knitting (!) my tea leaves cardigan

Updated to add: I just found out that one of my photos is featured on Your Tea Time today. Hop over there for a visit.

Week's end. Sigh.

I am so glad to have a couple of days of free time (ok, more like a few hours of free time, but I'll take what I can get). I've been watching Downton Abbey recently and in one episode the grandmother of the artistocratic family asks: "What's a weekend?" She can do as she pleases every day, so the end of the week holds no special significance.

But for me (and I'd venture to say most of you, too) weekends are everything. On the way to work this morning I realized how many ways I've already spent those free hours in my mind. I've thought of baking a cake, walking to the farmers' market, eating at my local Indian restaurant, watching more Downton Abbey, and knitting. Will I accomplish all of those things? Maybe not, but it sure is fun to think about.

One thing I will undoubtedly be doing this weekend is knitting. People, I'm obsessed. It's like when I first learned to crochet. I'd wake up every morning *so* excited that it was another day I could crochet. Well, now I want to spend every spare moment knitting. And all the other non-spare moments. I make deals with myself such as, "You can knit one more row and then you have to do your homework." But inevitably after that one row I give in and let myself purl a row, too. And then the next row is knitting, which is so fast that I convince myself I might as well do that row as well. Before I know it an hour has passed in this way of bargaining with myself and no homework has been done, though the cardigan is looking mighty pretty.

There is one thing that compels me to stop knitting (hint: it's not homework). I'll tell you on the condition that you don't laugh too hard about my knitting-nerd ways. My other recent obsession is reading about knitting. Oh gosh, I know, how dorky can I get? Well, the secret is out now so I may as well tell you all about it. I've been reading Knitting Without Tears during the daytime hours and The Knitter's Almanac before bed every night. Elizabeth Zimmermann seems like my own special knitting friend, and she makes me feel less awkward about my nerdiness because she also likes to talk about yarn and needles and stitches all day long. Plus, she's just a good writer. I love that she starts her almanac with a story about why she writes about knitting--her husband had listened to all of the knitting details that he could possibly handle and finally suggested she write a book. I read that part out loud to K because I knew he'd identify with EZ's "Old Man."

Reading EZ's almanac before bed means that knitting has most definitely crept into my dreams. A couple of nights ago I dreamed that I was knitting all night long. It was the best dream I've had since the one where I met Dolly Parton and knew that we were going to be best friends forever (I am letting out all my nerdy secrets today).

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Do you have any nerdy secrets you'd like to reveal here?

Come on, make me feel better about my obsessions.

If you're not a nerd (and I don't believe that for one minute, but I'll let it slide), you could just leave a comment about your weekend plans. I'm always looking for ideas of more things to cram into my free hours, though I think we all know that the only thing I'll be doing this weekend is working on my cardigan (and squeezing in a bit of homework so that the university will give me a degree come May).