Ever since Bess mentioned doing her own knitting almanac I’ve been thinking about it a lot and am even planning my own. Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac is such a classic and an inspiration. I feel that I should plan the entire year out now so that I can try to stick to it, “try” being the key word here, but I know how I can be when something more interesting comes along. There is SK’s sock-knitting machine that I’m going to try out on Saturday, and Project Spectrum 2.0, which can inspire something completely different than I ever expected. Hopefully, my projects planned for the month can fit into Project Spectrum, too.

Here’s what I have so far. A few of the months correspond with the classes I’ll be teaching. I’m also not going to be strict and make myself work on the theme of the month exclusively since there are some gifts that need to be made that I won’t fit into any particular month.

January: Sweater month.
* Finish up Bryan’s Cider House Rules vest, which is very close to being finished. I’ve already finished sewing on two armhole bands and am on my third attempt at the buttonhole band. Darn those evenly spaced buttonholes and making them match up to the vest. I had to restart the buttonband last night after being more than 40% finished. Oh well, now it will fit perfectly.
* Start and complete the Bianca Jacket from the Fall 2006 Interweave Knits. If Bianca Jacket is completed before end of month, then start the Martha sweater from Rowan Magazine 28 in deep red Felted Tweed.

February: Sock month.
* Finish the Go with the Flow socks from Interweave Knits, Summer 2005. I’m 1/2 way through the cuff on the second sock.
* Knit the second sock for the Watercolor socks. One is a display at the store but by summer I hope to have another sock knit for the store’s display.

March: Lace month.
I’m teaching a lace class and hopefully, will be knitting some lace of my own. I don’t know what I’ll knit for this month, something to keep me sane while I wait for my letter for library school.

April: Shawl month.
Start one of the many shawls that I’ve planned to make. The three that I’ve been planning for awhile are the Summer in Kansas shawl, the Flower Basket Shawl and the Diamond Fantasy Shawl.

May: Afghan square month.
I’ve been working on the Great American Aran Afghan from Knitters since May 2002. For the last several years, I’ve been knitting two squares in a year and then skipping the next year. This isn’t a year I plan to skip. I’ve completed 10 of the possible 24 squares, I may not make all 24 I haven’t decided yet. If I could finish 4 more squares this year, I would be happy. Heck, if I worked on one a month, which was the original plan I could be finished by February next year. If you know of a store that carries Anny Blatt’s No. 4 let me know.

October: Socks for Socktoberfest 2007, if Lolly hosts it again.

That’s all I have so far. I would like to “learn” something new this year but at the moment I’m not that into challenging myself too much. Some things I’d like to do this year:

• More felting, but our current washing machine situation doesn’t lend itself to felting. Sharing two machines with 20 other apartments isn’t completely ideal.
• Learn how to do the Cat Bordi mobius cast-on.
• Knit a vest from my own hand-spun yarn. Maybe I’ll designate a month entirely to knitting with my own hand-spun.
• Attempt to swatch and start the Garter Stitch Jacket from Norsk Strikkedesign. I love this sweater but I’m wondering if it’s even my style anymore.
• Since I’m using Elizabeth Zimmermann’s idea for a yearly almanac, I have to knit something from an Elizabeth Zimmermann book. I might try the Baby Surprise jacket or one of her EPS sweaters.
• Work with the lovely Blue Sky Alpaca yarn that I have for a cable-knit sweater.

With Socktoberfest over, I’m focusing on some projects that I’ve wanted to work on for a while. I’m still working on seaming the Hobo sweater. One and a half side/underarm seams down, half a side/underarm seam and two overarm seams to go. My goal is to wear it to Thanksgiving dinner in just over two and a half weeks. How it’s November already, I don’t know. Time seems to be in a bit of a time-warp lately since about July.

