Nothing brings joy to a knitter's heart quite like being asked to knit something for someone. Even showing someone something you like and saying "I think you'll like this" then having them nod in a vaguely non-committal way is about all the encouragement we need. (I am assuming this is true for other knitters - correct me if I am wrong.) And of course, there are to-be-gifted knitting projects that the recipient knows nothing about and those are always great, too.
My proclivity for this kind of knitting has generated a bit of a backlog. This is no one's fault but my own and so I am taking responsibility for my knitting to-do list. I am enacting a Resolution. I am resolving to complete my current list of projects before casting on for any more projects.
New Year's resolutions would be inappropriate in the middle of April so I'm making a Friday the 13th Resolution. This Resolution will be in effect from Friday the 13th to Friday the 13th. Conveniently enough, the next Friday the 13th falls in July of this year and three months is a very reasonable amount of time for tidying up the knitting landscape. (On an irrelevant but serendipitous note, that is the amount of time I am going to need to continue being gentle to my ankle.)
So without further adieu. . .
(In no particular order)
1. I shall not start any new knitting projects between today and the next Friday the 13th.
2. Between now and 07/13/2007 I will only knit on the projects as itemized below. (Some of the listed projects are literally started - as in already on the needles - and some are just on the docket.)
3. My little Christmas ornament sweaters are exempt for the following reasons:
a. They are an ongoing project that was started before the Resolution was enacted.
b. They are the aperitif and thinly sliced ginger of my knitting life these days.
c. It is my Resolution so I get to make up the rules.
4. Swatching doesn't count.
5. Charity knitting doesn't count. (Hey - there might be some sort of knitting emergency.)
6. This Resolution is purposefully silent on acquisitions.
The Approved List:
1. Mama's hedgehog herd. I need to make her a total of five. Hedgehog-1 is complete - knit, felted, stuffed, seamed. Hedgehog-2 has been knit but not felted or anything else. Hedgehog-3 is on the needles. Hedgehogs-4 and -5 are in the stash.
2. Socks for my ankle surgeon. (This is my current on-the-go project. This has a slightly different deadline in that I want to take them to my July 9 appointment.)
3. I need to sew the lining in Lori's Sophie bag. (Not technically knitting but the knitting project isn't done until the non-knitting part of the project is done, too.)
4. The Almost Amish Baby Blanket. (The challenge of this blanket is that the Pima Cotton Silk sheds. I can't take the shedding knitting with me to work on when I have to then go back to work or anywhere else. This is at-home knitting.) 
5. Socks for my oldest niece. (I have made significant progress since this picture was taken. This sock is beyond the gussets and the second is just past the cuff, however, both of these socks are on holders at the moment because I have borrowed the needles to work on Item #2.)
5. Socks for my oldest niece. (I have made significant progress since this picture was taken. This sock is beyond the gussets and the second is just past the cuff, however, both of these socks are on holders at the moment because I have borrowed the needles to work on Item #2.)6. A white llama for Carrie. (She got a brown one for Christmas and now wants a small white one with a black face, too.) 
7. Felted magazine bag for my friend Donna. (The pattern for which I need to work out. Right now this pattern is only in my head. A dangerous place for a pattern.)
Should the stars and planets align causing a shift in the fiber of the universe which then results in me finishing 1-7 before 07/13/2007, then the following projects are permissible.
8. Mama's Tahki Cotton Classic Colorific Daddo blanket.
10. Socks for me from Susie's yarn or the Trekking. I will cross that bridge in the unlikely event that I come to it. 
Well there you have it. The Resolution. So now I've said it "out loud" which should help keep me on task.
Well there you have it. The Resolution. So now I've said it "out loud" which should help keep me on task.
Today's Quote:
"However vague they are, dreams have a way of concealing themselves and leave us no peace until they are translated into reality, like seeds germinating underground, sure to sprout in their search for the sunlight." - Lin Yutang
The only modification was that I wanted a smaller hedgehog this time so I used Plymouth Indiecita Alpaca (100% Peruvian Alpaca) for the white and black and Plymouth's Whisper for the fur. To accomodate the smaller yarn, I went down to a 16" Size 8 circular. I was a bit concerned about how this white would felt because it is very white and we all know how that can go...but the white felted fine in the end. It took two full runs through the washer but that was ok. He is drying now with the temporary stuffing.
Isn't she loverly? And so soft! (You will have to take my word for it on the soft but really, very soft.) Before this fabulous package arrived to me, I had made up my mind to make myself a wrap using the 
in the Salsa colorway. Last night, I cast on and knit a few rounds just so that the fiddly part of getting the ChaCha going in the round was behind me. It has been so long since I have knit with fun fur (other than when carried along with the hedgehogs) and it is amazing how slimy and weird the ChaCha feels in my hand. I plan to do this one and probably another one before the February 28 deadline. I have several balls and parts of balls of the black Patons Allure (I have a quickie little baby bootie pattern that I've done several times from this yarn and they are precious) that need a home and this seems perfect. This is a really 
Sakura by Noro seemed to do the trick. 
That's Courtney's baby D in his one and only 
this morning showing the Abundance that she customed dyed for me for the 
