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.

It took a little effort on my part to get into stranded knitting. There is no denying it looks hard. Sometimes handling one yarn is hard enough, but add a second color that’s getting carried along and worked at the same time? That’s just crazy! And what’s even crazier is seeing people working two colors at once with one yarn in each hand. English AND Continental knitting at once? WTF? I could NEVER do that.

Guess what? I can do that. And damn, am I proud of myself for working it out.

This Friday marks the start of the 2010 Knitting Olympics. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee started the Knitting Olympics in 2006. The idea was to cast on a challenging project during the opening ceremonies of that year’s Winter Olympics and work on and complete that project throughout the Olympics time period – about two weeks.

In 2006, my goal was to knit my very first adult sized sweater. I made it, just barely. Being on vacation for half the time was a huge help.

This year my project is a little weirder, having to do with cyberpunk and corsetry. I’m going to design and knit myself a cincher out of wire and electrical cables. It’s a challenge as I’ve never knit with anything other than traditional yarn before.

The past couple of years, Ravelry has hosted many Knitting Olympics topics and groups (search on Ravelympics) with icon prizes, award ceremonies and all. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll be joining any official ‘teams’ there. I love Ravelry, but only have enough time to devote to the forums to which I’m already barely particpating. Instead I’ll be posting my progress here and on my personal blog.

What knitting limit do you want to stretch? Are you going to try the Knitting Olympics? Leave a comment or call and leave a message on the feedback line. I really want to know. :)

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