According to Ravelry, the Knitter's Almanac has 19 patterns. Looking through the book, it is hard to say exactly what is a pattern and what is one of EZ's clever ideas in "pithy" form. Trying to conform to a standard, though, of counting as a pattern anything that has a bold-and-capitol-letters heading, I counted 25 patterns. I finished up the year with 25 projects (with one unfinished, and one on hold; though my projects don't exactly match up with the aforementioned defined patterns).
The Knitter's Almanac is a study-at-home course for knitters, in addition to a proto-knitblog (as I've mentioned before), including sweet little stories about Elizabeth's life and history, as well as anecdotes about her design process. There are many clever tips on techniques and best-practices.
I gained confidence with cables and steeking in January. February had lots of practical baby items, though I didn't feel like I learned anything new (others might find the foray into double knitting instructional, or if you haven't tried lace yet, the baby sweater is a perfect start). March was an exercise is endurance for me, it was not techincally difficult but it took a long time (I think this may have been my favorite project)! April scarred the Kitchener stitch into my brain forever. In May I learned more about two-color techniques, and to watch what I'm doing. June had lots of hats, and I learned yellow is not a good color for me (this was incidental, though, not really a part of the Almanac :). In July I learned a proper cast on for center-out shawls. The August projects were not particularly great, and I branched out to other pattern sources that month (thank you Knitty and Knitspot!). In September I re-learned the lesson from May... that while humans are symmetrical, you can't just knit two and expect them to fit. In October I found out that I am not as clever as I thought; October is the only project from The Almanac where I've declared a cease-fire. November had an innovative sock pattern, and maybe some day I'll knit #2. And December..., well, I didn't knit the December project. I thought the Wishbone sweater uncommonly ugly. I reworked the sweater a bit, as conceived as a sweater for my carboy. This project, is however on hold due to other knitting that demanded priority.
And with that, dear reader, I declare an end to my Blogger-blog. It's been fun, and more than a little annoying, but I'm through with Blogger. You may follow my continued knitting adventures on Ravelry, or on my family handcrafts blog (which was handcrafted by my husband :) [RSS feed]. If you noticed, the links in this post are to the posts on my other blog. But to warn you, there will be crafting from the whole family. I have a crafty mother, and mother-in-law, and historical handcrafts photos from my family. So if you are bored by pictures of old quilts and occasional children's artwork just stick to Ravelry.
