13 Months of Spinnerly Inspiration

Introducing the 2011 Spin-Off Wall Calendar

Although the year is only half over, we've got our eyes on the future. For the past couple of months, we've been hard at work on our 2011 wall calendar, and we're very excited about how it turned out.

Our 2011 calendar features handspun yarn and swatches submitted by Spin-Off readers, and from cables to lace, this calendar is full of inspiration! Each swatch is accompanied by instructions, so you'll have thirteen months of knitting and crochet stitches to try. Like last year, we've included holidays of interest to spinners, such as Gandhi's birthday, and we added a whole host of dates of note (for instance, did you know that April 16 is St. Drogo's Day, honoring the patron saint of shepherds?). We've also included our usual list of spinning festivals supplied by our friends at the Spinning and Weaving Association (spinweave.org).

All in all, we feel that this year's calendar is a great entry into what we hope will become an annual tradition. We know there is so much material yet to be covered in our calendars (weavers, we've got our eye on you!), and we'd love to hear what themes you'd like to see in future years—leave us a comment with your thoughts!

Last year, Linda introduced our calendar and included a delicious zucchini bread recipe in her post. Well, it's not National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Front Porch Month until August, but according to the National Confectioner's Association, today is National Fudge Day! Here's a cheater's recipe for very easy fudge—just make sure you wash your hands before you head to the wheel :)

_Ingredients
_2 cups milk chocolate chips
2 1/2 cups prepared chocolate frosting
1 cup chopped walnuts

_Directions
_1. Line one 8 x 8 inch square pan with foil. Lightly butter the foil.
2. In a small saucepan, melt the chocolate chips over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove the melted chocolate from the heat and stir in the frosting and the nuts, stirring until smooth. Pour into the prepared pan and refrigerate until firm. Once firm cut in small squares.

—Stefanie