So of course, I couldn’t resist giving the Ravelympics one more shot. For those of you who are scratching your heads, the Ravelympics is a fun (again, theoretically) event sponsored by the Ravelry social network site. There are different “events” to enter, but it basically works like this:

• You pick a piece that you’d like to work on, knitted, crocheted, or spun, start to finish, during the Olympic Games. Winter or summer, doesn’t matter – this time was the Winter Olympics, but there will be another during the 2012 Games in London.
• You work on it while you watch the Games.
• If you’re like a normal person, eventually you finish. Or you burn out halfway through the foot of your stocking and move on to the sweater you’ve been slogging along on for almost a FSCKING YEAR NOW…..
  Ahem. I mean, you do your best to finish but you get distracted. Yes. Yes, that’s what I meant. Sorry about the shouting. I blame the hockey game yesterday.

Speaking of the hockey game, the US and Canadian teams met for the medal final yesterday afternoon. I should say that I love hockey. I’ve been watching it for a long time now. My first introduction to hockey was visiting a friend/employer at his house after class one day. He and one of his roommates were watching a Pittsburgh Penguins game with the sound off and Verdi’s Aida set to “stun”. I was hooked. Several years later, my sister’s (now ex) fiance was also a hockey fan and got some of us really interested in the rules of the game. But I digress.

I thought it was a great game. By the end of the 1st period, it looked like it would be a Team Canada blowout. The US really came back and forced the game into overtime. Even though Canada won, it was a hell of a game. There’s no shame in losing to…well, let’s be honest, some of your teammates. Yes, that’s right. There were people facing each other who are going home to work together this week. In the case of the Avalanche, they’re working together today.

Did I knit? Oh yeah. Yes, I did. The sweater from hell, that I’ve been working on since last April, now has (almost) two sleeves. I also managed to tweet a little and have a refreshing beverage while taking a break during intermissions. I’m not posting a picture because they look remarkably like every two sleeves any knitter or crocheter has ever, ever seen. I will get it together enough to post a picture of the main part of the sweater from hell, once the sleeves are ready to insert.

So yes, I went down in a gigantic flaming fail for this year’s Ravelympics. But there’s always 2012…

It’s Heart, from the Winter 2008 Knitty. That’s my handspun Coopworth from ages and ages ago, recently dyed with cherry Kool-Aid a summer or two ago.

Heart, from the Winter 2008 Knitty

It’s either K’s or School Girl’s Valentine’s Day present. He laughed like hell when he saw it, because it doesn’t look like a heart exactly. But it was quick and easy, and it’s done.

My present, on the other hand, may possibly arrive on Friday. Maybe.

I’m still working away on a few things: my Cathedral socks and Margaret. Plus I’m casting on for these during the final/long program of the pairs figure skating tonight. If I feel like it – go Team Angstylvania!

First of all, it’s huge. Huge. Like over-the-top, ginormous, oh-no-it’s-heading-straight-for-us huge. I can honestly say I’ve never had a everyday bag this big ever. It’ll work for a carry-on bag, or a project bag (like a sweater or gigantic shawl project), but I’m debating if I really need a bag this big for every day use. The decoration also turned out to be a damn sight bigger than I had envisioned. Not sure what brand of crack I was smoking that day, but clearly it’s time to lay off…

Oh, what the hell. The picture’s behind this cut here:

See? Huge. I think it’ll make a good carry-on size though; certainly if I had a laptop, it’d be perfect. The bag as is isn’t perfect, but it’s done. The only thing I might add – and it’s easy enough to add on, even at this point – is a lining. But that’s it.

It’s called Pennies per Hour of Pleasure. The concept is pretty simple. Knitwear designers donate patterns to be distributed on the site. They’re all on .pdfs for ease of downloading and printing. When you’ve downloaded, you make a donation based on how many hours of pleasure you will get from the pattern. You don’t have to, but it would be a good thing to do, especially during the holiday season. The patterns are beautiful – go take a look if you don’t believe me. There are at least a couple great-looking sock patterns, just off the top of my head, but go see them all. Right now, there’s a birthday blogathon to celebrate p/hop’s 1st birthday.

All the money goes to MSF/Doctors Without Borders. MSF is a wonderful organization. They deliver medical help wherever it’s needed, without regard to race, religion or political affiliation. The only thing needed is for there to be a medical emergency, and they will be there.

Oh, and if you look really closely, there might be a post or two by some familiar-looking bloggers…

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For example, I had to improvise the black yarn for the bag. As I mentioned in the first post, I had to dye dark gray wool instead of using black. The woman at the store and I guessed at the amount of yarn I’d need. To be really blunt, I guessed wrong.

I did luck out and happen to have at least 2 skeins of black worsted (you know, like the pattern calls for) and am working with 2 strands held together. Not my favorite thing to do, but it’s working.

Now I need to figure out how to do the design I had in mind. Right now I’m not sure whether to make it a part of the flap or part of an outside pocket, which would be partially covered by the flap.