Knitting is an Olympic Sport!

Today is the opening ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympics. I have been agonizing over whether or not to join the Knitting Olympics or the Ravelympics. Ravelry has some pretty fun Sporting events--The Hat Halfpipe, Mitten Moguls, Sock Hockey, Single Skein Speed Skate and even Holiday Jump-Start Skiing for those who want to get a jump on their Christmas knitting. This is a serious thing, folks. There are 446 different teams competing this year and I am very tempted. The rules for these olympics (and as far as I know, there is no Knitting Olympic Committee to regulate this so it's an honor system thing) are that you cast on a project during the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, knit like a mad woman (or man) and finish the project by the closing ceremony ending. Oh so tempting...

BUT, I learned in January when I joined the National Knitting Mittens Month group that my mind rebels against a deadline. A psychologist would probably look at it and babble on about my fear of committment, or my fear of failure, or my deep seated need (probably brought on by too few hugs as a child) to rebel against authority as a means of establishing my own individualism. Whatever the cause, all I know is that I cast on a pair of really amazing mittens that I had been lusting after for awhile, but hadn't gotten around to knitting, on January 1st. I knit all day on one of the mittens and made some good progress. Then, I lost my momentum and randomly decided to start 3 other projects. I know...total head scratcher, right? Well...I finished all three of those other projects before the end of January. The mittens? They got stalled here:

One almost completed mitten. But look at the amazing pattern of the palm of the mitten!

The other mitten I started on Feb 4th...well enough outside of the finish time that my mind could feel happy knitting it knowing that the only reason I was doing it was because I wanted to, not because I had to finish it by some stupid self imposed deadline. SO....I'm thinking that I probably should NOT enter into competition in the Knitting Olympics. But isn't it a fun idea?

(Extra credit points to those who identify the movie that inspired these mittens!)