Happy new year everyone!

I am not going to go into detail with my knitting goals like I did last year. If there is one thing I learned about knitting in 2008 it’s that I don’t need to add stress and deadlines, because that kills the fun.

Instead, this year my knitting goals can be summed up in one phrase: learn something new. I have all these design ideas floating around in my head, but I’m not comfortable enough with cables or multicolor knitting to execute them yet. So this year, each project that I start for myself will incorporate some new skill that I want to practice. First up: Ester, to practice cables.

I would also like to finish a bunch of WIPs, including Wicked, Serrano, Tailored Scallops, Caroline’s Bagstopper and a secret blanket project.

I also intend to blog more, and a bit differently. I want to bring back “Swatch Saturday” to remind me to contribute to the WTP and blog at least once a week. I also hope that trying out new stitch patterns will spark design inspiration.

Here’s to a happy and productive 2009 for you and yours!

Sorry I dropped off the face of the Earth for awhile there. Look, here I am, alive and well:

I’ve had a really busy couple of months. My whole month of September was consumed by the law school recruiting season. Fortunately I have some good options open to me at this point, but it’s a really stressful process. Before that, I finished up my summer job and went to New Hampshire with my husband. I did a little bit of knitting, making a hat for Robyn and chipping away at that Shetland Triangle that I started earlier in the summer.  (PS when my husband saw that picture of Robyn he said “whoa, it’s bizarro-you wearing your hat!”  Robyn, I like your taste in glasses )

But that’s not why I was absent from the blog. To be honest, I had a knitter’s identity crisis. I feel a little bad even talking about this, because it might sound like I’m ungrateful for an amazing design opportunity that I had. I am incredibly grateful, and next time I’ll manage the whole thing better. But it was hard on me, and it killed my interest in knitting for awhile. I would be up late knitting, and my wrists and hands would be hurting, and I’d think “what am I doing to myself?” And it’s not that the project was difficult, it was just a quick time frame and I had a lot of other stuff going on. I didn’t work on it at all for one whole weekend because my room mate from college was visiting. I had a summer job 40 miles away and a law school writing contest. Normally when I have a lot going on I relax and clear my head by knitting. The fact that I was stressed out about knitting, of all things, really threw me off.

In the mean time, knitting is my hobby. Knitting is my creative side, my relaxation. It is not my WORK.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

I started this blog two years ago today.  I have the pointy sticks in hand, ready to keep it going for years to come. 

Two years ago thee was an awful lot going on in the knitblog world.  It was the Golden Age of See Eunny Knit.  Grumperina was locked in battle with Mountainash.  Some of my very favorite of Cara’s photos appeared on January One.  Gale of She Shoots Sheep Shots was making miters. Kelp was making (and fixing) beautiful lace. MLE’s blog was one of the first ones I followed, in large part because of our shared name and age, and she started her blog not long before I started mine.  Ruth of Knitting on Impulse was going strong, but I did not follow her blog until she moved to Whistler and started taking those amazing photos.  Nicole was cataloging sock yarn, but I did not get to know her until she started the Walker Treasury Project.

A lot has changed in the last two years.  Some of my favorite blogs two years ago have since gone dormant.   Some of my favorite blogs today did not exist in their current form two years ago. There is always change, always new blood, which is what makes this such a fun place to be.

In honor of my second bloggiversary I am holding my first blog contest. Please tell me about your favorite new thing to happen to the knitblog world. It could be a new blog you really love, or a new craze sweeping the knitting web. If you leave a comment I will enter your name into a drawing and one week from tonight I will randomly pick a name. The winner will receive this exceedingly festive Karabella Gossamer.

I will also offer to knit you a Foliage in your choice of color, if you’re interested.

To all who read this: thank you for making the land of knit blogs an awesome place to hang out for the last two years.

These are my law books. CLOSED. I finished my first year of law school.

These photos show Ivy Day, which is my favorite college activity. It was a million times more special this year because it was my sister’s graduation.

Knitting content to follow eventually. I’m excited for a nice relaxing holiday weekend.

Today, March 1, we awoke to yet more snow.  I can’t wait for spring to come.

I finished the design project that I’ve been alluding to, but I decided not to submit it yet.  It doesn’t really feel finished to me.  I want to make a variation on it and submit them both, like I did with Foliage.  I’m a teensy bit sick of the pattern, even though it’s my own, so I won’t start another quite yet.

I did start something new though.

This is the very beginning of the Hemlock Ring Blanket.  It is intended for a special someone whose birthday is in April, so I’ll have to be relatively monogamous on it. That’s fine with me though, a big purple flower is the perfect thing to work on while waiting for spring.

