pattern: Martha from Rowan Magazine 28
yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed, Crush (color 144)
started: January 8, 2007
completed: April 11, 2008

This month at the library I work at we’re doing a Pedometer Challenge. There are different teams around the library competing for the highest weekly average. My average last week wasn’t great but this week is definitely going to be better. Biking can be converted to steps, so we dusted off our bikes this weekend. I’ve already biked over nine miles these last two days. My new walking shoes will be a huge help in motivating me to continue walking to work on those days that my seat is too sore to ride my bike.

pattern modified from Tweedy Vest by Mona Schmidt from Knitscene, Fall/Winter 2005
yarn: Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed, color: 20008
started: November 22, 2007
completed: February 10, 2008

The semester is winding down and there is still so much to be done. I’m looking forward to summer and growing vegetables again. Today I noticed the hostas we planted last year are coming up. They’re in a pot that we buried in the ground that we can dig up and put on our front porch. I just hope the apartment people don’t come by and chop them off thinking that they are weeds. My summer schedule is going to be a bit less crazy than this semester. I have two classes - Non-Fiction for Children and Adult Popular Literature. There will be a lot of reading but I loved reading for my Children’s Lit class last semester.

pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann from The Knitting Workshop
yarn: Berocco Cotton 100 in Blue (9198) and Lime (9225)
started: March 18, 2008
finished: March 28, 2008

Lately, I’ve been knitting washcloths. I’m nearly finished with my third in as many weeks. Maybe it’s spring fever, maybe it’s finally finishing the Martha sweater, maybe it’s feeling too pressed for time.

Six years ago on April 18, 2002 I started my lowly little blog. Last year, I noted all of the projects I’d worked on since April 2002. It’s been sort of a slow knitting year for me with school and all of the sewing that I did last summer. Since last April: I’ve started Library School, knitted two baby sweaters, finished the pair of Go with the Flow socks, completed a pair of Anniversary socks, and knitted one Waving Lace sock. I also finished the Moderne Baby Blanket. For myself, the Tweedy vest was knitted in a matter of a few months and the biggest accomplishment was finishing the Martha sweater. In the sewing department, I made six skirts for myself, several bags, two adorable bunnies, made my first quilt and started another quilt (which is a surprise).

Thank you for all of your kind words about the vest. Bryan loves it. He loves it so much and it looks so good with so many of his shirts that he’s already worn it three times this week. Fortunately, he wasn’t at the same place all three days so no one saw him wear it twice.

Now to January. It was a month of high goals.
I completely underestimated the time that the Cider House Rules vest’s button-band would take. If the first incarnation would have worked, then it would have been completed around January 10 but it just wasn’t meant to be. Finally, around January 15 after fiddling with it for a while, I had an ah-ha moment and the button-band finally came together. It looks wonderful. My only complaint is that it felt like it took a lot of time away from my other sweater knitting. I know I could have stopped at any time and focused on the Martha sweater but I wanted to get the silly button-band done and out of my knitting bag. My plan was to finish it by the time we left for Seattle, but that just wasn’t meant to be.

In the last week, I’ve made significant progress on Martha. I’m about 20 rows from shaping the armhole. This is definitely another project that I underestimated the time it would take. It’s a fun sweater to make and it’s definitely keeping my interest. My two hopes are that it doesn’t sit in my knitting bag too long without being worked on and that it doesn’t detract too much from my February knitting in sock month.

Of course, my first month of my Knitting Almanac wouldn’t have been complete without one project gone awry. My attempt at the Bianca jacket wasn’t meant to be and looking back, I’m really glad that I didn’t go any further with it. I’ve learned that when I’m making a cardigan sweater to always start with one of the front pieces just in case it needs to be ripped out for whatever reason. This was definitely a case where I was glad that I only worked part of one of the front pieces.

I also had to stray a bit from the planned projects to work a sample for my lace class in March. The sample was worked in Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport weight and it knitted up so lovely that I think I may have to knit another sample and eventually make a scarf out of the two pieces by grafting them together.

February is another month of high goals. I think they are a bit more attainable but we shall see. My goals for February are:

1. To finish the Go With The Flow socks, the first of which is already finished and the second one is about 1/8 finished.
2. To start and finish another pair of socks.
3. Fix a few of my socks that either need reinforcing in the toe and heel or possibly even reknitting of the foot. Not let the fixing of socks completely overwhelm my whole month of knitting socks.
4. To enjoy the act of knitting socks and if I get frustrated or tired of them to knit on the Martha sweater.

