Olympic Knitting

Before the opening ceremonies, I gathered my yarn, needles, and books:

Here's my progress, after 3 hours.

It would have been about twice as much, but I misinterpreted the directions for left twist (LT): "K the second st tbl, then k the first st and sl both sts off needle." I stuck my right needle into the back loop of the second stitch from the front of the work (going between the 1st and 2nd sts), to knit that stitch, then knit the first st, and slipped them off the needle. Didn't look right, but I persevered. Three rounds later, I decided to try putting my needle into the back loop of the 2nd stitch from the back of the work to knit that stitch, then knit the first stitch and slip them both off. Ah, that looks better. So did I stop at that point, rip back & redo the first twist round? No. I plowed on, did 3 more rounds, telling myself that it wouldn't look too bad. On the third twist round, I decided it really didn't look too good, so I tried fixing one by laddering down and working back up. Bad idea. Next step: rip it back to the first twist round. So I wasted about an hour and a half. Oh, well. I'm much happier with the way it looks now.

This morning, I finished the bottom of the sweater (not really ribbing, not a hem -- what do I call it?), increased from 90% to 100% of my stitches, went up two needle sizes, and started the stockinette body of the sweater.

I started a pair of socks for the February Spring Fling KAL. These are Wendyknits' Mock Cable Socks. Notice that they have twisted stitches, too. I have been taking the stitches off the needles, switching them (right or left, depending on where they should go) and then knitting them. Time consuming. I'm wondering if I can do LT and RT instead. I'm an old pro at RT (right twist: knit two together leaving sts on LH needle, then knit first stitch again, slip both sts off left needle). I figured there should be a similar procedure for LT, and now that I have learned it, I think I'll try doing the twists instead of the cables on this sock.

A recent post on ScoutJ's blog led me to this pattern: Rosemary Hill's Brandywine Shawl. She is donating $5 from each pattern sold to Haitian relief efforts. While watching the new version of "We are the world" last night, I told my husband I had donated to Haitian relief by purchasing a knitting pattern, and he just reacted with a facepalm.

Oh, and in the "completely random" category, Mock Homecoming 2010. My favorite high school senior and his mother (doesn't look a thing like me, does he?):