It’s that time of year, to take stock of the year that has passed and think about what is wanted out of the new year.

Looking through my blog records, I found that of the projects documented, I completed 25 projects, in 2006 I completed 31 projects.

At first, I was a little disappointed that I didn’t complete more, especially in the way of sweaters. It seems I only completed one sweater, Ariann. But of course, there was the sweater debacle, which brought down my sweater total.

In case you want to see the run-down of knitting projects:

2 baby burp cloths
4 dish cloths
2 fingerless mitts
4 scarves (Fair Isle Jazz, Farrow Rib, Chevron and My So-Called Scarf)
2 tanks (Ballerina Camisole, Lacy Rib tank)
1 sweater (Ariann cardigan)
8 pairs of socks
1 hat (Rasta hat)
1 lace scarf/shawl(Diamond Fantasy Shawl)

Of course, this year I also went back to school to complete my bachelor’s, which cut down on knitting time on bigger projects too. Oh well, I’m not sweater it. It’s definitely not a race to compete against myself. And my productivity will probably drop again this year. I’m starting a Master’s program in Human Resource Development next week. Fun times, eh?

I also knit a whack of dishcloths and didn’t think that anyone wanted to see a bunch of them, as some are quite plain, but they were useful at home, and that was the main purpose.

Looking back on my 2007 knitting resolutions:

1)Knit more socks. The sock yarn stash (as well as other stash) has been thinned throughout the year, but more keeps joining in. My main focus is to continue to knit socks and mix it up with more patterned socks this year. Done, done and done! I knit 8 pairs of socks this year. Pretty good and I’m very happy. Of course, now my sock drawer is getting full, but I’m not complaining.

2) Knit more lace, which should not be a problem as I love it. Eh, not so much. I still love lace. But lace is not intuitive for me, so it goes slowly. I did complete Diamond Fantasy Shawl last year. However, this past year I also cast on for Juno Regina and Hanami, but as the weather gets colder, I’m less inclined to knit laceweight.

3)Learn more techniques, primarily short-rows. I did learn short-rows with Ballerina Camisole, but it can be perfect.

4)Focus on the structure of garments and really learn what looks best on me and not fall for every project which looks bad after. I feel I’m better in this department that I used to be, but sometimes still fall prey to this. Also, just working more on the fit of an item. Each time I knit a garment, I learn a bit more and that’s always a good thing. Hmm, not much to say here, still a work in progress.

5)Knit more from stash. It looks like this goal was 50/50. Not too bad, I think. The knit exclusively from your stash for 6 months didn’t work out at all.

5)Enjoy knitting, it’s not a race and just have fun. Shouldn’t be a problem there.

I decided to drop the knitting resolutions for 2008 as I am doing monthly goals instead.

I hope to be back soon with a finished object, or at least WIPs.

See you on the other side . . .

I managed to finish the second mitt of the pair of
Snow on Cedar Mitts. Now, if left to my own devices, I might not ever knit such a lacy design for fingerless mitts. However, I do love anne’s patterns. It was truly worth the extra effort.

Although I’ve purchased several of anne’s patterns, this was the first pattern I’ve knitted and completed and I’m very pleased. Her thoroughness in pattern writing is a boon to me. I also love that she uses charts and written directions for lace. While I can get through a chart, chart-reading is not intuitive to me, so if there are written directions, I tend to go for my crutch.

I love my mitts and can’t wait to wear them often. The longer length will be perfect at the office. Maybe now I will knit another pair or two of the other fingeless mitts patterns I’ve purchased from anne.

Project Specs: Snow on Cedar Mitts
Yarn used: Blackberry Ridge Silk Blend Lace Weight 75% wool/25% silk in color: Willow
Needle used: US 1 (2.25 mm) wood dpns
Proect length: mid-October to mid-December.
Mods: none, knit as written
This is a fairly quick knit. However, I test-knit the first mitt for anne. After I finished it, I just never went back to finish the second one. Once the weather got cooler and the office temperature dipped, I decided it would be easier to just finish the second one and I’d have new mitts. I love the longer length too.

I am working on my second January One Monkey sock, but I don’t know if I will have a pair before the year’s end though. If you don’t hear from me before then, Happy New Year!

Ok, I finally sucked it up and got some pictures of me modeling Ariann. My photographer was a bit unwilling, but I cajoled, wheedled, talked him into it.

After wearing Ariann a second time, I’ve decided the sweater is a “qualified” success. Yay! I adore the color. Everytime I see it, I fall in love a little more.

Project:
Ariann by the fabulous Bonne Marie
Yarn: Cascade 220 The Heathers, color #2450 5 1/4 skeins
Project length: end of August thru mid-December ‘07
Needle size: US 7 (4.5 mm) and US 6 (4 mm) needles
Mods: First, not really a mod, but a mistake. I knit the wrong size to wear as a cardigan. I knit my usual 40″ for a pullover, but whoopsie, Ariann is supposed to be a cardigan.

