2008 Ravelympics--Recap

First, Sam: The foot looks lovely. His staples are still in place and he hasn't licked at it much. He tried licking, and I sprayed with Bitter Yuck. The next time I looked at him, he was carefully licking around the staples, getting the Bitter Yuck off his foot. I don't think the taste is going to deter him. ;) But he's the boy who likes grapefruit juice, so why should I be surprised? I'll call the vet's office Monday morning to schedule an appointment with a tech to get the staples pulled on Thursday.

Meanwhile, it's Antibiotics 3, Sam 0. Now that he's off the Cephalexin, he's really having digestive tract issues. I'm glad I'm home with him tomorrow. I have a hunch he may be getting bland rice for breakfast.

* * *

The 2008 Summer Olympics has come to an end, and so has the 2008 Ravelympics. You can see my "medals" in a row down the side of my blog; some of those are "multiple" medals because I completed more than one item for that event. Here's what I told y'all I had queued up, and info on my progress:

The camera? It came back from Sony on Friday (it was gone for three weeks). I took pictures of the baby jacket and the "repaired" pictures look exactly like the unacceptable photos from before. The camera and I--and the baby jacket--are going back to Best Buy tomorrow, I think, for a little chat.

Entered in "WIPs Wrestling" (i.e., wrestling your WIPs--works in progress--into completion), I have two items:
A Baby Surprise Jacket for baby number 7 for my cousin Shari (due in January).

It's done:
(Photo is color-adjusted in Corel.)

The other WIP is a vintage doily:

I finished the doily, disliked the border, ripped it out and redid it:

Entered in "Baby Dressage" and "Gift Knits Pentathlon" are two pairs of crocheted booties: one for Shari's baby and one for coworker Trina's baby boy (due in November). These will be made using yarn left from the BSJs.

They're done (lots of color adjusting on the photo of the purple booties):

I've queued up three doilies (also Gift Knits Pentathlon as well as Homestuff Hammerthrow). One uses DMC Cebelia in ecru. The other two, both using the same pattern, will be multicolored doilies. The ecru doily will take several days--or even a week. The multicolored doilies are from a book entitled "Easy One-Day Doilies," but I've made two other designs from this book and they took longer than a day, so I'm not expecting too much.

The ecru doily went very well. I'm not posting pictures here, though, because it's going to someone on my LJ friends list; if you want to look you can find it on my Flickr account. (There's a 2008 Ravelympics set there.) The two multicolored doilies from a single pattern were horrendous: an unnecessarily complicated design early on; about the time I beat that part of the pattern into submission, I tripped over an instruction on Round 8 that I didn't realize I'd gotten wrong until I started Round 11. Since I was working both doilies at the same time, I was going to have to frog lots of work on two versions of a pattern I really was starting to hate. I was rescued by a friend saying she'd happily give the two partial doilies a home at her house. I was glad to abandon those two:

I've also queued up two thread bookmarks (Gift Knits Pentathlon), one in light blue and one in mauve.

Success:

I've queued up the Mermaid scarf pattern (Gift Knits Pentathlon and Scarf Stroke), set to use up some mango-colored Microspun yarn.

I started this one and seriously disliked the pattern (Good heavens! 40 stitch markers?) So I hunted around for a more workable pattern and found a feather-and-fan knitted pattern. One skein and size 8 needles netted me a 6" x 42" scarf, shown here with the 2008 Ravelympics commemorative pin:



(The creators of the Ravelry site have a Boston Terrier named Bob. Bob has become the official site mascot. His image is on the Ravelry medals and on the pin. Bob's quite a celebrity on the site.)

And, by way of a triple-whammy entry (Amigurumi 'n Toy Toss, Pets Pommel Horse, and Gift Knits Pentathlon), I've queued up four versions of a pattern called Kitty Squid. It's a cat toy that will use up odd bits of leftover yarn.

