Happy Knitting New Year

This post is going to be knitter ramblings, so if you aren't one of my knitter friends, just go back to getting ready for the bowling party (you know who you are) and you won't notice how much of a one track mind I have.

Okay, now, I must say that knitting resolutions are great. No real fear of failure, since even if you don't do what you planned, you do something else which is usually just as good, so NO STRESS! Plus, other than a little Christmas present stress, knitting is usually relaxing. Right?

I joined the 10 shawls in 2010 group on Ravelry. And joined a few (ahem, we won't count how many) Ravelympics teams. So I have stuff planned. I am getting the feeling this will be the year of lace. I'm not supposed to start until tomorrow, but swatching is okay, so I started a little swatch (or point of the shawl shh, don't tell) of one of the starting projects, the Valentine Shawl, made from Hana silk that I got a long time ago at Artfibers in SF.

I have a lovely stash of laceweight, and it is begging me to use it, so I will try to just knit from my stash whenever possible. The only glaring exception to this will be Stitches, and I plan on being very PICKY with purchases. One thing experience brings you is the ability to not get so caught up in the moment with impulse buys. Especially when you have a few past purchases still hanging around.

I have printed most of the potential patterns for what I want to make and stuck them in one binder, so I am organized and ready to go. I need to spend a little time with my new ball winder I got for Christmas, but other than that I'm at the starting gate ready for the ball to drop.

Happy Knitter New Year!

Merry Christmas Knitting!

Merry Christmas to all my knitting friends and other friends who happen by my little sporadic blog. It seems that ravelry and facebook occupy too much of my time already, so my little blog gets neglected.

I have finished my Christmas knitting - knitting I have been working on since around October. I have been saving up the photos, so, are ya ready?

First up, Carey. She got a set of fingerless mitts and a neck warmer in Malabrigo. This is a unique colorway (fancy term for end of the bucket) that I fell in love with at Imagiknit a few months ago. The pattern is Vancouver Fog Mitts.

The neckwarmer pattern is Celtic Cable Neckwarmer and this is the second one I have made. Great pattern.

Next up is Jean. Jean is getting(or will be soon if the USPS is late) the Laurel hat I made and entered into the fair. To go with, I made some simple mitts in the same yarn. Yarn: Vintage Wool by Berocco.



Then we have Mom - she got the Damson shawl in Cascade Heritage sock yarn. As you may recall, Tracy got the same shawl for her birthday, and I ran out of yarn at the exact same place (even though I went down a needle size). Fortunately, Janice had a skein of the same yarn and I twisted her arm, and now Mom has enough left over to make herself some little socks. She likes 'em short anyway.

My mother-in-law requested bed socks, so I made dk weight socks from Sublime Merino with Angora cuffs. They are so soft, and she has been warned not to slip. She swears she will only wear them while actually IN bed.

My sister-in-law received the Raspberry Silk scarf I made earlier this year,
and Maurice's relative Nelly (WAY too complicated to explain how they are related) is visiting from New York, so she didn't escape the yarny gifting. I started her a little keyhole neckwarmer scarf made from stash yarn that was just waiting for the right moment to be used. It took around 24 hours to make, and was done on Christmas Eve, and given to her on Christmas Day. I liked it and may make another one sometime.

Happy New Year to all!!