A few days ago, I got into conversation with Joni from Ravelry, after she commented on the pink booties I had made. I said they could be done easily in a couple of hours, and she said that sounded like a challenge. So we decided that we would log into Ravelry at the same time (she’s in USA) and cast on, and see who finished first.
That led to us starting up a KAL on ravelry, and before we knew it, we had 21 members signed up for it!!
After a serious mix up in the times between Ireland and the USA, especially seeing as there are different times within the USA itself, and we had someone from Sweden also in the group, I cast on at the original time I had planned, 6pm, which was an hour after some of the others.
It took a lot longer than I thought, also; wrong yarn choice. I probably should have gone back to the Sirdar I used for the red booties I had made, I still had at least half a ball left of the red and a full ball of cream in the same cotton.
Think I made a mistake using this yarn, left over Sirdar Town and Country 4ply sock yarn, which seemed a lot thinner than 4ply! I knew it almost as soon as I started but of course I was being pigheaded and ploughed ahead! I knit a few more rows of the 9-20 as I wanted a deeper show, and then followed what Joni did and cast on several extra sts and knit the tie longer in order to just tie it.
I wasnt too happy with the way the first one turned out, so used the hated long tail cast on for the tie on the second bootie and it did turn out better.
In between doing the 2 booties, I wound on the yarn to start at the same starting point for the 2nd bootie as I wanted them to match. On the 2nd bootie, I also lost some time as I got to the point where I was to cast off for the centre point of the top of the bootie and realised that I hadnt done my decreases previously, so I had to frog back and redo that part 
Whew, glad they are done, and in total, including the frogging time, they took 3 hrs and 9 mins, without a break.
Quick nip to the loo, and then the seaming began…and finished, photographed, put up on Ravelry, and now blogged. All since 6pm, fiance sent out for many cups of tea in the process!
Thanks Joni, and everyone else, for joining me in this madness!! Think we may be doing another one soon….
That was fun, and your booties are very cool! It will be fun if we can settle on another knit, and do it again sometime.
Comment by Joni — September 3, 2007 @ 12:55 am
Wow! If I ever need a baby gift in a hurry, I’ll certainly ring you! Don’t think I could do ‘em that fast (need more loo breaks). They’re certainly cute!
So tell me, do you think Ravelry takes up lots of time? I know people really love it. I haven’t even begun to look into it because I keep reading about the hours of time people spend on it. Even time just to knit is more precious these days…What’s your take on it?
Comment by a simple yarn — September 3, 2007 @ 9:04 am
Sounds like a FUN challenge! Great idea.
Comment by Bobbi — September 3, 2007 @ 1:44 pm
I had a great time!
Comment by Sandy — September 3, 2007 @ 9:43 pm
I had a fun time doing the bootees KAL! Hope we can do another bootee KAL soon!
p
Comment by Stacey — September 3, 2007 @ 10:27 pm
What a super challenge! Your booties are terrific!
)
Comment by Tracy — September 4, 2007 @ 1:09 pm
That’s a great challenge, I need to have a go at some of these, they look fantastic.
Comment by Jo — September 4, 2007 @ 5:30 pm