Done. Meet the Kitty Squid Squad:


Other projects didn't get done: Sheldon the turtle is still queued up. The Paw Cozy probably will not be made at all. The tank top for me has been started and I'm about 6 inches into the front (or the back--at this point they're interchangeable). The two BSJs are still waiting for me, too.




At last count, the 2008 Ravelympics involved 16260 projects from 5712 Ravelers. 6431 projects are showing up on the "finish line" pages (201 pages, to be exact)--and that's just completed projects with photographs. Many more people have posted that their projects are finished, but they don't have access to cameras at present. There'll be more precise numbers later on, but it's been fun knitting to a deadline and knowing that thousands of other knitters around the world were working to the same deadline. People are already making plans for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Lookin' Good

We went to the vet this morning. The foot is doing well. The nearest lymph nodes were very slightly enlarged, which isn't unusual with this kind of injury. But the vet was seeing him more than 48 hours after the injury and is sure the antibiotic is doing its job. In fact, he said we could back off the 1000 mg twice a day and go to just 500 mg three times a day, which might be kinder to Sam's stomach. The vet already authorized a five-day extension of the Cephalexin if we need it, but if Sam continues the way he is, it probably won't be necessary.

As soon as I get next week's work schedule, I can set up an appointment for getting his staples out. So far, Sam hasn't bothered the staples. The vet says that if Sam pulls them out himself, it would not be a problem unless he opened up the wound or created some other problem. But the wound isn't red, isn't icky-moist, isn't hot, and isn't swollen, so Sam's doing very well.

We're putting Jacey on two .8 mg thyroxine pills a day (up from one-and-a-half). I weighed her today, and she was about 60 pounds. (I say "about" because she was still wearing her car harness, which probably weighs a pound or so.)


I got a bit of work done for the Ravelympics today. But I've gotten two phone calls in the last five minutes from people emailing me freelance work...that they need back tomorrow. Oh, well. The work is good for the vet bills.




ETA: Famous last words. Sam started licking his foot. I doused it liberally with Bitter Yuck, a water-based nasty-taste solution. He sniffed (but didn't lick), then moved to the floor on the other side of the room...and on the other side of a chair, so I can't see what he's doing. I've put his muzzle on him, and now he's sulking. Too bad, Sam. I went through all kinds of grief when Oreo had stitches one time and wouldn't leave the injury alone. I'm not doing that again.

2008 Ravelympics--Day 4 (or 8)

More freelancing on Thursday. Once I got it done, I stayed up late, working while I watched Greer Garson movies on TCM. (Rita Hayworth today. Astaire on Saturday; Kelly on Sunday.)

Today (early this morning), I finished the BSJ for Shari's baby. After that, I made the matching baby booties:





The buttons actually are light green. These photos had to be color-adjusted in Corel. I still don't have a camera that gets purple properly.

I still have 15 projects lined up for the 2008 Ravelympics, but I've finished the more urgent projects.

I started the Mermaid scarf, which is a crochet pattern. I found I disliked the pattern (honestly, forty removable stitch markers?), so I hunted up a different scarf pattern found a nice knitted feather-and-fan pattern that's easy to memorize. I worked a few inches, and I'll take the project with me to work on at lunch. I have some tiny projects queued for the Ravelympics--little cat toys that take less than two hours each--and I'll work on them some evenings, when it's quiet, and maybe too late to work on other projects. Otherwise, I have two more days off during the Olympics...unless more freelancing work turns up. I have one tank top queued up, but that's the project I think I'm least likely to start. I also have a "paw cozy", which might be a quick project. Beyond that, I have some doilies--some fairly easy ones and a couple of smaller but more complicated ones. And there's a Sheldon, and two more BSJs in line. Plenty to do, but none of it "urgent."


Sam's still drinking a lot and peeing a lot. And the vet hasn't called with a new dosage for Jacey's thyroid pills.

2008 Ravelympics--Day 3 (or 6)

Sweet Dreams is finished and blocked; it's a housewarming present for a friend:



Another bookmark is finished and blocked; it's a surprise for a friend:



Those were completed yesterday, although I didn't get photos until today.

