Perpetual Events

• Harry Potter Knitting Crochet House Cup - Sign up to attend a yarn-themed Hogwarts, get sorted and get started completing your projects. Each project counts toward your "coursework" at Hogwarts, earning points for your house as well. Each term is 3 months long, and they start in January, May and September.
• Hogwarts at Ravelry - a totally unrelated (and as of this writing, smaller but quite active) crafting competition, centered around the Harry Potter Universe. Students are sorted into Houses and earn points for each project submitted. At the end of the Year, the House with the most points earns the coveted House Cup. Each year, "we follow the action in one of J.K. Rowling's fantastic books." Open to all ages.
• Nerd Wars - This used to be an uberfamous (at least by fiber arts standards) ongoing tournament of nerdery with specific challenges and teams representing different fandoms. But as far as I can tell, the people that ran it got (understandably) tired, and now it is really just a general Let's-knit-and-geek-out-together group. But it gets a listing here for its years and years of fast paced and brilliant nerdery.
• Nerdopolis - What Nerd Wars used to be like. There are monthly events and 3-month long monthly games. You can play on a team based on your particular brand of fandom, or go for glory as an individual rogue.
• Starfleet Fiber Arts Corps - A game run in monthly installments. When you join you are assigned a starship and given the rank of ensign. Complete projects in order to advance.
• Ankh-Mopork Guild Wars - part of the larger ravelry group that is dedicated to Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld book series. Check out the 'stickied' threads at the top of the group to get involved in the actual knitting/crocheting team-based competition.

Periodic Events

• Canadian Crazy Train - an 8 week sock knitting race that starts January 1st. This is a round robin sort of event, wherein one sock is knitted and then sent along to another teammate until the entire team has completed socks for each other. Based in Canada (obvs) but open to knitters around the world. Registration opens in October and closes in December.
• The Balderdash - This is a very tongue-in-cheek spinning event in early January. In it's inaugural year it was known as "Spintrolla" and it began as a spoof on Spinzilla which has now gone less than smoothly for two years in a row (2017 and 2018). In the Balderdash spinning event, you don't even need to know how to spin or have any spinning equipment. You just need to be an entertaining liar. But if you do spin, well then! Show off your work! This is as low pressure as anything can be. Projects are virtual or in the flesh, according to the desires of the participant. Prizes are virtual or in the flesh, according to the desires of the donor. Hyperbole is strongly, deeply, profoundly encouraged. Tie-ins to charities of your choice are also encouraged. Sign up on the website on a team or go solo: The Balderdash, and all the conversation takes place on the ravelry group linked above.
• St. Distaff's day - January. It is a Christian British holiday celebrating the return to work after Christmas break. There is a Ravelry St. Distaff's Day group as well as a Ravelry St. Distaff's Day event page that helps organize events for spinners and knitters.
• Ravellenic Games - Winter or summer, concurrent with the Olympic games. A new group forms for every Olympics, so you can search ravelry groups for the current group if I've forgotten to update the above link.
• Iknitarod - March. Knit, crochet or spin along with the mushers of the Iditarod and keep track of what's going on in the race. You have until the last musher crosses the finish line to meet your goals.
• International Crochet Month - March. A crochet party that lasts an entire month, includes games, CALs and conversations.
• Sock Madness - March. An international sock knitting competition that coincides with the college basketball tournament known as 'March Madness'. Advanced sign-up is required because the organizers must create teams.
• World Wide Knit In Public Day (WWKIP) - WWKiP Day now takes place from the second Saturday to the third Sunday of June each year; making it a week long celebration of knitting and other fiber arts. Events are organized on the local, national and international level.
• Tour de Fleece - June, concurrent with the Tour de France. Spin every day that the Tour rides. Spin something challenging on the challenge day. Wear yellow on the last day to announce victory. Various teams are available with different themes.
• Tour de Sock - June, concurrent with the Tour de France. Much like Tour de Fleece, except you're making socks, and there is a registration fee that benefits Doctors Without Borders.
• Super Sock Scarefest - September. A classic horror themed sock knitting competition. Signups are in September and the competition runs through the end of October.
• Soctoberfest - October. A month long celebration of socks.
• Spin Together - October. Spin as much fiber as possible during the first complete week in October. Document and flash your progress. Prizes available. This is a replacement event for what used to be Spinzilla... a similar event that was supposed to benefit a non-profit needlecraft teaching organization that has since collapsed. The Spinzilla event was a brilliant idea that was mismanaged terribly as the parent organization went through the final convulsions of its demise. Spin Together is a collaborative effort that has risen from those ashes, as a number of indie dyers and fiber artists realized that this event had many positive aspects for the fiber arts community that went far beyond financially supporting the original non-profit that is no more. There is an active ravelry group, too.
• NaKniSweMo - November. National Knit a Sweater in a Month. Concurrent with NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month. I suspect success in one precludes success in the other. Pick your poison.

other yarn resources

• Here is a map of currently working wheelwrights capable of repairing antique spinning wheels.
• Here is my "Rather Violent Introduction to Knitting Video":
• Here is my "Introduction to Casting On and Casting Off Video":
• If you are interested in tracking how many miles/km of yarn you've spun/knit/crocheted/woven over the course of the year, you should check out Knit Meter.