January Roundup

Two baby blankets (which are quite addicting and I could've made more)
One pair of slippers ( for ittybitty adult feet)
One infinity scarf (for my SIL who made me the best cheesecake)
One pair of socks (for a new pattern)
One Koala bear (that hangs out with the other knitted animals in DD#2's room)

I Love January.

I love January

What? More Finished Objects?  Will wonders never cease???

I've loved January this year.  Not much to do (other than sports, of course.  Basketball and FUTSAL have been going full force.  Oh, and baseball open gym has started at 6am twice a week, 'cause that's what the kids really want to do is get up 90 minutes earlier twice a week and get a full workout before school.)

Now where was I?  That's right.  I wasn't complaining, but rather telling you how much I've enjoyed January.  The Christmas decorations have been put away, the rooms have been straightened up, piles of papers have been sorted, I've cooked here and there, work happens at a slower pace, and I've even had a couple of days off.

There's also been plenty of time to knit and I've taken that opportunity to just knit whatever I felt like.

In this case, it's been a couple of baby blankets.  I'm working on another pattern for M4A, and couldn't do just one.

You've seen them in progress before, but now they are completed.  Here's a two-colored version:

And a three-colored version:

If it wasn't for the fact that the baby house doesn't need any more afghans I'd just keep on making them. As it is, though, I guess I'll stop and work on something else.

Two FOs

In the first week of January, my knitting calendar had a pattern for easy slippers. So....I made them! They're for my friend who gave me the calendar (and incidently, has very small feet. An added bonus!)

They were using doubled stranded acrylic yarn that I had in my stash and worked up super-quick.

Also, I knitted the second sock that goes with my coffee bean sock pattern. They're done using worsted weight and size 4 needles.

Two easy projects that were fast and fun!

Knitterly Gifts

Continuously playing catch-up, that's me.  Here are two birthday gifts and one Christmas gift that I have yet to show you (and you DO want to see since they're all knitting related...)

First, my great friend and neighbor got me the 2012 Knitting Calendar.  She's been doing this for several years now.  Like always, I don't open it until January 1, and then I don't peak ahead.  (Well, almost always...)

My husband, who knows me so well, and has noticed that I almost always have a pair of socks on the needles, got me this great Book of Socks.  The patterns seem just my type when I need something besides plain vanilla.  Not too fancy but with some interesting texture.  I hope to cast on for a pair in the very near future.

Then for Christmas, DH got me a pair of Ashford wool carders.  (This time he had help....meaning that I picked them out.  He's good at picking out books, and maybe yarn, but carders would be beyond him.  Hey!  They were almost beyond me...)

All-in-all, it was a great haul with the promise of great things to come!

And then it was done...

There's a finished object hanging around our house, done for about 3 hours or so, which was presented to DD#2 with a "Ta-da! look what I finally made for you!", which she didn't remember requesting at all, which made me think I didn't really have to make it but whatever....it's done, and which freed up my size 4 needles to knit the second coffee bean sock.

Then I asked DD#2 to take a picture of two since I was busy working on supper which meant washing the pots before using them and you don't want to do that instead, now do you?  Which she wisely opted to take some pics, which turned into the koala bear going on an adventure.

First, the koala went to look at the sunset...

Then he hung out with his penguin friends for awhile...

He climbed through a jungle of flowers...

Which made him very hungry, so he stopped for a snack... (but he knew enough to avoid the garlic.)

And a drink...

Then he found his fellow knitted friends and told them about his adventures.

All in all, it was an eventful day.

The End

There might be another one...

Remember my last post? The one with the plethora of started projects?  Well, it turns out that I had nothing to take to a basketball game.

What to do....

What to do....

I know...  how about starting a new one?

Yep, that's it.  I'll start a new project.

And I did.

A plain vanilla sock.  For me.  In pretty purple, turquoise, and green.  It's turning out some swirly stripes that I'm lovin'.

Not to fear, though, I'm gonna have a finished object or two any day now.

An active case of startitis

Since the New Year's, all I seem to be doing is starting new projects.  Not finishing them, mind you, just starting them.

I've been working on a couple of patterns for M4A.  For the first pattern, I've knitted one sock.  Not two, just one.  It's in my favorite coffee bean pattern (thanks to Valeria!)

Then, I've also been working on a baby afghan pattern.  Here is the first sample.  It's a tad small, so the B/O needs to be ripped out and a few rows need to be added.  (And, yes, Captain Obvious, the ends need to be woven in.)

Here is sample #2, that I started before finishing sample #1.  This is also close to completion but I need more blue yarn.

Then, this is an infinity scarf.  (That's not the pattern name, it's just like that in the fact that there's no beginning or end, just a really long tube.)  It's the closest to being done, but it needs to be washed.

And, because that's not enough on my needles, how about a pair of slippers.  They look like slippers, riiiiiight?

Oh, and there are some knitted animal parts lying somewhere around here, too. I forgot about them already, and it's only the middle of the month.

Considering that there's at least 2 weeks to go before the end of January, I should be able to get at least some of these UFOs done.  Or maybe even all!

Darn

A couple of years ago I put a hole in a sock.  This is the first time I'd done that with a sock knitted with sock yarn.  (I think I have a couple of ww socks with holes.  Hmmm....I'll have to see if I can find them....)  Anyway, once I found the hole, I put it on my bedside table.  And there it sat for 2 years, doing nothing but collecting dust.

Finally, I decided to try my hand at darning.  What harm could it do? and I might learn something new.

First, I found a ball (no darning eggs here) and some yarn (that, of course, doesn't match).

This hole looks bigger from this point of view.

 

Then (following directions found on the 'net), I sewed around the hole with a running stitch.  Next I sewed vertical long sts to cover the hole.

 

Finally, I wove the yarn vertically through the long sts and ta-da!  One sock, ready to wear again!