Second, when knitting the sleeves, I neglected to read the instructions that advise you to incorporate the increases into the lace pattern. Hmm, so it became a “design element” in my sleeves. I have the lace pattern, with a stockinette panel in the back. It works for me. And actually in the pictures, it’s not visible, but I’m happy with it. I embraced the mistake (heh-heh!)

Other than that, my buttonholes were all jacked up, but since they’re not really functional, since the cardigan is not large enough to actually be useful, it doesn’t really matter. I am not a fan of the open cardigan. I tend to like them buttoned up or tied shut, so it’s different, but I am getting used to it. I like the sweater too much to not wear it.

The sleeves are a bit too long, but once again, the fault of myself as I realized I knit it a bit long, but honestly, ripping back in the lace pattern just was not appealing to me. I knew I’d somehow lose my place and it would just be ugly.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I’m writing the post I hate to write, which is one without pictures. Sorry about that, but time has gotten away from me so much this past week, I wanted to go ahead and post while there’s still time.

Regarding Ariann, it’s a mixed bag, but I will get some pics up this week. I wore it on Friday and well, it’s not a qualified success, but it got done and that’s something?

Not much knitting has happened this past week. Mostly because I’m still trying to get my Christmas cards out. I haven’t been much in the mood for Christmas this year, but after shopping on Saturday, which wasn’t too terrible, I started to get into the spirit. Also a certain knitter’s holiday party hosted by Stacey this weekend, really helped to imbue the Christmas spirit this year.

I’m still working on the mate to Snow on Cedars and it is coming along. I”m on the gusset part, so it’s finally beginning to look like something.

Other than that, work on Ribby Pulli has been stalling, no real reason, but I’ve been kind of meh. Maybe because I wasn’t as thrilled as Ariann, I dunno. Ribby Pulli is to the armholes and now I have to cast on for the first sleeve, so that’s where it’s at.

I have yet to start my sister scarf, but I have thought about it, does that count? Yeah, not so much. But that will probably start in earnest in the New Year.

Now that we’ve entered the month of December, I want to get back to setting some goals for myself. I’m still trying to be gentle on myself. Even though it’s December, I have no Christmas knitting goals this year, which is a relief.

I think I can get a few finished objects this month. That’s because there’s been a lot of casting on for projects, which means something must come off the needles, right?

1. First goal is to finish the second Snow on Cedars Mitt. I finished the first one and the second has languished while I’d been focusing on Ariann. I think this project is definitely doable for the remainder of December.

2. I really would like to finish the second of my January One Monkeys too. I love this colorway and the yarn is so soft and squishy, it’s just wonderful to work on. Again, it was dropped during November and now it’s time to pick it back up again. Just the second sock to go and I think it’s doable too. I made the first sock with the Monkey pattern on the cuff and made the foot plain. Part of it was that I didn’t want to knit the pattern anymore, I was sorta unsure how well the patterned foot fits in with shoes. Secondly, since I have this love/want more/can’t control myself feeling with STR, I decided that I need to see how it looks knit up before buying more than my current two pair’s worth of socks. I was pretty pleased with how it pooled, so I would probably be ok with trying this yarn again.

3. Another venture in the sock world is a pair of socks for Mary Kay. This is part of the “I knit her a pair of socks, and then I get some of her beauteous yarn to knit myself another pair.” One might think that I still have to knit myself a pair of socks, but I look at it as another opportunity to knit with her fabulously dyed yarn. I love it and I’d be knitting socks anyway. In all honesty, I’d knit her a pair of socks, regardless of free yarn, so there you go. I’m starting to feel that I don’t mind knitting socks for a friend who would love and appreciate them, b/c I’m not overloaded with socks, but I really have lots. I counted in my sock drawer the other day and there are at least 16 pairs of handknit socks and I have enough yarn in my stash for 30 more pairs.

4. The last goal for this month, isn’t to finish a project, but to cast on and find a suitable pattern for this yarn. My sister called me last Friday to ask me if I would knit her another scarf. Of course, I have no qualms knitting her a new scarf. She lost the scarf I knit her about 5-6 years ago and I’m happy that she loved the last one so much that she wanted another one. The first scarf I knit for her was out of Avanti, a fingering or sport merino yarn that had a bit of grey mixed in with it and I combined it with another thin black yarn knit in double moss stitch. Well, my sister has requested another black scarf. Other than the fact that she wants another scarf, why does she hate me? Black yarn, so hard on the eyes, but oh well.

I’ve chosen some black Cascade 220. Thrilling huh? I’m going to search through Ravelry for some scarf patterns. If anyone has some suggestions for texture or stitch patterns in black yarn, I’m open. Because I’m using black yarn, I think some patterns would not show up as well, such as cables and I’m not sure if lace would show up well either. One thing I won’t be doing is more moss stitch. I’m not a fan of it and won’t do another whole scarf in it again.

For the month of November, I let the goals slide. I knew I was starting a new job and wasn’t sure what to expect in my first few weeks. It turned out the first couple of weeks were sitting with others for on-the-job training. However week 3 started out with all day training, so I’ve been pretty pooped.

In an email conversation, Margene suggested that my goal for November should be to focus on finishing Ariann. While I did work on other projects too, I did make that a priority. While I did not finish in the month of November, I am almost to the finish line.