And this evening:



These booties are for Trina's baby boy (due 21 November); there's a matching BSJ:



I'm headed off to bed. Work early tomorrow. Then I get off about 3:30, and I'm off all day Friday. Looks like some good Ravelympics time coming up.


Sam is still sick. I haven't heard from his vet, but the boy is drinking more tonight than he did last night. And he's a bit whiny, which is totally unlike him. I gave my work schedule to the vet's office, so I might get a request to run the boy into the office on short notice if something opens up on the vet's schedule.

2008 Ravelympics--Day 2

Yeah, I know. Today is Day 5 of the Olympics and the Ravelympics. But it's my Day 2, since I lost Saturday, Sunday, and Monday to freelance work. And today I had a good day.



That one is blocking. I'll post a better picture once it's dry and unpinned. The pattern is called Sweet Dreams, and the piece is blocking out to 21" x 15.5". The thread is Ecru DMC Cébélia Cotton, size 10. I used a 1.65mm hook, which is larger than the pattern specified, but my thread crochet stitches can get pretty tight.


Sam finished the last of his Cipro last night. Today, my day off, he's been drinking nonstop and peeing like crazy. This may just be opportunistic drinking: he can do it because I'm here to refill the water dish and to take him out when he wants to go.

Except that it's raining outside, and he doesn't like going out in the rain. So if he's still drinking, despite the rain, it's maybe not opportunistic.

I'm going to send an email to the vet. I think I need to take Sam in for another urine sample to see whether this is really something--or not.

Meanwhile, Ms Crustybutt is much better. But she looks even fatter, to me. She's been on reduced rations of 2.5 cups a day, and I think she's still putting on weight. I want to run her by the vet's office to get a current weight on her, even if we don't see the vet. And now that the skin trouble is cleared up, we need to start her on increased thyroid meds and get her weight under control.

So hurray for the freelance work. It might have eaten into my crocheting time the past few days, but the money will be welcome since I see some vet bills in my future. (Time to buy heartworm meds again, too.)

2008 Ravelympics--Day 1

In the past week, I started and worked on a couple of my Ravelympic entries, thus disqualifying them from "competition." I made a small, thread bookmark:



And I finished the redo of the vintage* doily...but I'm probably going to rip out that last row and redo it. I think the leaves are too long. Much as I hate picots, I'm going to put little picot-like leaves on it instead of the spikes. And I may try to reblock it. I like the colors well enough, but I'm not entirely happy with how it turned out. At any rate, it can sit for a couple of weeks--until the Olympics are over--and I'll decide then.



These pictures were made with my old camera; the Sony is still in the shop. But I had a terrible time getting the old camera to produce photos with decent color and focus.

Today, at 8 am EDT (the official kick-off time, since that's Beijing's 8 pm), I started my first Ravelympic project. So far, I'm 13 rows into a doily. I'll try to get at least another row done tonight before I stop working on that and start on the bill-paying freelance work. (And speaking of bill-paying, that's something else I need to do.)

The dogs seem fine. Sam's still taking his Cipro, and it's not as rough on his stomach as the Clavamox was. No idea whether it's really working, though. He takes the last pill on Monday, so we'll see how he's doing on Wednesday. And Jacey's backside has cleared up. I'll wait until Wednesday to contact the vet about her thyroid dosage, once I see how Sam's doing and find out whether I need to take Sam back in.


*The Web site the pattern came from called it a "vintage" pattern. The pattern is younger than I am. Ouch.

ETA: Sweet Dreams doily through round 14 at the end of work on day one:

Olympic Update

I got all my Ravelympic projects lined up and ready to go on Friday. So now what?

Last night, I made a couple of trial runs on the kitty squid toys. The pattern is easy and works up in less than two hours.

But I was hoping to make some of the squid as dog presents, too. Sam and Jacey have vetoed that. While cats might like dangly toys with dangly legs and tentacles, the dogs think the squid are boring.* So I'll have to come up with something else for a dog toy, and I've got an idea of something to make. There's a "freestyle" Ravelympic category a made-up dog toy can fit in.

