March was lace month and the most productive month so far for my Knitting Almanac. Lace will definitely continue into April in a more defined project.

Here were my goals for March:

• Graft together the two pieces of the lace sampler scarf that I’ve already knitted.

• Finish the Go With the Flow socks (I finished the first of two socks)

• Swatch and knit the lace doily from A Gathering of Lace by Meg Swanson
• Swatch for the shawl to be knitted in April (will do once I figure out which shawl I’m making)
• Knit more swatches for the Walker Treasury Project (will try to do in April)
  

I only finished two of the goals but another lace project, the Lace Nightie from IK, caught my eye and demanded to be added the list. I’m about 85% of the way through the nightie. It’s the perfect spring lace project. It’s also in the perfect Project Spectrum colors for April and May. Too bad, I don’t have more spring green projects to work on. Since I’ve truly enjoyed the Rowan Cotton Glace, it’s very very tempting to make a cute little spring cardigan but I have to make myself stick to the stash.

April is going to be an interesting month. I had planned to knit a shawl but I’m not sure which shawl I would like to make.

Here are the three options I’m considering

1. Diamond Fantasy Shawl
2. Flower Basket Shawl
3. Arrowhead Shawl from Interweave Knits (Staff Project, Summer 2006) using my own Cobalt handspun yarn.
4. Being daring and make my own shawl pattern using the tips from Interweave Knits magazine. Maybe even using some of my own Pink handspun yarn.

Any suggestions or favorites?

This past week, I was busy sewing. Our fabric field trip was so inspiring that I really went to town on my Chelsea bag. Yesterday before work, I finished it and even took it to work with me. I learned so much from this little bag and despite a few frustrations, I’m excited about making another bag sometime. I really like the twig-handle tote in a Last Minute Fabric Gifts, new favorite book that’s a companion to Last Minute Knitted Gifts. It will be a while before I make another bag because I still have to make bedroom curtains and the skirt that I bought fabric for on our field trip. I think the curtains will be my next sewing project so that we can get the ugly grey blinds out of our bedroom window.

Some people have bad addictions to drugs, food and other unmentionables. Currently, I find myself glued to my computer more than I probably should be. I’m addicted/obsessed with YouTube. Not the crazy home videos but instead music videos by some of my favorite bands. Another thing that’s currently attracting me to the computer is Dr. Blind by Emily Haines, the lead singer of Metric. It’s such a haunting and beautiful song, I just want to listen to it over and over, I had it going through my head all day at work yesterday and while I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep last night. Fortunately for myself and the computer, Emily’s solo album comes out on Tuesday.

This past Monday Bryan and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary. We both had to work that day, after work we got dressed up and went out for a nice dinner. I truly can’t believe it’s already been two years since we got married. It was such a wonderful day and it was so wonderful that sometimes it doesn’t feel real. The wonderful thing was so many people came from near and far to celebrate our wedding. At this time two years ago, we were honeymooning in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Canada.

On a different note, this morning I had my hair cut and I feel so great. I’ve been so irritated with the layers that I had put in back in May. So I’m growing those out and the stylist softened the front, so I have really long “bangs” that come down to my chin. Nothing like good hair cut to make you feel like a normal person again.

Today was my day off since I work all weekend and I am hoping to finish my market bag soon. On RoseByAny’s blog she listed her goal dates for finishing certain projects. What a great idea. Here are my wish dates for finishing two of my current projects.

Hobo - October 8 (exactly one year after I re-started it)
After an extra hard lesson in gauge, I have less than 70 rows to go before I finish the body on the second piece. I think it’s safe to say that I’ll be finished with the body within the next week. Once I get going on the sleeve, it took me a day or so to finish it on the first piece. Then I need to block the pieces and sew them together. Fortunately, there are only four easy seams on this sweater. The top of the sleeves and the side/underarm seams.
Go with the Flow socks - October 31
I’ve joined Lolly’s Socktober Fest again this year. I hope to finish these socks and possibly start another pair for myself, which hopefully will go quickly. If I can finish both pairs by the end of October that would just be fabulous. I’m hoping that my obsession with socks from last year comes back.

