Let the Games Begin!

It's July 25th, which means the Olympics start in 2 days. No, I'm not going to London to compete in any of those events. But I am competing in a different simultaneous event. It's called the Ravellenic Games. People from all over the world who are involved in fiber arts in any sort of way have formed up teams and will be competing in all sorts of events. I'm told there are even prizes.

I am entered in 4 events. The first is Charity Rowing. All the finished objects completed by these competitors are destined to be given away. Since I always have a hat or three in progress in my knitting bag, I decided to go ahead and enter this one. It will give me an incentive to finish at least one over the next two weeks. And I'll be traveling to Connecticut at the close of the games, and hats make better travel knitting than large complicated shawls.

My main event is Shawl Sailing. There is a huge number of competitors in this event, judging by the amount of chatter in the group. This is where I will be focusing most of my energy, at least until I leave for Connecticut. The project I have chosen is the Aeolian Shawl, designed by Elizabeth Freeman and published in the Spring, 2009 issue of Knitty. It has lace, it has nupps, it has beads; it is an enormous piece of knitting to finish in 2 weeks. But I am up for a challenge, and this is what I chose. Because it has beads, I am also cross-entered in the Balance Beads and in the Lace Longjump.

This is my yarn. It is Ella Rae Lace Merino. I bought it several years ago when I was in Atlanta for an event. I had started this shawl with a different yarn and didn't like the way the yarn was working, but loved the pattern, so frogged it, and bought new yarn. It gave me great pleasure this week to bring this yarn out of its drawer and wind it. The beads I've chosen are a mix of transparent amber and amber with a gold center. I'm really excited about putting the beads and the yarn together and starting this project on Friday night.

In the meantime I'm finishing off a few UFO's and generally clearing the decks. I'm crocheting an edging on a fleece blanket and should finish that either tonight or tomorrow. The only other project I have out is some knitted afghan squares, and I can easily put those away for a while. I need to take some patterns out of my project notebook and move Aeolian up to the front. I need to pick out the needles I'm going to use. I'm pretty much good to go.

I wish all my fellow Ravellenic Games competitors good luck and good fiber.