Each year, our knitting group picks a “house color”, a lovely hue that we will keep in mind when choosing a yarn to knit a project that will be premiered at Rhinebeck. Last year’s color was blue, which we each took some liberties with.

Here’s my project from last year’s Rhinebeck, worn again just last week:

Hmm. I didn’t really like that whole outfit together. Let’s focus on the top portion:

Much better! You can read more about my work-through of this on my Ravelry project page.

This year, our color is orange, and I’ve got a very wonderful Malabrigo worsted in “Sunset” that I bought out of my friend K’s stash. Cadence is my project this time around, and after a few false starts on the sleeves, I’m finishing up the body this week! So far, gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. I will post all about it when I’m done, and I’m sure we’ll have some nice photos of our adventures next week.

My first project is Pele (link to pattern), a Berroco pattern for a pair of convertible mittens. Flip back the mitt, and viola!! Fingerless gloves. I’ve never knit gloves before—oh sure, I’ve knit mittens and wristers and fingerless mitts, but never anything where fingers were involved. Since I’ve been telling Matt for at least a month now that I would knit him gloves, I figure this would be the perfect challenge.

I am also a meticulously slow knitter, and projects tend to sit on my needles for quite some time. I mean, how long have I been working on Aquaphobia? While someone else may be able to whip up these gloves in a few hours of watching Law & Order on one of the many cable channels, I know I will need a deadline to turn the yarn into something wearable.

I’ve got at least two other patterns on my must-knit list for the Olympics, and a few more in the queue if I really feel up to it, but the point is to be realistic while still being challenging. I think three projects in 17 days is challenging enough for me. But who knows? Maybe I’ll catch the Olympic spirit and push myself to try knitting even more awesome stuff.