2012 Knitting Review

There is a lot of Baby Stuff on my completed knitting list this year.  Wonder why?!

Baby Mittens - 1
Baby Hats - 4
Baby Dress - 1
Christmas Stocking - 1
Scarf - 1
Afghan - 1
Vest - 1
Jackets - 2
Sweaters - 4
Baby Sweaters - 6
Shawlettes - 2
Burp Cloth - 2
Peapod - 2
Baby Afghans - 3
Shawls - 1
Socks - 1
Booties 1

Is It Really Sunday, the 30th of December

I have to keep figuring what day/date it is.  Since being off for over a week, it has been really hard to keep track of those pesky things.  I have had a great time off.  The Tall Guy is so supportive of this time off.  He lets me sit around and play on the computer, knit, take a shower when I want, knit and basically do only what I have to.  He is so a keeper.

Generally, I don't do New Year's Resolutions that normal people would do.  I do make a list at the end of the year of all the completed projects in knitting that I have accomplished.  I'll share that list tomorrow on New Year's Eve.

Yesterday, I got my knitting journal out to make the list.  It is kind of fun to see what is in the journal.  I really thought that I would have it full by the end of 2012, but it appears that I will have a few pages left before I start a new one.  I put all my knitting projects in this notebook.  I add yarn pieces and the label from the balls of yarn for future reference.  It has come in handy several times when I didn't have a clue as to what gauge I got with a certain yarn that I wanted to use again.

One of the things that did surprise me from my journal is all of the unfinished projects or also known as WIPS.  Those are all marked by the silver paper clips.  I am not counting them, that would be just too depressing.  I guess I don't need to make any knitting resolutions, you all know what mine "should" be!

I did also make a list of things that are on tap for immediate knitting, of course they include baby knitting.  My niece is having a baby in March and the shower is less than a month away so I have to get a knitting on that afghan for her and a pea pod.  One of the ladies that works with me is going to be a grandma for the first time this spring and I need to knit a peapod for her as well.

Will I ever get back to knitting for me???

A Little Facebook

A friend over on Facebook, posted this little saying and I oh so believe it.

When a grandchild is born so is a grandma!

We had a great quick trip to Iowa.  It made me even more resolved to be closer to them in the coming years.  Unfortunately, I doubt that it is is the near future, but one never knows.

I did a little last minute knitting for Mona Lisa the day before we went.  Both items were a bust, but it was fun at the time.  The mittens were too big and the hat, well as you can see, cannot definitely be worn for warmth.

Mona Lisa was not impressed.  But I was with her other Grandma putting on this other sweater I knit for her before she was born.  It finally fits!

I got to help with bath time which was such fun.  It has been quite a few years since I did that.  She loves her bath time.

When I got home, there was a couple of packages waiting for me.  One I can't show because I don't want to spoil the surprise for a friend of mine, the other for me.  I could just not pass these stitch markers up to add to my collection of stitch markers.

One can never have enough scarves or stitch markers can one?

Off To Iowa

to celebrate Christmas with the kids over there.  I would prefer to have done it on Christmas, but there is always next year....but before we could go, I got a wild hair that perhaps I should start a tradition where every year, Miss Mona Lisa would get some mittens for Christmas - knitted mittens.  

And I had some perfect yarn that I could use for this year's mittens.  And I had a whole day to knit them and surely they couldn't take that long to do.  These are from one of my favorite websites - A Purl Bee.

And when they didn't take that long and I still had some yarn left, I thought she needed a hat to go with them.  This one is from Itty Bitty Knits.  I added the toppers from Tilli Tomas' pattern that I knit up from my niece's baby present.  

So now Miss Mona Lisa will have a hat and mittens for her first Christmas.  I hope the hat fits!

 Heck I hope the mittens fit!  This maybe one of those traditions the kids will have wished Grandma had not started!

The Push Is On!

It has started.  All of the commercials are touting the current weight loss plan.  I've kind of already started getting back on track, but there is still another week of festivities to get through.

A few weeks ago, before the holiday kicked in, I started following a no wheat thought of eating.  Surprisingly, it seems to help a bit.  The Tall Guy has been totally supportive, cooking for us and looking at labels.  I took a few days off over Christmas (eating lefsa, Christmas cookies and candies galore).  I noticed the difference the last few days and am anxious to get back on track.  Wouldn't it be totally cool if I just had an intolerance to wheat???

Now, one of things that has NOT happened is that I had not been losing any weight and the belly is still there, but if other issues go bye bye, I would be quite pleased with following the Wheat Belly way of thinking.

Since our Christmas was kind of low key this year (heading to Iowa tomorrow for a couple of days), I have been working on my niece's afghan for her baby shower at the end of January.  I am going to have to focus on it for a bit since their is a deadline.

