Ravelympics

Ravelympics, you say…what is that? Well, it is the way that knitters, spinners, and those who crochet have fun during the Winter Olympics. If you notice on the left side of the blog, there is a link to Ravelry along with my id. Ravelry is an online social site for fiber people of the world. The last time I looked, there were in excess of 600,000 members world wide. One can participate in/on the Ravelry site as much as one wishes but the hardest part for most of us is actually leaving the site to do some knitting or fiber work. With literally thousands of groups available for every possible life interest, one could potentially spend the rest of one’s life interacting with fellow members and never knit again.


In addition to the groups, Ravelry provides a platform to inventory one’s stash (yarn or fiber), needles, books, patterns as well as linking all of these items together when making a project. Projects can then be shared (or not) with fellow Ravelers so one has a documented history complete with pictures and comments of the project. Because this history is online and not on one’s own computer, the worries about losing the data are reduced for those of us less computer savvy. Ravelry is a wonderful resource for determining if that really expensive yarn that you have been drooling over (and quietly transferring money from the grocery allotment to pay for) is really as good as your fantasy OR is it just overpriced? Is that less expensive yarn you have heard so much about even better for the project? With over 600,000 members you know that someone will have already purchased/worked with the yarn and will be more than happy to share their opinion.



So back to the Ravelympics…like the real Olympics that will be held in Vancouver starting on Friday, February 12th, we Ravelers have picked up the knitting needle torch to participate in our own form of winter games. We have divided into teams and entered events. While there are guidelines/formats to keep us in order and focused, there is only one rule to rule them all: We must challenge ourselves by starting and finishing projects during the 2010 Winter Olympics with the goal of expanding our fiber horizons above and beyond normal expectations.

I am a member of Team Master Seekers. What defines our team is not geography but the fact that we all are seeking to become Master Knitters. Members of our team may be working on any of the three levels and have the choice of what event(s) in which they wish to participate. I am working on the Level II certification and have chosen to make the argyle sock as my first project. Therefore, I will represent Team Master Seekers in the Sock Hockey Event. If I finish the argyle sock before the closing ceremonies, then I will participate in the Mitten Moguls by working on the required Fair Isle mittens. I have chosen to work on the argyle sock first because it truly will be a challenge for me. While I have made many a sock during my knitting years, I have yet to create an argyle sock which involves several non-routine knitting skills such as intarsia and the use of bobbins to make the different yarn colors behave themselves and fall into the proper location.

Mass Cast-On will begin at 9p (Indianapolis time, 6 pm PST) February 12, as the Opening Ceremonies begin in Vancouver. Anyone casting on prior to that time will be immediately disqualified – you know the knitting and Ravelympic police will be everywhere to make sure that no one has an unfair advantage. I did ask…drinking wine while participating in Ravelympics does NOT violate doping rules.

This is what my argyle sock looks like prior to the Opening Ceremonies:




Updates to follow.