Best laid plans...

Reviewing my UFOs yesterday didn't help as much as I thought it would. For one thing, I realized that I'm in an awful lot of knit-alongs right now. And I want to do them! I'm beginning to wonder if I can really do NaNoWriMo this year or not.

Here's my rationale for the moment, until I switch back to wanting to write. If I don't write after all, I could do some marvelous stuff. For example, I could swatch and start knitting Autumn Rose. Which I very much want to do.

And I am also in the Anne Knit-and-Read-Along. Someone on Ravelry noted that they're going to do a Philosopher's Wool sweater for the knitalong. Weeeeell. Philosopher's Wool is Canadian. Anne is Canadian. The pattern is traditional fair isle. 1907 is traditional (err, old). I have the kit for their Garden Patch sweater, and in fact I bought it at Sheep and Wool. Not last year... the year before. Oops.

So maybe I will have to reconsider my goals for November. Is it better to write a bad shoddy novel that will never be published anyways... or to knit two beautiful fair isle sweaters that I will be able to wear and enjoy for decades to come?

I swear, if these are the difficult decisions of my adult life I am a charmed woman. Good thing I have a few more weeks to decide one way or the other. I guess if I choose to knit, I could sign up for NaSweKniMo instead...but could I realistically knit an entire fair isle sweater in the month of November? I guess if the goal is 50,000 stitches, I could distribute that over both sweaters. Ponderponder.

Don't both of them beg to be knitted?

I don't just dream in color, I dream in fair isle. Don't you?

Oh, what an exciting Monday. I am not sure I can make this coherent, because it is all just too exciting.

First, I get quoted on DCist for my review of Firefly- the DC restaurant, not the TV series... though I do love both wholeheartedly. I love DCist because it tells me when and where to go, what I need to know about my fair city, etc. Also it hooks me up with events like seeing Jasper Fforde in person (so funny!) and on Friday, William frikkin Gibson! Cyberpunk FTW! That's assuming I don't check out one of the restaurants that has extended Restaurant Week, or head over to CityZen with a coworker for their astonishingly almost-inexpensive 3-course tasting meal- there are so many choices. I love DC!

I also love DCist because it brings random people to my blog, who are then exposed to knitting content. Hello, random people...

Right. That was a good start to a Monday. But then it got even better- some local knit ladies have started a knitalong for Eunny Jang's gorgeous sweater, Autumn Rose. It is a stunning fair isle sweater that, frankly, I have coveted since I first saw it on her blog. It isn't just fair isle. It's fair isle for a modern figure. It scoops, it flatters, it curves, it would look just as good on a busty thing like me as on a little waify girl... what I'm saying is that it is HOT. You can check out some photos in the Simply Shetland 4 book, at Simply Shetland. I really have to knit this sweater; it's just the perfect fair isle. So let's forget about that Philosopher's Wool beauty I have sitting balled up and ready to go. And that baby sweater that was going to be my first fair isle project. And the trillion projects I have going right now. I simply *must* knit and wear that sweater this winter.

That is perhaps a bit dramatic. But it would definitely give me more street cred in the office as an accomplished knitter! It's not just that the sweater is amazing- but I get to be part of this In Love With Autumn Rose knitalong! Since I should have my MS3 done very shortly, I'm feeling ready to get the yarn for this sucker and cast on, leaving my holiday gift knitting plans in its wake.

Now, we all know it won't happen that way. I'll manage to create a bunch of gifts. I will probably even compete in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) again this November. But somehow, I will manage to do this knitalong, and I will hopefully end up with a gorgeous Autumn Rose of my very own. I'm giving myself two weeks to finish MS3 and at least one gift, before I can buy the yarn. But then it will be September- what an excellent birthday gift for myself! Mm, yarn. Mm, sexy fair isle. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Oh, did I mention that I saw Casablanca on the National Mall tonight? A perfect evening, perfect weather, and a perfect movie, marred only by not knitting (I didn't want to fade the yarn in the sunlight). Let me say it again- I love DC.