Sock Madness and Ravelympics

Aaaack!!!!! The season is upon us. What? Spring? No, that's still a few weeks away. Football? Baseball? Basketball? I wouldn't know those seasons if they happened in my backyard. No, I'm talking the IMPORTANT seasons - Sock Madness and Ravelympics.

Some of you may remember Sock Madness from last year. This is a time when ordinarily peaceful sock knitting becomes a competitive event. It takes place on Ravelry, here. 160 sock maniacs, er, knitters, are divided into four teams. At a specified time, the sock pattern is released and the knitting begins. The competition continues through several rounds with the first certain number of knitters who complete the socks advancing to the next round. Finally, it is down to one person from each team. Those knitters compete, the semi-finalists compete, and then, the winner! One sleep deprived sock knitter with cramped hands, sore back and tush, is crowned The Maddest Sock Knitter of all. I cannot even begin to describe how much fun this is. Yes, even with all of the very real pain, it is so much fun. It won't begin for another couple of weeks, although the sign ups and panic have already begun. In the meanwhile, this year, I have another event to knit for, just to keep me going while waiting for SM.

That other event is Ravelympics, also on Ravelry, here. Again, how to describe this? Basically, it is patterned after the Olympics. There are teams and individual events. It begins with the Opening Ceremonies and ends with the extinguishing of the Olympic Flame. I've chosen to enter the WIPs Dancing Event. WIPs = Works in Progress. You know, all of those projects started, but not yet finished. I have several to choose from.

There is Ms. Purple Sweater:




There is the beginnings of a small mitered project bag:



There is a triangular shawl:



There's a few spinning WIPs:




Plus, I would also really, really like to knit some socks in the Sock Hockey Event, which means that I would cast those on during the Opening Ceremonies. Don't you think that sounds like a great thing to do during the Opening?

Problem is, as always, time. The Olympics/Ravelympics begin Feb 12, and the Closing Ceremony is Feb 28. 16 days. That's only a bit more than 2 weeks. And, for 6 of those days, I'll be out of town, 4 of them at a Tai Chi Chih retreat. I'm thinking that I may not get as much knitting done at a retreat as I usually do. Something about relaxing rather than obsessing.

Clearly, I'm going to have to think this through a bit. I'll keep you posted.