But I still need something to do between now and Friday. Shoot, I even cleaned the kitchen, today, and I don't want something like that to happen again any time soon. (I was trying to find the stove...buried under bags and junk. I cleaned it off--cleaned other stuff, rearranged things in cabinets. I even cooked something. It was awful, and I'm firmly committed to letting the stove stay idle for another three or four years.)

So I've decided to ignore the countdown to the Olympics. I finished one of my WIPs tonight (well, it's finished enough to block; then it needs a minor addition). Tomorrow I might start one of the unlikely-to-be-completed Olympic projects that I wouldn't mind putting down on Friday to dive into the real contenders.

I've got two icons for my Ravelry projects.



And when I jump the gun on a project:



Once I get through these projects, I have a couple of for-me projects in mind. I want to make something lacy--a shawl or a scarf. And I want to make something crazy. I've got a pattern for Molly Weasley's sweater (from the second movie). The pattern I have isn't perfect--not quite right--but it'll be enough to work with.



*Of course, it's remotely possible that my dogs are well trained enough to leave my craft projects alone. Nah. The squid make boring dog toys.

2008 Ravelympics

A week ago I posted about Ravelry and the upcoming 2008 Ravelympics, where knitters and crocheters will be pushing as many projects as possible across the finish lines by the end of Beijing's closing ceremonies. Last week, there were nearly 400 Ravelers signed up and nearly 1000 projects lined up. A week later, 3,253 Ravelers have 7,764 projects lined up. And projects can be added to the competition through Thursday.

Did I sign up? Of course I did. And, lacking brakes, commonsense, and any self-control, I've signed up for 19 projects (so far). That's more Olympic projects than there are Olympic days. I can console myself that these are projects I'd intended to make, anyway--at some point. And I haven't spent any money on yarn or thread: almost all of these projects will be using materials I already had on hand. I did buy some crochet thread on sale, but it was a surprisingly low price for some excellent thread. And I had to buy buttons for a sweater, ribbon for a pair of booties. I still need to buy one large button and several small black buttons (the black ones will be eyes on "critters").

Here is more than you want to know--and lots of pictures:

First name on my injured/disabled list? My Sony Cybershot camera. I'm through with the Sony's blue photographs of purple yarn, so I took the camera to Best Buy today--along with some spare purple yarn, so they'll know what I'm trying to photograph. If the camera cannot be repaired and they decide to give me a new one, I should get word in about a week. If the camera can be repaired, it may be two to three weeks before the camera is back. In the meantime, I've resurrected my old Gateway digital. It turns purples to blue, too. And it gets other things wrong. But it'll do for now.

Entered in "WIPs Wrestling" (i.e., wrestling your WIPs--works in progress--into completion), I have two items:
A Baby Surprise Jacket for baby number 7 for my cousin Shari (due in January). The color is off, here (should be dark purple, bright green, bright turquoise, and bright green buttons):



The other WIP is a vintage doily:



Both of these WIPs are virtually complete. The jacket needs shoulder seams shown, neck crocheted (in green), and buttons added. The doily needs a border row of green, then needs to be blocked.

Entered in "Baby Dressage" and "Gift Knits Pentathlon" are two pairs of crocheted booties: one for Shari's baby and one for coworker Trina's baby boy (due in November). These will be made using yarn left from the BSJs:



I don't think these will take too long.

I've queued up three doilies (also Gift Knits Pentathlon as well as Homestuff Hammerthrow). One uses DMC Cebelia in ecru. The other two, both using the same pattern, will be multicolored doilies. The ecru doily will take several days--or even a week. The multicolored doilies are from a book entitled "Easy One-Day Doilies," but I've made two other designs from this book and they took longer than a day, so I'm not expecting too much.


(I'm still debating which green to use.)

