First of all, thank you all for your wonderful comments and emails about my acceptance into library grad school. I’m so excited to start and see what the library world may have in store for us.

February was a very cold month, we had snow and more snow. We still have snow on the ground despite a few warmer (over 35°F) days this past week. I’m so happy March is finally here. February was a great month for reading and I read an amazing book that I’m recommending called Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I’d seen it at the library and had meant to read it but kept putting it off. This was a wonderful book and it’s on my personal top ten list now. When I was a child if there was one animal that I wanted to be, if I had to choose one, it was the elephant. Why? Because it was big, something I definitely wasn’t and it started with an E. Silly reasoning, I know but I was about 5 or 6 when I thought about this.

February had been designated sock month for my knitting almanac project but for some reason my excitement for socks just wasn’t there until about February 26. I did knit a pair of baby socks knit, Bryan’s alpaca scarf, a pair of fingerless gloves and made quite a bit of progress on Martha.

A former co-worker of mine is having a baby in a few weeks and when I received the invitation to the baby shower, I knew I had to knit her a pair of socks. I missed the shower because I had to work that day, but she loves the socks. These were experimental socks for me in that I decided to try the after-thought heel. I had started out with a short-row heel but had holes and decided that it was time to try the after-thought heel, which worked quite well.

During the cold of the last six or so weeks, I’d thought many times about knitting myself some fingerless gloves but didn’t wanted to buy any new yarn for them. Around Feburary 8, the idea hit me, spin some yarn from fiber that I received from Wendy, my secret pal back in July 2005. I started spinning it quite bulky and after two days of spinning and plying, I had about 45 yards plied. I wasn’t sure how far that would get me so I decided to just knit until I ran out of yarn. Fortunately, 44 yards got me quite far. February 16, I knit one of the gloves and on February 19, I knit just past half of the second one before I ran out of yarn. Immediately after I ran out of yarn, I sat down, spun and plied another 18 yards, which was plenty to finish the top of the second glove. (Pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.) Of course, as soon as I finished them it started to warm up slightly but they’ve been perfect for those chilly mornings and evenings.

In the last five days my excitement about the Go With the Flow socks seems to have exploded. The idea of wearing them really appeals to me now (why they didn’t before I don’t know) and when I set a goal of knitting 20 rows a day, I’ve seen some amazing progress. Now I’m about 16 rows from the toe decreases on the second sock. Then I have the fun of ripping out the foot of the first sock and reknitting it. In wearing several pairs of my handknit socks recently, I’ve realized that those knit on the size 2 Addi’s aren’t wearing well on the bottom. So I’ve decided that the only solution I have is to rip out the feet and reknit the bottom of the socks on size 1 Knit Picks circulars, while knitting the top of the instep on the Addi’s. I’m fine with this, especially since it means that I won’t worry about wearing my socks out as quickly and having to repair them sooner than later.

March is lace month, here are my planned knitting almanac projects:

• I’m planning to graft together the two pieces of the lace sampler scarf that I’ve already knitted. Easy-peasy lace project to finish.
• Finish the Go With the Flow socks.
• Swatch and knit the lace doily from A Gathering of Lace by Meg Swanson
• Swatch for the shawl to be knitted in April
• Knit more swatches for the Walker Treasury Project

Wow, my 300th post. So it has to be a humdinger to live up to expectations. :) I hope I don’t disappoint.

What have I been up to in the last few weeks that I haven’t posted? I’ve been working at the library, knitting and working on my library school application. I still love my library job, I’m tired after work but I feel like I’ve really accomplished something when I come home from work. As far as knitting, I’ll get to that later. My library school application is nearly complete, I’ll be sending it off today! I’ve had two essays to write for the application - a personal statement and an interview with a librarian essay. My personal statement basically wrote itself and is so much stronger than last year’s. I’ve done a lot in the last year as far as volunteering and now working. For my other essay, I had to interview a librarian. I interviewed the director at the library where I work and volunteer. It’s been a bit harder to write because I’ve had problems structuring it in a way that is readable and not choppy. The interview essay just needs a bit of polishing and I finished it last night. I just need to update my resume, which will take about 10 minutes and I can pack up everything to send off today. What a relief to get it off, especially since we’re leaving tomorrow to go to Kansas to visit my family next week for our “Christmas” celebration. It will be so wonderful to be at my parents’ house and to see my family. I haven’t seen my grandfather since a year ago Thanksgiving. It’s been way too long.

