Olympic Knitting

I've been stalking the Yarn Harlot's blog and watching for the Knitting Olympics. Finally, the time came and I signed myself up.
Then came the real issue. I had some yarn, that I had already swatched, that I wanted to knit up into a sweater. A pretty black Cardigan.
The yarn was Andean Silk from Knitpicks that I had picked up at our last Fiber Swap for our spinning guild. Someone had purchased it to knit into a sweater for their mother and it wasn't working out so they decided to sell the yarn. I couldn't stop petting it and holding it and I finally decided that I couldn't live without it.
The trouble was, I hadn't found a pattern that would fit me that used the amount of yarn I had, that also used the size needles I had.
Finally, I remembered something way back in my subconscious and I looked up Hey, Teach! I decided that I would knit it up with this beautiful yarn.
I cast on and knit my way up the back. (After a little math because the gauge I was getting was close but not the same as what was called for. I am actually knitting a size smaller than what I would normally choose.)
Today, I blocked the back. Here it is, preblocking.

I was feeling pretty good about my progress until I realized how little time is left and how much is left to be knit.
The good news? I'm knitting the fronts at the same time:

I'm already into the lace pattern. Really, this wouldn't be so much, but I'm altering the sleeves. I want full length, not lace sleeves. Meaning, I have a long way to go yet, in a not very long time.

And, last night, I was having an issue with the dark yarn. I needed some color so, I found this little ball of handspun. In color: Girly Girl, purchased at a friend's etsy shop. Hand over the Wool. It's very pretty but not super soft. It's rambouillet I believe, wouldn't you know it, I can't find the tag right now.

I started with a pattern in 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders for a little knitting bag and completely changed the pattern to something totally different, different stitch, different shape, etc.
To something that is now all mine.

It takes some convincing to not knit on this instead of the sweater, but the sweater must be finished. The Gold is on the line.