Socks

I've been looking at my sock WIPS as Christmas vacation draws to a close.  I started 2 new sock projects over break:  one for my dad and one for me:

There are others as well, several, in fact, in various stages of completion.  All in their own ways magical, I've abandoned them for a variety of reasons.  Often it is so I can knit on something newer and shinier.  For 2 of the projects, I left them because of being stuck in a particular spot.  I want to finish all but one of these socks and mend some others for my January knitting.  It may take more than a month!

 This sock has a problem...maybe it's me with the problem!  I can't remember what pattern I used to start it.  I love the pattern, have looked through all of my books and patterns, all of Ravelry, but can't seem to find it.  HELP!  I'd rather not frog these!

 Lovely circle socks.  I'll finish these; getting tired of circles, though.  Look below:

 More circle socks.  Maybe for next Hallowe'en!

 Frogged!  I ran out of handspun yarn to finish them.  No worries!

 These are a challenge.  I don't love knitting mosaic stitches.  The charts throw me.  But it fits so far and I'll tackle them again!

 Yikes - I am lost in the chart here.  I love the yarn and the square Kollage needles I'm using.  But I seem to be off in the chart and need to get the right mind space to find myself and continue!

 These simple skyp socks are great!  I love the yarn and the sock rocket needles and just need to get down to business to finish them for my youngest son.

And thrums!  What's hard about worsted socks?  I worry about the mohair thrums slipping out, but they are fun to knit...I got in a few rounds today.  I'm thinking I can knit a bunch of these for my quilting friends for next Christmas.  We'll see.

Nothing that a little dedicated time and attention won't fix.

Planning for 2013...and beyond!

So I have a plan...after discovering that my unfinished knitting project list hovered someplace above the 40 mark, no matter how many I finish, I surely need one! I ruthlessly made some rules after Christmas: no new knitting until all are finished with the exception of baby items for Baby Jupiter. Further, each item has a month or part of a month from now until the sometime in 2014 when all will be done. 

Isn't this a lovely last image of Christmas?  The next day we had warm temperatures that melted  snow and the magic disappeared.

 Already, the second rule has been compromised. But here at the end of January, I have finished 4 pairs of mittens, 3 hats, a scarf and a tea cozy. All were WIPs except for the scarf! That's a dent! And still 2 days remain in the month!

Lame acrylic mittens knit for no reason, but it counts as completion!

 Now to do that, I shifted items around and made a discovery. A kal can be a help in completing items. I really wanted to post mittens on the Naknimitmo group on Ravelry! I also wanted to give Elizabeth her pair of mittens and they look so nice with her jacket.

Elizabeth's Holly Jean mittens - love Cascade 220!

In planning my list of diminishing WIPs, I made another discovery. Projects begun more recently seem to get finished. It's the older discontinued items that languish. I suspect the reasons for this are as numerous as the projects themselves, but I tried to take that into consideration as I listed and mixed the older with the more recent. I also tried to take into account the amount of finishing needed. And I have decided that serious rearranging is totally acceptable as long as work is completed.   So in spite of rearrangements made and more expected in the future, here is the original list.

 2013
January: White alpaca sweater and Nemesis socks from Tunis fiber
February: Handspun corriedale Paperboy cardi and pink crocheted bag
March: Pink stripe pullover and thrum socks
April: Red zigzag blanket and black lace scarf for 'Cole
May: Brick colored cutaway cardigan and lt blue fingerless gloves
June: Purple/orange wild handspun shawl and gray alpaca blend vest w/ bobbles
July: Mittens: Nema, purple acrylic, and thrum
August: Orange Cakewalk socks and Tom's blueberry vest
September:  3 sisters cardi in purple and felted nest
October:  Red wool cardi - Sitcom Chic - and stripey socks w/ picot edge
November: Red ruana and Alison's scarf
December: Red pi shawl and Mission Falls flower bag

Hena Mittens knit from Mission Falls 1824 Wool.  So fun to knit and embellish!

