Time to ring in a new year!

Here we are, once again standing at the threshold of a new year. I'm still in shock at the speed that this year few by. I don't really do resolutions much, but to say that there weren't goals for this year would also be inaccurate.

2007 was definitely the year of the stash. Of the 17 FOs for this year 9 were stash projects. In addition to that, nearly all my yarn acquisition (except for Stitches West) went to make the other FOs on my list, so the overall state of my stash is down at the end of the year. I also went to great lengths to lessen my UFOs and ended up finishing some great projects as well as get rid of some of the losers. I'm now in a steady rotation of about 3 active projects at a time. The only clear exception is that I did put a couple spring/summer projects on hiatus so that I could work on more seasonally appropriate projects. Given the very short nature of any 'winter' weather, this is almost a necessity in So Cal.

As for next year, I don't really have new knitting goals except to keep those I have started this year in place. I am, however, going to try to post about my projects more regularly. I have two projects on the needles (that are getting near completion) that have never even seen the light of day on this blog, the Celtic Tote and the Two Tone Shrug. So, I am hoping to change that for '08.

As for personal goals, I am going to try and make it through the first two months of this year without stumbling into the introspection/depression that has brought in the last two. Since my birthday takes place in January, the beginning of a new year also coincides with getting older and that unavoidable (for me, at least) reflection on where I am and where it is I want to go with my life. And with trying to understand who I am and what I need to work on personally. However, I don't wish to avoid this introspective period altogether, but rather make it a more positive experience for myself.

So, given all of the above, instead of this post inundating you with all of my end of the year projects, I think I will split them up into a few posts since they fit nicely into knitting FOs, crafting FOs and knitting WIPs.

First up is my last Christmas knitting project for the year: a Shedir for B.

I knit the hat in just under a full ball of Calmer in Onyx. Basically there was about a walnut sized ball left over, so it was a close one, but no left overs!...except for the whole second ball I bought just in case. :-P Oh well, it will make a lovely Shedir for someone else.

The combination of the black stretchy yarn, the too dull needles (traditional addis) on the cable twists, and the poor lighting in my house made for a rocky start at best. But after the first cable repeat of the body of the hat, the knitting became second nature. I did all my cabling without a cable needle and this actually made it easier for me to know if I was off pattern because the stitches didn't 'look right' while I was twisting them.

I was able to keep this project totally off of B's radar and was able to finish it up while he was out of town at the end of November/beginning of December. The best part is that he really likes his hat and it fits him great. :-)

Finally, I have a little stash-busting project that I actually started last year sometime but never got around to adding the fringe. It got buried in my knitting basket and I forgot about it entirely until I was organizing a few weeks ago. So, I pulled it out, added the fringe and here it is:

I made this out of some super chunky yarn that a secret pal of mine gifted to me many moons ago. I'd love to tell you more about it, but I know nothing. There were no ball bands and that secret pal never even revealed themselves to me to ask. If I remember right, they told me that the yarn came from Chile, but with my memory, who knows! I followed the Yarn Harlot's recipe for a simple length-wise garter stitch scarf that you can get here (but doesn't appear to be on Ravelry yet). It's a little warm for normal San Diego, but I have a feeling it will be great the next time we go snowboarding.

So, with that, I hope that the end of 2007 is finding you well and that 2008 will be a great year for everyone. Have a very Happy New Years and be safe!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

From our families to yours, may you all have a very healthy, happy holiday season!

FO: Winter Bangles

AKA, wrist cozies! :) Once again, all appropriate props must be distributed to Ravelry the Great, for leading me to Mimsie's Swatch Bangle pattern. The idea is simple. Basically, you take a plain ol' bangle (the least expensive the better, if you ask me), knit a swatch big enough to wrap around said bangle, wrap, seam, et voila! I love chunky jewelry, I love snuggly sweaters, I love cables, I love classic neutrals, I love quick knits, and I love...these:

This is the perfect project if you're itching to exercise some creative freedom- you pick the size and width of the bangle, you pick the type of yarn, and you pick the stitch pattern. I wanted cables, so I consulted Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns, picked out several cable patterns that would fit and went to town with some GGH Bel Air (this yarn is so soft- it's not even funny). I made all four bangles using one ball and I still have some yarn leftover! I would have made others, but I ran out of bangles and haven't had time to get more.

Coming to you as a girl who enjoys neither swatching nor seaming all that much (two main components of this project), I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun I found these were to make. I guess a little bit of instant gratification, especially around the holidays, really goes a long way. :)

Gifts from the Kitchen

By now it's hardly a secret that I love to bake, and that I bake for the holidays. Last year my tiny kitchen turned into quite the cookie production line, which, upon reflection, was kind of crazy. This year, I've managed to take things to all new levels of craziness. I don't know what's come over me, but I can't stop finding new things to bake/make for holiday gifts...and what's *worse* - I continue to make them!

First up this year: instead of the usual cookie assortment, I decided to put together little treat boxes containing the perennial favorite snowball cookies, accompanied by two types of nuts- one sweet and one savory (because who doesn't need a little of both?), and two types of bark candy. The cookies are a given, and I thought the candy and nuts would be a fun change.

