Year-End Resolutions

Many are making New Year's resolutions about this time.. but since I know I'd break those before January is over, I present you my "End of the Year Resolutions".

• I will finish the Christmas 2008 presents: Tang and Coronet.

• I will step into my sewing room.

• I will put away ONE book a day on a shelf. No promises how many I take out.

• I will thread the sewing machine with the thread needed to make the dress I cut out of this fabric.

On other fronts, both shawls were very well received. I am blessed with friends who didn't see any of the mistakes, and did not mind the delays in getting the projects to them. Now, I wish the critter living in the wall would stop scraping it..

Not Quite a McGyver Award

Somewhere I have the right Clover circular needle row counter. But I couldn't find it at the time.. So I made this instead, with a paper clip, a hair elastic and the "regular" sort of row counter. It works well, except when the paper clip catches on the knitting. When I find the needle nose pliers, I'll be able to bend the paperclip better.

They are on their way..

DH took them to the post office. Yes, after much delay. All my fault. Somewhere in the East Coast, I'm sure this will be well received.

It is Done

And will be on its way shortly. It took much longer than I expected. And there was a week of Knit one, Rip two. The pattern is the Comfort Shawl by Sandi Wiseheart. The intentional modifications were the length and the lace border. Instead of the Arrowhead Lace Border I designed my own heart border.

I knitted as long as I thought I could before the border. It was close! I almost ran out of yarn... But it is now done.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

And sadly, I have a reason to knit this year for it. When I first heard the news that my friend was afflicted, I literally went to my room and cried. After a few days, I started knitting. I'm usually a very loose knitter. Not this time. This project is knit tight, tight. Too much tension. October is also the worst month for migraines usually, so this is being knit in spurts. Many of my projects are about the process, not so much the object. I knit or crochet or crochet or sew because I wish to make something. Not so this time. I want this to be done, I want it around the shoulders of my friend, providing what little comfort I can give through the miles.

Not about hats

Life sometimes does not go the way one plans. I will not wrap up the hat project for a while. I started a crocheted cardigan, and so far I am rather pleased with it -- except that I keep having to rip to the previous row because I discover a mistake. So far, it does not look like much. The yarn is vintage Sugar 'n Cream, in Red. The plan is to make a raglan long sleeve cardigan, with the yoke in one stitch pattern, and the body/sleeves in a different, yet to be chosen pattern. Hopefully with pockets. This is what it looks like so far:

A close up showing the stitch ( just boring DC at the moment ):
And see, Vintage Yarn! So old, it has an actual price sticker: Still no sewing..

I should blog more often

But I forget. I've not been sewing either, which isn't helping, as this is supposed to be the fabric and yarn, not just yarn. And what do I have to show? Yarn projects. I'll try to wrap up the Knit-A -Cap project this week, and will hopefully blog about it then. For now, I'll tell you that the three Ravelympics projects that did get finished are for this project. All others didn't, not even a simple bookmark. Sigh. Hat photos: