First Nephew

I'm going to be an aunt, so of course, a lot of baby knits have been done recently.  I'm also sending off a couple that have been hanging out in the closet because they didn't get to their original intended recipients for one reason or another.  I hope my sister likes and uses everything - I'd much rather have the items thrown out after a time of hard use, irreparably stained and full of holes, than on a shelf and never touched.

Many of these items I've knit before, and the onesie was even seen before.  Things that haven't yet been blogged include the sweater that wound up going in with this package, though it won't be used until next winter:

Pattern: Child's Placket Neck Pullover (Rav)
Yarn: Three and a bit skeins of a very soft Japanese acrylic called Mamarm.

Needles: US7/4.5 mm 

Timeframe: January 24 - May 9, 2010.  Why it took so long, I'm not sure...I remember this one being quick...
Mods: None, if you don't count omitting the button.
Problems: None!

I really like this pattern and plan to knit the next size up as a Christmas or birthday gift for next year, in gray.  I already have the correct yarn, so I may as well use it!  I love this nice, simple sweater, and can't wait to cast on for the next one.  One more goal for this year is to knit at least two Christmas items per month - I've already set up my queue for the next couple of Christmases!

Everything else I knit has been something I've knit before, mostly because I still had yarn that was appropriate for the project.  I managed to use up all of that blue cotton yarn that was project-less as well as nearly all of the blue kitchen cotton.  Must knit more to use up more yarn!

Pattern: Sneaker Booties (Rav)
Yarn: Louet Gems in White and about 1/4 of a skein of Wister Color Palette in green.

Needles: US2/2.75 mm, DPNs
Timeframe: January 3 - 5, would have been only January 3 but I knit most of a pair of socks and did this blog post while procrastinating.
Mods: None.
Problems: None, except the strong desire to be working on other projects.

 Pattern: Modern Cabled Baby Bib (Rav) 

Yarn: Bernat Naturals Cotton - 3 colors, white, brown, and a Sugar-N-Cream blue (tidepool, I think)

Timeframe: November 20 - December 31. Each one only took a couple of hours actual knitting time.

Mods: I slipped the first stitch of every row and used a crochet cast on to start for a more uniform edge.

Problems: None!

Pattern: Sunny Baby Blanket from How Stuff Works (Rav)

Yarn: Thrifted DK-ish cotton from a sweater bought at Goodwill.

Timeframe: November 20 - December 12, 2010.

Mods: Few. I made the blanket square instead of rectangular, so did 10 total squares instead of 13.I also did a crochet cast-on and slipped the first stitch of every row for a nice border.

Problems: None really - a bit of annoyance that I could have used some of this yarn for the first one, as it obviously wasn't evenly divided, but not a problem.  I made a matching burp rag with three square repeats and the same garter borders out of the extra and had maybe a yard leftover.  Excellent!

I hope the wearables fit and everything else is useful!

Christmas Socks

I knit a whole bunch of stuff for Christmas.  I knit four pairs of thick socks, mostly Thujas, this Christmas, plus one sock earlier in the year as requested.  I also tried Malabrigo Rios, and oh my, that yarn is yummy!  Must get more for me!  Also, as I've said before, I should really knit myself a pair of Thujas - I've knit everyone and their brother at least one pair (two for some people), where's mine?

Pattern: Thuja from Knitty

Yarn: All yarns are from Seria, all ふわっと彩色　(Drifting Colors), a heathery wool/acrylic blend.

Timeframe: Varied.

Mods: None, multiple foot sizes.

Problems: None. Love this pattern so, so, so much!

I did knit a non-Thuja out of the Rios, a Skeive sokker modified.

  

Pattern: Skeive sokker (Rav)
Yarn: Malabrigo Rios 856 Azules, 3.5 grams under 1 skein

Needles: US6/4.0mm
Timeframe: November 24 - December 12, 2010
Mods: A few. Larger needles, smaller cast on (42), typical odd-numbered heel flap pattern (*Sl1, K1* to end, Sl1, P across next row), slight changes to the body of the sock, for full info, see my Ravelry project page.
Problems: None, except of my own making.  I tried casting on 48 first, and while it was a good size and fabric, it was eating yarn way too quickly.  42 obviously also worked.

These socks were so amazingly warm, soft, and wonderful, I really was sad giving them up.  The colors are ever-so-vibrant and gorgeous too.  I must get this yarn again!  Probably will get two skeins with my next Loopy Ewe order, one for socks for me, and one for socks for Lee, and maybe another skein for socks for my FIL for next Christmas, because this yarn truly is amazing.