I’m actually pretty relieved to be almost done. Anything that could go wrong, did.

The sewing on of buttons and blocking will commence tomorrow and hopefully a FO picture by the week’s end.

is a lovely concept. I’ve seen others that have done this or are doing it, but I’ve happened to comment on Lynne’s and didn’t realize I was signing up for Pay It Forward. Then Lynne announced on her blog that I was a recipient of her generosity!

I received a beautiful package and the most thoughtful card from her. I loved the cocoa and the day I received it was my first day at my new job, so it was a welcome package. As the days have gotten colder and morphed into fall/winter, cocoa is a perfect accompaniment to the changing weather. Tootsie Roll Pops, a package of White Chocolate Macadamia cookies (my fave) and a copy of Folk Knitting in Estonia rounded out the package.

Thanks so much Lynne for the lovely package. I really appreciate it. I’m sorry I didn’t acknowledge it sooner, as the transition to the new job is going well, but not leaving me much free time in the evenings.

Now, in order to pay it forward, (and the text is lifted from Norma’s blog b/c I couldn’t find it anywhere else, sorry Norma, but no hotlinking, see?!)

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days. That is my promise. The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

Thanks for playing!

It’s pretty hard for me to post without a picture. It feels a bit worse to post a recycled photo, but really Ariann is really all I’ve been working on. It is coming along slowly, but it ever boring to knit right now, with the super-long rows. I keep thinking that with all these decreases, it will get shorter eventually, it just doesn’t seem to be happening yet.

I’m really a bit bored with the sweater, but I know I will love the outcome, so I continue to slog on. Plus, I’ve also got Ribby Pulli (scoopneck version) on the needles and if I keep switching to knit on it, I will soon be at the point where I will have to cast on for sleeves. If I finish both sleeves, then I will be joining more stitches to the yoke and knitting and slogging through an unbearable amount of stitches again. Gee, does this sound familiar at all?

What I’m really looking to sink my teeth into next is the Gathered Pullover from the latest Interweave Knits. It also starts as knitted in the round, bottom-up and then split at the armholes. I really want to make this. The pattern calls for sport/dk weight yarn to be knit at a larger gauge for drape and fluidity. I know this is supposed to work, but really the sportweight yarn I have, I swatched up to size 8s and still didn’t have the right gauge, but the “openness” of the fabric was a bit too much for my liking. I’m just having a hard time believing this would work for the sweater and not be too open. I dunno. I’m thinking of just using a worsted yarn that would knit to this gauge and calling it good. Perhaps I would lack fluidity or drape, but I think I’d be ok with it as it.

The other issue with this sweater is minimal, but the sweater has rolled edges, which I don’t love. Those sweaters tend to roll up too much for my liking (gee, picky much, it seems). I can’t decide on an edging, seed stitch, ribbing, but it just dawned on me to preserve the style of the sweater that I like so much, to hem it instead. Hmm, there must really be something to writing things out, eh?

The job is going well, btw. Thanks to everyone for their well wishes. I’m really happy to receive them and will try to thank people personally in email. I just have access to my home email when I’ve left work and with the transition to a new job and work environment, I’m pretty tired when I get home.

You may have noticed that I didn’t put up a November goals post. There are a couple of reasons for it, some of it was because I felt I was too ambitious last month and part of it was because I knew starting a new job and didn’t know how that transition would affect my knitting projects. The first couple of nights, I was too mentally drained to even knit. But slowly I started picking up the needles and a few rounds here and there have happened.

I did finish the first Monkey socks. Haven’t cast on for the second sock, but plan on doing so shortly. I also cast on for a different sock (stockinette) in some of Mary Kay’s fabulous yarn. This is actually a pair of socks for her. The deal is I knit her a pair and then she gives me enough hand-dyed sock yarn for a pair of my own. Lovely deal, eh?

Well, that’s enough blathering from me for one post. Next up, a fabulous concept of Paying It Forward. Soon, I’ll be paying it forward to a couple few of my blog readers.

A pretty fall bouquet given to me by my sweetie, M, for my new job and promotion, with a bowl of ripe fruit

Ribby Pulli in repose, a beautiful fall sweater

Ariann, sleeves done, and fully joined, working the yoke, ready to become a cardigan

Fall, it is good.

Remember, those October knitting goals?

As I was telling Chris in email a few minutes ago, was that as soon as I posted my goals for the month, I almost immediately lost interest in my goals and cast on for a new sweater. Haha, so much for goals, huh?

But all was not lost. I’ve done pretty well, considering.

1)Finish the Farrow Rib Scarf. check

2. Finish the first of the Tofutsies socks for the shop sample. double check

3) Start a new pair socks. check

4) Get to the armholes of Ariann. done and one sleeve done too

5)Start the Corrugator scarf, erm, not so much. I was a bit scarfed out after the one for my BIL, but I will start soon.

6)Some test knitting for anne Oops, didn’t mention that one

7) Casting on for Ribby Pulli (scoop neck version) in Silky Wool

Overall,a great month for goals. Next, November’s goals.