Olympics 2008 Ravelympics

My, how the past three weeks flew by. And now the much anticipated Olympics are over. I didn't get to watch all of the events, my favorites being the swimming, gymnastics, track & field, rowing, tennis, cycling, gosh, I suppose most events. So in between daily life stuff, I did see a lot of my American and Australian athlete faves grab gold. And it was very cool to see all other athletes win as well.
My eyes always get teary when the medal ceremony is happening and I'm always thrilled for whomever wins. Those Olympians are all so incredibly talented--who cares if they didn't win a medal, after all, there's only three to be given but so many more deserving the recognition. Hope they all had a great time whilst in lovely Beijing.

And then there was the Ravelympics that I signed up for. The casting on happened like clockwork once the opening ceremony started but after four days of squeezing in knitting time while trying to fight off the flu (its cold over here in the NSW winter at the moment), working both at a job and my marriage, I simply hit a wall. So the frogging started for both the original idea and the front of a new Ravelympic sweater. I just walked off the course.

But I'm pleased with what I've done with the new idea so far. I didn't give up.
I came up with another idea and just worked at my own pace. It should be finished in the next few weeks after I complete a poncho I designed for my husband to keep him warm during our rather cold winter this year. I've used a very rustic, heathered alpaca wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills down in Victoria. It's turning out to be just what David prefers--the natural, rustic manly look is all he'll put on. And somehow, I still want to knit him a very masculine jumper with pink in it. But he won't wear it.
Here's a snap shot of one of the sections I've knitted up so far. Have it 3/4 finished so far and began the pin-striping out of excitement. Shall post images of the poncho next week once it's done. I'm embroidering into it some very fine 2-ply alpaca yarn in the most gorgeous dark mallard green I could find. It'll have a pin-stripe effect and should keep David warm while outdoors on the porch for a smoke.