In the last week, Bryan and I have been seriously addicted to the third season of Six Feet Under this past week. It was a rare week, where we were both home every night of the week before 9pm. Next week, it’s back to the regular schedule with me teaching and working three nights out of the week. With all of that extra evening time, I got quite a bit of knitting completed. Sunday evening, I started Bryan’s Christmas stocking and finished the knitting part of it Wednesday night. When I knitted this stocking for my sister five years ago I forgot to indicate what size needles I’d knit her stocking on. Then when it came time to knit Bryan’s stocking the pattern I’d writtend indicated size _ 5 double-pointed needles, which my mind read as size 5 needles. The blank being a very important part of this confusion. So I knit his stocking on size 6 needles and his is significantly smaller than the original. I think I’m going to reknit the stocking on size 8s to get the right size before I teach my class in December. After finishing the stocking, I worked exclusively on Bryan’s Cider House Rules vest. Thursday afternoon and evening, I knitted over 100 rows of the one of the fronts of the vest. Now I’m working on the back, which is a bit slower. If I keep up at this rate, I could be finished with this by the New Year, which would be a major achievement for me, the last few years my track record in finishing sweaters hasn’t been very good.

Speaking of sweaters, I’ve finally come to terms with the Crazy Green sweater. Last time I measured it, the front half was 23 1/2 inches (59.7 cm) wide, which would make a 47 inch around sweater. It would definitely swim on me when most sweaters I make are only 40 inches around. So I’ve decided I’m going to frog the sweater soon and figure something else out to do with all 8 balls of yarn that I have that are different shades of green. I’m tempted to knit a sweater in the round or perhaps a a cute little cardigan. It was definitely a sweater that lived up to its name, it was destined to drive me crazy.

First socks first, even though I had to take a break from the “Knitbrarian” socks to knit the Lorna’s Laces sock. The first “Knitbrarian” sock was finished before the Lorna’s Laces sock even entered into the picture. Since I finished the Lorna’s Laces sock, I’ve been working on the second “Knitbrarian” sock. My goal is to finish it by the end of the month. I know that’s not a rule of Socktoberfest, but it’s a personal goal I set for myself and I want to stick to it. I’m more than half way through the cuff of the second sock and will soon be approaching the heel.

Yesterday, I was all set to show you the great Lorna’s Laces sock that I finished, so I charged up my camera and then off I went to meet with the owner of the new yarn store in town with sock and napkin rings in hand. So needless to say, I have no photos of either item. I can always take a photo of them in the store, which is what I’ll have to do. The sock is so wonderful and will be so warm. The Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted yarn knits up so quickly, I finished the sock in three days. Having small feet helps in that department. Now my dear sock will be on display at the store for six months and I’ll get it back to wear, just in time for Spring. Oh well, it gives me six months to finish the second sock. This Sunday is the Grand Opening of the new yarn store and I’m giving a mini workshop on the napkin rings that I designed, they’re really kind of silly but cute at the same time.

Since I’m teaching a sock knitting class starting next week at the new yarn store I’m making a teaching sock. I had made one before and couldn’t find it anywhere in my apartment, so I started another one last night. It has all of the parts of the sock in a different color.

Trust me, I have been doing other knitting that’s not sock related. Last Wednesday, I started the Cider House Rules vest for Bryan. So far I have about eight inches completed on one of the front panels. I started with the front panel to make sure that I’m right on the measurements since I was not going to knit the vest on size 3 needles to get the gauge, so I made some adjustments for the vest on size 5 needles. It doesn’t look like much right now except a blue piece of a vest.
I’m not sure I’d even wear them, but I really love the Wine and Roses Mitts (scroll down to almost the bottom) that are in the Winter issue of Interweave Knits. They happen to be designed by one of the Midwest Knitters blog ring members, JoLene Treace. I like them so much that I’m actually starting a Wine and Roses Mitts KAL (knit-a-long), as if I needed another reason to keep myself busy.

There is so much excitement around socks this month for me. Not only am I working on the gorgeous “Knitbrarian” pair of socks, I’ve finished the first sock and have about an inch and a half completed on the cuff of the second sock. They are super cozy and feel so wonderful. Since it’s Socktober, it just seems right that I’m gearing up to teach a sock class at the new yarn store that’s opening here on October 29. I met with the store owner yesterday and she sent me home with a hank of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted yarn to make a sample socks for displays at the store. The yarn went from this to this in a matter of about three hours yesterday. (The colors are between the two photos, I’ve had a hard time getting the color to look right on the computer.) Since I have a deadline for this sock, I’m working on it exclusively until the first sock is finished. Then I’ll get back to the “Knitbrarian” socks. For the store grand opening, I’m going to be demonstrating knitted napkin rings. Last night while I was watching this week’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy, I knitted up a little napkin ring. Photos to come later.