I’m relieved to hear that many of you don’t really like socks either.  Now I know that I’m not alone.  As much as I love sweaters, I won’t be working on those for awhile either.  I have declared a moratorium on all new clothes for myself, actually.  My weight has been creeping up steadily for several years.  That was fine when I was growing and I was a teenager, but it needs to stop.  A couple of days after my 25th birthday I had a record-breaking weigh-in that convinced me that I need to change my habits.  Since my goal is to establish a healthy lifestyle, not achieve a certain size, I’m not sure what size I’ll settle at.  I’m quite sure it won’t be this one, though.  So until I do settle somewhere, I’m not going to start any sweaters for myself.  Wish me luck.  It’s a new beginning.

When I made the list of knitting accomplishments yesterday, it made me think of my knitting goals for 2008.  I’ll save this list in a tab up top, and edit it as I check things off the list.  My goals fall into three main categories:

Finish the following projects:

• Ms. Redjeans: I will finish this soon, because it is for my mom and her birthday is this week. I’ve decided that it won’t be totally finished when I present it to her. I’ve been using myself to judge the size, but she’s a bit smaller than I am, so I’ll have her try it on to see exactly how long the body and sleeves should be.
• Socks for mom: These have been kicking around forever, and I need to finish them. I messed up the toe on one, but I fixed it finally and there is only a tiny bit left to go.
• Red Light Special: This has been kicking around for A YEAR. My tension is usually so even that I’m embarrassed by the wonky tension I’m getting with stranding. I’ll finish this, and then begin the Stranded Challenge (see below)
• Serrano: This will be tough. I’m having a hard time finishing Serrano because I’m not very good at seaming, and I want the seaming to be PERFECT. I spent so much time knitting it, and it has such potential, that it would break my heart if the crappy seams detracted from it.
• Caroline’s Bagstopper: This is a very easy pattern, but the cotton yarn is hard on my hands. If I commit to doing a couple rounds a day it wouldn’t take all that long to finish.
• Wearable Afgan/Tailored Scallops: I’ll finish it some time in 2008. I only started it in November though, so I’m not embarrassed about it yet.

Master a new skill:

I used to be decent at stranded colorwork, and I went through a big Lopi phase in college. (Exhibits: A, B, C, D). I hold the yarn differently now though, and while that generally makes me a lot faster, I’m not as good at stranded colorwork anymore. I’ve decided to work on that this year, with the help of Eunny Jang.

I want to complete the following projects in the following order:

• Endpaper Mitts
• Anemoi Mittens
• Deep V Argyle Vest
• Ivy League Vest
• Venezia

I figure that the projects increase in difficulty at a manageable rate, so it will be a good way to build my skills. I also figure that it will take more than a year to complete all of those, so I will be satisfied with myself if I have at least swatched for Venezia in the next year.

Design related Goals:

• I’d love to get into Knitty again in 2008
• I want to get up the nerve to submit to two print publications.
• Finish that submission for the other online publication that’s been on my desk for six months! I can’t tell you what it is yet, but I’ll tell you once I’ve done it.
• Manage my time better: I have a ton of design ideas percolating in my head, but I’m bad with knitting deadlines. I need to organize myself so I can work on stuff and get it submitted in the right season.  No more finishing Halloween stuff right before Halloween so it’s too late for this year and frustratingly early for next year.

What are your knitting goals for 2008?

Well, another year is drawing to a close.  It was a VERY busy year for me.  I was very busy at work, then left my job.  I took a 4000+ mile road trip.  I experienced the joys of home ownership.  I started law school.  I did do some knitting though.  Here is a run-down of my projects, in order of when I worked on them.  Some of the design stuff you didn’t find out about until later, but now you know when I actually made them.  I’m beginning to understand why knitbloggers peter out once they really get into designing.  Two of my favorite projects of 2007 I can’t show you yet!  Oh well.  Here it is, the knitting of 2007:

January:

Foliage Prototype

Calorimetry

Started Red Light Special

Started Clapotis

Snowflake Lace Socks

February:

Heart Lace Socks

Started Wicked

March:

Attempted Pomatomus

Tempest Socks

April:

Nautie for my SP

Started Serrano

May:

Started socks for my mom

June:

Foliage

July:

Worked on two different still-secret projects

Started crazy clown socks

August:

Started Bagstopper for Caroline

Finished Clapotis

September:

Got very close to finishing Serrano, but ran out of steam

Started Ms. Redjeans

Sheep for Elizabeth

October:

Urchin

Foliage for me

Waldo Hat

November:

Started Tailored Scallops aka Wearable Afghan

December:

Elijah for Caroline

Retro Redux Shrug

Thank you all so much for the good vibes. It’s a little scary, and I’m very grateful to have the support.