I've also queued up two thread bookmarks (Gift Knits Pentathlon), one in light blue and one in mauve:



I've queued up the Mermaid scarf pattern (Gift Knits Pentathlon and Scarf Stroke), set to use up some mango-colored Microspun yarn:



And, by way of a triple-whammy entry (Amigurumi 'n Toy Toss, Pets Pommel Horse, and Gift Knits Pentathlon), I've queued up four versions of a pattern called Kitty Squid. It's a cat toy that will use up odd bits of leftover yarn.



Once my wrist starts to crack from all the crocheting, I'll be ready to change over to knitting (uses different muscles):

There's the adorable Sheldon (Amigurumi 'n Toy Toss and Gift Knits Pentathlon), in Mango and Buttercup Microspun:



There's the Paw Cozy (designed to warm my paw when I'm leash-walking the dogs on a cold day). This qualifies as Cable Steeplechase (there is a cable stitch in there) and Pets Pommel Horse:



There's a tank top for me in Mocha Microspun (Vest Vault):



And I've queued up a pair of BSJs: one in "almond," with "lake" and "lime" trim, and the other in "maize" with "lake" and "lime" trim (Baby Dressage again and Gift Knits Pentathlon):



The projects I'm counting on getting through are the two WIPs and the doily in ecru. Any of the others that get finished will be "gravy." I queued up plenty of small items (the squid pattern supposedly only takes a couple of hours) so I could fill in between the bigger pieces, or have something easy to work on at lunch. The official start time on 8 August is 8 pm Friday in Beijing (8 am Friday my time). The official ending time is about midnight (Beijing time) on 24 August, which would be noon Sunday for me; since I have to work that day, my official ending time will be whatever time on Saturday the 23rd I finally crash (and I'll work until 9 that night, anyway). And I might start one or more projects before the official start time; if I do, they just become WIPs Wrestling projects instead of whatever they're entered as now.

There's no prize for completing projects--no penalty for failing to complete them. Knitters and crocheters are just competing for themselves. Well--there are "teams" but they're not by nationality (there's Team Hogwarts or Team Editors--which I'm on...I edit patterns on the Ravelry site). Folks who get a project across the finish line get a badge for their blog. Ravelry's "Olympians" will be cheering each other on, admiring each other's performances, and having fun. But not, necessarily, watching the Olympics. I'm not a sports fan in general, and I'm fonder of winter sports than summer ones. I'll probably be watching Turner Classic Movies' Summer Under the Stars. (Don't miss 84 Charing Cross Road at 4am on 6 August. It's wonderful!)

Finally, today--as I wound balls of yarn, printed out patterns, bagged things up, and got my Olympic competitors outfitted and ready to go--two starving dogs laid there and stared reproachfully at me:


(They also--deliberately--raked up the carpet with their feet so the carpet looks dirty. Thanks, guys.)

Why we love Ravelry

Since April of 2007, there's been a Web site in beta-testing mode: http://www.ravelry.com

Jess is a knitter. Her husband, Casey, is a computer programmer. Jess used to bemoan the difficulties of organizing her knitting projects--keeping track of patterns and pattern changes, what yarn she bought (and how much and from where), what needles she owned (and which projects they were in), where she saw what scrumptious design, what changes she'd made to a pattern the last time she knitted it, and trying to find something to do with x yards of leftover sock yarn (when there wasn't enough for another pair). Jess and Casey--and some knitting friends--brainstormed and discussed what they'd like to see in a knitting (and crocheting) database/data management site. And Jess and Casey built it.

They quit their full-time jobs. They opened the gates to knitters and crocheters who learned about the site by word of mouth or by posts in knitters' blogs. They issued "invitations" and created a waiting list when it became obvious that an overwhelming number of people were going to be banging on their doors. (Right now, the waiting period is a couple of days. Last year, I waited more than six weeks to get my invitation.)

They opened the site to advertising--and their users loved it! Ads are personally approved by Jess: knitting, crocheting, or fiber related, no flashing ads, must be pretty pictures...and the ads link to the advertiser's site, where discounts for Ravelers often are available. Ad prices are reasonable enough for small "yarnies" (folks who spin or dye their own yarn) to buy ads; and there's a limit on how many ads will run on the site and how many a company may buy, so that big companies don't squeeze out the small advertisers.

