Wow, where did the time go?

Welcome to 2012!  Although my last post was on Thanksgiving Day, I think I may be onto something good with that hiatus, which was not planned.  It took a little stress out of my life to leave off my weekly blog for the past 6 weeks.  Besides, now I have more information to update and show you, today.

First of all, I am not a person who is given to making New Year's resolutions.  In my experience (and trust me, at my age, I have some), resolutions don't work so well for me.  Why?  I tend to be an idealist and so, when I make a resolution, I generally cannot meet the loft goals I set for myself.  Is there a solution to this?  I think maybe so.  Instead of giving a number of, oh say, socks I intend to knit this year, I can just give the general category as a goal.  That way, all I have to do is make 1 and I have succeeded.

With that in mind, here are my New Year's knitting resolutions:  In 2012 I would like to accomplish the following:  Knit a hat, a shawl, a sweater, a toy, a pair of mittens in colorwork, try a project that involves thrumming (maybe those mittens mentioned above or a pair of slipper/socks), spin yarn specifically for a pattern, knit a pair of socks and knit something with beads.  Now, if I can just knit one thing in each category, I will have been a success.  If not, I will have had fun trying!

This year I a planning to attend the Super Summer Knit_____ in Nashville, Tennessee.  Since the name is changing, I am still in the dark as to what the new name will be.  This will be a first for me, to attend a conference out of state.  I once attended the No-So Knitting day conference in Roanoke, Virginia, about 7 years ago.  At the time, we lived in Waynesboro, Virginia, about an hour away.   I will never forget that experience!  The room was full of crafters and vendors- noise with yarn goodness all around.  I was given the most lovely door prize- a pattern for a self-fringing scarf/shawl, and enough ribbon yarn to knit the scarf.  The vendor who offered the door prize was so nice and offered to exchange the yarn for another colorway- I declined as the greens, purples and burgundies are gorgeous.  Anyway, I am really looking forward to my knitting adventure! 

In the meantime, our oldest daughter, Nancy, is getting married on March 17th of this year!  At 25 years of age, she is ready to make this decision of her lifetime.  We love Neil, her fiance, and his family is fabulous!

My knitting projects are coming along!  My idea for this year was to join the 12 shawls in 2012 group on Ravelry; however, I decided that the goal is just a bit lofty for me.  Then I learned that Diane Thompson of the Knitabulls Podcast is hosting a shawl KAL for Laura Linneman's Thin Ice and I just had to join the fun!  I am knitting mine out of Tosh Merino Light in the Tart colorway.  I cast on New Year's Day and here is my progress, so far:

This is my first KAL with Diane.  She is so encouraging- this is fun!

During my last blog post, I showed you my home spun Polwarth in the Haunted Vinyard colorway from Cloudlover, which I spun for the Knit Girllls SAL/KAL.  I used a navajo ply on the yarn because I felt that you could see the variation in coloring better.  I chose the Suzie's Reading Mitts Pattern for this project.  That was BEFORE the "now defunct" yarn company that originally gave the pattern away offered to sue the designer of this pattern for allowing people free access to it.  Honestly, grow up!  I have not completed this project yet; however, this is where I am at this time:

 As you can see, I need to add the thumb to the second mitt and turn the hems.  The color pooling is odd due to the variation in my drafting.  My daughter, Shanleigh, likes these and has spoken for them....they look good on her.

Speaking of Shanleigh, before Christmas, I made a deal with her:  If she would get me the Rebecca Danger Book of Knitted Monsters, I would knit her a monster.  Well, she did and I am.  What fun this is!  The patterns are simply written and knit up pretty fast.  She is a computer person, so of course she chose Cecil, the Computer Monster.   I am using Cascade 220 in a heathery blue/gray and a navy blue.

 One change I did make to this pattern- I do not like to glue felt onto a knitted item.  I knit Cecil's "uni-tooth" by casting on 3 stitches of doubled up Carron Simply Soft on a size 1 needle.  I knit a garter stitch for 4 rows and then I stitched into place, using the tale of the yarn.  He has green safety cat eyes.  I just need to finish his legs and he will be ready to go!  I am thinking some monsters done in sock yarn leftovers would be 1) fun 2) quick 3) easy 4) future gifts.

In spinning, I am having a little fun!  I went digging through my stash of fiber and pulled out an interesting combination of BFL colorways.  I have a gradient by Cloudlover in the Mist and Shadow colorway and a semi-solid by Fibernymph Dyeworks in the I am No Mermaid colorway.  

I started spinning the gradient, first.  I am spinning this a good bit thicker than my previous efforts.  Here is my progress:

 When both are spun, I plan to ply them together. I think the color will be interesting and I am going for a DK weight yarn- in anticipation of the next project coming up from the Super Summer Knit____.  Each of those projects done with vendor yarn gets you tickets for prize drawings.  You get more tickets if you spin your own yarn.  Wonder if I could get Leslie and Laura to double that since I am using 2 different vendor yarns plyed together.....hmmmmm?  I am totally loving this! 

My current knitting fantasy involves a sweater.  The sweater is the Brea by Marie Wallen. 

I plan to make this in the Rowan Lima yarn in the Machu Picchu colorway. 

I ordered the yarn from my LYS- Iris Fine Yarns because the proprietor, Phyllis, was kind to help my husband with my Christmas gift, a WPI tool, and she is always so nice when I go into her shop.  I want to keep her in business! 

So, support your LYS and keep the fantasy alive!