Almost Mitts

I started the second mitt (Susie's Reading Mitts) yesterday and made it to the top turning row by bedtime last night. With another 30 minutes of knitting time, I should be able to finish the hem and sew it down and weave in ends. Then it's just a matter of finishing thumbs and I'll have finished mitts.

Once I have these done, I want to really get going on Coraline and Metro. I think I'm closer to finishing Coraline than I am Metro, but I'm thinking I'd really rather have only one cardigan on the needles at a time right now. When I was doing a Featherweight Cardigan, I was using that as my Drag-Around-And-Knit-In-Public project, but neither Coraline or Metro really fit that category well. Having two cardigans and a portable project (and a pattern I'm supposed to be finishing up), plus the Babette (forgot about that one, didn't you? Me too.), is a little much to be working on all at once.

I've decided to do something new next year, although I really can't take credit for the idea. If you read the Yarn Harlot, you know she made herself a Self Imposed Sock Club this year. Basically, she went stash diving and picked a dozen yarns and a dozen patterns, bagged them all up and once a month, she grabs a bag and knits what's in it. Well, I've always been interested in a sock club, but I know I'm not going to love every pattern and every yarn that comes to me if I join a "real" sock club. Also, I already have a decent (or indecent, depending on how you look at things) sock yarn stash and really don't need a new skein showing up on the doorstep once a month. When I started thinking about the Harlot's plan, I realized it was pure genius. About the same time, I found Romi's eBook Seven Small Shawls (if you buy it as the eBook, you get three bonus patterns that won't be sold separately later). She has already designed three of the seven shawls and one of the bonus patterns. The shawls are all intended to use about 100 grams of fingering weight yarn (that's how much you need for a pair of socks also). Here was another way to burn through some sock yarn! Since it's a Self Imposed Sock Club, it doesn't have to be a sock club at all. It could be a Self Imposed Sock and Shawl Club! Then I mentioned the idea to Mom and she was interested in doing the same thing (but with her stash and with her pattern choices) but didn't think she could do one project a month. Well, since the whole thing is our own choice, I didn't see any reason she couldn't pick out six projects and start one every other month - I mean it's self imposed after all, we can make up our own rules, right? So she's going to join me on this in January and I'll be blogging her finished projects also. I think that once I get some of my current WIP's finished up, I'll go start sorting through sock yarn and patterns and start organizing my little Self Imposed Sock and Shawl Club. Then maybe I'll forget about some of what's in it before January and it will be a little surprise each month when I grab a project. (Yes, I have a short enough memory/attention span that I can surprise myself with stuff I have already. Don't judge.)