gifts and goals

This weekend was a good one for this knitter. While the truckload of J&S jumper weight I asked Santa for didn't arrive (perhaps because I'm a Jew, and heathen to boot), I did receive a spiffy LL Bean tote bag (perfect for WIP storage, and toting things to the knitting group), as well as Knitting Marvelous Mittens, which you can bet I've been drooling over since I removed the wrapping paper. I want to knit every pattern in that book. It will come as no surprise to those of you who know my knitting tastes that the mitten on the cover is one of my favorite patterns in the book. I'm also quite partial to a two-color mitten that is quite similar to that one (slated, in my head, to be knit for A.), and to the most fabulous pair of socks ever designed. (The book has a couple of hat and sock patterns, in addition to all the mittens.) I probably won't knit any of the mittens for a while, as I have a lot to keep my busy this winter. But I plan to knit some goodies for myself and A., in time for next winter. Believe me, if I had the yarn in my stash, I would have cast on for some mittens or socks last night.

My knitting plan for the next few months is to cast on for some Austrian stockings (more details when that happens, which will be soon), maybe start (or even finish) Ingeborg if the yarn arrives, then to knit the striped pullover along with the Sweaters From Camp knitalong. If my Ingeborg yarn doesn't arrive, I have some other things I can tinker on. I might make a hot water bottle cover (the thing gets super hot), and there's always that grey yarn to be re-knit into a sweater that actually fits A. properly.

Since it's the end of December, I will take part in ritualistic behavior, and put down in writing what I hope to accomplish in the coming year. I've kept my list realistic. It's certainly not complete, but for me I think these are the biggest goals, beyond the general "keep knitting interesting things".

• Knit at least one large scale lace shawl/stole. I've knit lace socks, and am working on a lace scarf, but I've never done a really large scale lace project. I'm thinking the Song of Hiawatha Stole is in my future, but it would also be nice to do a Faroese or triangular shawl, too.
  
• Make something that involves intarsia. I'm not committing to an actual garment, but I should at least play around with swatches. I'm an intarsia virgin. I know how to do it. I've read patterns. I've watched others do it. It just looks so fiddly for what you get, and I like the look of stranded patterns better. But I have got to at least do a swatch or two, just to say I did.
• Knit the Autumn Color Cardigan from Sweaters From Camp. (This will be post-knitalong, unless there are enough people who want to knit a second pattern, or who are still working on their first pattern. If all goes well, I'll knit it this spring or summer, for the fair.)
  
• I want to submit something to the Cheshire County Fair this summer. I think I'm going to force myself to submit something, even if the perfectionist in me will always see dozens of flaws in whatever I knit. If I'm really brave, I'll submit something in every category for which I have a finished project to submit.
  
• I want to design something. Not just tinker with an existing design, but really start with a blank piece of paper, and come up with it myself. Right now, I'm so inspired by my new mitten book that I want to design a sweater that is similar in terms of the type of colorwork involved. It's not out of the question that I'd take a motif from one of the mittens and use it for the sweater, though it will take enough tinkering to get it to work in a sweater that this won't be a huge time saver. (I know that there's already Russian Prime, but mine will be different. Also, it will be at a tighter gauge, and perhaps with more than two colors.) I'm not committing to staying with the idea to use this style of colorwork motif, but I think it will be colorwork. I'm also not committing to having a complete design by the end of the year. At the very least, I want there to have been many sheets of crumpled graph paper thrown into the wood stove, and maybe color samples ordered and swatches knit. It's about time I design something, and I want that thing to be a colorwork sweater.