Best Laid Schemes

I was going to call it "best laid plans," but when I looked it up I was reminded that Robert Burns said "best laid schemes o' mice and men, Gang aft agley" in his "To a Mouse" poem instead of plans. We like to mix things up a lot, right?

Thanks for being patient with my leaving you with only my Monday favorites posts for the past couple of weeks while I've been working on TICSY things (Things I Can't Show You, that is!) While I'm not showing you things I can at least let you in on what to expect this year. I've been making plans...carefully. Not like I did at the end of last year when I had a relapse of Wonder Woman Syndrome and tried to do too much...and failed. No. I've had a whole month now to think, really think and imagine what will honestly be possible to get done instead of what I wish and hope would get done.

I've been using these pretty notebooks and journals and diaries to help me plan. I am an avid diary keeper, but more on that later. This particular stack is (from bottom) my design notebook (in which I try to take notes as I work on a design so as not to completely forget all those sniggy details), my journal (in which I write out my angers and sorrows instead of blurting them out to everyone...and occasionally make planning notes and sketches in the margins), my diary (see note to previous item), my sketchbook, and on top is my business weekly log. The last couple of months last year I wrote out a plan that took in several weeks at a time (like I did in grad school, which my mom referred to in her comment on a post I so bravely wrote about said faulty plan), but this year I am only writing large goals on one list and filling in one week at a time in accordance with those goals. Whew. Wish me luck. It's working better so far! 

Note to Mom: If you are reading, you may want to skip the next section. (It makes her weak in the knees when I frog my knits.)

One day last week I had a ripping session after getting honest with myself and needing to purge old hopes and dreams (in the form of half-knit designs that had no right to live). One of them was in this box, and had been for years--I have no idea how long. It was a cardigan featuring an unfortunate cable with seed stitch and the thing needed to vanish. I closed my eyes, focused on lovely thoughts, and let her rip! Another one tidily eradicated was a pullover that came out horribly misshapen and boxy, despite its stitch pattern being lovely. That stitch pattern will return in a different form, I assure you.

This is a knitting box that my dad made for me about 30 years ago. He dabbled in woodworking (between jobs) and if he'd been a happier man, he might have been able to continue. This is the only piece I still have from him, apart from a couple of turned wooden bowls of his making. He passed away a few years ago, mostly from unhappiness, so I like to imagine he's better now and glad I'm finally using the box again. I have to decide which project goes in it next.

Right now it only houses this little shell. Shell, you're gonna have to scram once the yarn comes along. You might snag it.

Okay, where was I? Oh, yeah. What to expect of me this year...

I am finishing up a charity design and then a commissioned design (the TICSY) and then I am jumping right into a baby dress design for Figheadh. That one will be another of my "pairing sock yarns" projects. Can't wait to show you!

Then, by golly, Figheadh is going to have a real shawlette design...I mean one with lace all over it. Yeah.

I also mean to make March crochet month around here, just as it has been declared National Crochet Month by CGOA. You will see some hooks flying in about a month from now. Maybe I'll design a crochet shawlette, too!

For the fall I plan to roll out at least one women's cabled sweater design for Figheadh (maybe two!), because as much as I enjoyed all those Fundamental cardigans and the Wanda Nell, I am hankering for some cables. Sound good?

Figheadh will also gain a couple of cabled earflap hats next fall. Yes, those are the ones I said would come out in January, but I decided to let them slide so I could jump on some warm weather designs (like the shawlettes and baby dress). They'll be worth the wait.

I hope to get a cabled blanket design released for Figheadh as well. Yes, it will be raining cables again!

I also plan to be able to release a few freelance designs as PDF downloads once the rights revert back to me. Stay tuned for those.

And you may be wondering about Junebug Days. Yes, of course, there will be Junebug Days. It will be completely different from last year's event, though, so also stay tuned for that.

Okay, that's just some of the fun in store. Between and around all of that, I will be doing the Monday posts, the WIP posts, the UFO posts, and all the other general nonsense.

Thank you so much for joining me!