In about 15 months, the site has acquired more than 156,000 users. Users have compiled a database of nearly 70,000 patterns (info about the patterns--needles/hooks and yarn needed, sizes available, etc., but not the copyrighted pattern instructions themselves) and nearly 26,000 yarns. And that doesn't include people's own made-up patterns or their homespun fibers. Designers can post PDFs of their patterns on Ravelry; a Raveler can buy the pattern (via Paypal) and download the PDF from the Ravelry site. And there are lots of free patterns to download. A user's projects page has links to her (or his--lots of guys on Ravelry) photos on Flickr and blog posts. And the most amazing thing is how the site has grown and changed as Casey gleefully revamps--or redesigns--whole sections of the site. You can click on a pattern and see all the ways other Ravelers have made it--what changes they made, what yarns they used, and how the item looks on real people (rather than models). You can click on a yarn that you've bought, and see the projects that other Ravelers have made with that yarn. You can search the database for a pattern that uses just the yardage you have on hand. You can search for free patterns, on-line patterns, crochet patterns, baby patterns, doilies, shawls, socks...the combinations are endless.

In the beginning, there were no forums. Now there are--and sometimes, the Ravelry forums have the same ups and downs and temper tantrums you see on other forums. As a rule, though, there are so many groups (more than 6000 of them) that cater to special interests that Ravelers can go find a like-minded group to chat with and avoid the mayhem.


So...the 2008 Beijing Olympics is coming up, and a couple of Ravelers had the idea of coordinating a Ravelry event with the Olympics--with projects to be started during the Olympic opening ceremony and completed by the end of the closing ceremony, the goal being not individual champions and winners, but seeing how many projects on the site could cross the "finish line" in that 17-day period. The idea caught on. Nearly 400 Ravelers have officially signed up--so far. Nearly 1000 projects have been entered (and the entry deadline is August 8). There are 31 "events" (with names like Sock Put and Hat Dash). There are dozens of "teams" (like Team Hopelessly Overcommitted). The 2008 Ravelympic Group* has nearly 3200 members (not all have committed to an event). There's one thread on that forum with more than 3000 posts on it (the first post went up on June 28). During the Olympics, Ravelers will work on their projects, watch the Olympics, and forum-post to their fellow "competitors" or "teammates" with encouragement, advice, cheers, and tears.

Now all this activity has to be impacting the Ravelry site. Lots of posts, lots of database hits as people queue up projects, post in the forums, search patterns, yarn, and fellow Ravelers' pages. There is lots of Olympic-related knitting art, such as logos for various teams, many using the "official" Ravelympic logo of five balls of yarn. How has Casey reacted to all this activity...all this "drag" on his beloved database?

Well, he posted this: "Wow - the Ravelympics keep getting bigger! Is there something I can do to help and make it a little easier for people to track what is going on and all that?" You gotta love a Code Monkey who's a glutton for punishment.

He's created a tracking system using tags. Competitors tag their projects with an event name and a team name. He's created display boards showing what the teams are, how many members (and who they are), what projects are entered in which events. There's a system for adding tags to projects that circumvents a user's inability to type accurately (click an icon, then click the tags you need from a list; once you tag an item, it shows on the display board).

Casey clearly is having a field day (pun intended) with all the extra programming. He's working on ways to track which projects are nearing the finish line, to tally all the info. When someone bemoaned the extra work this had to be causing Casey, he answered: "One thing that we try to remember over here - the work will never be done, so we have to make time for fun :) Okay, so we don’t say that exact goofy rhyme, but something like that."

And that's why so many of us love Ravelry. It's not just a knitting/crocheting database. It's a fun knitting/crocheting database, run by a couple of folks who truly enjoy what they're doing.

*One fun occupation on Ravelry is coming up with Rav-related names; for instance, users on Ravelry have a "Ravatar." *grin*