good-natured ribbing

Just in case you are interested in these Ann Arbor-area events….

The Spinner’s Flock Winter Fleece Fair
Saturday, February 16
10 am to 4 pm
Beach Middle School, 445 Mayer Drive, Chelsea, MI

Amy Singer (of Knitty fame) at Ann Arbor District Library
No Sheep/Knitty® Knit-in
Sunday, March 9
2-3:30pm knit-in following the program; library closes at 6pm
Multipurpose Room at the Downtown Library, 343 South Fifth Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI

I haven’t been doing a whole lot of knitting lately. I do have a pair of socks going, but that’s it. I did decide to crank out a little baby quilt for an upcoming shower, though.

It is the easy lap quilt from Amy Karol’s Bend-the-Rules Sewing. I’m sure I’ll be making this again – it was quite easy and trouble-free… and I’ve quite happy with the results. I did all of the buying, cutting, and piecing one day and the quilting and most of the binding the next. On the third day, I just finished hand-sewing the binding and it was all done… washed up beautifully.

Ava asked if it was supposed to look like the ocean. And I guess it is – the shower/nursery theme is aquarium, so it fits. I even put a sandy backing on it :)

I finished my Kureyon socks a while ago but never took a picture of the completed pair. Instead of waiting until I get around to taking the picture, here is another shot of the first sock:

I didn’t bother blocking the socks before wearing – they didn’t really need it. After wearing them for a full day, I can say with certainty that my feet are not bothered by the roughness… I can feel it, of course, but it isn’t irritating. And they are VERY warm. If you are thinking about it, you should definitely try it out!

Now I must tell you about a new online yarn store called WhitKnits. You will be thrilled to hear that for the month of January, they have all Noro yarn (including the Kureyon Sock) on sale for 20% off. I just might have to get a little more!!

Oh, look at her Nutkin! And, oh, look at the sock done in Knit Picks gloss. I’ve only done one sock with Gloss so far, but maybe I shouldn’t bother with the second. Look at Pat’s blog posting to see what I’m talking about. Here’s my Canada sock, destined to be a loner:

I made this out of KP Gloss–will it last?

Ah, the tunic. After years of knitting moss stitch, I finally finished the family tunic from Weekend Knitting for Nigel. Although it’s called a family tunic, I’m afraid he’s the only one in our family getting one. Enough moss stitch is enough.

Everybody say “yay!” The tunic is done!

I knit three Christmas gifts this year. The first was by far the most complicated, but I started those in the summer and have loved them as my own ever since. But I resisted and gave them to another. The other two I didn’t start until December. The first was long-time-coming socks for Mike. I chose the Log Cabin socks and had nothing but trouble knitting them. I couldn’t get gauge right and I don’t think I’ve ever ripped out and started over so many times for a project I actually finished. Anyway, they ended up fitting Mike PERFECTLY and he loves them. I used Plymouth worsted and they also wash up so nicely!

The second gift was for my cousin. I made up a pattern for some quick-to-knit fingerless gloves. I called them “Peek-a-boo” because the cables appear randomly and disappear just as randomly. I just put a cable twist in when I felt like it, so the gloves were different, but still similar.

When a year begins, as Beth pointed out yesterday, you never really know where it’s going to end up. I began this year all fired up about socks, but got diverted into some other areas. I did finish 12 full pairs and three singlets, so while I didn’t actually meet my 14 pair goal for 2007, I didn’t miss by too much. One of the fun things Kristen and I did recently was to volunteer knitted items as prizes for an office food drive. (And we got a scarf donated from Kira, too. Thanks, Kira!) That was fun, and gave me a motivational boost. One example of this pre-Christmas knitting was my Misty Garden scarf, from the Scarf Style book, in purple mohair.

You may remember the yarn from an earlier picture, in which our family’s knitting action figure, Hank, was scaling my yarn basket.

I also took a random turn into crocheting this year. I’ve had no interest whatsoever in the art of crochet before now, but have suddenly become determined to master it. I channeled this determination into one Christmas present, the Garden Scarf, from The Happy Hooker, using up some leftover Lamb’s Pride in the process:

Here’s a closeup of my favorite flower, in raspberry. I took a liking to it.

I’ve discovered, as many others already know, that crocheting is really handy for using up stash yarn, which I have in volumes. I’m trying to use some up in an afghan. Although I can’t locate the original pattern anywhere, I’ve seen enough Babette pictures to try to attempt a similar afghan on my own, and have created in the last couple of days some “babette-like” squares. These are before blocking, and with only a few hundred more to go.

One of the laws of the universe is that the process of using up one’s stash actually attracts more yarn, especially around the holidays. From my mother-in-law in Boise came this yummy yarn: Boise Yarn, from Boise!

And finally in today’s news (as they say on NPR), I received for Christmas the needles I was coveting from Knit Picks, Harmony Wood 6″ Double Pointed Needle Set US Sizes 0-3, to be precise. I love them—smooth, sharp points, and each size comes with 6 needles, providing insurance against loss.

Just what I need to kick off another big year of sock knitting!

Well, I had a crappy year in many respects, but I managed to stay productive. Here are some of the things I made over the last 12 months:

And, it was February when I kicked off the Expand Your Stash extravaganza! What a great idea, if I do say so myself. And now, if I wanted to (which I don’t), I could participate in Knit From Your Stash this year – which means I was extremely successful last year! Here is just a sampling of the lovely yarns I picked up over the year:

What do you say… Are you up for Expand Your Stash ’08?!