Year of the Shawl

I don't especially like setting 'resolutions' at the start of the new year - most seem doomed to failure - but I do like having project goals. About a week ago, I spotted a Ravelry group that looks perfect for me - knit or crochet (or Tunisian) 10 shawls in 2010. I love both making and wearing shawls and I'm annoyed with myself for not having finished more of them this year, so I joined up.

I'm also in the sub-group that plans to make 5 of the shawls with stash yarn - I'm hoping for more like 8 done with stash - since another of my goals is to decrease the amount of yarn I've accumulated. (Yes, I know I'll just buy more . . . . but I'll at least have some room to store it!)

This one won't count for the group since I 'hooked on' before January 1, but I'm in love with this. I pictured a warm, simple, batwing (extra long 'arms') Tunisian shawl made with yarn already in my stash - and that's exactly what I got. I'll write up the pattern as soon as I finish the last 4-5 rows. I can't wait to wear this before it goes into the shop as a class sample. (Class info here; scroll down to Tunisian Shawl.)
The first 'real' shawl is also my first 'frog' for the year. I started a Seraphina's Shawl with my handspun but didn't like the texture or the look, so I ripppppppppppped it. Started again with some in-stash Fearless Fibers Alpaca and Wool DK in 'Pumpkin Spice' and I like it much better. I want to have this done by Thursday night so I can wear it to the Ravelry party after my class at TNNA. Which means I need to get cracking on this.

Ringing In The New Year

Even when she's sick, Leia is a happy baby. We got to keep her* over New Year's Eve and she kept us better entertained than a party ever could. Although she's coming down with a cold - how could she not when almost everyone around her is sick? - she laughed and smiled the evening away.

The towel was Leia's constant companion due to her still 'delicate' stomach.

Congestion woke her up repeatedly during the night. I got to sleep around 12:15 (Dick and I stayed awake to midnight, barely) but woke up when Leia started 'talking' at 1:30. After that, she'd doze for awhile before waking up again, happy and smiling but awake. I passed her off to Dick at 6:30 and went back to bed while the two of them watched Bones and Mythbusters marathons.

This is Leia's 'I'm tired of the camera now' look.

Dick also weighed Leia on our bathroom scale. Our 4-month-old princess weighs a whopping 19 pounds. The pj's she's wearing are 9-month size and while the legs and arms need to be rolled up, the body fits her just fine. I'm sure that once she gets mobile the weight will melt away, but she sure is an adorably chubby little thing right now. *Miles - who turned three on Dec. 29 - is still with his dad. Naia decided she'd rather stay home with mom and Nana than spend what I was forced to admit would be a 'boring' night with us. Marie and I took her pottery painting in the afternoon on New Year's eve though. No pictures; I forgot my camera and my phone battery died just before we started painting. Finished project pix sometime after Jan. 7.

Accounting

I've seen this a couple of places, but I got the original idea from Gigi (who has great taste in projects, BTW. We do a lot of the same items, so that makes her brilliant, right?)

Looking through my Ravelry* projects (click to see them all) for the past year made it much easier to assemble a list of FO's. A couple of things may not have made it to Rav, but this should be pretty accurate. In 2008, I finished:

• 45 crocheted and zero knitted items, including:
• 1 bag
• 3 blankets
• 11 squares
• 1 dress
• 4 hats
• 1 pair of mitts
• 6 scarves
• 7 shawls
• 1 pair of socks
• 8 sweaters
• 1 set of stocking tags
• 1 set flowers and leaves
  

And who - or what - motivated most of my projects? I made 14 for class samples - block-a-month, shawls and scarves; 11 for Addy; and 9 for me.

I also have a lot of items in progress, some of which have been there an embarrassingly long period of time.

• 1 blanket (knit, log cabin)
• 1 hat (crochet, cables)
• 1 scarf (knit, using handspun)
• 4 shawls (2 crochet, both class samples; 1 woven; 1 knit)
• 1 pair of socks (crochet)
• 4 sweaters (all knit, 3 for me and 1 for Leia that she's already outgrown)
  

This doesn't count the ones I gave up on and consigned to permanent hibernation. My New Year's Resolution - one of them anyway - is to finish some of these projects, especially the knit ones. No knit FO's this year? That's just sad.

*Since joining Ravelry in August 2007, I've added 131 projects; 18 are still in progress and 7 are in hibernation. I love Ravelry's organizational features.

Happy New Year!

'Twas the night before New Year and all through the house, the only creatures who're stirring are about to get in big trouble -

Snickers loves hiding in the tree and chewing on the wires;
she knows she's not supposed to be in there . . .

who me??

and the grandpa was snuggled asleep on his couch -

before the clock even struck 10 p.m.

While visions of zucchini bread - freshly baked - danced in his head.

Happy New Year to all and to all a Good Night.

Long Time, No Blog

I didn't mean to take this long a blog-break. I usually write in the evenings while Dick & the kids are watching the teevee. The kiddies were gone most evenings during the holiday, so Dick & I sat in front of the fire and had our own personal movie marathon. We made it through all three Lord of the Ring movies, four Harry Potters, the first X-Men, You've Got Mail, and a bunch more. As you can probably tell from the titles, Dick got to pick most of the movies. As long as I had cats on my lap and crochet projects in my hand, I was willing to watch almost anything. (I nixed The Patriot - too depressing).

New Years Eve found us on the couch, wine glasses in hand, watching the big screen. (This was taken early in the evening. Marie does have a life & left shortly thereafter with her friends.) We even managed to bore the cat.
But I did get the samples done for the classes I'm teaching. My very first, OMG-what-have-I-gotten-myself-into class starts this Saturday. It's a three session beginning crochet class - and I have three students already signed up. I'm a tad nervous. I love crochet - and tend to be passionate when talking about it - and I hope I can convey that. The projects include a basic double-crochet hat (I thought the flower was a nice touch), a cotton washcloth, and a granny square and triangle shawl that I'm still working on.

And in February, I'm teaching a crocheted sock class. I hope. Only one person has signed up so far, but I'm pretty sure I can twist a few arms and get at least two more participants. (Right, Wenona and Sharon? Please don't make me beg.) If the sock class goes well, we're planning a sock-along at the store for both crocheted and knitted socks. I think it would be a lot of fun; hope I can convince others of that.