How are your Olympic projects going? Some folks have already finished their events. Some of us fear we won’t finish in time. Where do you fit on this spectrum? Will you join us Sunday evening for the closing ceremonies? If you do, you might get to see Lucille Reilly’s amazing Olympic creation:
Even at this point, we can see this is truly an Olympic sized project – but it is sooo much more than what you see here! Lucille has been studying the way knit was, and she learned about this Native American tribe: the Cowichan. (It’s pronounced Co-heek-un, rhymes with Mohican.) And she wanted to knit a sweater in this style. So – before the opening ceremonies! – she pulled out her books and got online and read and swatched and dreamed. And she designed a sweater. With lots of stranded colorwork. She created motifs that reminded her of Yellowstone National Park. And then she bought some hanks of Lamb’s Pride Burley Spun, and got ready for the opening ceremonies.
This is Lucille. See how fast her hands are moving? Okay, burley spun is really heavy duty gauge – but this Cowichan Cardigan calls for a really tight gauge. So what would normally be knit on size 13 at about 2 st/inch is being worked on 10.5 needles at 3 st/inch. “This is the toughest thing I’ve ever made,” Lucille says. Not only is it hard on the hands, but she says it has taught her a lot – more than she expected, maybe. She reports this has:
* caused her to teach herself to knit and color strand in reverse!
* taught her to make plackets
* caused her to design pockets that will be knit of flat pieces to be attached as they are knit
* and, maybe most importantly, inspired her to figure out a way to revise Bulgarian intarsia to fit her needs!
Not only is she attempting to knit this intricate, and large!, sweater in just over 2 weeks – she’s planning to take 2 days off to go snowmowbiling!
Lucille, you are a brave and competent knitter. Join us at Lamb Shoppe on Sunday to see if she makes it to the finish line in time!
The Shoppe typically closes at 5 on Sunday, but this Sunday the doors will stay open and the TV will go on. We can knit right up to 8:30 – but that is the FINISH LINE. Needles down. Time to celebrate!!! Bring eats and drinks as you see fit.
(After all, our projects will be finished and we can have an adult beverage without fearing for the knitting, eh?)
Tags: Denver yarn, event, knitters, Knitting Help, knitting olympics, LambShoppe, local yarn store, LYS, Ravelympics
LambShoppe 
February 26, 2010 at 4:18 pm |
A friend who knows this lady sent me this. I live in Minnesota but so wish I could see this finished product. I would also love to visit your shoppe next time I am in Denver.