I’ve made a baby present for a friend. The elephant design is from here (their service is fabulous).

Here is a closer look …

I failed to finish my olympic challenge! I finished one sock, but I haven’t even started the second one.

Was I overly ambitious? It was certainly very hot here (it was 42° C on Thursday) which isn’t conducive to knitting. But really I didn’t put in enough time – it didn’t go well and I got discouraged.

I was very unhappy with the yarn – there was a join in it! And it hasn’t been dyed very well. However, it is very comfortable.

I’ve restarted my sock – it only took one attempt to cast on.

I’ve started cutting the sashing strips for my quilt. I don’t want to cut too many strips in case I run out of fabric for the borders.

I’ve knitted the band of the sock – now I need to start on the cable pattern.

On my third attempt I managed to cast on 48 stitches and join it into a round without twisting.  Yes that’s right – my third attempt – surely I would  have been disqualified if I didn’t make it on my third attempt?

I think I’ve been overly ambitious with my plan. It suddenly occurred to me that I would need to make two socks!

I finished my tension square. It works out at 8 stitches per inch, which according to my master pattern means I need to cast on 48 stitches.

This yarn seems quite tricky with which to knit; it’s very slippery and I keep putting the needle through the strand – I guess it’s meant to be a challenge.

I’ve decided to enter the 2010 Knitting Olympics.

 I’m going to make a socks with a cable pattern. I’m using the master pattern in the Teach Yourself Visually Knitting Design.

I’ve never done anything with cables before, so I thought that would be a bit of a challenge and actually finishing something in 17 days will be a challenge.

The knitting above is my tension square (I’m training for the main event). The yarn is Happy by Wendy in shade Capricorn.

As I needed a bit of a break from my spiral blanket, I’ve swapped back to my scarf knitting. It is a really easy pattern and being a scarf each row is finished quickly – perfect for knitting and watching a DVD.