I’ve never been very good at picking resolutions for the year.  About the only one that ever worked for me was giving up french fries for an entire year.  But I think that was because it finally hit me that I feel a lot A LOT better if I don’t eat fried food.  It’s a gall bladder thing that I like to ignore and pretend doesn’t exist.  And really, if I don’t eat fried food, it really doesn’t exist.

I’ve tried to pretend that I resolve to Knit Only Out of My Stash. I’ve tried to pretend that I resolve to Buy Less Yarn.  I’ve even tried to pretend that I will Knit Only Patterns and Yarn That I’ve Pre-Packaged Into Cute Little Bags and Made Into My Own Kits.  Yeah, that didn’t work so well.

So why would I think that participating in my own version of a 12 in 12 would work?  The challenge is to knit 12 sweaters in 12 months.  The idea intrigues me.  The problem?  The yarn store in question is 2 1/2 hours away and I need more yarn like I need a hole in my head.  (Really, I do not need a hole in my head).  So I probably would not participate in buying the yarn at their store (although it’s a perfectly lovely store and if my in-laws wanted to buy me a gift certificate to the store since that’s where they live I certainly wouldn’t turn it down.)  However, I don’t think I have enough sweater quantity yarn in my stash.  I’m sort of the queen of one skein purchases.  I do have enough (I think) for the

Sullivan - February

and the

Featherweight -April

and the

White Russian - June

and I’d probably find yarn to make the

Zephyr - September

and maybe this one.  Although I might try to modify it to have long sleeves.  I’m not a huge fan of short sleeved sweaters.

Rusted Root - July

So that’s 5 out of the 12 months.  What if I threw in child and baby size sweaters to round out the months?  Could I even do it?  The baby sweaters would help me “catch up” on months that I would be behind.  Is it possible for me to finish an adult sweater in a month with my limited knitting time?  Could I keep focused for that long?  After all, I am the poster child for “Ohhh… shiny!”

Is anyone interested in knitting these along with me?  Pick your own sweaters from the 12 in 12 list or start your own list.  I’ll start January with a sweater I’ve already picked out for myself.  Velynda by Bon Marie Burns.  I have some navy blue Malabrigo that I bought with a gift certificate my hubby’s Aunt gave me.  Leave me a message in the comments and let me know what you’ll be knitting.

Classic Knitting, Vogue Style

I’ve been sent a couple of knitting books to review.  I know, having a blog is tough work.  I get sent random books, I ooh and ahh over them, they get put into a pile for blogging about at some later date.  The really sad part is that this particular book is well worth raving about and I haven’t had much free time in which to rave.

Vogue Knitting:  Classic Patterns from the World’s Most Celebrated Knitting Magazine is well worth putting on your Christmas List.  It’s that good.  Classic Patterns is a celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the magazine.  The book showcases some of the most sought after patterns in the last 30 years.  It also talks about the resurgance of knitting and some of the trends that were going on during those decades.

Remember the 80's?

I’m going to be brutally honest here.  There are some patterns that I would not knit.  However, those items are still beautifully shot and have a fashion forward (for that time period) flare.  Do I like dropped shoulders?  No.  But there was a time in my life (granted I was barely old enough to pick my own clothing) when I wore a lot of those type of sweaters.  My point is that this was a sign of the times and the patterns are well worth saving if for no other reason than pure historical value.

Historically Large?

It’s not all bad fashion flashbacks, there are a lot of patterns in this book that I would love to knit.  (Could someone find me 50 more hours in the week in which I could knit them all?)

Comfy & Snuggly, Pair with a Belt on a Casual Office Day.

Vogue Knitting is known for having well known designers grace it’s pages, and this book is a veritable who’s who of knitting and fashion.

So kick back, pour yourself a glass of wine and enjoy three decades of fashion.  If you’ve been a very nice Knitter this year, maybe Santa will put this book under the tree for you.

My Work Wardrobe

7 Year Olds Take Interesting Photos

One of the women I knit with is fond of saying, “Good help is hard to find.”  Generally she says this while working at the yarn store when she can’t get the cash register to work the way she wants.  Mostly, I think she says this because she’s a naturally humble person with a great sense of humor.  She’s one of the best knitters I know and I’d like to be just like her some day. 

This same knitter has made two of the Sideways Shawlettes in the time it’s taken me to do one.  It’s not because it was hard, but because the fringe was boring me to tears.  I finally finished this at a scrapbooking retreat I was at this past weekend.  Yes, it was a scrapbooking retreat.  Yes, I mostly knit.  It’s what I do. 

Modelling is Hard Work

But back to the shawlette.  I had decided this particular shawl needed a bit of bling.  So I bought some beads to put along the fringe.  The shawl travelled with me to Sock Summit, to Chicago, to my parent’s house, and finally to the retreat.  To be honest, I only worked on the shawl fringe at Sock Summit and at the retreat.  The fringe was just that boring. 