I can’t believe I forgot this earlier, Marianne, my August Project Spectrum swap pal sent me this cute little fellow for August. He’s so cute and all handmade. I totally loved the creativity of the Project Spectrum swap pals I had. I didn’t experiment with a lot just challenged myself to make cool cards in that month’s colors and I think some of them are my best cards. I wasn’t the best Project Spectrum participant working on projects in that month’s color. Frankly, I had too many projects and I had too many babies to knit for. I guess the Log Cabin Blanket counted for almost every color of the rainbow anyway, so I guess I was working on a project in that month’s colors now that I think about it. March really inspired me to work on the Hobo sweater and now I’m more than 75% finished with the sweater.

I knew I couldn’t stay away too long. What and miss all of the lovely comments from my adoring fans? At least I hope you’re adoring. Bryan wakes me up some mornings with the kitties meowing outside the door and says, “Your furry fan club is waiting.” It always strikes me as so funny. I’ve been keeping a list of what I must write about so that I don’t forget. First of all, the headaches are gone. I had a few days where I thought my head would explode but it didn’t and I’m fine now without the need of Excedrin. Once in a while I seem to forget that because Excedrin has caffeine in it that taking it everyday will cause me to have caffeine withdrawal headaches, which are never fun.

This is a bit of a catching up post, just bear with me.

Memorial Day weekend, we went to visit Bryan’s sister, her husband and their daughter, Paige. Paige is adorable and so sweet. She was born two days before our wedding, so she’ll be two in September. Hearing her laugh at the beagle they have is so cute, just the dog running around the yard makes her laugh. We had a nice visit with Bryan’s sister and her husband. They are expecting their second child this summer so there’s lot of excitement about that.

Also last week, I received my May Project Spectrum postcard from Jennifer. It’s a really cool paper collage. I love getting mail that isn’t bills but getting these Project Spectrum postcards are really fun to get because I never know what’s going to appear in my mailbox except that it will be the color of that particular month.

We’ve become somewhat regular visitors at our local farmer’s market and Memorial Day weekend, I finally bought a tomato plant. Her name is Mrs. Tomato because she’s going to give us baby tomatoes, at least I hope. Miss Oregano is keeping her company. On Saturday, I found a little hole in the pot, it appears as though one of the squirrely friends around the neighborhood decided to do a little digging in the pot. Who knows what they left behind. I also bought some lettuce in a container this weekend, so we’ll have fresh greens to eat, too. Last week, we bought the kitties some cat grass. The first day they completely ignored it and then when we moved it into the office, they discovered how exciting cat grass can truly be. Now it’s in the living room. They love chomping on it but also just laying next to it. We think it makes them think they are outside hiding in the “tall” grass. Of course, there are still a few arguments that start over the grass because the other one was there first.

On Thursday and Friday with the cooler weather, I managed to do a bit of spinning and finished plying the Lemondrop flame yarn. It didn’t quite work out the way that I was planning. I had split the fiber down the middle to get nearly “perfect” matching stripes. Well, that didn’t work because I don’t think I split it evenly but the finished product is really wonderful. Each time I attempt to spin something a certain way, the spinning universe decides otherwise for me. It’s almost as though I need to learn the lesson that I’m not supposed be perfect even though I strive for perfection. Also that I should learn to appreciate the yarn I’m spinning even if it doesn’t turn out the way I had envisioned. This yarn is about 8 wraps per inch so it’s definitely a bulky yarn. I think it will make a really great scarf or hat since I only have about 120 yards. I was thinking about making it the cuff of some socks that I’m hoping to make with the cabled Lemondrop yarn that I’m planning to start cable-plying later this week. There was no way that yarn would work as a 2-ply, it was just too loosely plied. After I get the Lemondrop yarn cabled, I plan on working on the bright pink that matches my cotton candy yarn.

The log cabin blanket is coming along well, I’m still in the never-ending blankie zone. Thank goodness every 18 rows I change direction and color or I would have set this blanket aside a week ago. It’s a great thing to work on while I’m catching up on Days of Our Lives episodes or watching a movie because I can knit without having to think about it. I keep reminding myself I’ve only been working on this blanket two weeks and I’ve made a lot of progress. I’m sure the baby bibs that I have in planning will go much faster, or so I think. My obsession with the Mason-Dixon Knitting book hasn’t subsided and I ordered a used copy on Amazon last week.

Speaking of books, I finished Prep yesterday. I loved this book! It had me thinking about high school a lot and how I dealt with things. I didn’t particularly like high school, it was a difficult time for me, as it for most people. I highly recommend this to those who like coming-of-age stories.

