A Bitter Knitter

We're now over a week into the new year.  I've been mulling over the past year and what I want to "resolve" to do this year, so here's my 2011 knitting goal: Complete at least 24 knit projects. That's an average of two a month.  (Last year, my first complete year as a knitter, I finished 20 projects of various sizes, so I think this goal is extremely reasonable, as I was also in school for half the year.) Among those projects I want to: Knit a project with beads. Knit a pair of mittens. Knit a pair of gloves. Knit a pair of toe-up socks. Among my list of things to knit "someday" are the following: Knit an afghan Knit with 100% silk Knit with cashmere Knit a drop stitch pattern Knit a pullover sweater Knit a cardigan with buttons Knit something that has steeks Knit something with entrelac Knit something intarsia I also want to learn how to knit Continental and how to knit and purl backwards.  If any of these happen this year, great...

I first tried knitting in 2002 or 2003.  I'm not sure which--I was sixteen or seventeen at the time.  I learned how to do a long-tail cast on and how to knit and purl.  As a result, I knitted a piece about eighteen inches wide and four inches tall in 2x2 rib.  And then the royal blue yarn and the aluminum size 9 needles sat abandoned in my closet.  And then I moved, and they sat abandoned in my new closet. Eleven months ago today, 22 September, I walked into the yarn store near my university and bought yarn and knitting needles.  I had seen a pattern online for a Hogwarts scarf and wanted to make one for my little sister for Christmas, so I purchased yellow and black yarn (Hufflepuff colours) and a size 7 circular needle and, with the help of YouTube and half a dozen knitting sites, I cast on again, some seven or eight years after I first attempted knitting, and began knitting again. Just knitting.  Solid knitting.  Solid stockinette...

I haven't blogged recently.  There's not much to blog about knitting when one is knitting multiple stealth projects.  I've added a new one... so in addition to   and  I have added: Isn't that just so exciting for you?  Yeah... that's all you get.  Sorry.  (Ravelry friends, however, can go see real pictures on my Rav page .  Everyone else has to wait.  Perks of being a knitter...  Family: please do not go making fake Ravelry profiles just to see the projects.  It defeats the purpose of them being stealth.) I've turned the heel on my second Joy in the Journey sock and am meandering my way down the foot.  (It's just not exciting to knit the same thing a second time.  Not that it's exactly the same thing--I did flip the pattern so it will be the reverse of the first one, but the concept is the same.)  And as it looks remarkably similar to the first one, I have no pictures for you at this present time.  Once I ...

It's been an absolutely crazy couple of weeks.  I finished all my classes & turned in papers (including one I especially loved writing which I titled "Knit Two Conceptual Domains Together" and which was about the use of metaphor in knitting) and then I GRADUATED!  That's right.  I now (or rather will, once final grades are posted,) have a B.A.! Here are pics from graduation.  These were taken by my sister & friends.  I'm shiny!  (You know what the reason is for having tassels that hang down the sides of your face?  Distraction!  Something to play with during graduation (such as while the student speaker sites "dictionary.com" as a reference *serious eye rolling*)!  The cords were fun to play with, too...  but I digress... What can I say?  I'm distracted by shiny objects...) Sorry, photo vanished. Sorry, photo vanished. I graduated "cum laude" but I'm hoping that my final grades will nudge up my GPA so that my dip...