Our holidays were quiet. I had to work Christmas Eve till 6, then we went to Unitarian Christmas Eve services which are always so nice. The candle lighting at the end puts everyone in the Christmas spirit. I really needed it. After working in retail, I was getting so tired of the consumerism of Christmas but the Unitarian service centered me and made me think about things. Christmas has never been a religious holiday in our family, so I’ve always thought of it as being about peace in the world, being with friends and family and a time of hope. Christmas Day, Bryan and I slept in and just relaxed that day. We were both feeling a bit under the weather and spent it just being together. We really feel like we have everything we need and want, so in lieu of gifts, we decided to donate to the American Cancer Society this year in honor of my aunt. It seems like something much more meaningful too.

New Year’s Eve was Miss M’s birthday, so we threw a birthday party for her that was also a New Year’s Eve party. It was really fun and we managed to pack 14 people into our living room. Everyone brought an hors d’oeuvres and Miss M brought her fondue set, so we had wonderful chocolate fondue. Around 11pm, there were about 6 of us left and we played Cranium, which was really fun. We toasted at midnight but the night was more about friends than the time. :)

So now to the knitting. I’ve finished the Rosepole mittens for my grandmother. The ends need to be sewn in but they are done. I’m now working on a matching hat. The hat pattern isn’t identical to the mittens but I found a pattern from Folk Mittens that I thought would work great for the hat that is very similar to the Rosepole pattern of the mittens. The overall hat pattern is based on the “Colorwork Hat and Mittens” by Rebecca Harris from Interweave Knits, Fall 2003.

The socks for B’s dad are coming along. Lately, I’ve been a bit distracted with the mittens though. I gave up on the two socks at a time thing. First, I couldn’t stand the twisting and secondly, I never felt like I was making any progress. Over time I know I made progress but it’s so much quicker to knit one sock at a time. I guess I’ll just have to get over my second sock syndrome and I think trying the two socks on circulars helped me on the way to recovery. If and when I start to think about the dreaded second sock, I’ll have to remind myself that I could have knit them at the same time and I’m sure I’ll get over myself pretty quickly.

After I finish the hat to match the mittens for my grandmother, I’m going to make myself work on my two sweaters. I have the Hobo sweater that has about 2 1/2 inches of the body done. And I also have the Crazy Green Sweater, which has been severely neglected this year. I started out very gung-ho about it and quickly lost interest when the many colors started to wear on my nerves. I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but I do set goals for myself. Last year (I can’t find the post), I said I was going to finish either the Barbara shawl, the Hobo sweater or something else, I can’t remember. So I finished the Barbara shawl and love it. This year, I’ve decided I’m going to finish either the Hobo sweater or the Crazy Green sweater and it would be fabulous if I finished both. I really want to move on from Hobo to something else. I know I started over in October but, gosh darn it, I want to wear the sweater. I also can’t forget the sweater that I ripped out the ribbing on last February because the sweater was too short. And it’s been a year since I last knit a square for my Aran Afghan, I think it’s time to knit another one soon. It’s going to be a busy year for knitting. Isn’t it every year.

I mentioned earlier that I’ve started a book group. We’re currently reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, which is an absolutely fabulous book. Monday before I had to go to work, I read most of the day and read over 125 pages that day. It was a book that’s hard to put down. I had set a goal for myself to be at least half way through by the time we left for Kansas and I finished it Thursday night. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend you check it out. It’s not a book that’s easy to describe. Several people in my book group have said that they can’t wait to discuss this book.