And finally, I finally got around to ordering one of my own leetle knits shirts. Bryan wanted one and has been wearing it proudly. It seems so strange to see something I drew on a t-shirt.

First of all, holy cow! I don’t think I’ve ever had 8 comments for one post! Thank you all. (Btw, the title means absolutely nothing. It’s just the post number and I just felt like keeping it just to be interesting.)

I haven’t heard about the Acquisitions job yet, but then again I don’t expect to hear anything until after I leave for Maryland. It could be a very interesting week, in addition to all of the Maryland Sheep & Wool excitement.

The last few days have been really great. I can’t remember why they just feel great. The Archives reading project where I was reading and organizing the shelves is finished. It took me almost 20 hours to read the entire Archives department but it’s done and I’m very relieved. Now I can leave town without thinking about what I have to do when I get back. I also got my hair cut on Thursday, which always puts a bit of a new spring in my step. She cut almost an inch an a half off and my new spring do feels fabulous. The best part is that even when I let my hair air dry it looks cute - always a huge plus in my book! Another plus is I don’t have to lug my hairdryer to Maryland. :)

Wednesday at my knitting group, I finished another afghan square and started the 11th square. I haven’t gotten very far on the 11th square because I’ve been busy working, baking, knitting the new sock and making Project Spectrum postcards. The sock is coming along nicely, slowly but nicely. I think once I get the pattern down a bit more it will go a bit faster. I’m using the “Go With the Flow” socks pattern from Interweave Knits, Summer 2005.

My latest baking adventure was into whole wheat bread, oooh. It’s a recipe from one of my favorite bread books, the same book that we use for pizza crust with few additions and baguettes. The bread turned out very nicely and we used it for tomato/basil sandwiches on Friday for lunch.

I talked to Amie yesterday to finalize some of our plans for my trip to Maryland. And somehow we got onto the subject of how I feel like my knitting has become a bit stagnant. I don’t mean that I’m not knitting, more as in the projects I have planned that I have yarn for just aren’t that challenging. Sometimes I don’t think I want challenging because I want to relax and knit but other times I want something that won’t only wow my husband but also wow me. Sort of the same feeling that I had after I finished the Barbara shawl. I’m sure I’ll feel that way after I finish the Hobo sweater that I’m sure you’re all sick of hearing about. Amie seems to think that Maryland will change that. I hope she’s right. Not that I don’t love a good pair of socks but I feel like that’s the one place I’m making myself try new things. The afghan squares are definitely challenging but they are so small and by the time I’m almost finished with one, I’m tired of the pattern anyway. Granted I have two sweaters that really need to be finished and I’m trying to keep myself to no more than five projects on the needles at any one time. I think back to when I was living in the city and knitting as much as I am now and I knitted a lot of sweaters. I also had friends that encouraged me and were knitting things more complex than I was, which made me want to challenge myself even more. And I had the money to do that back then (or so I thought). I also haven’t felt much like spinning either, it just seems like my hands don’t want to work the way they are supposed to. When I try spinning, my drafting is bulky and then I have a hard time getting the fiber to do what I want. Maybe this trip to Maryland is exactly what I need. Or I’ve just reached a bit of a knitting plateau and a spinning lull.

And finally, Chloe is so perfect at the strangest sleeping poses that I just can’t resist.

Have a great week. After I leave for Chicago on Wednesday to fly to Maryland on Thursday, I won’t blog until I get back on Tuesday next week. I’ll try to post one last time before I leave.

Well, today is a much better day than the last three. I went to work for the first time since Monday. The cold I had really knocked me out.

Yesterday a very early birthday present arrived. Almost eight months early, but appreciated no less than if it came eight months from now. A very much needed gift too. Thank you, Mom & Dad! It will replace the folding chair that I’ve been using that hasn’t been good for my back. I need something a bit shorter than a normal chair but higher than the comfy living room chair that I had been using. As a replacement once in a while, I was using the radiator with a pillow which was about the right height. It didn’t work so well when it was cold outside though because the radiator was very hot. I can’t wait to use it! After Bryan arrived home from work yesterday, I asked him to help me put it together. The legs needed to be glued in and the back needed to be secured with glue and screws. I wasn’t up to doing it myself yesterday.

