poncho, and now that I have the skill (I hope) to make a really luxurious one, I'm going to give it a go. Here's the pattern.
Hope it all works out. At the very least, it'll give me a way to relax after a hard day slogging in front of the computer. We'll see. Until next week.