Goals vs. Happiness

Eternity by Boo Knits--the December Club Project

My goal for 2015 is to finish all the projects that were on the needles at the beginning of the year by December 31. I can still probably make it, but...

The projects I have left are mostly plain knitting. I'm itching to work on lace, or cast on my next stranded sweater. In the past, I've worked towards meeting goals even if I knew it wasn't what would make me happy, and that's something I've been trying to change over the past few years.

So while I probably could still meet my original goal, I think I'm going to extend the arbitrary deadline I set myself to the end of February 2016, and cast on a few new projects. Maybe even just say I'll keep working regularly on the UFOs until they're done and leave it at that. It seems healthier that way. (Especially since I'm the only one who cares at all about this.)

While I'm thinking about goals, my goal for 2016 will be to knit all the projects I have in mind/in my queue to knit for other people--not the ones I've thought of as gifts for my family, but all the things like "this hat has Penguins on it. Kelly would love this hat! I should knit it for her" and "I haven't knit anything for Kehley yet. Ravenclaw scarf it is."

Again, I'll try not to push myself too hard--knitting is supposed to be fun, not stressful! But I enjoy working towards goals, and I think as long as I'm willing to modify them there's no harm.

Last Christmas Present--almost done!

I did do a pretty good job this year on my other goal, of having no (or at least less) stressful holiday knitting. All I've got left is half of a slipper, and I should be able to finish that by the end of tomorrow... so that's definitely something I'll try to do again. This year I'm giving my family smaller gifts, since last year's three and a half sweaters in four months sucked some of the fun out of Christmas. I might do sweaters again next year, but if I do I'll try to knit a Christmas sweater every few months so that they're all done well ahead of time. We'll see.

In the meantime, it's the weekend, and I've got kitties, knitting, tea, and cream clotting in the fridge. Life is good.

Unusual Knitting Habits

My knitting goal for this year is to end the year with everything on the needles on January 1 (both active projects and those in deep hibernation) finished. I'm making fairly good progress there, but I think it is somehow contributing to my odd knitting situation right now!

For the past few months, I've had 5 or fewer active projects on the needles. Compared to my usual 10-15, this is practically nothing! (Especially considering the hibernating projects are decreasing...) It does mean I'm finishing things more quickly, and I'm not feeling the lack, but it does feel odd.

So far this year, I have finished:

Butterfly Cardigan (a Starmore vest to which I added sleeves)

Hallow Moon (a shawl I cast on for a quick knit then gifted to Jen)

Cygnus Lothlorien (to which I still need to add some sort of closure)

Wheel of Time Leftie (a wonderful size for wearing!)

Gino is an excellent model, no?

Ves (the first project in the Tour this year, and a super-fun and addicting knit!)

Bobbie's Birthday Norie

Leuchtfeuer (September 2014 Tour project, simple and cleverly constructed)

Mitts for Linda's Birthday

Knee-High Slipper Socks for Marie's Birthday (that are too big, so I'll probably be knitting another pair to fit better for next year)

Socks for Daddy's Birthday

Mitts for Alex's Birthday

Baby Sweaters for Alex's Twins

A Baby Surprise Jacket for Lil's Grandson

Tyrion's Gift (A test knit for Lara Smoot, perfect timing since I needed some lace...)

Mitts for Veronica's Birthday (Apparently this is the year of co-worker mitt gifts!)

Mitts for Jan (started in college and FINALLY finished!!)

A Day to Remember (December 2014 Tour project--now I'm all caught up and ready for June... which is going to be a fun one!)

Purple Jackaroo (which really should have been marked hibernating at one point, but never was. Now I'm just waiting for fall to be able to wear it!)

Calli Rae's Birthday Hat

Annie's Birthday Cowl (super early! It was meant to be a Christmas gift, but she said she wanted it earlier, so it'll be for her birthday. Which means I've still not knit any Christmas gifts... but I'm still hopeful that the four for my family will mostly be done before October)

Mother's Day Socks

Reversible Circles of Lace Scarf (which needs to be blocked)



and I currently have in progress:

Arwen (which has been in DEEP hibernation while I figure out how to modify. Now I'm hoping to finish by the end of the month, and since I'm only about half done, I need to get a move on!)

Carmen's Autumn Oregon (because without a Starmore on the needles, life is less fun. But it's going so quickly! I know which one I'll cast on next, though, so it's alright.)

Father's Day Socks (in our new base, Hot Shot--a wonderful sock yarn!)

Tibetan Clouds (which has been in my queue for ages, and I wanted more lace... but it's about 75% done, so I'll need to find a new lace project to cast on shortly!)

Things to finish this year:

S... the Sheep (won't take long, I shouldn't think)

Christmas Beret (I think I don't have enough yarn, so I'll probably frog and knit some other hat)

Nashita (Still don't have an intended recipient, but I'll finish and put away I guess)

Carrot Top (It's actually done, but I don't like it. I'll probably frog and put the yarn back into stash.)

Calmer Top (No longer interested; but I have an alternate plan for the yarn. So to "finish" this will be to frog and knit the other sweater)

Knee Highs #1 (Almost done; just part of the second leg left. However, it'll take a bit of thought because I don't have the notes from the first sock...)


The kitties make excellent supervisors.

And Now... For Me!

Selfish? Us? HA!

I have decided to dedicate January to selfish pursuits (selfish here meaning either for me or just for fun).

Amazingly, I managed to finish all my Christmas gifts on time. However, I've been focusing mostly on Christmas knitting since late August or so, and therefore I feel this break is well deserved.

I'll be finishing my current Starmore; Jade's Butterfly, made into a sleeved cardigan:

Butterfly... one sleeve to go!

