Pick Your Path, Then Follow It

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. . .

As Blog is my witness, I declare the following Friday the 13th Resolutions:

(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.)

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.

9. My Briar Rose Knitalong Abundance shawl from the Cozy pattern.

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.

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

I Told You I'd Have Pictures

Let's get right down to business.

Here we have a completed Hedgehog, again from the Fiber Trends pattern I used for Christmas.
Pre-felting:

Post-felting:

After first wash

After second washThe 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.

Next Up

Resting peacefully on the towel warmer (which has only occasionally been used to warm towels but is great for drying towels as well has sweaters) we find the beautiful Briar Rose Abundance.
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 Cozy pattern from Knitty. I love this wrap and came within a snap of making it for the ISE last fall but was afraid I would want to keep it for myself. I knew I want this wrap for myself so I decided not to take the chance (sorry, Kim). The color of this Abundance is luscious and gorgeous and rich and wonderful and just exactly what I wanted for me - I am a sucker for the reds (Thank You Chris!! It really is just perfect) - and I thought it would translate well to the Cozy pattern (which calls for a silk yarn of appoximately the same gauge as the Abundance) but now I am wavering. Any opinions?

Simple Knitting

RC, you are a sock pusher, too, just like Kim! Are ya'll in a gang or something? Seriously, I will start the sock soon. Before I go back to work in a couple weeks. OK?

For now, though, I have made a decision about the hospital knitting. Ya'll should have known...I chose the option that included a visit to the yarn store, of course! I picked out this ChaChain 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 wonderful cause and I am thrilled to be knitting for it.

A Side Note

Last night, I couldn't sleep. I woke up at 2:00 a.m. and just couldn't make myself go back to sleep. Eventually I figured reading would tire my eyes and I got up and got a book from the shelf. It is one I have been wanting to read but just haven't gotten around to it. A Cure for Dreams by Kaye Gibbons. These are the first two lines of the first chapter:

"When my mother was a young girl, she spent the pinks of summer evenings sitting on the banks of the Brownies Creek, where it flows into the Cumberland River. She always sat with a ball of worsted in her lap, knitting and dreaming of love coming to her."

Somehow it just made my heart happy. I went to sleep about 20 minutes later. Incidentally, Kaye Gibbons is one of my favorite authors. I highly recommend Ellen Foster and A Virtuous Woman and Charms for the Easy Life and anything else you can find by her. Something of hers is quite likely to be my next Book on CD purchase. Probably this, in fact, when I find it on CD..

I Digress

When I went to the yarn store for the ChaCha, I was feeling a little fidgety and squirrely. It took me forever to make up my mind on the fun fur. I figured I needed some little something to settle my nerves.
Sakura by Noro seemed to do the trick.

I think that's it for now. I will probably be back around some time next week. Have a wonderful weekend!

Today's Quote:

“Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor to measure words but to pour them all out, just as it is, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keeping what is worth keeping, and then, with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away.” George Elliot

First Things First

I am working on the smallest of my mother's hedgehogs - this one from black and white Blue Sky Alpaca and Whisper for the novelty yarn. I'm sure he will be at least as cute as the others and quite a bit smaller.

As I've seen many others say recently, I am not generally a maker of New Year's resolutions, but for what ever reason, I am inclined to make a (very short) list this year. Nothing terribly exciting but here they are, nonetheless.

1. Exercise more and lose weight. (Aren't these New Year's resolution staples?)
2. Finish more projections than I start. (This actually IS possible, considering how many unfinished projects I already have sitting around.)
3. Be a better housekeeper. (My husband will be happy if I manage to keep this resolution and nothing else.)
4. Work more efficiently - both at work and at home.
5. Manage our household budget better.

Very run-of-the-mill goals, I know but that's ok. I've never been a very exciting girl and there's no reason to start now. (It didn't make the list.)

I have long been a lover of quotes so I think I'll start including a quote in my posts. And considering how often I seem to discuss my kniting good intentions, I decided this would be a good one to start with:

"I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions."
--Augusten Burroughs, Magical Thinking

Hedgehog on the Half Shell

(Please be patient with me. I recently upgraded to the new blogger and I'm still figuring out the spacing. At least I seem to be able to upload pictures with wild abandon now so that is a step up!)

I started this post sometime the first part of last week but wanted to share it with you anyway...

I've made some progress on the first hedgehog and I'm now confident that I'll get them both finished in time for Christmas.

Ok, so the picture isn't the greatest (those hedgehogs are fast) but at least you can see what I've been up to. Once you get going on these, they seem to go pretty fast.

Here are some more pictures of these boys, pre-felting and post-felting.

Before:

After:Before:

The only after shot I got of the black one was the group picture from yesterday.

A few notes: I used a much longer "fur" on the brown guy and he has a bit of a porcupine look to him. I think that might have something to do with the sparseness of the quills...I mean fur. I made a mistake with the yarn for the brown fella, too. I used a chunky weight tannish-grayish yarn for the belly and a sort of mocha brown worsted along with the fur for the back. It turned out to be a happy accident, as I was pleased with the results.

For the black hedgehog, I used chunky for both front and back. The black fur is shorter and very dense. He is MUCH fatter than the brown guy. They are so different and each has such personality. It was neat to see how unique they are considering they are made from the same pattern.

These pictures don't show it but I ended up needle felting the eyes and nose. It was my first attempt at needle felting and it really was as simple has everyone says it is and the finished product was exactly what I had hoped for. Thanks to Lois at Elegant Stitch for not only giving me a quick needle felting tutorial on Friday, but also for giving me a needle felting tool!

All of the animals were well received. Mama put in a request for some hedgehogs of her own so I will try to get busy on those in the next few weeks. I give all of these Fiber Trends patterns an enthusiastic endorsement. They are easy to read, interesting without being unnecessarily complicated and the results are everything they promise to be.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was great, though too quick. My parents bought me a swift (HURRAY!!!) and a Knitter's Satchel from Jordana Paige. My sister got me the KnitPicks Options needles....I am exceptionally blessed to have a kind generous family, who may not understand my knitting but still support it. We had a great dinner and played games and just relaxed. It was a very Merry Christmas.

A Very Merry Christmas!

What a crazy, exciting, busy, wonderful

week it has been leading up to Christmas.

I hope you are all enjoying time with family and/or loved ones and that you are feeling loved and blessed this joyful season. When I count my Christmas blessings, please know that I count each of you among those blessings and I'm looking forward to the coming year with such anticipation.

I did get all of the felted animals completed - and it didn't include any knitting at all on Christmas Eve. (Though the hedgehogs did get seamed amidst the last of my Christmas Eve wrapping...) Now I'll just hope that the recipients love them as much as I do.

So from me and mine to you and yours,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!