Hat!

I finished a thing! It's the first project that I have made in 2011 in its entirety.

Don't mind me, I just look like a total dork in these photos. But I just took a couple quick snapshots to show my dad and stepmom, who were the ones who actually bought me the yarn. (We communicate mostly through emails and the occasional phone call, so I was concerned that he would not be able to open the attachments. I think Ellie helped. Dad was suitably impressed with the knitting. :D )
I realize that you can't see the dark red particularly well against my black sweater, but the high was like.. -a billion that day, so I was chilled. I might take better pictures later.

..In fact, I might reknit the whole thing. :| I want it to be at a slightly tighter gauge than the pattern recommended, and I want it to be a little longer before the decreases. (That's my fault though. When the pattern says knit for 5 inches before decreasing, do it.)

I am, though, knitting one for John, who was very excited about it. So we went to my LYS and he picked out some blue alpaca grande with sparkles (hee!) and I will cast that on as soon as I am not too lazy to actually gauge swatch. He apparently made a positive (and adorable) impression on the people working there, as well. :D

Organizing

I made an attempt at organizing things today. I pulled out my big yarn bin, put about a dozen half-balls of yarn into the scrapghan bag, and I put a few other bits of fingering weight yarn into a bag to make into a little shawl that will change colors as it goes! I'm excited for that, it'll be pretty. Then on top of that, I made a little list of various skeins of yarn I have and what I want to use them for, and I got together a small bag for yarn that I want to donate or give away or something.

I have cast on my first sock, as well. I don't have a photo yet because I am too lazy to get my camera and all of its bits together, and my iPod has a hard time connecting to the internets at home. It is a wonderful teal blue color. Rather than knit in rib for 8 inches, I did rib for ten rows (because I hate rib) and then I will just do stockinette until the thing is 6 inches. I am nervous about the idea of turning the heal.

I am on the second of three lace repeats for my Traveling Woman shawl. It is getting stupid wide, though. But, after looking at that blocking thread I found on Ravelry the other day, I am super excited to finish and block it because it will be super pretty.

My plan for the day is basically to watch movies on Netflix (though I think I've watched all of the dinosaur docs.. :< ) and try to work on my scrapghan, which has been sadly neglected recently.

Happy New Year!

Hello! How was your New Year celebration? I had a lot of fun with my friends. :)


I counted today, and I have seven WIP's, and I'm getting ready to cast on an 8th. I know I should finish them, but it's just so difficult. Does anyone else have that kind of issue? I love casting on and starting projects, but then I kind of tucker out about halfway through. Then I start making up excuses... "Well, it's a scarf, so it's a lot of knitting... ""Well, I'm improvising that design so it's okay..." "Well, I'm using size 1's on that, it's okay that it's not done..." Gah. It's terrible.


Anyway, I made some resolutions, and some fake resolutions! Here are the real, fiber-related ones first: 
-Finish at least one project a month (even if I don’t start one a month…) 
-Finish at least 90% of my 2010 UFO’s.
-Organize all of the yarn and the yarn area. 
-Make at least one thing in several categories that I have not done yet: socks, sweater, lace, felting, bag… 
-Learn to spin (I’ve got everything, I just need someone to teach me!) 
-Knit socks both toe-up and top-down to see which I like better. 
-Knit/crochet every day I can, even if it’s just a couple of stitches. 
-Kit up as many yarns and patterns as I can.


Wow, that's actually a more substantial list than I meant to make...


Also, I'm making some "fake" resolutions. I'm taking part (again) in Mission 101, or 101 in 1,001. Basically, you think up 101 different clear, measurable goals and you then have 1,001 days to complete them all. I won't bore you with the whole thing, but I do have a few knitting related ones...

-Do/attempt self-imposed-sock-of-the-month-club

-Knit/crochet 10 things for someone else

-Knit/crochet 10 things for myself

-Knit/crochet 100 projects to completion

-Knit at least half of an afghan

-At least start the World Map afghan

-Reduce my yarn stash by 50%, at least

-Have a plan for the remaining 50%, even if it’s just “scrapghan” or “trade/gift”

-Knit a sweater

So that's that! I hope you all have a good year!