Are You Stitching in the Ravellenic Games This Year?

It’s almost time for the beginning of the Summer Olympics, which means it’s time for another session of the Ravellenic Games (formerly known as the Ravelympics, but that’s a long story).

The Games are a time when knitters, crocheters and other fiber artists challenge themselves to complete a project that is started during the opening ceremonies and cast off (or however you want to define finished) before the torch is extinguished. That gives you a little more than two weeks.

You can join a team, based around anything from geographical location to type of knitting to geeky fandoms and more, or you can compete on your own. This time around there are 15 events, from the Afghan Marathon to WIPs Wrestling. You can also earn laurels for using different techniques such as cables, colorwork, lace, weaving and more.

I have never successfully managed to do a project for the Games, though I would love to. My daughter is home for almost all of the time period this is happening, but maybe that means I would have more time for knitting than I might otherwise.

Are you signed up? I’d love to know what you’re planning to make!

[Photo via Ravelry.]

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I love a good stash busting project, and that’s the first thing I thought of when I saw the Brilliant Brickwork Wrap by Amy Crumpton.

It’s actually designed to use mini skeins of fingering weight yarn, but I feel like you could use scrap yarns in harmonious colors to get the same kind of effect.

The pattern was written to use 24 colors of 10 gram skeins, as well as a 100 gram/400 yard skein of yarn. But there’s a design modifications section in the pattern that talks you through using 12 colors in 20 gram increments, 10 gram scrap balls or even three full skeins of yarn if you’ve got bigger amounts of pretties you want to use.

The wrap is worked in garter stitch and it’s sort of a log cabin style, where stitches are picked up from the edges of previous sections to build the next piece. It is worked in two sections that are joined in the middle with no seaming required. The pattern includes row by row written instructions and end of row stitch counts so you can keep your place easily.

The designer rates the skill level as for adventurous beginners and beyond. You’ll need to know how to knit, slip stitches and pick up stitches from a slipped stitch edge.

I do love the look that minis give you in this project because they are designed to work well together. (Check out more patterns great for mini skeins and advent calendar yarn.) But being me I’m always thinking about ways to use your yarn stash, and I think with proper planning this would be a great project for getting rid of some of those odd balls. You could also work the wrap in a different weight of yarn for a different look depending on what yarn you have that you need to use.

As written is measures about 14 by 60 inches, or 35.5 by 152.5 cm, but you can adjust the length without too much trouble.

Check it out and grab your copy from Ravelry.

[Photo: Amy Crumpton]

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