Knitting Olympics

Our knitting group decided to have our own olympic challenge during the winter games this year. We had to choose a project that would enable us to learn a new and challenging skill. We were to start our project during the opening ceremonies and it needed to be done by the closing ceremonies. Then everyone who finished their projects gets their name put into a drawing for some fun prizes we donated to the prize bin.

I chose a cute tote bag that came in a nice kit on one of my favorite knitting websites. I would be learning several new skills with this project.

I got a late start because I was feverishly trying to finish my great aunt's birthday afghan. But I started the day after the opening ceremonies, so I wasn't too far behind. The knitting part went really well. It took me a long time, but it turned out really cute.

Then came the hard part... I had to block it... dun, dun, DUN!!! I had never done such a thing before, and it was traumitizing. (Well not really, but I like to be dramatic.) (Blocking is when you get your project wet and pin it to cardboard and let it dry, so it retains the shape you want.) I used over 400 straight pins to get it to the right size! But my biggest challenge still lay ahead. I had to sew a lining into this bag. I am not a seamstress. I called on my good friend Donna, who helped me figure out how to accomplish this. The problem was that the instructions for this bag didn't give you a pattern for the lining... they simply said, "sew in the lining." Thanks for the detailed instructions, right? Donna figured it out, and after about two hours of fussing over this stupid thing, we got it all sewed!

Last I took it all home and put it together (Sewn together by hand). It's a cute bag and I am having fun using it, but I'll never use the pattern again. Well, at least not for a long, LONG time! (We wrote down everything we did so we don't run into the same problem next time.) I truly feel like I've competed in an olympic event. I hope I win a prize for all my hard work!