For the Second Annual Bloggers Silent Poetry Reading, in celebration of Imbolc, the Feast of Brigid, aka Groundhog Day, I’m posting a poem written by Bryan. It’s a poem that he wrote for me and it’s wonderful.

Homily on the Crawling-Down-Mountains Beauty of Things

For Erica

The crawling-down-mountains
Beauty of things
Like the calm a behemoth brings

Is delirious leisure—
I wrap my feelers
Around my wife,

Thankful inside, still warm

From breakfast,
And set out in snowshoes

So easily
Across suburban glaciers,
Deliberately

Despite satellite
Images of the blaze,
The expletives
And gruntwork
accumulating around us,

And bask in that
Sent-down stuff
Beefheart or Orpheus
Described with howling innards

Still warm from breakfast—
My wife in the Holies
With Metric and Eisley
And socks for the betterment
Of the feet that alone
Are allowed to wear them,

She plies for hours,
The roving
Through the mother-of-all
Is yarn human red
That will soon be worn

Worn by a child

Whose delicate
Art of accidentally
Breaking things,

Like the calm a behemoth brings,

Crawling down mountains,
His beauty
Will topple the globe,
Becalming

The heart between two lungs,
Fit with fissure,

You should favor
Mornings that come to rest
In flavored skillets.

–Bryan Voell (completed around July 2005)

Did you know that last night/early this morning was the Full Snow Moon. Today marks the exact middle of the winter season, we’re the same distance from the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox!

Thursday evening, I finished knitting the button-band on the Cider House Rules vest for Bryan. Friday evening, I sewed on the buttons and Saturday, it got a good washing and serious blocking on our bed, it needed to be stretched about three inches lengthwise.

Today he wore it for the first time. He absolutely loves it and it looks so good on him.

pattern: Cider House Rules Vest from Interweave Knits, Fall 2000
yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton
started: 18 October 2006
vest knitting completed: November 27, 2006
vest completed: January 26, 2007

You know that spam comments have gotten out of control when Britney Spears is sending you spam comments about various unmentionable things. The spam comments are so ridiculous sometimes that I have to laugh. Fortunately, Wordpress allows us to “trap” them so they never see the light of day on my blog.

I’ve kept a knitting journal for almost seven years and I’ve always kept track of the pattern I’m working on, the yarn used, gauge, needles, start and completion dates, and once in a while, photos. My third journal was finished just a few weeks ago and with a new year, a knitting almanac and a new book, I’m recording this year a bit differently. Not only am I keeping track of the projects but I’m writing in it my thoughts about the projects I’m working on. In the last week, I’ve noticed that it’s not boding well for the blog since I’ve been writing in it a lot about my frustrations and progress and forgetting about the blog. Then again, I’m sure you don’t want to read all about some of my drama with the button-band but I’ll fill you in. Yes, even if those knitters who appear to know what they are doing, secretly rip out things to make them look just right.

Thursday, I figured out the knitted-on the button band described by Bonne Marie and also in Domino Knitting, then worked it on the Cider House Rules swatch. It looked wonderful, so I decided that with all of those 350 stitches that I’d picked up I’d make a go of knitting the button-band on. When I started to work it on the vest, it just didn’t look right. So rip I did. Fortunately, I’d only worked about an inch and a half and I’ve become so obsessed with making this vest look good that ripping the button-band is no longer a problem for me. The 350 picked-up stitches weren’t going to go to waste and I figured my last option was to work the k1, p1 rib along them for the button-band. About 4 rows in I still wasn’t completely satisfied with how it looked, but I figured it was my last option so I kept knittin thinking it would look better when it was finished.

Sunday, I finished the k1, p1 rib band and I hated it. It just didn’t look right and the button-band would have to be blocked every time we washed the vest. So once again, I ripped. Monday morning, I went with last option number 2, the sewn-on garter-stitch band, which I think they did for the original vest. After about an hour of knitting the garter-stitch band and sewing it on, I was completely dissatisfied with the results. It was making the vest pucker and just looked wrong. I’m sure some of my sewing was also the problem. Finally, I decided that I was going to go back to the knitted-on the button-band in garter stitch. It was going to look good, I was going to make it look good if it took me all night. Once again, I picked up 350 stitches around the edge of the vest. I made one attempt with knitting it on and realized after rereading the directions that I was picking up the stitch from picked-up stitches too frequently and it just wasn’t working. After reading the directions and following along exactly, the button-band looked great. The new button-band is coming along beautifully. I’ve finished all seven buttonholes and am starting the neck. My plan is to have it finished by the time we board the plane for Seattle on Friday morning. I only want to take one project with me to Seattle and not lug around two.