Since starting law school I’ve been knitting more than when I was pulling 15 hour days at work, but less than when I was pulling 8 hour days. I’ve made some progress on the Serrano sleeves, but I’m sure you’re not interested in row-by-row updates. Instead, I decided to do the questionnaire that I saw on Robin’s blog.

I’ve done it
I want to do it
No interest

• Afghan
• I-cord
• Garter stitch
• Knitting with metal wire
• Shawl
• Stockinette stitch
• Socks: top-down
• Socks: toe-up
• Knitting with camel yarn
• Mittens: Cuff-up
• Mittens: Tip-down
• Hat (too many to count)
• Knitting with silk
• Moebius band knitting
• Participating in a KAL (Hmmm… I know I’ve started some, but I can’t think of any that I’ve finished)
• Sweater (Yes, very much so)
• Drop stitch patterns
• Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn (if recycled Sari Silk counts)
• Slip stitch patterns
• Knitting with banana fiber yarn
• Domino knitting
• Twisted stitch patterns
• Knitting with bamboo yarn (wool-bamboo blend)
• Two end knitting (???)
• Charity knitting
• Knitting with soy yarn
• Cardigan
• Toy/doll clothing
• Knitting with circular needles (I do a lot in the round, and knit literally everything on my Options)
• Baby items
• Knitting with your own handspun (no interest in ever learning to spin)
• Slippers
• Graffiti knitting (???)
• Continental knitting
• Designing knitted garments (you’ll hear more about this soon enough)
• Cable stitch patterns
• Lace patterns
• Publishing a knitting book (it’s not that I’m not interested, it’s that it has virtually no chance of ever happening)
• Scarf
• Teaching a child to knit
• American/English knitting (almost every day)
• Knitting to make money (no, that’s why I’m in law school )
• Buttonholes
• Knitting with alpaca
• Fair Isle knitting
• Norwegian knitting
• Dying with plant colors
• Knitting items for a wedding (as a wedding GIFT)
• Household items
• Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars (I prefer ML)
• Olympic knitting
• Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
• Knitting with dpns
• Holiday-related knitting
• Teaching a male how to knit
• Bobbles (I’m usually not a fan, but I love Demi)
• Knitting for a living
• Knitting with cotton
• Knitting smocking
• Dying yarn (once, it wasn’t pretty)
• Steeks (Eunny’s Deep V Argyle Vest is on deck)
• Knitting art
• Fulling/felting
• Knitting with wool (virtually all the time)
• Textured knitting
• Kitchener BO
• Purses/bags
• Knitting with beads
• Swatching
• Long Tail CO
• Entrelac
• Knitting and purling backwards
• Machine knitting
• Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegating yarn
• Stuffed toys
• Knitting with cashmere
• Darning
• Jewelry
• Knitting with synthetic yarn
• Writing a pattern
• Gloves
• Intarsia
• Knitting with linen (I have some CotLin in the stash)
• Knitting for preemies
• Tubular CO
• Freeform knitting
• Short rows
• Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
• Pillows
• Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine (tons and tons)
• Rug
• Knitting on a loom
• Thrummed knitting
• Knitting a gift
• Knitting for pets
• Shrug/bolero/poncho
• Knitting with dog/cat hair (Ick, on purpose?!)
• Hair accessories
• Knitting in public

Today is my second day of law school. It’s going well so far. I’m a little bit overwhelmed, but it’ll be ok.

I had a bunch of reading to do before classes even started so I haven’t done a ton of knitting lately, but I’ve been chipping away on the sleeves for Serrano.

I’m still loving this stitch pattern, even after all this time. I am eager to be done with this sweater though – I want to be able to wear it a few times before it gets too cold.

 In the pattern pictures, the split cuff is a pretty obvious detail, and I’ve decided to keep it.  I didn’t like how floppy the sleeves look though, particularly in the second picture (where she’s adjusting her hair).  I decided to make the split portion of the sleeves only about half as long as it’s supposed to be.

The cuffs will still be a bit floppy, which was the final factor in my decision to make the sleeves 3/4 length. I think the higher up the cuffs are the less likely it is that the flopiness with bother me.

This is the earliest known example of my knitting.

It’s a garter-stitch headband/earwarmer.

The plan would have been to sew together the short ends using those tails. I made others that I did sew up and use and I’m not sure why I never sewed this one. Maybe I thought it looked uneven, and decided to use one that was better. It is uneven, but I think it’s sort of cute. I was like 9 at the time, what do you expect?

What is YOUR first knitted thing?

PS:  Shout out to my mom, who taught me how to knit and suggested I do this post.