52 hours and 30 minutes

That was my finish time in the Knitting Olympics!  Here's the final product:

And the picture-in-the-bathroom-mirror pose:

One more:

The pictures in the bathroom mirror show the color a little better than the outside picture.

I suck at taking pictures of myself. 

I'm really happy with how the sweater fits--almost as though it were made for me!  Seriously, the beauty of a top-down raglan is that you can try it on as you go and make fit decisions on the fly.  I made the cuffs extra-long, because I wanted to.  I like long cuffs.

So I can stroll leisurely to the podium and collect my gold medal when it's ready, I guess!
I feel a little like the Italian cross-country skier.  I almost feel a little guilty about not having to rush around and have a big last-minute knitting push.  I take that back -- actually it feels GREAT not to be rushing around with a big last-minute push!  :)

Details:
Yarn:  some stash yarn I bought at a mill-end store years ago, no idea what it is
Needles:  size 3 and 5 circulars
Pattern:  top down turtleneck raglan, swatched and made up with number out of my head
Body knitting time:  33 hours and 45 mins
First sleeve knitting time:  10 hours and 45 minutes
Second sleeve knitting time:  8 hours  (Once you know where you're going, you can get there more quickly the second time)
Total number of days when knitting actually occurred:  10
Average knitting time per day:   5 hours and 15 minutes.

Thanks to Stephanie for the inspiration!  I'd been wanting to make another top-down raglan sweater for a while.  I figured out the way I wanted to make raglan increases, how to incorporate a texture pattern into the body of a sweater and sleeves, and that I could knit and complete a sweater in a given period of time.

Now I'm going off to ice my wrist for a bit.  It's a little sore for some reason.

Comments

[Cindy]

Congrats on the Big Finish, Janice! The sweater is gorgeous. Glad I was one of the privileged few who got to see it first. :-)

Maybe a little tincture of arnica under those beaded wrist warmers for a few days???

See you Sunday.

[amy]

that sweater looks FANTASTIC! i love the patterning down the front. great job! GO TEAM JAWJA!! =]

[Katie C RAOK]

Cangrats Janice. It looks great. I hope that you have fun knitting it up.

[Vicki]

Congratulations!! It's so exciting to see people reaching the podium. It looks fantastic.

[Jane]

Way to go!! Looks just as good in the photos as it did at the library, too. My Olympic sweater is done, as well, just needing another serious blocking.

[Mouse]

Wow.. that sweater is GORGEOUS! I really love the cable pattern.. is it your own or did you find it somewhere?
I'm glad that most of Team GA will be accepting gold medals - I'll be the one knitting furiously in a fit of panic while watching the clock and drinking my meals through a straw (its faster that way.. no hands).

[Marnie]

It looks great! I love the cable pattern and I like that it allows the piece to have a little shape, naturally, because it can expand or contract to the wearer's figure, but it's not all clingy. Very nice. Plus, I love a nice turtleneck, not too tight, not too loose.

[christine]

It's wonderful! You did it!!!!!
Yay........
Gold Medal!

[Sandy]

Woo hoo! It's beeyootiful. You will share details at the next SnB,no? Yes!

[Sandy]

Umm, details means things like "math." -Shudder-

[Beth]

Cool - you put your cables on the sleeves all the way down from the neck - like saddles on some sweaters. What a great idea. It looks great, you know. Congratulations! You definitely deserve that gold medal. :)

[Rebekah]

yeah! a medal, now is she really sending medals? Well regardless the sweater itself is a prize and a medal, it's beautiful.

[margene]

Another GOLD! Beautiful sweater and in such a short time! You grrls are all fantastic!!

[pixie]

congrats, that's a real challange, and on size 3/5 needles too! YOU GO YEAH!

[Cassie]

Uh oh - an injury at the finish line? I hope your wrist is better. The sweater is gorgeous - finishing that fine a gauge sweater in such a short time is just amazing.

[susan]

Congrats! The sweater looks wonderful. And averaging 5+ hours a day knitting . . . Wow!

[Rhonna]

Janice, this looks great! I've not yet reached the point of being able to design my own sweater, so I'm a wee bit jealous. :-) I'd say this one is a huge success. An even better test of success is that it looks better ON than on the rack, so to speak. :-)

[Anita]

A bit late to the party--gorgeous sweater! You should be proud of your accomplishments!