Success is such an empty word*

I’ve been inspired by Karen to start a monthly knitting To Do list.

I don’t know why I never did this before, because I love lists. And have been known to write things down that I have already accomplished for the sheer pleasure of crossing them off the list again (shout-out here to the inestimable Quinn for 'fessing up to this behavior first, making me realize yet again, that we were totally destined to be friends).

As if to reinforce the general rightness of this To Do list decision, my entire first class this semester focused on the goal-setting process. In theory, we were talking about goal-setting for user instruction module development, but really, I knew what we were actually saying was that SETTING KNITTING GOALS makes it easier to ACCOMPLISH KNITTING GOALS.

The true import of this decision was made all the more dramatic by the pile-driving they were doing in the adjoining parking lot during the first hour of class. The rhythmic pounding noise and throbbing floor gave the whole discussion a kind of Tell-Tale Heart-like visceral emotional immediacy.

So belatedly, this is my September To Knit list.

1. Second sock for TB

Current status: just past the gusset.



Likelihood of finishing: excellent. Although TB questioned whether I was capable of knitting this sock and watching Battlestar Galactica simultaneously Friday night, and I made the mistake of bragging that it's a stockinette sock and I could therefore actually knit it with my eyes closed.

Within an hour, I had done this:



I believe this is an excellent example of what's called "asking for it" in knitters' terms.

2. Second picot sock

Current status: in a time-out.



Likelihood of finishing. Good, if I can get past the hateful picot edging. I've already screwed this edging up four times. I’m not sure how it can be that 1) the first picot edging went so smoothly and quickly that I really thought it was a viable alternative to knitting ribbing, yet 2) the second picot edging could suck so colossally over and over and over again. Anyway, uh, this is a maybe.

3. Second Monkey

The second sock looks like this right now:



But mmmm…Monkey.

4. Fix sleeve on Wicked

Current status: in the initial flush of first sweater pride, I thought I would deviate from the pattern and knit a seed stitch cuff instead of the faux cable rib the pattern called for. I thought this looked quite nice until I realized that the whole point of ribs is that they pucker your sleeve closed so you don't have a gigantic cold air-sucking wind tunnel around your arms.

Likelihood of finishing: I've ripped it back. Now just need to reknit about ten rows of cuff.

This To Do List thing has the added advantage of providing fair warning that it’s going to be All Stockinette and Second Socks around here for the next few weeks. You've been warned.

* In an effort to integrate more librarian training into my "librarian-in-training" blog, I'm titling posts based on quotes from my class. This one courtesy of my User Instruction professor. I think what she meant was that goals should be specific and actionable. So "being a successful knitter" is not specific enough. Whereas "finishing the goddamned sock without splitting another DPN" is much better.