my ravelympics project

here is the gorgeous yarn that i am using for my ravelympics project. it is from Wooly Rhinoceros's etsy shop, a woman who lives on the sea of Galilee in Israel (!!)—she does the whole process from shearing to dyeing and spinning by hand. now that's talent.

at the heart of the ravelympics is the idea that they, "support you in expanding your knitting/crocheting horizons." It's all about challenging yourself at whatever level you are at. Since I am just a novice at crochet, that means a fairly simple project! I have chosen to make a beret, this beret in fact. for many, it is all about completing multiple projects for the most yardage, but i'm just determined to conquer crochet and teach myself this bleepity bleep needle art!

the good thing is that i sat down to go through the official ravelympics rules and you do not have to be attached to a team to participate, just tag your project with the little "r" button that comes up when you are editing your project details. once you click on that, you'll be able to choose from among different teams (if you belong to one) and different events. so i am now officially competing in the speed skate and half pipe events! which means i better get off this computer and get my rear in gear!

the olympics ARE FINALLY HERE!

(image copyright 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games)

ok, i have to confess something. i love the olympic games. no seriously, I LOVE THEM! in this weird-over-the-top way. i'm not a very patriotic person, i haven't seen fireworks on the fourth of july in years, and i detest watching sports on television. but i seriously get teary-eyed about watching the olympics..frankly, it's embarrassing.

i honestly could not tell you how this came about. i think it has a lot to do with me being a bit of an idealist. day after day you have people arguing about politics, shooting each other, screwing people out of money, etc. etc. etc. But every couple years now, the whole friggin world comes together to celebrate what humans can achieve with nothing but their muscles and spirit. when you think about this, it's really quite amazing that we've kept it up all these years and how honored all the athletes are to be a part of it. and not just popular american testosterone sports, but almost every branch of physical competition that exists. i don't even root for anyone specific, i get excited when anyone wins, haha!

so, for the next couple weeks or so i'm going to be glued to my television, perhaps with a secret stash of kleenex because i'm a sap, just keep that on the DL ok? and if you haven't already, check out cabin + cub's blog because she's right there in vancouver posting about some pretty neat things going on with the olympics right in her town.

(image copyright 2010 Ravelympics)

And for a crafty little tie-in to keep me busy while i'm watching people compete at sports i know absolutely nothing about, i'm going to be participating in the ravelympics. but not officially because i got sidetracked and didn't sign up to be on a team in time, blurgh! so i'm just going to be casting on with everyone else when the opening ceremonies kick-off tonight and will compete against myself. this should be a good exercise for me since i am a novice when it comes to knitting and crochet. tomorrow: look for my ravelympics project with some very cool yarn that came to me all the way from Israel!