I seem to have come down with a very contagious and pleasurable “illness” - Zimmermania. A couple of weeks ago, I got Elizabeth Zimmermann’s book Knitting Workshop through interlibrary loan (an amazing service). I’d been dreaming about making the Saddle Shoulder Aran Cardigan for Bryan ever since he said he’d love to have that sweater. So I requested this book to tide me over for a while and to see what else was in it. I fell in love with this book and had to have my very own copy. We had a bit of a gift certificate left over from Christmas that I’d been saving for some things I really wanted, after I checked out the the Knitting Workshop book, I decided that the gift certificate would be well spent on not one but two Elizabeth Zimmermann books. While the Saddle Shoulder Aran isn’t in the book, I’ve ordered the pattern through my LYS. And will slowly acquire the yarn for the sweater.

But first a Baby Surprise Jacket is on my list. I’m traveling to Kansas City for Spring Break and hope to start this on the trip. Who knows what the second EZ project will be, I guess I’ll just finish the BSJ. Then I’ll see where I want to go from there and what projects I have yarn for.

The Martha sweater is done, except for the seams. The sleeve seams have been giving me absolute fits. I was hoping to get the sweater done before the weather warmed up. It’s been quite nice the last few days but I’m sure we haven’t seen the last blast of cold weather for the winter.

Also I’m doing a little spring cleaning around the blog. A new template is definitely in store for Spring. So if you see it changing a bit over the next few days, never fear.

I receive Knitting Daily as an email and usually feel inspired by them. Then this post “The Year of Knitting Fearlessly” appeared in my email last week. I’ve been thinking about it all week and the idea of knitting fearlessly seems to fit so well into my established goals this year. Will this be the year that I finally tackle my fear of knitting an entire cabled sweater (don’t ask me why it’s taken so long)? Or knit my first fair-isle sweater? I’ve always wanted to make the little yoke sweater on the cover of Knitting Around by Elizabeth Zimmermann. This may be my year.

Another project that has been sitting for several years that I’ve been fearful of but am still truly in love with but have always been afraid of even starting is the Garter Stitch Jacket. First it has nine bazillion colors and each color only lasts about two rows meaning that it will be a real pain to deal with all of the ends. For right now, I’m focused on finishing up Martha and the Tweedy vest.

Is this going to be a fearless knitting year for you? What are you planning on trying this year that’s new for you?

Yesterday was a big day around town with a new local library opening. We were in line about fifteen minutes before the library opened and by 1pm the line was really long. I’ve never seen so many people in a library. Very exciting for two librarians! There were long lines to check out materials. It was so exciting to be in the library on opening day. It’s beautiful and just a welcoming space. I’m sure I’ll be spending a lot of time there studying in the coming semester. To top it all off, we watched the local news coverage of the library opening last night and for a split second, Bryan was shown walking into the new library.

It’s been an interesting and good year. For our holiday letter, we tried to keep our letter to 100 words or less. When I was writing it, I realized this was a year that wasn’t difficult to summarize in 100 words or less. Bryan was in school and I was working at the library. It wasn’t a significant year of life events, which I guess is good considering how 2004 was our wedding and 2005 was our big move. Two thousand seven is going be an exciting year for us. We’re heading to Seattle for the ALA Midwinter conference in two weeks. Bryan graduates with his MLS in May. I’m finishing up my library school application for the fall this week and if all goes well I’ll receive a letter in March telling me that I’ll be starting school in the fall.

Two thousand six was a year of mittens, socks, sweaters, library school disappointment and library job success, and of course, two kitties and a wonderful husband. I had planned to make a lot of socks this past year but it just didn’t happen. A new addition to the family kept me busy knitting a Log Cabin blanket most of the summer, we were happy to welcome a new nephew in August. I did manage to finish the Hobo sweater and have worn it proudly several times.

We went to Kansas for Christmas this year. It was the first time since 2003 that we’d been home and it was wonderful to be home. The drive to and from Kansas was a bit grueling for us, if we had planned to stay more than three days the 11-hour trip wouldn’t have felt so overwhelming. This year the entire family was together for Christmas and we were so thankful for that. We watched our share of movies, including the ever-wonderful A Christmas Story, cooked and baked. The generosity of our family was very apparent on Christmas morning. Bryan and I definitely weren’t expecting to get everything we received. My mom decided this year that the best way to give us checks were in large boxes, so the box would feel very light and we’d open it up and there would be a check, it was much more fun than opening an envelope. It was obvious that I was a knitter this year, I received a full set of Knit Picks Options needles, which will come in very handy, and a nice selection of knitting books that have been on my wish list for a while. A Gathering of Lace is inspiring me to make some really nice lace scarves from some of my handspun yarn. It’s definitley not light lace-weight but I think it will make nice lace scarves for myself.

We had a quiet New Year’s Eve, it was a lovely evening spent with friends, who cooked a wonderful meal for us. For the first time in years, we were both asleep before midnight. New Year’s Day, I spent a good part of the day sewing. A few weeks ago, we decided that to cut our expenses and to reduce waste, we’re going to start using cloth napkins instead of paper towels for our meals. Last week, we picked out fabric and Monday I cut the fabric and hemmed the edges. We’ve already used a few of them and they’re wonderful. We even have tomato napkins for our pizza nights. When I’m finished we’ll have about 11 pairs of napkins.

After each baby blanket I finish I think “never again” knowing full and well that another cute little pattern will catch my eye and I won’t be able to say no. Any excuse to knit for a baby is a perfect excuse, everything is smaller and I will be done with it in no time, yeah right. That is until I reach the blankie-zone. Those rows that seem to last for ever on a blanket that never seems to grow. You know what I mean. How dare that the idea of a cute baby and a cute blanket sucker me into another blanket. You’d think I’d learn by now, but NO! I obviously haven’t learned from the Pinwheel, Giraffe, Stripes or Clouds blankets.