Btw, I’m changing website hosts and may be offline for a few days. Not to worry, I’ll be back!

Well, the months of wishing on eyelashes has worked. I started at the library officially today. It was mainly a tour of the library and a bit of an introduction to the process of getting books and materials back on to the shelves after they have been returned to the library. It’s quite a complex process but it seems to work. I’m so excited to be there and my first day of training with another shelver is Thursday. Thank you to all of you for your congrats comments. Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever had 13 comments to one post!

On Saturday, we bought our Christmas tree and then decorated it on Sunday. It’s a great improvement over the 18 inch tree we had before, this one is 6 1/2 feet tall (1.9 meters). It’s a bit bare but it’s our tree and I really like it. :) I’ve bought a few ornaments at work.

This morning we were awakened by the sound of a Christmas tree crashing at 6:40am. We both jumped out of bed to find that the tree had fallen over. Both kitties looked quite guilty so we’re not sure who knocked it over. They were both very quiet all morning, I think the excitement wore them out. I suspect it was Chloe since Bryan said she was the furthest from the tree. They’ve both been fascinated by the tree, so I’m sure that Chloe was stretching her toes on the base and it fell over. One of the ornaments that I had bought at work, a crystal snowflake, was broken but otherwise all of the other ornaments came through just fine. A lot of my ornaments are gifts that mean something to me because they are dated so I’m relieved that they are all okay. And I’m definitely relieved that the kitties weren’t injured. Update December 14. Yes, George is at the bottom of the photo refusing to pose for the camera. We have since learned our lesson regarding the tree and have secured the bottom of the tree with those hand weights that we use all of the time lately. They aren’t pretty so I’m planning on making some sort of tree skirt tomorrow between working on my library school essays. Also I’ve loved reading your Christmas tree stories.

In a matter of a few days last week, I finished the first mitten of a pair for my grandmother, sans the thumb. I started the second mitten yesterday before work. I’m about 3/4 of the way through the ribbing now. I used a cast-on that Nancy Bush calls “Liidia’s braid cast-on” (from Folk Knitting in Estonia) for the bottom of the mittens. It really looks neat. I still have three weeks to work on them since Bryan and I aren’t going to Kansas until the second week of January to celebrate Christmas with my family. I’m also going to make a hat to match. The pattern is called Rosepole and is from The Mitten Book by Inger and Ingrid Gottfridsson. I’m using the old standby in great yarn - Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride. I made my Norwegian mittens out of Lamb’s Pride and they are so warm.

An update on my aunt, she’s doing well and is home from the hospital.

Before I forget, I should mention that I revealed who I was for Secret Pal 6. I’ve been spoiling Jessica for the last several months. She’s been so fun to spoil and she loved the secret socks that I sent her about a month ago. Her reaction to the socks was so great. I’ve had such a great experience with SP6 that I think I’m going to sit SP7 out.

Update December 14. I can’t believe that I forgot to post about my birthday last week. Bryan came home from class with flowers and a card in hand. It was so sweet and completely unexpected. The flowers were beautiful and I’m trying to dry them in the kitchen. My favorites were these little flowers, I have no idea what they are but they are so cute. I took the day off from work and spent part of it knitting, which is exactly what I wanted to do. That evening I went to my knitting group. Friday evening, Bryan and I went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday and my new job.
   

After taking about 10 days off from my first mitten, I decided on Tuesday evening that I must start my second mitten. It’s been cold outside and my hands have been cold. I wanted to wear my mittens today, so I woke up this morning and finished the thumb for the second mitten. Then I spent about an hour sewing in all of the ends. I love them and just wearing them around the house for the few minutes that I did, I know that my fingers will be toasty outside.

I have yet to repair the thumb of my other mitten, mainly because I haven’t been able to go through all of my yarn yet. The little leftover balls seem to have disappeared in the move and seem to reappear once in a while. When I finally find the appropriate yarn, I will repair the thumb.