Speaking of Grey’s Anatomy, it’s of course another show that I get in on later than most people. I didn’t watch a lot of tv on Sundays and I was really bummed that it bumped Alias to a night when we could never find it. Then I found a “Getting into Grey’s” free segment on iTunes and after watching that I decided I had to tune in. I’ve caught up on this season watching three of the four episodes on the ABC website. Now, I’m hooked.

I hope you’re all enjoying autumn, so far. I’ve come to terms with the season. The leaves changing, the cooler weather and my fall socks have helped put me in the mood and remind me why this is my favorite season. With the fall weather comes cold nights and that means moving the plants in. We moved our former tomato plant (needs to be dug out of pot) and oregano in the other night. Then yesterday I found George digging, standing and lying in the pot. I’m sure when it was outside a critter dug in it several times, so George is just exploring. I had no idea he would even like oregano, but he’s proved me wrong.

It’s been such a great day. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, there are sounds of kids playing outside and the scent of beautiful magnolia trees’ wafts through the air in the park. It’s definitely Spring (more like June temperature-wise) and I love it. Today I decided to do a “Happiness is…” entry today, sometimes I just need a little reminder.

Happiness is…
Walking to work and half way back. Bryan was on his way to campus, which is half way to the library, so I had a walking companion half of the way. It took me about 55 minutes to get to work but it felt so good to be outside. (I normally drive and it takes me 10 minutes.) Then after work, I decided instead of taking the bus home, I would just walk back to campus and meet Bryan after his staff meeting. In all I walked over 4 miles and I feel so good. I know I won’t be crowned the exercise queen in this lifetime, when I do something like this it always reminds me how good it feels to get out and just walk. Hopefully, it will motivate me to get out and walk more. The sun was so bright today and with my fair skin, I decided I needed a great walking hat. (It’s straw on the top of the brim.) Now if I had a garden, I’d be set.

Happiness is…

A black kitty cat who enjoys sunning himself (he even looks brown in the sun)
and loves to stretch out like a dog.

Happiness is…
Having great friends to go out to dinner with before our knitting group. And having a wonderful knitting group to unwind with.

Happiness is…
Having the gift to teach others to knit and possibly teaching a class this fall.

Happiness is…
A husband who loves his hand-knit socks so much that he wears them weekly and if they’re clean sometimes twice a week.

Happiness is…
Having a job that I love and am enjoying working on a special project to read the archives’ shelves. (Reading the shelves is going through and making sure that everything is in the proper order.)

And finally, happiness is…
Finally finishing another pair of socks! They are true knee socks and don’t match exactly on purpose. Unfortunately, it’s too warm to wear them right now. My goal this month was to finish these socks, they have the Project Spectrum colors (orange and yellow) and I wanted to finish them so I can be ready for May whose color is green. I plan on working on my Crazy Green sweater more in May.

Let’s just do a quick run-down of the weekend and then we’ll get a bit more detailed later.

Friday - Knit, knit, knit on the Crazy Green sweater
Saturday - finished library scholarship application!, balanced checkbook and knit
Sunday - taught knitting and knit at home

I don’t remember the last time I had such a productive knitting weekend and still got a lot of other things accomplished. My above list doesn’t look like I did more than knitting this weekend. Au contraire, it felt like I got a lot done and teaching knitting to 12- and 13-year-olds is a lot.

Friday evening, I didn’t get home until nearly 6pm, I had so much to do at work. Bryan decided that we needed to relax that night, so we did. For Valentine’s Day, I bought Bryan the Eternal Sunshine Collector’s Edition DVD and it arrived on Friday. We watched the extra disc on Friday evening, there is a lot of cool stuff on the second disc. If you’re a fan of the film, it’s definitely worth the extra money. While we were watching the extra stuff, I was knitting. I worked on the Crazy Green sweater and by the time I went to bed that night, I had about five inches of the back finished. I took a photo, but haven’t uploaded it yet. The sweater looks a bit different than the swatch. The sweater has a very “watery” look to it. With eight different balls of yarn being knitted on alternating rows with no rhyme or reason to the order, the finished knitted object looks like water in the photo. You’ll see what I mean when I post it. Hopefully, I’m remember to do that tonight.

