Ravelry started a new thing where you could set challenges for yourself. I think of them more as goals than challenges, but whatever. I had five projects I wanted to finish this year. Three shawls, a blanket to give as a gift, and the scarf from my beginner's class. I didn't feel too hopeful about getting to it even as I set it as a goal. It has a lot of seed stitch and that's not something I enjoy knitting.
Then the Olympics were coming up and I learned there was something on Ravelry called the Ravellenics where knitters/crocheters/weavers/etc could compete in their own mini events. My original plan was to do a shawl, but I knew I didn't have much knitting time and might not finish.
Then the light bulb went off over my head. Duh! The scarf!
I entered myself in Short Track Scarf with the added laurel for using old yarn. Yes, my project yarn had been sitting long enough to be considered old stash because it was more than 6 months old.
It was actually kind of amazing how the competition made it easier to want to finish the project. I spent a lot of time watching figure skating and knitting with a little bit of bobsled, luge, snowboarding, and skiing thrown in. Mainly figure skating, though. :-)
And voila! I actually finished knitting my scarf! I still need to block it, but the hard part is done.
