Puttering

True knitting activity is still at a minimum in order to give my wrist as much rest as possible.
Friday night was easy because we were watching the season finale of Dr. Who and I probably wouldn't have been knitting anyway, it was that exciting.
Saturday was a little harder. During the day was fine because I was at the store. In the evening, Hubby and I floated the idea of going to the movies, but we hadn't cooked dinner and the times weren't good, so we opted to stay in.
Since I couldn't knit, I found it necessary to play with my stash. I pulled stuff out of the dining room credenza (yes, it's stuffed again) and went through it all. This is a good activity to pursue anyway, it reminds me what I have, what I want to make, and helps remind me that I don't need to buy more yarn. (It was a close thing yesterday, we got the new Rowan Magazine in, and new Rowan yarn that won't be on the floor until September probably, and I have an idea for a pair of socks based on the family (i.e., Hubby's) tartan, but don't have the correct colors on hand. For those socks I should really swatch with other yarn before investing in new yarn.)
While fussing I pulled out some old projects and corralled the stuff I'll need for the Ravelympics, which start Friday.

The Ravelympics
Are based on the idea of the Knitting Olympics the Yarn Harlot ran during the last Winter Olympics.
The idea is to cast on during the Opening Ceremonies and be finished by the Closing Ceremonies 17 day later. But you are supposed to select a project that will be a challenge to complete in that amount of time, since the Olympics are suppose to challenge the athletes.
I didn't do the Knitting Olympics. I thought about it, but chickened out. And I don't think I had the blog at that point.
I wasn't going to do the Ravelympics, but I got sucked in. To two teams no less.
So I'm doing the Vest Vault for Team Yankees with my Sundae camisole by Martin Storey from Rowan Classic Holiday, book 3. I'm using Cashcotton 4 ply in a nice, pale, lemon yellow with yellow beads. The pattern calls for Cashsoft 4 ply, but we didn't carry that yarn. Besides, the gauge and yardage are supposed to be the same.

Swatching
Last night I dug that yarn out so it would be easily accessible when the time comes. You can swatch and plan before hand—it's considered training—but you aren't supposed to cast on until 8 pm Beijing time when the Opening Ceremonies start. That's 8 am East Coast Time, so I'm not sure how convenient that will be.
I was freaking out getting the project together because I couldn't find the book. I thought it was in the credenza, but it was buried in one of the bins in the attic, where the yarn was. Then I couldn't find my US 2 Addi Turbo, but it was in with my poor neglected Nell sweater, which I'm actually entering in WIPs Wrestling for Team TARDIS.
Then today, since my wrist was feeling better, I thought what the heck and swatched.
I bought this yarn ages ago, strung all the beads, and even swatched, but then it fell out of favor for some reason. The existing swatch was 6 sts/inch when I needed 7. I assumed I had done it on the US3 the pattern calls for, although I know I usually have to go down one needle for Rowan projects.
So the pups and I went out on the back porch to get some fresh air and sunshine, and I swatched with my US2.
6 stitches per inch.
I counted several times, in a few spots and kept getting 6.
I'm really annoyed now.
I don't want to knit it on US1. I don't even own circular Us1. What if I don't even get gauge with US1? What if I have to go down to US0? That will be so wrong. And I can't even get my hands on a US1 for a while, what with taking the train and all.
The current plan is to swatch on my bamboo straight US1 and see what happens. I won't be able to use them to knit the entire thing because the back is 124 sts or some such nonsense and my needles are only 9 inches long.
I think I'm realizing why this project fell out of favor!