Saturday, we slept in, partly because I was up until 1 am looking through knitting magazines. We both worked out Saturday morning and after breakfast I started working on my scholarship application. By 2:30pm, I was finished. Then we balanced the checkbook, oh so exciting! Saturday evening, as a reward for getting my scholarship application finished, we relaxed. :) Sunday I was teaching a group of Girl Scouts to knit, so I needed all of the rest I could get before hand.

Sunday afternoon, I taught a group of six Girl Scouts how to knit. It was a very trying afternoon. Some of them got it right away and some didn’t. One girl who had never knit in her life just picked up the needles, learned how to cast on very quickly and then quickly picked up the knit stitch. She was off and running, I couldn’t believe it. She had never knit before but it came so naturally to her. A couple of the girls, I really felt bad for because I couldn’t devote the time to them that they needed. That’s one of the hardest things for me as an instructor is to let some people struggle, I want to sit with them and give them the attention that they need, but I have to pay the other students attention they need, too. I was very tired when I got home after class. Bryan wasn’t feeling well, so that was the perfect excuse for us to relax on the couch for the evening and watch two episodes of the Simpsons. I worked on the Crazy Green sweater and now have one row over 6 1/2 inches (16.5 cm) completed. I’m half way to the arm hole shaping!

Finally, one of my photos of my first handspun yarn.

It’s not exactly amazing, but hey, it’s my first yarn. I have another hank to copy over from my camera that was replied and looks much better than the first try in plying. I’m really struggling with getting a consistent width (I’m not sure that’s the right word) of yarn with the drop spindle. I drool over the yarn that people are spinning with wheels, but my current and future living situation doesn’t allow for a spinning wheel. It will have to wait until after Bryan and I are out of school. If all goes as planned, as such my getting into school, we’ll both be out two years from now. :) Any advice on getting a more consistent yarn with the drop spindle, other than practice, is greatly appreciated.

A quiz I saw on L’Allumeur’s blog. Very interesting:

I don’t think re-found is a word but let’s just make one up for the day. I went home at lunch yesterday and saw the Little Brown Bag kit stuck between one of the end tables and a chair. I had probably seen it a thousand times and hadn’t thought twice about it being there. But now since I’m on my finish-as-many-projects-as-I-can kick, I noticed it and decided to get it out to work on. So I finished knitting the bag part (about an inch) with closure and knit the bottom of the bag. While we were watching a movie, I sewed the bottom of the bag to the body of the bag. Now I need to sew the hard base to the bottom of the bag, make the pieces that hold the handles and sew in the handles. So I have several more hours of work to do, but I should have another project to check off my list within the next week! The bag is all that I worked on yesterday.

1pm - What a difference 1/2 an hour at home for lunch can make. After I ate, I sewed the hard base to the bottom of the bag. Watching Jane Pauley helped, of course. :)

I have class tonight so I probably won’t get a lot of knitting done. Bryan is working both days this weekend and after I clean up my messes in the apartment and get my library essays worked out, I’ll have some knitting time. I just have to make myself sit down and enjoy the zen of sewing ends in and sewing giraffe legs to bodies. I read on someone else’s blog that they would really like to just sit and enjoy the act of knitting instead of trying to rush through and trying to get stuff done as quickly as possible. I don’t know where the “racing” started but I always feel like I’m in a race against time with some of my projects, they may not have a deadline but I get it in my head, for some reason, that I’m not a good knitter if I don’t finish something in so many weeks/months. Like it’s bad to have something that I’ve been working on for over a year. I do admit that I need to concentrate on what I already have on the needles and finish those before I start something else but I need to learn to enjoy the knitting more. Maybe I should get out the Barbara shawl and work on it for a while to get me to relax a bit more and not rush. Working on the Hobo sweater would probably also help. I need to slow down with projects where I see very little progress and just love knitting for the sake of knitting.