Paper Boxes

These were all kits from our local dollar store (really 105 yen store [so really really,about $1.26 store]).  Apparently, the trick is to start it, get frustrated, put it down for awhile, then pick it back up again and it's easy to finish.  This is the second basket where that has worked for me - twice, I've gotten so frustrated that I've put away the beginnings of the basket, but they've come together easily when picking them back up again.

My New Year's Eve finish, a heart-shaped basket that I've no idea what I'm going to do with as of now.  Probably save it as a Valentine's Day decoration/candy dish.

And the little blue box with lid.  It holds an assortment of chotchkies and other items without a home in my closet.  I like this one - the lid is nice.  I have one more kit stashed away, another of the lidded boxes but in green and off-white.  There is one more style that the store had; I think I'll pick up one of those next time I'm there so I have the directions for all the types of boxes; they really are cute little gift baskets and don't take much time, once you get going.  I'm not sure I'd be able to get the materials outside of Japan though...ah well, the instructions don't take up much space!

2011: Year of the WIP

This year, my goal will be to get rid of as many WIPs as possible.  I tend to have a few hangers-on every year.  Four or five from 2009, those last three from 2010, a couple from 2008, and six that are pre-Japan are hanging out in my WIP pile.  I never really considered how long they've been in there, thinking they'll eventually come out as FOs, until somewhat recently when I was telling my husband about my absurd FO count for this year.  His response was, "Oh yeah, how many of those are finished and started in 2010?"  This of course made me go back and figure out how many were in fact both started and finished this year, resulting in the new version of the WIP counter.

This year was not bad.  I ended with 15 WIPs - 110 finished projects - 96 started and finished in 2010.  For 2011, the goal is to finish all but the 4 cross stitch WIPs currently in the pile, as well as to get through as much yarn, fabric, and roving as possible.  Cross stitches take ever so long and take up so little stash space that they are not a top priority finish.  We're leaving Japan in April of 2012, so I'd like to have as little stash left at that point as possible, from a number of boxes/weight perspective.  Keeping the small, smoosh-able laceweight skeins around and the cross stitches are fine, going home with all the same fabrics and sweaters worth of bulky yarns is not.  There is no way I will finish it all, but I can at least switch the vast majority of the thicker yarns into clothing and knit up at least a few of the steadily growing pile of sock yarns.

Based on previous years' goals, however, I will in fact manage to use up nearly all of the thicker than laceweight pre-Japan yarn in my stash, as that was the goal for 2010, and in 2010 I really blew 2009's goal out of the water.  I should also be able to finish all of the pre-Japan WIPs since finishing those things was on my goals of 2010 list as well.  So really, I should be making as my stated goal for this year whatever I want to get done in 2012.  Hmmm....I suppose I'll keep my goal as-is.  In 2012, I'm planning to do a LOT of travel, but will also be packing up whatever stash is left and not seeing any of it aside from my Yubina lace for 3 - 5 months while on the Appalachian Trail.  Even longer for most of it, probably from early March through mid-August, from packing in Japan to unpacking in (hopefully) Indiana.

My 2010 goal was, specifically, "I want to finish four pairs of socks, three huge projects, two felting projects, and a couple of languishing projects before August, because they are all gifts for people in the States."  What did I accomplish?  Many more than four pairs of socks.  I do believe that while I did in fact make the letter of the goal, I did not in fact accomplish the spirit of it.  The four pairs of socks were supposed to be from stash.  Out of the eight pairs of finished socks this year, only two were from stash, though one did take double the typical amount of stash yarn and so could kinda be considered a total of three.  Not four.  Three huge projects...well, I got one done.  Two felting projects were done, and I did eight more for Christmas even.  The languishing projects are still, in fact, languishing.  I did use up a good chunk of pre-Japan yarn, but not even close to all of the non-laceweight I have.  I do have patterns picked out for all of it though!

I hope your 2010 was fulfilling, and that your 2011 is even better!

Finished!

Welcome to 2011!  How'd I do?

Projects:

Panhandles (x2)

Husband Hat 

One Sock

Blue Sock 

Bibs (x6)

Pocket Creatures - Wasted the time trying to fix the sewing machine

Heart Box

Knitting Tools Case - And the sewing machine starts acting up!  Last couple of lines of stitching, and it stops working on me.  If it were earlier in the day, I may have been able to pull this one off, but I can't seem to figure out why the top thread is sometimes catching on the part the bobbin sits in and knocking it out of position.  Not every single time, just often enough to really mess it up.

Small Knitting Tools Case - Needs a button sewn on and the nifty pincushion bit sewn in.  Still.  I'm gonna blame this one on the faulty sewing machine too.

Box Bag

Unders

Lady Sunshine Test - Not even touched.  Probably won't be the first FO of 2011 because I still have a couple more things that have to go to family to finish up, and I really, really want to cross stitch.

