Yes. I’ve lost my mind. I’ve joined Yarn Harlot: The 2006 Knitting Olympics. Scroll down to Heather O.
This is what I’ll be doing (scroll down past the kitty).
The Map of the World Afghan.

But the really REALLY stupid thing is that I’ve TOLD people that I’m doing this. I’m really going to have to FINISH this damn thing now. I’ve had the goods since last Hannukah, but its’ so big…so daunting… so…GLOBAL.

There are some amusing rule clarifications from the Yarn Harlot’s site that I’ll list here…then I’ll get on with the metric ton of work I have for the weekend…then I have to train for the Olympics. Think I’ll finish my Del Mar gloves…from handspun…which should fit this time. Pics to come. Here’s the Harlot:

Olympic Regulations.

Elizabeth D. asks “But — aren’t we supposed to have four years of training before we enter these events?”

No. Next question?

Carol asks “How dare you challenge me to a feat of this magnitude? Do you know what you are doing to me?

I have a pretty good idea what I’m doing to you, but you’re the lady who picked entrelac. Truthfully Carol, I thought less of you guys were going to go for it. It turns out that when the men with the huggy coats cart me off, I’ll have lots and lots of friends to play with.

B. Asks “Will there be drug testing?”

No. Although you should be careful to make sure you are consuming enough drugs. (Namely chocolate, red wine and coffee and toward the end…hard liquor.) As for the stronger stuff, I figure that if you can knit a challenge while using any other drugs, good luck to you. It’s like that Canadian Snowboarder who won gold while he was high as a kite. Most peoples major feat after going the way of the BC Skunkweed is to successfully locate a bag of cookies. The way I see it, if you can do that while you are stoned, you should get two gold medals. I wouldn’t be able to find the snow.

Kat with a K asks “if I remember correctly, the flame is not actually lit until partway through the opening ceremonies (?). Does this mean that we need to knit something else while watching the beginning part of the TV coverage and then switch when they lit the flame? Or can we cast on when the opening ceremonies start?

Here’s the executive decision. The Opening Ceremonies start at 8pm Torino time. Torino is six hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, which would mean starting at 2pm in the afternoon.
How about we agree on 2pm February 10th, no matter where you are? (Does that help those of you without a tv?)

From Katie, who’s going to do a shawl “Does it have to be blocked by the time the flame goes out?”

Yes. Does a marathon runner need to cross the finish line? I suggest steam. Less drying time than full immersion.

Many of you asked if Wendy was banned from the games.

Of course not. I went to her site and did some math though. Looks like she knit one of those fabulous bohus sweaters in 3 weeks. I thought two things.
1. Has anyone screened her for steroids?
2. It gives me the heebie jeebies to wonder what she would need to do to challenge herself. Really.

Several of you asked if you had to do a sweater, or if you could do more than one thing.

You can do anything that is a knitting project as long as it represents a personal challenge for you. If that’s 20 hats…go ahead. The idea is to set a difficult and inspiring goal.

Finally, The list of Knitting Olympic Athletes can be found here:

The Knitting Olympics Page.

I know I said that I would list you all in the sidebar, but when you see how many there are of you, I think you will understand why it’s got it’s own page now. (Not everybody is up there yet, and not all of the code on the bottom of the page works. Html vexes me. I’m working on it. Give me a day or two before you register complaints. It’s a lot of work.) That’s probably the page you should link to if you took a button too.
There is now a link to the whole Knitting Olympic shebang on the sidebar, should you wish to (and I hope you will) check in on the athletes.

I’m off now. I’ve got a full day of work, a whole lot of spinning and a sweater to hack up.

(PS – for those of you who wanted to know about the wee blue gansey sweater from the other day It’s Design “E” from Sirdar Book 241)
Posted by Stephanie at 10:02 AM | Comments (301)