knot another hat: my olympic training

So, in order to prepare for the upcoming 2010 Winter Knitting Olympics, I have decided to give you a recap of the training I've been doing in the last couple of months, starting with Christmas knitting. As you may remember, Terri Shea came to town in October to do a purlaway workshop on Selbuvotter knitting. Her workshop completely derailed my knitting and sent me off on a Selbuvotter tangent. Consequently, 3 people on my list received Selbu mittens for Christmas!

First up: my sis. I knew I wanted to make these rainbow Selbus for her right from the beginning. Unfortunately I never took more than this one picture, and she has yet to provide me with the additional pictures I so sweetly asked her for. HINT HINT, JENNIFER!

Pattern: Annemor #1 from Selbuvotter: Biography of a Knitting Tradition by Terri Shea
Yarn: 1 sk Shibui Sock in Ink, #06, 1 ball Crystal Palace Mini Mochi in Intense, #0101
Needles: 3,0mm (US 2.5)
Size: women's medium hand
Mods: this was a glove pattern, but I modified to mittens when I realized the rainbow color pattern would be broken by making individual fingers. Oops!

Even though the needles are on the smaller side, the knitting just goes so fast when you get to see both color and pattern developing before your eyes. And get this: when I finished the Thumb of Mitten #1, the ball of yarn was all lined up and ready to begin Mitten #2 in the exact same color position as I had begun Mitten #1! Get out!

Next up, my sister-in-law Tracy:

Pattern: Annemore #2 from Selbuvotter: Biography of a Knitting Tradition by Terri Shea
Yarn: Cascade Venezia Worsted, 1 sk White Heaven #101 and 1 sk Paint It Black #120
Needles: 3,75mm (US5)
Size: women's medium hand
Mods: I had this yarn in my stash, so had to retool the cuff to match gauge and get the design I liked best

Cascade Venezia Worsted has become one of my favorite yarns this past year. After knitting my Cable-Down Raglan, and then these mittens, I am smitten. :) It is beyond soft, and the silk makes it oh-so-warm. Mmm, mmm. Can you see my difference in yarn dominance between the two mittens? On the left the white is dominant, on the right the black becomes dominant after the cuff. I must have gotten the two strands switched right around there - oops!

And last, but never least, the ruff-ruff mittens for my sister-in-law, Cindy:

Pattern: Annemore #4 from Selbuvotter: Biography of a Knitting Tradition by Terri Shea
Yarn: Cascade Venezia Worsted, 1 sk Chocolate #133, 1 sk Taupe #124
Needles: 3,75mm (US5)
Size: women's medium hand

These were so fun, and so fast when you're waiting for the dog to appear. Cindy is the mama to two adorable dogs, Charlie and Barkley, and these were the perfect mittens for her.

So there you have it - part 1 of my Olympic training for the month of December. I hope you all are training as well! Stay tuned for my Olympic project choice and more training recaps.