I’m sure you’ve all been waiting anxiously to hear about the interview on Thursday. It went well and I’m just waiting now to find out about the shelving position. I’ll let you know as soon as I know. In the meantime, I’m working on my library school application essays.

Yesterday was one of those cold days early in the season that makes you think, “How am I going to survive winter?” I set out to work with my previous pair of mittens and had forgotten about the state of the right thumb. It obviously needs to be repaired, which I plan on doing today, but it didn’t keep the wind or the cold out yesterday. They’re cute and I love wearing them but they just aren’t that warm.

Last night was my knitting night with Miss M. I decided that a new pair of mittens would be the perfect thing to start at her house. We’d gone to the book sale at the library on Sunday and somehow got to talking about Pride & Prejudice, the new movie that is coming out. Miss M mentioned that she has the BBC production of it on DVD and that we should watch it on a knitting night. Last night was the perfect night. She worked on a beautiful counted cross-stitch sampler that she’s been working on for a while and I started my mittens. They are the mittens from the Norwegian Mittens class with Beth Brown-Rinsel at Stitches 2003. (The original mittens I started in the class were a mess and I ripped them out long ago.) At first I wasn’t so sure about these mittens - would the two-color stranded knitting drive me crazy at the moment; would my stitches look as bad as they did in my first attempt with these mittens; would I even be able to keep the strands in the back loose enough so that I could actually wear the mittens one day? I have become completely enamored with them. The rows are going much faster than they were at first and I’m getting the two-handed stranding down, although there are still a few irritations. I’m knitting them on two circulars (all of the traditionalists cringe) because I couldn’t stand the thought of dealing with long bamboo size 6 double-pointed needles. And I knew I had a better chance with these needles to keep my work pulling in and the Fair Isle puckering like it did with my first attempt with these mittens. For the most part I think they are going quite well, especially since I was up late last night knitting on them. I completely lost track of time and didn’t realize that it was 1am. I kept thinking, “I’ll just do one more round and then I’ll go to bed.” Today I am off work and have been knitting on them since I woke up. If I keep up at this pace I’ll have one mitten done by the end of the day. :)

I have to share the great news. I have an interview at one of the local libraries for a shelving position. I took the shelving test today and got a really good score. It was a tough test but I knew what to expect. Now I just have to wait until everyone’s schedules can be coordinated for an interview. I feel like I have I have a good chance at getting the job because I’ve been a volunteer for a few months and I’ve also talked to the head of shelvers before. Having connections with Bryan’s library friends helps. So my life in the library world may be starting quite soon (not that volunteering hasn’t counted for something). Keep your fingers and needles crossed for me! I’ll let you know as soon as I know something. The work on the library school application has already started, so things could really be falling into place for me. I met with the director of one of the local libraries last week for one of my two essays for my school application. The letters of recommendation forms have been sent to their respective recommenders and the transcript requests will go out later this week. It’s all starting to come together, I think this year’s application and essays will be a much better than last year’s.

The two socks on two circulars are actually going quite well. After the fight, they decided to play nice and I have about two and a half inches completed on the cuff. It’s slow going because I’m doing both of them at once but I keep reminding myself that it’s going to be great in the end because they will both be finished at the same time! I just can’t think about the fact that my FIL’s feet are big and that the feet might take me a while.

I was reviewing blogs today for the MWK blog ring (a little shameless self-promo there) and read about the Warm Hands Knitalong on Bassett Knitter’s blog. I think it’s time to knit another pair of mittens. The last pair of mittens I made were for Brandi three years ago. I think it’s time that I break out the cool pattern that I received from Beth Brown-Reinsel’s Norwegian Mittens class at Stitches 2003. Erin has been working on her mondo mittens and I feel like now is a good time for me to start some mittens. After Fleurette is completed though. I only have about two days worth of work left to go on it.