Update on New Year Res list

1. Jo Sharp gansey: half a sleeve to go.

2. GAAA afghan: still have the same 3 inches done. Still love it and want to work on it, though.

3. Fair Isle mitten: haven't touched it; still in love with it.

4. Uru aran pullover: haven't touched it. Don't like it. It is coming out too big (despite the fact I designed it myself). It feels hard and too dense. I wish I had used a different yarn to make it. It is not too late to unravel it and start afresh with a gentler yarn. When I pick it up again to work on it more seriously, I'll have to make the big decision: forge ahead, or unravel?

5. Plain Jane crewneck: it is truly awful. Awful color, awful hand, awful design, awful awful awful. It has become a permanent UFO and will definitely be unraveled. The yarn will be given away to Victoria, who actually lived for a while in Romania and is intrigued by the fact that the yarn is from the Carpathian mountains. I will give it to her gladly and will not care if she, in turn, throws it all away.

6. I somehow forgot to add in the following items:

6a. a Hanne Falkenberg "Pagode" jacket, three-fourths done, gorgeous, and I need to finish it so I can wear it to the SPA in Portland Feb. 20 - 22. I've been working on it on Wednesday nights during knitting circle. It's just garter stitch, deceptively simple but with a clever design and pretty colors.

6b. a Seacolors (Nanny Kennedy) gansey, which I have been falling in and out of love with for a couple of years. I currently like it and will probably finish it this year.

6c. a yellow cardigan in a sport weight merino/silk/cashmere yarn, with diamond cables and a pretty smocking stitch, cover of Interweave Knits last spring, I think. I don't remember how much is done on it, but I think the back is done and one and a half fronts as well. I put it aside to do something else, and I had also gotten discouraged with the size, I think it will be too small. But with any luck and with some heavy handed blocking I think it may fit ok after all. If I ever finish it. I still love it and want to work on it. Hopefully it will be done this year.

7. There are a variety of hats, scarves, dolls, socks, etc. that are all in various stages of development.

I was comparing last year to this year as far as finished objects went. Last year at this time I had completed, remembering off the top of my head, a pair of kids' mittens, and child's hat, and a pair of socks And probably more. So far this year I have completed: NOTHING. Nothing at all. Not one item yet. And January is nearly over. I think my knitting is slowing down considerably.

One armed bandit

So, I've made a little progress on the brown gansey. So far the back is done, the front is done, and one sleeve is done. I've sewn the shoulders, sewn in the one sleeve, and sewn the underarm and side sleeves. I knit the neck. I wove in all the ends. The sweater is virtually done, except for the missing sleeve. Which, I am glad to say, I have about 6 inches done on. It shouldn't be long now!

Then I can knit the dog-fur hat for my friend (after I design it). But it will force me to design a hat for the knitting cruise. So far for the knitting cruise, I have new patterns for a gloves, a Christmas stocking, and a couple scarves. All of which I must knit samples of. The scarves are at least partially knit; the gloves I knit already and gave away at Christmas; the Xmas stocking I knit already and gave away, but at least I have pictures of it, so if I didn't get another one knit, I could at least use the pictures.

Besides these models for the knitting cruise, which can then become Christmas gifts, I also want to finish the Hanne Falkenberg Pagode cardigan, the yellow cardigan from Interweave Knits, and the Seacolors gansey. I also have a couple pairs of socks to work on. And then there's the afghans for my great niece, my sister, and my sister in law. And the Uru aran sweater I designed. Hey, that's another pattern I have ready for the cruise that I forgot all about. Good thing I'm writing this all down. :)

I've been bad lately, I've been drop spindling some hand dyed wool/mohair in crayon bright colors. It is making tiny little skeins, very pretty ones, and they are horrendously scratchy feeling. Hopefully they'll be nicer to hand when I set the twist and soak them in some warm water.

It would be nice if I could finish the brown gansey before TNNA next weekend. That can be my goal.

Guess I'd better go knit, then.

Mme Glitchbane's Project Time Estimator

If I were really organized I suppose I would use this thing:

Mme Glitchbane's Project Time Estimator

It's pretty clever, anyhow!

New Year's Res

Woohoo, another new year, and I'm still alive. This year I am going to keep track of all my knitting, so I can feel even more tired at the end of the year, looking back at what I've done.

heh

Okay, so what's cooking on the needles Right Now? Good question. Let's see if I can remember them all. This could take a while.

1. A gansey for my sister-in-law -- supposed to have been a Christmas gift. Probably won't be done til Valentine's Day. The pattern is from a Cleckheaton booklet, and I'm knitting it in Jo Sharp DK in a brown color called "owl" (and it is a very wise-looking shade, I must say). The back is done and the front will be done in about 48 rows.

2. About 3 inches of the first square of a Great American Aran Afghan, using Brown Sheep Naturespun Worsted in a blue-gray-green color called "Eucalyptus". It's for next Christmas, a gift for my niece, who made me a quilt from vintage fabrics which is very lovely indeed. Naturespun is a little light weight for this project, in my opinion, although I got the correct gauge with it. I wish the yarn had a little more oomph. But the color is perfect.

3. A fair isle mitten (ostensibly one of a pair, in an ideal world) from Alice Starmore's book Fair Isle Knitting. I'm using Jamieson & Smith's 2-ply jumperweight in natural, gold, dark red, periwinkle, and 2 colors of green. The color palette resembles a patriotic carnival, but I am just using yarn from the ol' stash, as I was more interested in the technique than in the actual colors when I began. It's a little garish, but not completely ugly, I think. I have the first mitten about 2 1/2 inches above the thumb hole.

4. An aran pullover I've designed, based on an avatar garment choice available in one of my favorite games, Uru. In the game, it's pictured in what appears to be a grey heather, so I am making it in Christopher Sheep Farm's 2-ply worsted, color "Pewter". It has several panels of crossed V-stitch cables, separated by honeycombs, and filled in with moss stitch on the side. If the model I'm knitting goes well, it will become a pattern for the Isaac Evans knitting cruise. I have about 7 inches done on the back.

5. A Plain Jane crewneck I'm knitting from a pretty awful single-ply sportweight handspun, purchased online, only because it comes from the Carpathian mountains. And what more could a yarn demon want than something that comes from Dracula's own neighborhood? Hmmm? Plus, it was incredibly cheap, something like 4 pounds for about $60, including shipping. But, it is very scratchy and I'm not sure it will in fact be wearable in any incarnation. But we'll see. I have the back 3/4 done.

6. There are tons more, but these are the 5 at hand and easily grabbed. The rest are all in knitting bags "upstairs" -- a dark region where bags are sent to await renewed interest. It is also where I keep all our other junk. Er, I mean, our highly valued objects for which I have little room. When one project is completed, it is highly possible for an "upstairs" bag to replace it, unless it's space has already been overtaken with one or more completely new projects.

We'll see how I do. Will I finish any of these projects? All of them? Will I start entirely new ones? Will I keep up this blog AT ALL? Only the yarn demon knows.....