I'm knitting a shawl!

And a sweater. And a scarf. And a blanket. And oh yea, let' not forget those three pairs of socks. What a shawl? a scarf? a blanket? You say? Those weren't on the list of things to finish before starting something new. Yes, I'm coming clean. I had a bit of startitis last week. What was the cause you may ask? After all, I was doing so well, finish a sweater, finish a sock. The cause, was the downfall of knitters and fiber heads everywhere. RHINEBECK.

I had a fabulous time at Rhinebeck, this was my first time and now I know what all the fuss is about. Oh boy, is it worth the fuss. Yarn, beads, yarn. It was like craft heaven. My purchases were pretty restrained, a couple of skeins of socks that rock, (I'm a STR virgin so I'm pretty excited about that), some good basic worsted weight wool at a price I couldn't resist (enough to make a sweater for hub and enough to make a sweater for me), and two skeins of sock yarn from Oak Grove Studio, and the pattern to make a scarf they had on display and I just fell in love with.

But, the real fabulousness of Rhinebeck was spending time with my mom. We went just me an her it was really nice. My mom and I haven't spent alot of time just me and her in a while, not really sisnce we made my wedding dress together, which was a whole three years ago now. It's not that we don't spend time together, it's just been all family time, and it was nice. We talked alot and had a great time.

But ironically, I haven't starting knitting on any of the Rhinebeck projects. While we were there, we were admiring a lot of shawls and mom expressed interest in having one. I have been thinking about knitting one, but I don't think I'm an elegant enough lady to wear a shawl. But, mom, she's classy and quite elegant, a totally shawl like gal. So I kind of became a little obsessed with the shawl thing. We didn't find the right yarn/pattern combo while we were there, but we did see one that she liked. So I did some digging, and the yarn was $85 a skein! Mom, don't have a heart attack, while you are worth it, my lace knitting skills are worthy of that fancy yarn quite yet. Then I came across a new pattern from the same designer, available in a preorder kit for a reasonable price and it's beautiful. So I "preordered" it, without really paying attention to when it would arrive. In my head it was a far off time. Like last Monday when it was on my porch. But I'm so excited about this project I had to cast on. So why, am I telling you this, knowing that mom is a regular reader and the surprise is spoiled. Well a couple of reasons. 1) I'm really excited about the project and can't keep it in. 2) Mom already know that I'm not doing Christmas knitting this year and since her b-day is xmas eve, that means no birthday knitting either. 3) This is a long term project, we'll all have forgotten it, remembered it, and forgotten it again by the time it's done. 4) My mom is cool and deserves a shawl and some non event based knitting.

So there you go, I'm knitting a shawl.

In other worlds, if you are a blog reader of any kind, you must be aware that we all have decided that november is the month to get things done. Renee is participating in an altered (read normal persons) version of the novel writing thing. Many knitters are knitting a sweater. And many bloggers are committing to blogging every day this month. Well, I've never been much of a joiner, and I have no illusions of my own abilities. My secret desires to write a novel are definitely not planning to manifest anytime soon (I'm reserving that for my mid-life crisis), I cannot knit fast enough to knit an entire sweater in a month, and my life is definitely not interesting enough to blog about something everyday. So I've decided to put my own November goals at reachable, feel good levels. One personal and one professional:

I will finish my sunrise circle jacket by Thanksgiving
I will write and submit a single journal article by the end of the month.