I've made lots of progress, although the sweater isn't quite finished. Maybe by this weekend? We'll see.

I've begun knitting in the round with double pointed needles, which lets you knit things that are tubes, like socks or gloves. It's easier than I expected, honestly. It looks really complicated, and although it's a few too many needles to handle sometimes, it's a lot better than knitting everything in pieces and then sewing it up afterwards. I'm planning on making some fingerless gloves as a practical way to test this skill.

I don't really like the patterns I've found for gloves so far, and besides, following a pattern can get tedious sometimes. So I think I'll just try to do it without a pattern, which should be easy enough. It's just  some ribbing for the first few rows and then stockinette or whatever other kind of stitch I want for the rest of it. So far I've stuck pretty strictly to patterns while knitting, so I hope all goes well.

I've been neglecting crochet a little this week. I'm considering dropping that part of my project. I'm having more fun getting deeper into knitting than scraping the surface of crochet. All I've done with crochet so far is a practice swatch with a few different stitches and the beginnings of a little toy octopus. (Similar to Becca H's but smaller.) So unless I get a sudden burst of inspiration towards crochet, I'll be focusing more on knitting.

Sunday, I went to the library to find some books on knitting so I could work on the reading portion of the project. I found a really nice one called "Zen and the Art of Knitting", which is about how knitting is a meditative process. The author talked to lots of different people about their experiences with it. It's an interesting read. A good quote from the beginning was:

"If the finished piece were the sole aim, one would purchase a mass-produced garment at a local mall for a fraction of the cost and time required to make a sweater. The true joy comes from discovering the individual beauty of each segment, the feeling of accomplishment when completing a particularly difficult section, and the sense of challenge that lurks as you plan the next project."

I definitely feel that way while knitting. It's an exciting process, although it may not look that way to an outsider. It's an interesting challenge that's very different from the ones normally encountered in real life, and I enjoy it immensely.