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!

Quiet on the Homefront

I know I've been quiet the last couple of weeks. Well, it really doesn't have anything to do with Indiana's recent losses to Minnesota and Ohio State. Sigh. I've just been busy. Of course, I've been busy at work as well as with planning a trip to Spain and Morocco! I've never been to either so this trip will add two new countries to my list. I love going someplace new. With a few of my friends, I'll be able to see new places, meet new and exciting people and try out lots of new foods. In addition, I'll have an opportunity to see just how rusty my haggling abilities have become! In Spain, we're going to visit Madrid and Toledo (the original). Plus, I'll spend a couple of days at Grenada to see the Alhambra. So cool!

In Morocco, we are going to spend a few days in Marrakesh, staying not too far off Jemaa al Fna, the main square. I'm so very much looking forward to returning to Northern Africa. Though a world away, I had the good fortune of visiting Egypt while living in Bulgaria. What a wondrous and enchanting place it was. So easy to fall in love with the region when you have places such as Turkey and Egypt, the two countries there I've seen. Morocco will be different. One - it has couscous. Enough said. All joking aside, though one should never really joke about couscous, I have wanted to go to Morocco ever since I was 16 years old and visited Epcot Center for the first time. I fell in love with the country even then and am now so incredibly excited to finally be able to see it with my own eyes. I will probably cry when I get there. Wow!

While I won't be able to post pictures during my trip, I promise that I will definitely share them with you upon my return! I also hope you'll please forgive the temporary lack of decent formatting as I can only control so much while typing this on my phone!!

Until then, now that they're calling my flight to Madrid, I wish you all the best. Safe travels, friends!