2014
January:  Burgundy mohair cardi and Shetland circle shawl
February: Orange, pink, brown vest and wild handspun bag
March: Orange handspun pocket scarf and Annie Modesitt bag
April:  Charlotte's Web
May:  Philosopher's Wool cardi
June:  Red Swirl sweater - Annie Modesitt
July: Periwinkle Peace Fleece cabled hoodie
August: Minni cardi
September: KnitPicks colorwork cardi and Mosaic socks - red and brown

Thrum mittens.  Gauge changes over time!  And now Tom wants a pair - he's entranced with these, but I think they'd be too small for him.

It's powerful and overwhelming to see it all in print in one place.  It looks manageable until you think about the life that flows around it and the time required to accomplish the many tasks that make up my life.  What I didn't include above as I bragged a little about how many things I already finished is that many of them were done when I had the flu, home from work for a few days and ignoring dirty dishes and laundry that needed folding.  I'll continue to be the hopeful optimist as I gaze at the list.  But realistically it will take near aggression to wrest time away from other things to meet this goal of no WIPs by September 2014!

Elektra

I just finished this lace shawl. It's a creation designed by Rosemary Hill and its completion makes me want to just jump into another! I used handspun yarn, 2 ply, made from a natural colored bond fleece purchased from Gleason's Fine Woolies. Very tame color for me, so I added a few bright colors of beads for interest.

Thomas in Dan's Vest

I'd just love to knit one of these babies for all of the men in my life. What a great vest! I'm told my older son's students even like this vest and it's hard to impress high school students!

The yarn is a blend of rambouillet, gulf coast native and shetland fibers that I had blended and carded into roving. It's a 2 ply yarn that I spun fairly fine on my antique Canadian production wheel. The rambo and GCN were white, the shetland brown. So why does the yarn show up as gray? Taupe? One of the great mysteries of spinning. I like the color, but have lots of this fiber. (And I mean lots - 2 giant bags to begin with!) I am still spinning this yarn and will be spinning it for awhile longer. I believe the next project I knit from it will be overdyed another color...maybe garnet!



My next vest will be knit for DH in a 3 ply yarn called snow on blueberries. I have enough for fronts and may use millspun for the back. This winter. Yeah, that's it!

Still Giving Thanks

Pink and purple yarn, fleece dyed in Harrisville



Iced cardigan knitted in mohair/wool blend of handspun, wildly autumnal colors!



Charlotte's Web Shawl in blues. Must knit late at night - no interruptions!



Black baby alpaca shawl in fircone pattern.




Blueberry Pie...yum!




Banana muffins with chocolate chips - triple batch!



Broccoli and Bacon Quiche


Sunday night has arrived all too quickly again. I spend today scurrying around trying to make the best of the last day of Thanksgiving break. I cooked like a madwoman, finished 2 yarns and did some knitting on a cardigan that I have almost finished. Started a black baby alpaca scarf for Nicole and a Charlotte's Web shawl for me. I even managed to take pictures of some of these things, as you can see. And it's back to school tomorrow. Yay!

Peace at last

Well, today's heat and back to school activities left me with a sizable headache. My cure? Spinning luscious fiber, of course! A month or so ago, I received a magic box from Morro Fleeceworks, earlier than they had predicted. It was filled with over 6 lbs of a lofty mixture of cormo, alpaca and silk. Yum. The stuff is incredible to spin! I'm tired, need to go to bed, but can hardly stop!

What shall I make from this bounty? Peaceful moments for months ahead and then...to be continued!

Summer is over (if you're a teacher, anyway!)

What a sad way to begin a post! But it's true. So we started the day with fresh veggies, flowers, and a Molly muffin and home fries from Foxxy Roxy's!

Book group will meet tonight where we will discuss our reading of The Letters by Luanne Rice and Joseph Monninger. It was a light, predictable, summer read.

I'm off to the grocery store. This is not a job I usually relish, but today the heat will make the air conditioning seem exotic and wonderful! It's strange to have such heat at this time of year, but we will be back to seasonably cool on Friday and Saturday in time for the weekend. Kayaking, perhaps?