As for the crazy pictures, well that’s where the good help comes in.  My model is my 7 year old daughter who was less than enthused about helping out unless she was able to use my shawl to be an “old west bad guy.” 

Knit Whits Mini Skeins

 These little mini skeins from Knit Whits also showed up in my mailbox.  I tried telling my husband that I had no idea how they had gotten there.  I couldn’t quite keep a straight face though.  Honestly, these little mini skeins are a little addictive.  They’re so tiny and cute!  I may have found even more sources of mini skeins at Stitches Midwest.  They’re like cupcakes, cute and perfect for those instant gratification projects like baby hats.  At approximately 90 yds. each they’re great for baby socks and hats. 

Luuuucy, you have some ‘splaining to do! 

I suspect this is almost what my husband will say if I carry out my plan.  The plan, is to slowly drive around my neighborhood looking for a certain delivery company.  (Please note, this is not stalking.  Stalking would be creepy and I am not creepy).  When I find the delivery vehicle, I will watch the driver carefully for knitter like behavior.  Things like evidence of fiber on their distinctively colored delivery person pants.  Maybe a Purl Girl keychain, a Knitmore Girls podcast being played.  Maybe there’s even knitting sticking out of a bag on the floor.  I’ve seen DAAT Training, I know what to do next.   

This driving around is preferable, I think, to hiding in the bushes and pouncing on the delivery driver when they come to my house.  The problem is that the driver is clearly not returning to the scene of the crime.  Therefore pouncing is clearly not an option. 

What crime could this poor driver have committed you ask?   I’m mostly sort of kind of convinced that someone took the package of yarn that I had a friend ship back to me from Sock Summit (well, that and it makes for a better story).  It’s been well over a week since we got back from Sock Summit.  How long does it take to get to the midwest from the Pacific coast?  Seriously folks, it’s not that long of a drive.  Even if my yarn stopped to sight see and spend a little time oogling the bison in Yellowstone, it could still be here by now.  In addition, there are several non-stop flights going every single day. 

Unless my yarn makes it here with souviners for the whole family (including yarn spun from said bison fiber), I’m sticking by my theory that the delivery driver knows good wool when he/she sees it.  Dude, there’s Sanguine Gryphon and a Namaste bag in that box! That delivery driver is going to have some ‘splaining of their own to do. 

 Since I promised actual knitting in that last post, I’m showing my Sprout hat that I knit at Sock Summit.  It was knit to donate to a Portland kids charity.  Maryanne, Troy and I dropped off our donations at the Baby Shower for Eloise hoping that there would be cake at the party.  We were disappointed to find there was no cake, but there were lovely handknits that other knitters had donated.  The hat is a Hazel Knits kit with Artisan Sock yarn in the Lipstick colorway.  I’ve got just a tiny bit left over that might make it into a little crazy just right project that I started.  More details on that to come. 

Traditional Norwegian Socks

 My Traditional Norwegian Socks class was my first class.  We got started knitting a slipper out of worsted weight in stranded colorwork.  It’s the kind of slipper you’d want to wear when the wood floors are icy in the middle of January.  Because I’ve done this sort of knitting before, I was able to finish the cuff of the first sock before 3pm that day. 

My Haul

 I had a wonderful time with Knittymuggins and Troy.  Knittymuggins was my roommate and we had a wonderful time.  We stayed up past my (central time zone) bedtime and enjoyed ourselves in the Market.  As for the market, I did pretty well with my resolution, although I probably brought home more than I needed.  I do have projects in mind for all of it.  I found that wandering around the market hungry was a really bad idea – since there is a 2 hour time difference I felt like I was always hungry.  I hit the Sanguine Gryphon and Blue Moon Fiber Arts booths hard.  I bought a lot of yarn for baby sweaters, as it seems like a lot of people I know are pregnant or just had a baby. 

Friday brought the class on making socks for kids.  The teacher, Sandi Rosner, taught us how to size down adult patterns to fit littler, rounder feet.  I feel like I have a great grasp of this, and I can’t wait to try it out. 

My final class was on Kilt Stockings.  Mary Scott Hoff was a funny, entertaining teacher – exactly what you need at the end of a great weekend.  Although I don’t have any plans to make stockings for a kilt wearer, I do want to make a kicky pair of knee socks for myself. 

Knittymuggins binding off.

 The three of us didn’t just knit and take classes.  We also struck out to explore a little bit of the city.  We took a loooong walk one night (someone might have even called it a death march), and on Saturday we took the train to visit the Saturday Market. Saturday Market is an arts and crafts fair that they have every weekend.  I’m so glad we were able to go as I remember this briefly from a trip I took to Portland when I was 14. 

 I’ll have actual knitting in a later post.  I did knit a little while we were in Portland,especially while I was at the airport.  For now, I’m readjusting to the time zone change and hanging out with the kiddos.