The end of the Olympics is in sight and many, many knitters are still furiously working away on their Knitting Olympics project. I however, am finished (actually yesterday, please don’t curse at me through the screen…I’m sensitive and will somehow know that you have done it). You may think if I’m not knitting down to the wire maybe it wasn’t really a big enough challenge. Maybe you’re right. But maybe you don’t really know just how much you can do until given a deadline. I also suspected when I started that I might not want to take the shawl on my trip, so a lot of knitting was done in the early stage of the games.

The rest of my fellow knitting Olympic athletes are in my thoughts as I knit along happily on some socks which thankfully, have no deadline. Why are you still reading? Keep going…you can make it! Come back later. If you’ve already finished (or if you just need a quick break because your eyes are crossing from knitting for 22.5 hours straight), feel free to read on.
If you thought your lace looked like boiled ass before blocking, just look at it soaking. Truly, boiled ass with a wet wool stink. A little scented fabric softener does wonders for the wet dog sheep??? smell. It’s amazing that a grey pile of stinky wool can turn into something so pretty.

The Diamond Fantasy Shawl pattern is delightful. It is so well written, easy to follow and beautiful. At least it would be if there weren’t so many mistakes. I’m ok with that though. Sometimes it is enough to finish the race and to have learned from it, which I have. Lace is not hard but requires attention. All. The. Time. Even if you don’t think you need a lifeline, you do. But if you don’t, you probably won’t care enough to frog 21 rows of mohair to correct it. And wine helps with the aforementioned not caring. And with the aforementioned mistakes. Next time I do this pattern (and I will) I’ll do it in a yarn that shows the pattern as it deserves to be seen. This yarn made it way too easy to let go of mistakes. It’s so airy, that unless you are a knitter and know what the pattern is supposed to be, you probably wouldn’t notice the many mistakes (and there are MANY). However, in it’s perfect state with the right yarn, it is an absolutely beautiful pattern that deserves to be shown prominently.