July

I finished the shawl.  I went with the orange yarn from Nathan's old sweater and the butterfly crochet pattern.  Looks lovely, but really, what am I going to do with it?  Maybe it will be more attractive to me when it's cold outside.  Now I just feel like a little old lady when I try it on.

I also finished two hats, both with fingering yarn.  One was supposed to be a baby hat, but oh my!  It's really tiny.  So I tried to enlarge it.  The larger version fits me beautifully!  Oops.  I'm working on another hat now, but none of these will be donation hats.  Christmas gifts, I think.  I'm woefully behind in my 50 donation goal.

And it's getting be Christmas sewing season.  I have flowers I owe my mom and a project I wanted to do last year that got pushed out.  I wonder if I'll get it done this year?  With almost everyone having a new house, this is really the perfect time for it.  We'll see.

Did I do anything else since my last entry?  I don't remember.  But I spent a lot of time on Ravelry... and have the patterns to show for it.  :)

Mid-May

I am 3 hats behind schedule.  I have one started, but it's turning out bigger than I anticipated, so it's also going to take longer. 

Distractions from "hatting"--it started with the little socks of the last post.  I still haven't found a baby to try those booties on yet.  I don't like them empty, but maybe they look cuter filled with baby feet.

I also wanted to make a baby sack, nice and soft and thick.  But it wasn't working out like I wanted so I ripped it out and turned it into a baby blanket.  Seems like it has hit the "knitting black hole" and I don't feel like it's making any progress and I'm losing interest.  I can't think of anything else for this yarn, however, so I have to keep going--if for no other reason than to get rid of it.

And then I was stupid and checked out some of the knitting books from our library's very small collection. (So spoiled as I have been, the libraries here still make me want to cry.)  3 sock books, 2 shawl books, and one nursery knitting.  I also found a crochet book, where there is a beautiful butterfly shawl I am going to make.

I bought yarn for it yesterday.  Very seriously struggled:  dark purple or blue?  Finally settled on the blue.  It was nearly $30.  For one beautiful skein. Soft and drapey and perfect.  Except... when I got home I realized I'd bought the wrong weight and therefore there was not enough.  I'd need 2.  So so sad.  This was my "Yay-we-sold-our-house!" gift to me.  But I couldn't justify 2 skeins, no matter how pretty that crocheted butterfly shawl would be.

So I could still use this yarn for socks, but it really is too pretty to put in shoes, so I went to Ravelry and found a pattern--searching by weight and yardage. 

Won't that be pretty in a slightly shaded denim-y blue.  So soft.  I'm so excited to start.  I've never done lace knitting before.  At least I didn't intentionally, maybe I have.

And let's not overlook the sock books.  New heels and toes to try, a nifty mosaic pattern, and all that yarn I bought while Nathan was in Chicago 3 years ago calling to me to become Christmas presents...

So, yes, more to take me away from my hat goal.  I will still make the butterfly shawl, too, but I'll have to think of something else for the yarn.  Maybe doubled thread?  Far less expensive.

April

Busy in April.  I took a little break from my hat marathon and worked on some baby socks.  Then I had to get back to hats b/c I was no longer "ahead."  Now I am just on target.

Blue top left:  Sara's slouch, kid size, crocheted.

Pink: preemie hat with ribbon, knitted.

Blue striped: Newborn, knitted.

Pink top left:  Sara's slouch, kid sized, with ribbon ( I wanted to try it), crocheted.

Red bootie: knitted, top down, no seams, and yes, only one.

Colorful socks:  toe up, knitted, slip-stitch heel, 6-9 month sized (for a skinny baby?)

Pink socks:  top down, knitted, slip-stitch heel, same sizing issue.

Blue/blue socks: top down, short-row heel (my first ever), 0-3 month, for our neighbors' new baby.

Blue speckled:  top down, slip-stitch heel, same sizing as pink.
 

And this is why there is only 1 red bootie.  I think it looks like a boat.  I hate sewing seams on booties and really want to love this pattern, but I don't.  I think it looks silly.  And I have no babies around to test it on and see if it "looks better on"--not being acquainted enough with my new neighbor to use her baby as a guinea pig.  Any advice?

March

I don't think I finished anything in March, except the blanket.  We LOVE the blanket.  Good weight, smells good, nice and toasty...  Good blanket.

I was so far ahead in my "required" hats that I haven't made any not already chronicled.  But now I need to start again.  I guess that means I'll have a few for April's post.

TA--DA!

Finished!!

I forgot how much stamina a blanket of this size requires.  I haven't made a real afghan since my cousin got married in 2000.  I think I'll stick with baby-sized stuff.  Much quicker turnaround.  :)  Though, this only took 4 months, and I've spent longer on socks.  Maybe it's just the sheer size of the project.  I couldn't tuck it in a little bag and take it on car trips after a while.  It just seemed to be everywhere.

Also, after finishing a large project, does anyone else feel a sense of "black hole"?  I tend to start and tear out several new projects before finally fixing on what's next.  Today I started a baby sweater (before I finished this, I needed a ride-to-church project), but now don't feel like finishing it.  Later today I started a preemie hat for this, but can't bring myself to like it enough to continue.*  It always happens after a long project ends.






*(Don't worry, that's where most of the other hats I've made so far will go.)

February

All hats this month.  I think I also did a few colors on the afghan, but it isn't done yet, so I won't post it.

Adult man's hat, knitted.

Was supposed to be a woman's chemo cap, but came out very, very small.  Lace-edged, knitted.

Woman's chemo cap, cable-edged, knitted.

Child's hat, cable edged, knitted.  This and the one above are knit in short rows, side to side.  Very fun to make.

Was supposed to be a baby hat, but looks like a kid's.  Knitted with a top knot.

Another Sara's Slouch, crocheted.  (I LOVE this picture!)

January

I'm starting new this year, keeping track of what I make.  This is the batch from January.

The base is the blanket I'm making for our bed, from Hilda Yates' yarn.  (Really Bartlett Yarn, but we get it at Hilda's and it is inseparably connected to her in my mind.)  The black stripe marks halfway.  My goal is to be done by Valentine's Day (b/c I needed a random goal date) and I'm not sure.  Nathan is commuting now and needs sleep so I'm not up late with him working on my sewing.  Most of this blanket has been done in the car, though, all Teddy related travel.  That's over.

The 2 hats on the far left of the photo are Mary's (black and white) and Joseph's (green).  Mary crocheted hers and Joseph used a knitting loom.

The purplish one is a knit, diamond lace, with sock yarn.  It looks so 20's when worn.

The turquoise and pink ribbon is a baby hat, knit.

A marbled slouch, nice and thick, crocheted.

A light weight white slouch, crocheted.

A turquoise spiral knit.

Another white slouch, ripple, crocheted.

 Why so many hats?  I have a goal to donate 50 hats by the end of the year.  That makes one per week. I can make a slouch in under an hour, so if Sunday arrives and I don't have a hat for that week yet.... yes, another slouch.  I got the pattern from (or for?) my friend Sara when she wanted a chemo cap.  So in my mind I call it "Sara's slouch" and I think I even have it on the pattern that way!

And of course, there is an octopus.  Not nearly so many babies in this ward as in our last ward, but we still have a few.  And of course, our friends in the last ward who were expecting when we left... well, maybe they want one, too.  :)

That's January!