I came to the conclusion last night that I was just not loving this afghan.  Mainly it was the back that has been bothering me.  I really kind of dislike one sided shawls and afghans.  My thought is that they are really meant to be seen from both sides and this one is just not doing it for me.

I had been tossing around a ripple afghan from over at the Purl Bee but am not yet 100% sold on it yet. Then today, the mailman dropped off my yarn from Chris at Briar Rose for the Eadon sweater I am going to do in the new year.

In the box, Chris included a pattern for me - Brick Road Afghan.  It is very similar to one that Deb out at the yarn shop had knitted out of Sublime and one that I had originally given thought to doing. It would seem that I have come full circle back to my original thought.

I was hoping to be knitting on it on my way to Iowa and back on Friday, but it looks like I have spent a little too much time today working on one last project for Miss Mona Lisa.  Time to shut it down for now.

Hope you all had a great Christmas, we certainly seem to be making ours last as long as it can!

On The Final Day of Getting Ready For Christmas

Everything that can be done is done.  My final knit for Christmas is this little hat from Tilli Tomas yarn.  It is for Baby Bella, who is not yet born yet, but will be to my niece and her husband around March.  If we see them tomorrow, I will give it to her.  If not it will be part of her shower present the end of January.

In between Mona Lisa's spring wardrobe, I am knitting on Baby Bella's blankie for the shower.  I have just a little more than a month to get it done.  This is going to be a great project for Knit Nights and Saturdays at the shop.

It is out of my new fave yarn for babies, Cascade Yarns Pacific.  I knit Mona Lisa's out of the same pink color.  This was a tough decision to pick out the pattern.  I had originally planned one from 60 More Quick Baby Knits book, but after looking at it really was not going to be very practical with little baby fingers.

I opted for the Constant Baby Blanket, I found on Ravelry.  I think it will be pretty with the colors I had previously picked out.

 I've got just a few more presents to wrap and then I'll just kick back and enjoy this Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas Eve to you all and I hope Santa brings you loads of yarn and knitting books!

On the 23rd Day

I give you some cuteness...my reason for knitting these days.

 Baby Boy A and family.

On the 22nd Day

Who am I kidding?  For me Christmas knitting and getting ready for Christmas is done!  I just have some presents to wrap and then for me it is over.  Done, stick a fork in it.  Let the games begin.

And that means, I am flittin again, casting on and thinking about casting on.  The only problem is I have some time lines, one of which is the end of January, so I really should be working strictly on it.  But, like the diet and the attempt of staying wheat free, I have taken the day off from both of them, just for the day.  Tomorrow, when I get up it is back on the wagon for me.  Until then, all bets are off.

 I cast on two projects.  This little pink number is on a deadline for the end of January.  I have not gotten very far on it,  I think it may be too wide.  Changing the needle size would mean going down below a size 4 and I am not really interested in that.  I may have to re-think the number of stitches to cast on.

 Thanks to Cheryl Oberle, I have cast on yet another shawl.  This one is her gift to us over on her website--  http://www.knitaway-one.blogspot.com  It is her yarn too I have cast on.  It is a take on her original Prairie Shawl which is the very first shawl I ever knitted.  Way before Cheryl and I became friends.  This is going to be my knitting in public project over the next week.  I don't have to pay a whole lot of attention to it while I am knitting.

 This morning, the couch was filled with presents and I managed to condense them all down into these two bags.   We celebrated Christmas today with my husband's family.  It was a very pleasant day.

 Even the kids behaved themselves.  All of them.  We missed having Baby Boy A and Mona Lisa with us, but we collected their presses and will see them later this week when we head over their way.

 These are two of my nieces.  The one on the left is pregnant with her first child and she is the one that I have a deadline for and must get a knitting on some things for her shower at the end of January.

Baby Boy B on the left and my nephew on the right who likes to ham it up.  We got a very nice card from him that brought tears to my eyes. He is his own person, always has been always will be.
He gave us a very nice card that he had written on the inside.  Sometimes, it is the little things that make a present a real present.

On the 21st Day

In the wee hours of the morning, I finished the Autumn Frock.  I am kind of pleased with it!

In the wee hours of the morning, I realized I really dislike these old double pointed needles.  I really need to update the size 10s to some Harmony ones.  But, in a pinch these will be fine for now.

I woke up this morning to not as much snow as I thought we might get.  But, the way the sun and shade mix it up on our driveway, it is a little hazardous out there for walking.  So very gingerly, I am walking there these days.  But, I am grateful, we didn't get oodles of snow.

I spent a bit of this afternoon, moving Autumn Frock around on the dining room table so I can get the sun to dry it up a bit after blocking.