This past weekend, we went up to Chicago to see Emily Haines for a wonderful concert. It was one of those concerts that was so great that you wake up the next morning and think, “Did that really happen? Can I rewind and see the concert again?” If you like Metric and you haven’t heard Emily’s solo album, it’s definitely worth checking out. On the way up to Chicago, I got a lot of knitting done on Martha. On the left front of the cardigan, I’m already up to the waist. Good photos of Martha soon.

This is probably my last post before Seattle. I may post while we’re there if I have an opportunity.

My library school application was sent off yesterday and it’s such a relief to have that all completed. Now it’s out of my hands and I’ll find out whether or not I’m accepted in mid-March. My goal is not to let the waiting get to me like it did last year.

Something that hasn’t been much of a relief is the stupid button-band on Bryan’s vest. After finishing all 60 inches of the button-band, I started stitching it to the edge of the vest only to find that I would need to re-stitch it because the top button-hole wasn’t lining up properly. I decided to look at the photo of the sweater only to notice that the sweater pictured in the magazine doesn’t match the instructions, the button-band isn’t the same. I was so angry with this button-band that it just had to go back in the knitting bag for some time-out. Then I did what any sane knitter in her right mind would do — I started a new sweater. Martha and I have become new friends, she’s comforted me in my times of angst with the vest. She’s a slow-knitting sweater right now but I know once I get going on her pattern, it will pick up.

Then yesterday after work, I knew what needed to be done with the vest, so I pulled out the stitching that attached the button-band to the body by just pulling the sewing yarn out, it basically just zipped out. I decided I was going to investigate a better way of doing this button-band. After a bit of time I thought about how bulky the button-band would be if knit to the specifications of the pattern. Then I thought I’d try the button-band that Bonne Marie describes here but then I thought it would be more work than it’s worth. I’ve been trying to avoid the picking-up of millions of stitches along the edge of the vest and knitting the button-band in the “old fashioned” way, but after some searching, I think that’s the only way it’s going to look the way I want it to.
Off I go to pick up over 400 stitches.

In all of my excitement of sweater month and boredom with the 13 stitches of a button-band for the Cider House Rules vest, I started the Bianca jacket on Friday night. I received the yarn (Debbie Bliss Tweed) from Knitbrarian in October and have been wanting to start this sweater since I received the fall issue of Interweave Knits. In a promise to myself and Bryan, I was going to finish the Cider House Rules vest before starting this project. Friday night, I just couldn’t even look at the 13-stitch button-band that needs to be 400 rows (60 inches), so while we were watching The New World, I started the Bianca jacket. I started with one of the fronts of the jacket just in case it wasn’t going to turn out the way I’d hoped. It’s almost like the universe said, “Don’t waste your time with the back, you’ll hate it anyway and end up irritated with yourself. Start with the front so you won’t hate yourself tomorrow.” After three hours of knitting, I wasn’t really keen on the way it was turning out. I couldn’t even see where the decorative decreases were. Bryan being his ever-supportive-self said, I think it looks great but I still wasn’t sure.

Yesterday, I got together with SK and K for some knitting and asked them their opinion. I think they knew I was unsure about the sweater, but that’s what knitting friends are for - to give you their honest opinion. They agreed with the universe and now the sweater will be taking the plunge into the frog pond. I’m not even sorry about it, I’m actually relieved. This sweater needs a yarn that’s light in color with some lovely stitch definition, which the Debbie Bliss yarn doesn’t have. I think this yarn will become a lovely top-down cardigan in it’s future. For now, I’m putting the yarn away and I’m going to finish the Cider House Rules button-band, I’m more than half way through and will soon start the Martha sweater (from Rowan Magazine 28). Wouldn’t you know it just before I started the Bianca jacket, the lovely Phoebe pullover from Knit Picks caught my eye. Thursday night, I went to sleep thinking about it and even had a dream about it. It’s a pullover but I plan on making it a cardigan. I love the color that it’s knit in on the website and when it’s feasible, I plan on buying the yarn and adding it to my almanac list.

For now, it’s back to sweater month. I’m so excited about this year and the potential that it has. Having a plan for each month has motivated and reinvirogated me and my knitting, it’s given me something to look forward to each month.

And in case you’re wondering how the lesson with the sock-knitting machine went. SK showed me how to use her antique sock-knitting machine yesterday, which was a bit of a frustration for me. I managed to drop half of the stitches off the cylinder and wreak havoc on poor SK’s patience. Someday, like everything else that I’m determined to learn, it will become another accomplishment. I just need to give it some time and take frequent breaks.