Goals for 2013

Happy New Year everyone! We have finally made it back from our whirlwind tour of the Eastern Seaboard in winter, and I can attest to the fact that the Gulf Stream is alive and well and keeping the UK balmy (as evidenced by the fact that we woke up in Maine yesterday it was 10 degrees Fahrenheit, and when we landed in London this morning it was 10 degrees Celsius...). I had a lovely holiday, full of family and friends and food and lots and lots of sitting around knitting, reading books and drinking coffee. Now, I'm in the throes of jetlag and while it's getting on towards 10 pm here in London, my body thinks it's just about cocktail time and maybe I should grab a glass of wine or something. Bah!

So I have an ongoing list of knitting goals that are slowly taking shape in my mind, and now seems as good a time as any to start getting them down on (virtual) paper.

1. I have a group of four sweater designs floating around in my head, loosely grouped around the points of the compass, and inspired by four places in Great Britain. Three of these are cabled (dear God!) and one is inspired by a Penny Straker gansey I knit when I was in college. I have the yarn for all four, and I just need to sit down and get going on them. I'm leaning towards self-publishing these as a collection in the fall, which is going to mean cracking down and getting my butt in gear on the knitting. Because, as we all know, cables are so fast to work...
2. I have a shawl design to submit to Knitty for their fall issue - if it isn't accepted, it will become one of four shawl designs also inspired by the UK. I've got one of the others nailed down, and will need to dream up a couple more. These babies won't be finished until next year I'm thinking...
3. Stripey sportweight sweater, probably also for Knitty First Fall.
4. Spin and knit a couple of sweaters from the sweater lots of Hello Yarn fiber taking up valuable stash space. I've started on one of the sweater lots, and I know the sweater I'm going to knit with one of the others, but haven't started the spinning on that one yet.
5. More weaving.

Hmmm...seems like a lot of designing, doesn't it? If I'm being completely honest, there's two more shawl designs and a couple of other accessory type ideas floating around my head, so that would extend the list. I'm feeling like I need to get a massive whiteboard to hang in my office, just to keep all these things straight. It would probably also be a grand help if I managed to get my ideas a bit more in tune with the submission schedules of various magazines, but that remains a long-term goal.

What about you? Do you make resolutions or goals for the new year for your knitting? Or your spinning? Or just life in general? I find I'm really good at making lists and putting things down on paper with the best of intentions. But then the paper gets buried under something else, and I forget about the general plan, or I loose focus and get distracted by something else. So this year, I think that my goals can be narrowed down to "Follow Through". I'm looking forward to seeing how that goes.

Happy Christmas!

It's ten to one in the morning, and I have just finished and wrapped Devil's sweater, and put it under the tree. Hooray! It's not blocked, and neither sweater had buttons yet, but the knitting is done. This year, that counts, in my book.

I hope you all have a wonderful and merry Christmas with family and friends, with lots of love and laughter and knitted goodness. Cheers!

The Atlantic ate my brain

That's my only explanation for why I have had to knit the set up row on Dev's sweater five times. Five times people. All because I seem to be incapable of counting to 10. The first couple of times, I'll admit, I had been on a plane for six hours knitting the entire time, so it's not that hard to imagine that my mental capacities were a bit diminished. But still...

I finally solved the problem by putting in stitch markers for every repeat and snapping at people not to bother me because I'M COUNTING! And voila, four rows into the chart and all seems to be going well.

I did manage to knit 85% of a cowl on the plane (thanks to The Hunger Games and Avengers Assemble). Now it needs the ends woven in and a good blocking.

Since I'm posting from my phone, I don't know where the photos will end up. I'll replace with better once I get to a computer. Hope everyone's holiday crafting is proceeding according to plan!

The state of the holiday knitting

When last I updated you, this was the state of my Christmas crafting list:

• One hat (already done) - still the case, but I've realized that I need to make the lining a bit longer, so that needs to happen.
• One scarf (weaving) - probably 6 inches from being done. This needs to happen tonight.
• A set of felted clogs (which will be delivered unfelted) - I pulled the yarn out of the attic, but this is plane/post-Christmas knitting (since they won't be delivered until later)
• Another cowl (already done) - I'm re-thinking this one, and I think I won't be gifting this particular cowl.
• Two kid-sized sweaters - One done and blocked (albeit with 3/4 length sleeves due to yarn shortage), second is done down to the underarms and I've designed/charted the stitch pattern for the hem. Hopefully to be done with the knitting before we get underway, but I'm not holding out for blocking.
• A Color Affection (done) - still done, and I'm hoping the gloves will be done to go with it by the post-Christmas events.

However, more things have been added to the list:

• A hat for Himself - after seeing the Copenhagen Hat, he decided it was pretty nice, and he'd like one, only less gnome-like. This hat is done, but only because I ripped out and reknit the sample hat to his more close-fitting specifications. It's blocked and waiting for a tassel, which I might hold off on until he tries it on, in case there need to be more modifications done.
• Spindles for the girls - I have the whorls, but now they need shafts and hooks (and balancing!). I was going to sew up little bags for them, but given the time crunch, I may just go to Devil's Favorite Store TM and get a couple of spindle-sized bags for them. I've already got piles of scraps from dyeing for them to play with...
• The Royal Alpaca cowl has been cast on, and is going to be the main airplane knitting - totally mindless and straightforward. Should be done by the time we land.

I keep catching myself thinking "Oh, maybe I could just cast on that and finish it off quickly..." but it's totally insane to even contemplate such a thing. Unless I'm also planning on giving up sleeping between now and Christmas. Not. Bloody. Likely.

Order quick

I'll be holding off on shipping out products for the next couple of weeks because of the holidays (and the fact that my children are now out of school!), so if you want any fluff to see you through to the New Year, order it before tomorrow night, and I'll get it in the post to you on Wednesday morning.

Happy holidays, and happy spinning to you all!

Rachel