Because I am Crazy...

Last night I did this:I was prepping for the Ravelympics and the Knitting Olympics. The Knitting Olympics are the brain child of the wonderful Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and are designed to inspire knitters to challenge themselves and create a finished item during the Olympics. The Ravelympics were created by the people at Ravelry and were inspired by the Knitting Olympics, but have been expanded to included crocheters as well. I have never participated in either, but have been intrigued by the concept and the thrill of the challenge.

Anyway, this year I decided to try it. I signed up for both. My local knit shop inspired me by sponsoring a team for Ravelympics. The rules for our team is that you have to either use yarn or pattern purchased at the shop. As I'm someone who doesn't stash a lot of yarn (especially more expensive knit shop yarn), I only had three choices of projects using yarn from my knit shop: J's school bus sweater, the Slanting Gretel Tee for my sister and the Ripple Cardigan for me. I had already cast on for J's sweater and the rules state that you can't cast on until the opening ceremonies (8PM CST on Friday, February 12, 2010) so that was out. I considered doing my sister's tee because I need to have it done by her birthday in March, but didn't want to rush through it and make mistakes. It's not a difficult pattern, but with the multiple cables and triangle pattern there are lots of opportunities to make a silly mistake. So I ended up deciding to do the Ripple Cardigan. Yes, I've decided to knit myself a whole cardigan with laceweight yarn done on size 3 needles in 17 days. As you know, I have two children under four who have to be fed, entertained and generally taken care of. I also should clean and cook occasionally. Oh yeah, and B is REALLY busy at work right now and will be pretty sparse for the next month or so. Yeah, I am definitely crazy.

Want to be crazy too? Go here to sign up for Knitting Olympics or here to sign up for Ravelympics. See you there, fellow crazies!