Before I got sick, I finished plying my first bobbin of the Garden yarn. It has some over-twisted spots but overall I’m pretty happy with it. I only managed to get about 250 yards out of about 2/3 of the first bobbin though. I’m not sure if I’m going to have enough yarn for a vest or not. I’ll have to knit a swatch with it to see what gauge I get and make some determinations after that.

Wednesday night and yesterday I felt well enough to knit and good things came from that knitting time. I finished the first piece of the Hobo sweater. Once I got to the arm it just flew from there. Project Spectrum really motivated me to work on this sweater and it paid off. Almost immediately after I finished the first piece of the sweater, I made myself cast-on for the second piece. I was afraid that I would get second piece syndrome since the front and back are exactly the same. Knowing how quickly the first piece went, I think I’m going to be motivated to finish it, hopefully by the end of May. Since I’ve been so focused on the Hobo sweater, I’ve really abandoned the Lilly socks. My problem with the Lilly socks is that they are too big for me. I’m tempted to cut them just above the heel and reknit the foot, I couldn’t just unknit the foot since they are knit toe-up. I’ve finally figured out why the socks I’ve made for myself are a bit too big since I started using the two-circs method. Addi Turbos size 2 are 3.0 mm and the other size 2’s that I’ve seen are 2.5 mm or 2.75 mm. Inox size 2 needles are 2.75 mm. So I’m think I’m going to have to decrease the number of stitches for the foot when I make socks for myself using the Addi Turbos. This is why I wish we would just do away with US sizes and all needles just go by the mm sizes and be consistent about sizes too.

A few weeks ago, I was thinking of starting Bryan’s CHRV (Cider House Rules Vest) in a few weeks but I think I should stick with the Hobo sweater as long as I can before starting the vest.

Despite still having a bit of a cold, I’m thinking a bit more clearly now regarding my plans for school. Getting a really wonderful pep talk from my supervisor at the library added a lot to my confidence too. In addition she said she would love to write a letter of recommendation for me.

I still have yet to hear whether or not I’ve been accepted to library school. Everyday when the mail comes I jump because potentially the letter could be there. I’m losing sleep over this because I’m so anxious to find out. I promise not to assault the postman.

To try and curb some of my anxiousness I’ve been spinning a lot. Knitting just doesn’t seem to help keep my mind off of the letter. I finished my second bobbin of the Garden yarn and started the third on Thursday night. I still have more than 5 ounces to spin. After this third bobbin, I’m going to have to do some plying because I’m out of bobbins. Technically, this is a Project Spectrum project because it does have pink in it.

And finally, I’m so happy to learn that my KU Jayhawks have made it to the final round of the Big 12 Tournament. I hope that they do well enough to get a good seed in the NCAA Tournament. Rock Chalk Jayhawk! Unfortunately, I’ve only seen one game this year because we don’t have cable and they don’t show many Big 12 games around here. It’s all Big 10.

Okay, so I’m avoiding what I should be doing which is finishing up the reorganization of our bedroom closet. We did the office last weekend and it looks fabulous. The bedroom is looking better but I’m getting to the point of feeling overwhelmed because there is so much stuff to put away but I don’t want to deal with putting it away.

This is completely off the subject but when I found this website, I had to post it. It’s all about sheep breeds and was very fun to browse through. It’s always fun to see what sheep the wool I’m spinning comes from.

For Project Spectrum, I’ve decided that I’m going to do a photo parade of the yarn/fiber that I have in my stash that is in the colors of this month - Red & Pink. Current projects are not included. I’ve realized that I think I have more red and pink in my stash than any other two colors. (I hope to do this every month of Project Spectrum to keep tabs on what I have in my stash and to encourage me to use the yarn that I have.)

Bonkers Raspberry Sock Yarn

Rowan Felted Tweed for the Martha sweater

Crystal Palace’s Kid Merino

Zen yarn

Opal sock yarn from my SP6 pal

Interlacements Mohair

Zara yarn that I bought in 2001 to make mittens.

Mohave merino from Wendy, my SP5 pal

Raspberry Slush from Amie

Cotton Candy yarn to be plied with Bright pink

Bright pink (70% Merino/30% Tencel)

And for the finale, my own hand-painted fiber
Raspblueberry

Rainbow Dreams

Desert Berry