One of those UFO's, finished, and off to it's new home! But before I gifted it, I took a picture:


Two more UFO's to go!

I also made excellant progress on baby bootie #1. All that's left is the seams/weaving in ends, observe:



And in other news, I'm not going to wait to buy my yarn for my first sweater. I just don't have the self-control! ;P

It's not much, but I've re-done the first two lace motifs:



I also got over the step I was stuck on (read: avoiding for fear of messing it up) with the baby bootie. It involved getting all the stitches off of three stitch holders on one needle, including picking up stitches in between those holders, only to realize I was one silly stitch short, finding that one dangling off (it had slipped a couple of rows), and rescuing it with a crochet hook. Me! Fixing instead of frogging! There's a miracle if I ever heard one, LOL! I can't wait to get home and get back to work on that now. Bonus points if I start the matching bootie immediately after, because that's exactly the sort of thing I'm liable to leave off for years! ;P

I think I've finally settled on which sweater will be my first one. I think it will be the "Fairly Easy Fair Aisle" sweater from SnB Nation. It's a nice, basic, button-up number with a little bit of "Fair Aisle" decoration. I think I'm going to be completely unoriginal and use the colors exactly as prescribed in the pattern, since they are very "me" colors: black sweater, with decorative stitches done in shades of pink! I even found a cone of the yarn for $23, which is a great savings. . . But am trying to save money for my NYC trip in February, so am trying to make myself not order it. . . I have a feeling that it all hangs on what my bank account looks like after I pay bills this weekend! ;P

Adventures in lace & projectitis. . .

Is the baby bootie done? No. Did I finish any other unfinished projects from the list yet? Nope. So did I start yet another new project? Of course! ;)

So I am giving knitting a "lace" edging a try. I figure, if it works, I'll make enough to trim my next chemise. As mentioned, I found the right size needles (although the only size 1 needle I could find was a set of dpns - but hey, it does the trick!) and Wal-Mart came through with lovely size 10 crochet cotton, so. . . Off I went. . . And it was fun! And it worked! I got three motifs done last night, and decided, this project is so compact, I think it will be the project I carry around with me. So this morning, on the way to work, (obviously, I'm not the driver, LOL!) I pulled it out and started the fourth motif.

I'll save you the lengthy version of the story, but let's just say knitting lace and being in a car don't go well together. It was very frustrating. I ended up loosing my place/stitches so badly that I couldn't recover and frogged the whole thing. So, I have no photographic evidence to present you. But, at least I know I can do it. . .

Tonight, I think I'll put the lace aside and pick up the baby bootie again. This would be after I weave the ends in on Jim's scarf, of course. (That's right, I still haven't gotten around to that. . . *sigh*)

I might be making a stop at Saftler's first though, because my husband, sweetie that he is, just called me to tell me he called Saftler's and they say they have proper pair of size 1 needles in stock. I'm thinking I might pick them up because it would be very sad to put my work down and have it drop off the end of these little dpns! Especially if I decide to do the wider lace for the bottom of the chemise! So the big question is: Will I be able to resist the urge to purchase more yarn?

Another finished project!

I finally wove in the ends and added the fringe to my friend Kristin's shawl, and presented it to her yesterday. I'm happy to say: She loved it! :)

I made sure to take some pictures before gifting it:




And for the record, that's two down, three to go (of the unfinished projects that are my New Year's Resolution to complete). I'm on such a roll that I might just finish up #3 tonight! But then again, maybe I should pick up the baby bootie again, now that I got some tips. . . Or perhaps try my hand at knitting lace, now that I have the right needle/yarn for it? We'll see!

Well so far so good with the resolutions, which is to say that I have already accomplished something from the list. Go me! Last night, I brought out all those unfinished projects, and decided Halloween's bed should be first. I located the pieces and yarn to seam it, put it down. . . And Halloween immediately ran over and jumped on it, as if to say "hey, don't touch my bed!" ;P So I decided to choose another project.

I present to you the finished "Soft-as-a-Bunny Makeup Case" (or purse):



I do think I need a zipper pull of some sort. I also think it's a complete pain in the you-know-what because this novelty yarn which looks so fuzzy and cute keeps getting jammed in the zipper so I can't get it open - or shut, for that matter! I can see this is not going to get a lot of use. . . But it's cute and fuzzy, gosh darn it!

So now I've started working on a baby bootie. Why? I don't know, since I don't have a baby, ha ha ha! But, here it is:



I'm kind of stuck right now, but I figure there's no point in asking a question here since I don't think anyone reads this blog, ha ha ha! So, off to my LJ blog I go to get some knitting help. . .

Resolutions. . .

As far as resolutions go. . . Well, let's just say that as an obsessive list-maker, my process of creating and documenting reslutions is pretty out of control. So for the sake of this blog, which is dedicated to knitting content, I will spare you, and stay on topic. ;)

It's a simple resolution for me, knitting-wise, for 2006. . . Finish the outstanding unfinished objects! This includes:

- Jim's Scarf (done except for needing the ends woven in)
- Kristin's Shawl (it's almost done!)
- Halloween's Kitty Bed - "Snowball Cat Bed" from Stitch 'n Bitch (just needs the side sewn to the bottom)
- Little Blue Purse - "Soft-as-a-Bunny Makeup Case" from Hollywood Knits (just needs the zipper put in)
- Kitty Ear Hat - "Kittyville Hat" from Stitch 'n Bitch (the kitty ears are almost done, but it needs earflaps and i-cord)

Other than that, my plan is to not let the knitting drop during the warm months, like I tend to do every year. I really love to knit, but it gets warm and I forget all about it! I'm going to hunt down some cute warm-weather projects so I can have knitting fun all year round. Also, Santa (sweetheart that he is) brought me a calendar with a new knitting pattern for almost every day of the year! With calendars, I generally try not to look ahead because I like the surprise of not knowing, but I cheated on this one, and looked at the entire month of January, and a bunch of random other days. I wanted to get a feel for what kind of projects are in it. I thought there was a nice variety for all kinds of tastes, and there are definitely a few cute ones that I'm going to have to play with! Santa also brought me five skeins of a fun yarn that may very well become a totally cute cloche-type hat like the one pictured on the front of the calendar. Observe the Christmas loot:



And one final thing: Before this year is out, I want to have taken a vacation from garter-stitch-scarf/shawl-land. It's not that I don't want to make more pretty scarves and such, it's just that it seems like that's the marjority of what I do, so I'm going to try to limit myself to only project of the kind this year: my Gryffindor scarf. (But I can almost promise you that won't get done in a year, ha ha ha!) And, since it seems like most of what I make is for other people, I'm going to try and be selfish and make some "me" projects which will not be given away! Other than that. . . I haven't made any firm decisions on what I will make! Will 2006 be the year of my first sweater? Will it involve spunky striped knee socks? Will this be the year I conquer cable-making? Only time will tell!