The Itinerant Knitter

So yesterday, I finally got around to deciding on what my New Year's resolution is going to be.  Clearly, I don't believe in rushing these things as it's now February.  Sure the losing weight thing is there, but that's an annual renewal of sorts, so it doesn't really count as a resolution in the new year if it's just being carried over from last year, right?

For those of you who have read my blog before, it's probably rather obvious that I love to travel.  Probably rather obvious that I love my Indiana Hoosiers, too, and that I occasionally like to dabble in politics.  While I haven't written too much about it here, I also love to knit and never go anywhere without at least one or two (or often three) knitting projects within reach.  When I'm deciding what to write here, I usually have some needles and yarn in my hands to keep me busy since I'm lousy at not being fidgety.

When I knit, I like to knit two things in particular: lace and socks.  Sure I knit other things - like sweaters for other people, hats, cowls, wall hangings, etc.  But I mostly knit socks and lace projects.  Sometimes I knit socks with a lace pattern on them, but thanks to access to wonderful books and a desire to knit something potentially complicated and challenging, lace usually wins out.  Of course, as any knitter knows, it takes a heck of a lot less time to knit a small project than it does to knit a huge lace shawl, so the smaller projects often win out.  The former can be done watching a good football or basketball game on TV.  The latter requires actual concentration that jumping up and down while my Hoosiers defeat #1 and #2 ranked teams simply doesn't allow.

With knitting, I've also begun to dabble in designing.  I'll admit, I'm horrible at making fitted garments, so I don't touch those, but with lace - and no true need to stick to a particular gauge - I like to make up my own stuff, such as this stole, the design for which was borrowed from a kilim I saw while in Istanbul.

Istanbul Stole - Ravelry pattern link

Or even with other projects, such as this pair of fingerless mitts that actually keep your wrist warm, I tend to create my own pattern if I can't find another pattern that I like.  Thus far, I've published everything on Ravelry which is amazingly knitter and designer-friendly.

Buckeye Braided Fingerless Mitts - Ravelry pattern link

The last year or two, I've been toying around with the idea of writing a book.  I love to travel.  I love to knit.  I love to knit while traveling.  Heck - I almost knit an entire sock on the flight back from Madrid a couple of weeks ago.  Why not combine my two loves into one big project?  Why not create a collection of designs inspired by the places I've traveled?  After my recent trip to Spain and Morocco, I certainly have plenty of inspiration and am already working on my third design from the Alhambra alone!

Since I didn't already have anything more than just a recycled "lose weight" New Year's resolution, I've decided to make this project my slightly-belated resolution.  Maybe it can be a "before my next birthday" goal since I just turned (cough) 29 (cough) again last week.  That would give me an extra month, anyway.  I already have it all outlined with a whole list of possible designs, though last month's trip to Iberia and Northern Africa would probably yield enough ideas for a stand-alone book.  So much beauty there.

I already have an appropriate name picked out:  The Itinerant Knitter.   It's under that name that I already publish my patterns despite the fact that my Ravelry ID is "DizzySpinster," a name borrowed from my time in the Peachtree Handspinners Guild in Atlanta - a fabulous group of ladies who originally taught me how to knit back in 1999.

My goal is this:  Organize the book, getting the written parts done and have most if not all of my projects knit up for pictures so that it's ready to be submitted for publication - all by this time next year. 

Hopefully while all this is going on, I'll find a publisher willing to take a chance on a new author / designer.  My hope on the book as well is for it to be appealing to knitters and non-knitters alike since I plan to write about the various places I've visited.  Maybe it'll turn out to be a lovely coffee table book...that just happens to be used by knitters all.

So there you have it: My (slightly belated) New Year's Resolution.

I'm really looking forward to this!