Summer Knitting Goals

I don't think I can put this off any longer - it's time to see how I did with my Summer Knitting Goals. Enough snow to shovel is a pretty definitive sign that summer's over.

I'm not sure I did that well...but I'll start with the sock successes. I finished my Broadripple sock (for the Hurricane Sock Party) on May 24, Elizabeth's Sockday socks on June 16, the Braided Rice socks on June 29, the Fascine Braid socks on September 23, the Tofutsies socks on July 12, Heather's Sockday socks on September 15, Monkey socks on October 7, the Nile sock (from the Hurricane Sock Party) on December 3, and the Moccasin socks yesterday, December 4. (More about them later.)

So I'm 9 for 16 on the socks. .563 is a pretty good average, I think. Some of the remaining socks are long-time UFOs (Pomatomus, Bavarian Strolling socks, Bulgarian Rose socks, and the Cotton socks); a couple were started over the summer (the Sidewinders and my Traveling Socks), and I don't even have all the yarn for one (the Lucy Neatby socks) yet.

The record isn't so good on the non-sock knitting. I finished my Secret Pal gifts in May and the exchanges in June. I taught a needle felting class. But I'm afraid that's it.

No finished sweater....but I started another one. No finished shawl, but I started three, frogged one (soon to be two), and the dogs ate one. (This doesn't add up to zero - the Snowdrop Shawl is still in progress.) I started a charity knitting project, but haven't finished. The dog sweaters are still in progress (but it looks like they're moving up the priority list), I never wrote up the pattern for the matching socks, and I never dyed yarn, cast on the Fish of Prosperity bag, or learned to love Cascade Fixation. (I don't know how hard I'm going to work on that last one.) So that's 30% on the non-sock projects.

The track record on the non-knitting goals is somewhat harder to judge. I finished my Sunflower essay, submitted it, and should eventually get paid for it! I never read Foucault - but I replaced that project with a German History survey that was both more fun and probably better for me (so I don't know if that counts). My car runs, but I'd say it's a long way from "fixed." Aaron's back, but he's leaving again, and the apartment hasn't ever really been clean. So I don't think I'm going to try for a total there...some are eternally-active projects (organizing cabinets), while others should definitely be postponed for awhile (biking to work).

So maybe it's time for a less-ambitious list of Things to Do by Spring:

1. Christmas Socks
2. Finish the Dog Sweaters
3. Bavarian Strolling Socks
4. Sidewinders Socks
5. Bulgarian Rose Socks
6. Cotton Socks
7. Travelling Socks
8. Coriolis Socks
   
9. Charity knitting - a new project
10. Finish one sweater before it gets to warm to wear one
11. Amanda's sockday socks
12. Write up the "Walkies" pattern but, instead of trying to get it published, donate it to Ravelry
13. Start one other project that really excites me - probably either the Fish of Prosperity bag, or something from my new Andean Folk Knits book.

And for the non-fibery projects

1. Clean the apartment before the River Knits Secret Pal party
2. Put together a photo album from Oldenburg (so we can share at Christmas)
3. Finish moving everything from my dead computer to the new one
4. Find some way to do real volunteer work for the Barack Obama campaign
5. Make my car a little more winter-friendly...perhaps clean it out, glue the windshields into place, and seal the leaks around the sunroof. "Fix" is far too ambitious.

That's probably enough for now, especially since the list seems to grow.