Team BSA Needs You!

So I stumbled upon a Ravelry project that was for the upcoming Ravelympics, followed the link to the thread... and caught serious Ravelympics fever. I instant messaged my sister, who said she and I and our mom should join up... and wouldn't it be fun if we had our own team? Well, a pm (personal message) and a few moments later and we did- Team BSA, otherwise known as teamblueskyalpacas, was formed. We contacted a couple knitting friends and BSA sample knitters, posted a little plug on the High Fiber group (for Blue Sky Alpacas lovers) and the Shepherd's Choice group (LYS group) and recruited a couple more team members, and now it's your turn to join the club, hop on the Ravelympics mania bandwagon, and knit with us- FOR PRIZES!!

Team BSA is kicking things up a notch, has devised a point system, and Blue Sky Alpacas is donating yarn to offer for prizes!!
Gold Medal Winner will receive 10 skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Sport Weight (100% baby alpaca)- your choice color!!
Silver Medal Winner will receive 5 skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk (50% alpaca, 50% silk)- your choice color!!
Bronze Medal Winner will receive 5 skeins of either Dyed Cotton or the new Skinny Dyed (both 100% organically grown cotton)- again in your choice color!!
I am super excited about this!! A big shout-out “Thank You!!” to Linda at Blue Sky Alpacas!! Nothing like a little prize incentive to spur on the knitting, eh?!

Point system is as follows:
Ravelympics2008 Team BSA – Creatively Competitive Point System
• 10 pts per completed project (new projects only)
• 5 pts per completed WIP

Degree of Difficulty Ratings
• -2 for bulky or super bulky weight yarn usage or gauge knit
• +2 for lace weight yarn usage or gauge knit
• +1 for 2 color knitting
• +2 for 3 colors
• +3 for 4 colors
• +4 for 5 colors
• Etc… (+1 for every extra color…)
• +4 for adult size sweater
• -1 for short, cap, or no sleeves (tanks); any size
• +5 for baby blanket or afghan 30” x 30”, or larger
• -2 for washcloths, baby or child hats, baby socks or booties
• -1 for adult hats
• -1 for knit or crocheted toys smaller than 8” in length or diameter
• +2 for original designs, or modifying a pattern significantly- per judges’ discretion… (example: adding 3”, or more, in length, adding cables, complex stitch pattern, colorwork, etc…)
• +1 for intarsia
• +2 for entrelac
• +1 for felting
Think of it like gymnastics, diving, or figure skating- you have the whole ‘degree of difficulty’ rating making some jumps or dives worth more than others…

I’ll be going keeping tabs on the projects that get tagged “teamblueskyalpaca” and entering all of the pertinent point details into the handy dandy spreadsheet my fabulous DH hleped me put together, and hopefully find some time to post some stats along the way… I’ll be posting info on the Team BSA thread and the High Fiber group, as well as here, time and pregnancy permitting... Projects are still being added and occasionally dropped, so the final possible points won’t be tallied until the 8th, and then the actual points earned will be tallied as we go along…
If you’ve got a project planned using BSA yarns or patterns, or if you’re a BSA devotee, tag your project teamblueskyalpaca and join the team!! Let’s see what we can knit!!

Happy knitting-
ali

ETA: If this gets way too complicated, or if there is excessive nit-picking and whining over point details, well, it’ll all be up to the judge’s discretion… and, um, that would be me, as this was all my crazy idea… so let’s just have fun with it all, eh?

If you're not on Ravelry yet, what are you waiting for? They're cruising through their waiting list, sign up now (right this instant) and you'll be raveling in no time...