Sunday, July 06, 2008

Stage 1: Brest - Plumelec

Tension increased throughout the day as the wait continued for the start of the first stage of the Tour - I've signed up for the TdF KAL and am going for a polka dot jersey - something that is meant to be a challenge - for me, learning a new knitting skill, entrelac -which seems appropriately gallic!

So 10pm (the start time of the telecast) approached and I made myself a nice pot of tea and settled down with my yarn and pattern, ready to cast on (go Cadel!).
Clearly, the alcohol I'd had that afternoon did not act as a performance enhancing drug, as I had to cast on 4 times - the first 3 times because I underestimated the amount of tail I needed to do my backwards loop cast on, and then the 4th time as I realised that you don't use the tail to do a backwards loop cast on...le sigh!

But after my initial tumbles, I got back on my bike and made it through the first tier of triangles:
Then today, through the second tier:
And the third:
And I'm on the fourth now, as I watched the day 1 highlights and saw my Team Silence-Lotto teammate, Cadel Evans, one of the tour favourites and Aussie to boot, come in 6th at the end of stage 1, and I was pleased. Clearly my knitting efforts have carried him through so far (heh!)

18 comments:

Bells said...

good work RoseRed! Nice effort. I can see you have taken the actual race part of it a lot more seriously than I have - but I have had visitors all weekend so haven't had a chance to even watch it.

I can see though that you're going to do very well on the challenge. It looks really, really good.

MadMad said...

Whoa! Impressive! But so many questions: what were you doing drinking in the afternoon? What kind of cast on did you end up needing? And, are you only allowed to knit on the project if/when watching? I thought you just had the whole 27 days, whenever.

Also? For future reference, I read somewhere that the trick for long tail cast-ons is to start with a tail about three times the length/circumference of the item you're knitting. Can't say it's always worked, though. But mostly.

Anonymous said...

Isn't Entrelac so much easier than you think it will be? The color is very pretty. I am so out of the sporting loop. I thought the Olympics weren't until August?

amy said...

That looks gorgeous!

The announcers here keep pronouncing Liquigas (the team I'm on for the TdF KAL) as "leaky gas." It's killing me. I keep giggling. Considering I live with two little boys who often have leaky gas... really, my inner 6yo is alive and well.

J. said...

Go Silence-Lotto!

I'm knitting lace which doesn't make for good TV watching but there is a boring part of the pattern coming up so I hope to see more of the riders. I mean the race.

Joline

raining sheep said...

What a fun knit-along. I have read a few blogs now from knitters who are joining in. I love your pattern and the color...it will be fun to see it finished.

lilypotter said...

Oh, I love entrelac! It's so pretty, but I haven't tried it yet. How is it to knit? If it's not too bad, I'll have to give it a go one of these days. Anyway, good luck with the KAL!

SadieandLance said...

Yay Go Rose Red! Sadie used to knit loads of that style jumper. I didn't realise they were called polka dot, I thought it was patchwork! Good luck, looks crazy complicated!

Sarah said...

Ooh the knitting definitely carried him along - great work so far

Linda said...

That is clever knitting (I have yet to do entrelac), well done, I will cheer you on!

DrK said...

i love entrelac, you think its going to be daggy but its not at all, and never boring. you are a very good race supporter. go cadel!

Figtree Handspinners & Weavers said...

Jane!!! 300 queued projects??? What?? Go the dots, you winner, you!

Melanie Gloerfelt said...

Hi! I'm Melanie, on your team in France! I just realized how killer the time difference must be for you all...I am so spoiled.

Your photo made me smile.

Mary-Laure said...

I'm very impressed! And that red color is great, so bright and bold.

kgirlknits said...

love it! the zig-zagging of the entrelac is reminding me of the mountain stages of the race, and watching the boys climbing, climbing! have fun!

Ann said...

Wow - it looks like you have master entrelac - it looks great & I love the color.

the stripey tiger said...

Ohh looks good. I bet you've totally memoroised the pattern now. I had to keep looking at the pattern for the side triangles for about four rows before I got it in my head. Looking forward to seeing how the karaoke looks in entrelac! :-) Stripey

the stripey tiger said...

Memorised even! hehe