Knitting Olympics 2010 - Cast On

Hello Blog.

Today is the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics, and also the start of the Knitting Olympics as envisioned by the Yarn Harlot. I have to admit that I don't know much about the Olympics. I've never so much as watched it before (with the exception of the opening ceremonies hosted in beijing, which I did see a recording of like, two months after the fact ). I'm not much of a sports person, and I don't even know what all the sports categories are in the winter Olympics, much less who is competing. I've never really been one of those people who expresses their patriotism through sports either, but, I've seen the Yarn Harlot blog about the knitting Olympics in the past, and she really inspired me with the way she talked about the Olympics. It made me think about it from the point of view of the athletes and the countries they represent, and for the first time I actually respected them for their hard work and dedication. So I'm going to participate in the knitting Olympics for the first time this year, not just as a proud knitter searching for a challenge, but as an American and a member of the Global community. In addition to actually knitting on my project, I've decided to make it a point to try to follow the real Olympics a little. I may not watch it all the way through, but I want to see for myself what it's all about, and develop a greater sense of awareness of the world outside of my own interest, and borders. Oh dear, that doesn't sound too pretentious does it? ;)

I've done all of my preparation - except photograph my preparedness.
The pattern is printed, the yarn wound into balls, the needles set out. I'm ready.
The pattern I'm knitting is Diagonale, a lace shawl. I don't know if it's something I can finish in two weeks, and I don't know if it will be a challenge or not, but I picked it because it looked big and relaxing. I don't like stress in my knitting, and I hate it when I have a deadline to knit something and I come across a part in the pattern that I don't know how to do. So I decided I didn't want a pattern that was going to be technically challenging. I wanted to be able to fully enjoy the process of knitting, and also I didn't want my participation in the Olympics to get in the way of my progress in school. So instead of difficulty I picked something that was nothing but simple yarn overs and decreases, and decided to let stamina be my personal challenge this year. Can I pace myself and knit a consistent amount every day, so as to finish on time without any series problems? That's my goal.