Pretty good; only four WIPs of 2010 to continue to 2011.  Fourteen of a possible eighteen.  I blame the sewing machine issues - I spent more time than I should have trying to fix it.  If only I hadn't done the frivolous projects first...oh well.  Now for next year, I'll finish those and some of those older WIPs, finish everything that is started in 2011, and expand that to all Christmas stuff too.  I still have to start eight Christmas gifts!

Progress: Afternoon of the 30th (in Japan)

A few more hours left...

Projects:

Panhandles (x2)

Husband Hat 

One Sock - Halfway through the foot of the second Worsted Weight sock, so will be done soon.

Blue Sock - Just needs one end woven in and a wash.

Bibs - Need buttons, as soon as they're dry.

Pocket Creatures - Technically I also started the other two pairs by making the inner warming bag, but I'm not really counting that until I cast on.  Which I won't do for at least a couple of days.  The one that I'm supposed to finish still needs features, finishing work, and stuffing.

Heart Box - Sitting on the table in front of me...I need to get the foam pieces out to pin it onto while I get it going.

Knitting Tools Case - I know how to do it.  Just a bit of cutting and some straight lines sewn is all it needs!  20 minutes or less!


Small Knitting Tools Case - Needs a button sewn on and the nifty pincushion bit sewn in.

Box Bag - Totally frivolous project, but also finished.  Of course, the moment I said I was going to finish everything I'd already started in 2010, I had to start something brand new.  I think I suffer horribly from this phenomena:

Unders - Still may need some sort of edging around the legs, but are done for now.  I'll have to wear them a few times to decide if they need something more or not, and I cannot wait!

Lady Sunshine Test - Not even touched.  Probably won't be the first FO of 2011 because I still have a couple more things that have to go to family to finish up, and I really, really want to cross stitch.

Five down, 12 to go, eight of which will take less than an hour total.  Still do-able!

The Final Countdown

of 2010 at least.

To go along with counting how many WIPs were started and finished in 2010, I'm trying to finish all projects but the blanket that were started in 2010 by New Year's Eve.  Right now (morning of the 29th) it stands at fourteen projects.  I do need to start one more, because I'd rather just finish all the baby bibs together, but that's a quick one and won't take long.  So fifteen total to finish in the next couple of days.  Do-able.  Totally do-able.

I really mean it this time!

Projects:

Panhandles (x2) (finished afternoon of the 29th) - They're in the wash right now, going through their third felting cycle.  Should be their last, too, and then they're done.

Husband Hat - Needs end woven in and a wash/block, so will be done when I block all the things that need blocking.

One Sock - Halfway through the foot of the second Worsted Weight sock, so will be done soon.

Blue Sock - Just needs one end woven in and a wash.

Bibs - I need to knit one full one plus the strap of another, then weave in ends and block five.  They only take a few hours each, nice quick knit.  Cute Stitch buttons I already have will finish them off.

Pocket Creatures - I started one of the three pairs I need to send home, so I've got to finish that pair before January.  The knitting is done, they just need features, stuffing, and finishing work.

Heart Box - This is one of those paper-based baskets that really aren't that difficult, but are really fiddly to get going.  This one especially because it's a heart shape instead of a simple rectangle.  It will be good as a break from the knitting.  Most of the items on here that require actual knitting are out of thicker and not-so-nice yarns, like the cotton bibs and acrylic blend socks (why is the brown stiff when the blue was so gosh darn nice?), and I would rather not kill my arms just to get them done.

Knitting Tools Case - I have in mind what I'll be doing, and a working sewing machine to do it.  I also have a cheap-o little dollar store kit that makes pretty much exactly what I have in mind, but has instructions.  I'll probably do that one first, since it should be quick, instead of totally winging it for the case and failing.  Adding another project...

edit evening of the 29th - I made a box bag too.  And since I was doing the innards of the first Pocket Creature, I did the innards of the other two also.  I'm trying to pretend it doesn't count as starting them.

Unders - I can't believe I started these this year, but they just need a bit of a rip and re-knit.  This is the one that is a hope more than a definite, because the new numbers may or may not work.  We'll see.

Lady Sunshine Test - Not a 2010 WIP, but Lee said to make up for the blanket, I should finish something else this year.  I already finished a bunch of older WIPs, but, if I finish the rest of the list early (not likely), this will be my project for the rest of the year, and probably my first FO of 2011 because my hands are cold!

So really, not that bad.  The apartment is pretty clean and organized, I'm on vacation, no reason not to finish this list.  15 13 must-dos, 1 will-do, 1 should-do - not too bad.