Shrug off the Knitting Olympics ?

For the last 2 weeks I've been madly knitting a Debbie Bliss shrug -it's from the Simply Soft book, a soothing berry color with a rolled collar. The parts are ready, and I'm ready to pick up the collar, but find myself slowing as Friday approaches.

Yesterday, the Living section of the Oregonian featured an article about the Knitting Olympics (www.yarnharlot.ca). Amazing the day that a newspaper discusses something as exciting as knitting! Most everyone I talked to yesterday either mentioned it to me or had read it.

I had dreamed about participating, and swatched a bunch of different ideas. Then, I look at the calendar and realized that I'm taking a vacation in the middle. So, my "challenge" would be to knit a project in 7 days, instead of the normal 16-day Olympic timeframe. That would definitely be Olympic. So, I have ditched the idea of a sweater, and decided to make a scarf. One that has a new pattern to me, but that will not be too complicated in the time allotted.