New Year, New Projects

Well, '06 wound down nicely, capped off with a delightful supper with friends at the amazing Invite restaurant and bar in Bigfork. A 5 course meal, with different wine pairings each course - just the right combinations of flavors in just the right amounts. Didn't end the meal ovesuffed or over-imbibed at all. Just pleasant.

'07 opened equally beautifully. My Pilot and I slept late (til around 8am or so), then had blueberry pancakes and sausage. Bathed, dressed, and then just stayed home. It was the first day off together we've had in abotu 6 months or so, not counting the 5 days we took to see my grandson after he was born in October. And it was the first day off for both of us on which we did no errands, didn't get into the car and go anywhere at all. It was simply heaven.

I knit, of course. Finished a pair of Knucks for my dear friend Colette. Swatched for My Pilot's Branching Aran from Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature. Milled about. Cast on a pair of Trekking socks, toe up, for My Pilot. Sat on the sofa. Petted the kitties, wild and otherwise. Simply the perfect day.

For this year, I've got a series of projects already lined up - Rowan's Aelf from Magazine 40, in a beautiful terracotta rose shade of GGH Bel Air from the stash. (This is one lovely yarn - soft and lofty, a single ply, a joy to knit, the stitches look so smooth and even, with still a touch of rustic style.) A pair of shooting socks for Colette's husband, Corey. A few squirrels for my grandson and my niece. And about every other new pattern that comes out.

But my main project, my "epic" project, will be My Pilots aran sweater. SO much searching went into finding just the right pattern. Some were too busy, most were turtlenecks. Almost all were written for worsted or heavier. And My Pilot is one hot guy - literally. He needs lighter weight sweaters, less wool, more cotton and silk. So the Branching Aran pattern is pretty perfect in every way.

I had already obtained a suitable (I thought) quantity of Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool in color 40, a medium golden khaki. It is considered a DK weight, and the sweater pattern called for Wendy Guernsey 5-ply, a fingering weight 100% wool. I was pretty sure I could get the required 29 sts/4" gauge on ribbing and 28 sts/4" gauge over the cable pattern. I swatched and kept feeling like the Silky Wool wasn't giving me the density of stitch I wanted - even the ribbing, knit at 7.5 stitches per inch on size 2 US needles seemed sort of open and floppy and uneven. I swatched some more. Did some math, finally determined that I'd be about a single skein short for the sweater, and moved on to swatching some Elsebeth Silky Tweed instead. Even though it is described as knitting at the same gauge as the Silky Wool, it's a multiplied yarn and seems less tightly bound than the Silky Wool, so takes up a little more space. I had DH look over the available colors on Webs, and he chose a beautiful light grey shade, which I think will be gorgeous on him. And the finished item will be much nicer, too. Now I'm just waiting on some size 4 bamboo circs for the cabling, since my Denises on size 5 were just a bit too large.

So far this year, I've learned some new things - Tubular Caston, courtesy of Anna Bell's wonderful tutorial; Norwegian Purl, since it was mentioned on a Knitty Board; that I DON'T like Addi Turbos (even the size 1, which was millimeterly equivalent to about the size 2 bamboos I have, gave me a very loose and sloppy and unpleasant and unhappy looking 1x1 rib - I'll try them on something else later); how to read a cable chart (my secret - color coding the sections so I have somethng other than a symbol completely unrelated to anything in my lexicon to guide my actions). Probably a few other things too. I'm making it my knitting goal to incorporate more unusual techniques in my knitting in an effort to elevate the finished items. Plus it's sort of cool to be in a knitting group or class and start to knit backward when working short rows, or do the Norwegian Purl thing and amaze people.

My friend Diane will begin her first pair of socks this winter - we'll get together next week to begin. I gave her a beautiful skein of Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Alpine, a blend of deep teals, blues, purples and honey. Really beautiful. And she's going to work that into something delicious for herself.

Spreading the knitting bug whenever I can.

On the tango front My Pilot and I will be in Spokane at the end of the month for a tango workshop - our first ever. I'm really looking forward to it, and hope he'll be ok. He is a very fine dancer, and I love nothing more than the feeling of his hand holding mine, his arm wrapped around my waist, his cheek pressed firmly against mine, as he swirls me around a dance floor. But I know he's only learning tango because I want it. What a tremendous gift he gives me with every single dance!

Last summer we had a kid named Jake working for us at the hotdog stand. Every morning Jake would come into the shop, every morning My Pilot would ask Jake how he thought the day would go. And every morning Jake would answer with the utmost enthusiasm, "I have a good feeling about today!!"

We adopted that tactic ourselves - and on the mornings we remember to set the intention by saying (with utmost enthusiasm), "I have a good feeling about today!", we would in fact have a tremendously good day, in so many ways.

I have a good feeling about this year!!

ps - Pics to come, sometime. Of something. Of everything! So much went out of here unphotographed it's not even funny. I want to do better this year!