good-natured ribbing

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!