So what blanket pattern sucked me in, you ask? Well, I completely blame the Mason-Dixon Knitting book. They talked about knitting a log cabin blanket and I thought, “Hey, I can do that.” The whole idea intrigued me since I’ve never been able to figure it out by myself, so I got some lovely yarn and cast-on for the middle square, which I made into a pocket to put a cute little bear into. So I finished my first square and then picked up stitches for the second block. Not so bad, then I picked up the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth blocks and knit them without any problem. Then I got to the seventh block and wham - the blankie-zone hit me. That seventh block seemed to take forever. I finally finished it this afternoon (it’s only 19 rows but it felt like 100) and picked up stitches for the eighth block. The blanket is growing slowly but surely but this is not a quick knit. I don’t know why I ever think a baby blanket is going to be a quick knit because they never are. I guess it’s the idea of a making something for a baby that they will love and hopefully cherish for a long time, and something to curl up with and sleep when they just need their blankie. Gets me every time. And the funny thing is I don’t want to knit anything else right now, that’s how I know I’ve really been sucked in. It’s probably the idea of getting to pick up stitches for another block that keeps the excitement up, I’m easily entertained.

Until next time, you can find me knitting away in the blankie-zone. I may have to take a break every once in a while to knit a cute washcloth or a baby bib. Oh, those Mason-Dixon girls, it’s all their fault. Yes, I’m still considering knitting myself a bath mat.

Hardly ever do I pick up a knitting book or check one out from the library and want to make more than 90% of the projects. Or want to write an entire post about it. I finally got to the top of the hold list for Mason-Dixon Knitting by Kay Gardiner and Ann Meador Shayne. I’m ready to break out my larger needles, buy out the local store of Peaches & Cream, order some linen and get to knitting dishcloths, handtowels, a bath mat, a log cabin blanket and even a nightgown.

I’ve never been a regular reader of Kay and Ann’s blog Mason-Dixon Knitting and now I’m wondering, WHY? What has kept me from reading their blog. Time, laziness most likely. They’ve converted me and I plan on finding out what I’ve been missing but maybe in my missing, I was more impressed and more smitten with their book. I have plenty of knitting books but this one is one I plan on buying. It’s done something to me that other knitting for the home books haven’t done, inspired me. Don’t be surprised if you suddenly see me knitting more dishcloths or a bath mat here. It could be perfect light knitting for the summer. And the log cabin baby blanket is an absolute must for my new nephew who is due in August.

Okay, so I work in a library I guess it’s obvious I’m naturally a sucker for books. One of the best things about working in a library is I see a lot of knitting books. In the last week, I’ve brought home so many knitting books just to look through. I’m sure you’ve all seen some of them before but I thought I’d just give my two cents. If you have books on your list that you think you might want to buy, I highly suggest checking them out at the library first, then if you really like it buy away.

Holiday Knits by Sara Lucas and Allison Isaacs.
This was on the new shelf and I hadn’t seen it before. I realize the holidays are about eight months away but I thought it looked like a cute book. It reminds me a lot of Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. When I opened it up I saw this adorable hat, I had to check it out. I think I’ve found the hat for my soon-to-be-born nephew (Bryan’s sister’s son).

It’s so cute and if I can find a little fish to knit and put in it, it will be just perfect. The kid’s dad fishes and I couldn’t resist this. There are several other cute patterns in this book, nothing too original but some cute ideas. I also really like the Cosmetics Bag, I think it would be a great little knitting tools bag if I lined it.

The Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns by Ann Budd
I love this book. I have the The Knitters Handy Book of Patterns and I love it. Now a book of sweater patterns. This one is definitely going on my list of books to buy when I am able to buy knitting books again. I also love the fact that she gives you patterns for the sweaters that are shown throughout the book.

Hand Knits for the Home by Caroline Birkett.
This book looked like such a cool book but I don’t think I’ll make anything out of it. My biggest complaint was that some of the projects were so hard to see. There is a really cool table runner but you can’t really see what it looks like because the photo shows the table runner on a table but from the side. How am I supposed to know where to put the beads and little butterfly stitches if there is no schematic, chart or a good photo. I wanted to like this book but I just couldn’t like it as much as I wanted. The photos were too artsy for the projects (seems to be a trend) and some of the projects were knitted in dark colors so I couldn’t see the detail. I want to see the projects not the fancy photos and good fancy photos sometimes make me want to make the project.

The Knitted Rug: 21 Fantastic Designs by Donna Druchunas.
I thought this book was really cool. So many of the designs were a bit too nice for me to just throw on the floor and let the cats lay all over. I guess if I’m going to put that much time into something I don’t want it to get ruined. What intrigued me was the rug on the cover. It could be a very cool rug and if I had hardwood floors it would work even better. I can’t say I’m going to be making any rugs anytime soon but maybe when we have our very own house, I’ll get out those large needles and knit up a great little rug.

Knitting with wire by Nancie M. Wiseman.
I really like the concept but I think I’ll let others do this. The book was cool to look at but some of the projects seem so impractical to me, but then again knitting socks seems so impractical to so many non-knitters who’ve never worn hand-knit socks.

I’m leaving for Chicago this evening so that I can fly out to Maryland tomorrow. I’m so excited! I’ve checked my list and I have the basics - clothes, books and, of course, knitting. I’ll be working on the “Go with the Flow” socks, which are coming along quite nicely.