Welcome 2012

Hello friends.  I hope you had a wonderful holiday and start of a new year!  Can you believe that it is 2012?  Seems like just yesterday we were celebrating a new millennium, and here we are twelve years later?  Boggles the mind.

We had a wonderful New Year here.  My husband took the first week of the year off from work so that we could spend some quality family time together.  This, coincidentally, is why I'm a bit tardy with the first swatch of the year...  Also I have been considering some new ideas/ rules for the new year.

The first change is that I am planning on only releasing one pattern a month. There will be an occasional 'bonus' swatch throughout the year, so there will be a couple of options for ya.  The swatch will be released in the middle of the month (on or around the 15th).  If you have a pattern or technique you'd like to learn, shoot me an email at yearofswatches@gmail.com or leave a comment below and I'll see what I can do! 

I will also be sharing our book club book for each month, posting info at the beginning of the month.  I get my info from Google Books, which is a neat book search tool (you can find synopsis, comments, ratings there) and will also share any author info I have.  There's a button to the right that will take you straight to the info for this month's book.  The full list for 2012 is up on the ''Book List" page.

I was also thinking about having a bonus knit-a-long during the summer months (perhaps starting around May) for a sampler stole/ scarf.  I would like you to vote on your preference in the poll to the right on whether you would rather knit a cable stole or a lace stole?  Voting will go on until the end of January.  What I'm thinking is I would release a section every couple of weeks and at the end of the summer you'll have a pretty sampler something.

Like always, the swatches will be written for worsted weight yarn using US 7 needles yielding a 10 by 10 inch square.  But feel free to substitute to your liking, just remember to be consistent with your yarn weight and needle choice throughout the year.  All of the swatches are on Ravelry, so please make a project page.  I love seeing what you've done :)  Check back in on the 15th for our first Square of 2012, and I look forward to a great year of knitting!

I found this on Lion Brand's website- check out their free ecards and printable cards!