It was so nice to see the sun today after the lat couple of days of not.

I casted on this afternoon for the second installment from Mabel's Closet.  This time the Cradle Cardigan.   The realization did set in today that the ensemble will not be ready to go to Iowa on the 27th, so I have toned down my knitting on it a bit.  It will be a nice ensemble for early Spring and I will have a little more time to shop for the right tights and little shirt to go under the jumper.

One of the really cool things I discovered when knitting on the Autumn Frock was that the Sublime yarn sets really well in my Thirty One little bag I bought earlier this Fall.  I originally bought it, thinking it would be good for knitting socks, but I have project bags for those that fit even better than this bag did.  

Tonight, I am swatching a new shawl pattern that Cheryl Oberle gifted us over on her Knitaway blog.  It is going to be just the perfect knitting project for the next couple of days when we are doing family things and to take to Iowa next week.

On the 17th Through the 20th

I have spent nearly the whole week working on one little dress.  Who would think it would take this long.  The garter hem took me a couple of nights.  Not that there was a lot to it, I just wasn't crazy with any of the joins that I was doing.

 I finally found one last night that I am okay with.  I sat it up so it was on the side so it wouldn't scream, here I am!

Fast forward and it is the 20th!   Look what cool mug I received from my co-worker today.  How cool is this one???

 As she gave it to me, she remarked that she did not think I needed another mug, which I responded how much I love my knitting mugs and yes, I could always use another one of these!

 So, this is where I am at Autumn Frock.  I a hoping to get the sleeves done tonight so I can start on another item from Hannah Fettig's Mabel's Closet.  I have this little onesie to give to Mona Lisa next week, and I thought it might be fun to giver the dress and a little hat at the same time.

 I'm off now until January 3rd and I hope to accomplish a lot of knitting from Mabel's Closet while I am off.  In Central IL, we are getting our first snow, and the predictions are for blizzard like conditions over night.  Thank goodness, I can hunker down and not go out tomorrow!

 The lights did a little flicker just moments ago, and I am hoping that is not a sign to come, but once the Tall Guy gets home he can get our generator all souped up and ready to go, just in case.  The winds are a blowin which makes me just a tad nervous, don't want that to interfere with my first day of Christmas vacation.

On the 16th Day

 Yea!  One stocking finished.  Not my best work, but not bad for a second foray into two colored, two handed knitting.    My reindeer on the left is missing his back hoof and the one on the right seems to be a little pregnant!  Ha!  I did not even see the pregnant one until the wee hours last night.  The hoof I saw the other day, but I WAS not ripping it back.  In the next year, I'm going to go back and do a lining for the stocking, I think I will like it even better then.

I'm going to do more two stranded knitting in the new year, because I really want to perfect it.  It probably would be a good idea to haul out my copy of Meg and Amy's book and study it so I can better don't you think?!

I've recast on Mona Lisa's closet today, so I am off on a new project.  It feels so good to have the stocking done.  Now, I just need to get it ready to pop in the Fed Ex tomorrow.  What a weight has been lifted.

On the 15th Day

This is the little gem I am doing all the Christmas knitting for.  She is so worth it!!

Today, I finally got my little tree up with knitting related ornaments and my Christmas Snoopy collection out (except I am missing a couple of pieces), my living room and dining room cleaned and picked up.

Now it is time to seriously get back to little Mona Lisa's stocking.  I want it done and blocking come tomorrow this time.

What Was I Thinkin

It was a great thought that I could blog every day of December, documenting my Christmas knitting.  Until I got so busy knitting that there was not time enough to take pictures and blog about it.  So all of a sudden, it is the end of the week and I have all these pictures of still unfinished knitting.

On the 10th Day of Getting Ready for Christmas -

 I had the day off and my knitting chair reflects just how much I was settled in for a day of knitting.

The yarn room is pretty unkempt too.  Things are just being stacked in there for now until I can get them separated for wrapping.

I did get a fair amount of knitting done on Mona Lisa's stocking.  But, I am sweating the amount of red yarn that I have.

On the 11th day of getting ready for Christmas --

A little more was accomplished on the stocking.

On the 12th of getting ready Christmas--

The heel is taking shape.

On the 13th day of getting ready for Christmas--

 Good friend and knitting buddy, Linda  came through and had skeins of red yarn that matches mine.  We tossed around several options for the end of the stocking and I went home and tossed them all.

On the 14th of getting ready for Christmas--

I have ripped back the stocking yet once again.  I just did not like that little band of green at the top of the heel in the last picture of the stocking.

That is all I managed to complete today.  This stocking has got to be done, blocked and ready to fedex come Monday morning.  I'll be glad when it is done.  It's way past time to be knitting on something else!