Putting a Spin on the Ravelympics

The Ravelympics start with the Opening Ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Olympics on February 12th.

Above is my new Ravetar in honor of the Ravelympics, which I will be participating in. During the Winter Olympics, participants will compete in one or more of a number of events. Most of the events are knitting or crocheting, but there is some spinning, We have to wait to CO for our project(s) until the Opening Ceremonies, but we are allowed to prepare and get in shape for our event(s). "The One Rule To Rule Them All: Challenge yourself by starting and finishing projects during the 2010 Winter Olympics," says paksenarrion, one of the moderators of the Ravelympics 2010 group on Ravelry. In keeping with the spirit of the games, I will be competing in the Fleece to FO Longtrack, and a couple of other categories, if I have the time (ha-ha). For the Longtrack, we are supposed to spin at least 4 oz of our fiber during or after the Opening Ceremonies, and CO and finish the project. The rest of the fiber needed may be spun ahead of time. I have completed 10.9 oz of white baby alpaca

It still needs to be plied, though. Here's what I have reserved for use the evening of February 12th:

What I need to get spun in the next week is this, 13.9 oz:

It's doable, but trying to get a whole Landscape Shawl knit between February 12 and February 28, with a lot of other activities planned between is going to be a stretch!

The wonderful fiber came from my friend Linda, who keeps alpacas. She now has an Etsy shop here. I helped her with the write-ups, and most of my alpaca fiber for spinning has come from her. She also has yarn, and she does her own dyeing. The fiber used for the warm alpaca hat for DS2 was not dyed, though. The animal is actually that color. It's finished and ready to send:

The pattern is available here. In the meantime, as if I didn't have enough going on, I started the bunny for Daphne:

It's shown on Ravelry here. This quick and cute bunny is found in Jean Greenhow's Knitted Animals, which I picked up when I was visiting Australia a few years ago. I'm using KP's Simply Cotton Sport in "Toffee." I'm going to have some yarn left over for a baby washcloth or something.

Stay tuned for future developments. In the meantime, happy knitting!