Treat box (clockwise from top left: cinnamon candied walnuts,
snowball cookies, spicy mixed nuts (almonds, cashews, pecans),
dark chocolate-almond bark, and white chocolate-peppermint bark)

A sane person would have stopped there. As luck would have it, no sane people live in my house (sorry, boys) so after that I went on to make some rather adorable (if I do say so myself) and wonderfully fragrant mulling sachets.

Mulling spices (clockwise from top left: cinnamon sticks, cardamom,
cloves, black peppercorns, and star anise

I made enough to package some into a cute hostess gift, and others to give out as little gifts. I really enjoyed making these- I'm sure I will be making them again.

It would be nice if I could just leave well enough alone, but I seem to have been bitten by the holiday elf bug, because like I said- I can't stop myself! This weekend B asked me what I was doing and when I said, "baking cookies," he exclaimed, "MORE?" Um, yes. My current plan (early this morning) is to bake some pumpkin-cranberry bread tonight for the office...we'll see if that actually happens...I'll be sure to let you know.

Perhaps the craziest part of all is that I really do enjoy this- not the madness necessarily, but I really do love making things like this, packaging them, and most of all giving them. The fact that I create more work for myself than is called for at this time of year is abundantly clear, however, when the elf bug bites, I am defenseless. Those elves sure know a sucker when they see one!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

Firstly, thank you for the lovely comments on my Hourglass sweater! You guys are the best! Now on to the business at hand...

Christmas is going to be very low key around these parts this year. I heart Christmas. I love planning the presents and the food. But sometimes, its nice to keep things simple. Besides simple gifts = money saved (and boy do we need to do that right now. Each day we are thankful that B's car doesn't shimmy and shake apart as he drives down the street!). I've also saved a bunch of money this year by buying in bulk (thanks again, Nonnahs!) and making things from my stash. Now not everything is a stash project, but I saw several specific-people-inspired projects when organizing my stash for Ravelry, so I went with it!

I also had some early deadlines this year which helped me keep things on track. And now that three of my four knitting gifts have already been received, I figured now is as good a time as any to share.

First up is the first gift I completed. I needed to get it into international mail and although international mail is now always fast and expensive, I wasn't really sure know how long it would take. Turns out it takes about 5 days.

These are Dashing knit in a little over one ball of Zitron Ecco (124). The yarn was really nice to work with and the pattern was fun and easy. I really like how these particular warmers go down your arm. For someone like me who is almost always cold, I think something like these would be a godsend. But, I put them in the shipping box anyway ;-) ...which is good because they went to a friend who is desperately trying to keep warm in his first Japanese winter.

I also knit up this drop stitch scarf, Yo Drop It from the Stitch 'n Bitch Nation.

It was knit from most of a hank of Touch Boucle (566-2), about 243 yards, that was generously gifted to me by Dr. Nyl in a lovely care package while she was living in Australia. I kept thinking about my hair dresser (who I've known for more than six years and never knit for!) and how she would look so pretty in these colors. It was just about the time the drop stitch scarf pattern came up in the Stitch 'n Bitch page-a-day calendar, so I knew I finally had the perfect project for this yarn. It was an easy, fast moving project but the boucle was a little sticky and splitty. I also added some fringe because it just wanted some :-)

Finally, (well not really finally, because my last knitted gift will have to wait until after Christmas to be shared :-D), I made a pair of hand mitts for my 'facial-lady' (calling her an esthetician always seems so hoity-toity for me, so unfortunately she's stuck with this stupid name instead). Now I've wanted so give her a proper thank-you for some time. I was having a serious battle with acne a couple years ago and contemplated getting a medical prescription because I was feeling so desperate about the situation. Now, I usually like to explore non-medical options first and fortunately, D was able to help (she's in the same shop as my hair dresser). Fortunately for me, I've found one of the few affordable facial-ladies in town (she is 1/2 of what most people charge!) and within a month or two my skin was dramatically clearer. I see her now once a month for maintenance and I am starting to think of myself as having clear skin that occasionally gets a breakout vs. having acne. Anyhoo...the mitts:

Hee, hee - I just realized you can see my hitchhiker's thumbs in this photo!

These mitts are endearingly referred to as "21C Fingerless Mitts in 8ply" and the pattern can be found here. I knit them in less than a ball (with about an 1/8th left over) of Vickie Howell Craft in Kelly. I had this as a random ball of yarn and I kept going back to it for D. I knew she would like the organic aspects of this yarn. The color was perfect and she's a surfer. I thought what better way to warm-up after surfing in our terribly cold ocean (or at least that's what I refer to it as!) than with a pair of hand warmers. Yay! once again for Ravelry. I was able to search through all of the mitt patterns until I came across one in just the right yardage and gauge combination to let me use the Craft without having to adjust the pattern. Thank YOU Ravelry!

Now that B is back in town (you can tell I needed to use the auto-timer for the photos above), we've also gone about getting our place jolly for the holidays. We picked out our tree last night and set it up with a glass of eggnog in hand.


B left a signature touch:

Heeelppp meee!!!

Ugh. But then, who am I so determine the 'correct' way to hang an ornament, so the poor snowman is still precariously dangling. Although, I am OCD enough that this is actually quite troubling to me. Things should be straight. And right side up. Oh well, tis the season!