I've about half a sleeve, button bands, collar, and finishing left to do. This may be finished by the end of the weekend, because I do love my Starmores!

I also plan to work on some other WIPs: my Cyngus Lothlorien, my Hallow Moon Shawl, and my Leftie.

Cygnus Lothlorien

Hallow Moon Shawl

Wheel of Time Leftie

I shall certainly give in to temptation at some point and cast on Leuchtfeuer and A Day to Remember (the projects from our trips to Schleswig-Holstein and Argentina, respectively, both of which came out during Christmas knitting,) and something lacy.

I'd also like to make progress on the quilt I started piecing this fall, as it would be nice to have a properly sized quilt for my recently acquired queen sized bed!

Certain Parties disapprove of quilting. Piecing means no laps. Knitting is much preferred.

ETA: Also, I should probably hem the curtains... at some point...

A Lovely Weekend

So far, this has been a lovely weekend.

I have finished both of my samples for work, Gratitude and Vitamarie.

Vitamarie is with Jen this weekend for blocking, but Gratitude is finished, blocked, and beautiful!! It was a fun knit.

My Vitamarie ate yarn!! Franklin said he only used 3 skeins (although he used ALL of the three.) Mine used about 4.75 skeins, and although I checked and re-checked the math against my knitting, I couldn't figure out why!! Jen and Babs will compare mine to Franklin's at Stitches Midwest to figure out where I was off... I'm very curious!!

Yesterday I did some errands, both necessary and unnecessary. I also finished Annie's birthday shawl, only a day late! I just need to block it, and then I'll send it along. This means I am *still* up to date with my gift knitting!!

I've also been quilting. I've just 3/4 of the border left to quilt on the top Mommy made me for high school graduation. Hopefully I'll finish the quilt by the end of August. Then it will have only been... um... 8 years since I started quilting it, a new record! And finished just in time, too, considering I got a queen bed a month ago, and the quilt is for a twin bed :) Time to get going on some new quilts, I guess, since all of mine are for a twin.

Luckily, whenever I quilt, I remember how much I enjoy it. Perhaps not having a proper quilt will inspire me to finish the next one in a shorter time...

I've also been enjoying working on my Butterfly. It took a few repeats, but I now see the butterflies!

I really like this one. (Which is such a change from my normal feelings about the Starmore's designs, I know... I always love them.) This is pretty easy; on most of the rows I just have to remind myself of the numbers, and then don't need to look at the chart for the rest of the round. Which means it will probably be knit pretty quickly. Lucky I've got about 8 more Starmores and 8 other stranded sweaters stashed!

And, as always, the kitties are excellent company. Life is good.

Gino

Penny

I think I have Borrowers

Recently, small things have gone missing from my house. A chapstick, some pens, things like that. The only explanation I can think of is Borrowers. I think, for the most part, I'd be a pretty good home for them--all sorts of bits and bobs, and mostly I wouldn't notice if one pin or something goes missing.

I suppose, however, that there could be an alternate explanation:

Although that would necessitate them getting up...

The overall state of my house is trending towards slightly cleaner. This is a good trend, and I'm hoping to keep it going. That way, someday the house might actually be tidy most of the time!

I've also mowed the lawn several times. The first time took about two hours. The second and third about one and three quarters. Yesterday only an hour and a half--I also like this trend!! I'm hoping to get it down to just over an hour, but I think 1.5 might be as short of a time as I can manage. Mowing is the only form of exercise I don't hate--not that I'm anxious to go out and find other lawns to mow, but it is at least productive, and gives me a feeling of accomplishment. So that's good, I guess. 

And Yarn! Mustn't forget yarn. I'm almost finished with Annie's 2013 Christmas sweater--I just have to sew the second sleeve to the body, and then knit the bands and block it. That will certainly be ready for next weekend. I'm about 1/3 of the way through the second front of Grandy's cardigan, and so that will almost certainly be finished by the weekend as well. Mommy's sweater lacks both sleeves (well, I started the first one yesterday, but I'm only about three inches in, so it doesn't count.) That will be a bit of a push to finish. And the socks for Father's Day will be a push as well, since I'm only about 3/4 done the first one. Those'll be good plane knitting, though... so it is still fairly possible I'll finish everything I was hoping to before the Cosgrove Beach Weekend! (No photos of these, though, because I've been focusing more on knitting than documenting recently...)

Want To See My House?

We're pretty well settled in, and I finally got around to taking photos of most of my house this morning! Want to see?

Entry Room

Library

Sewing Room

Kitchen

Living Room

Laundry Area

Back Guest Bedroom

And then upstairs:

Stash!!

Upstairs Guest Bedroom-To-Be

I'm thinking of re-painting the Upstairs Guest Bedroom To Be light green--we'll see.

My bedroom, of course, is too much of a mess to show. But the house is very nice!

In knitting news, I've been in a finishing mood recently. I finished the Sierra Nevada Set from the 2012 Knitting Tour:

Scarf, doubled a bit to fit on the bed while blocking. Franklin is a genius!

Mitts

And Marie's Robot mittens are finally done as well! 

Lowes comes through again in terms of blocking supplies--pipe-stuff makes perfect thumbs!

Look!

I filled the bird feeder a few weeks ago, which has provided us all with much excitement!

There are a pair of Jays who often visit, as well as many other birds.

This is the view out the window (conveniently located just behind the couch, so that one can lie on the back of the couch and watch the view. Comfy and entertaining at once!)

I've been knitting a lot as well--finished several projects, started one or two, and am nearly done the Sheeps sweater! Sadly, though, I've not taken any photos to share of late.

Oh! And Virtual Yarns have released photos of the designs in the new version of Tudor Roses! Some are pretty identical to the old, some are quite elaborately re-worked, and some are brand new. VERY exciting!! I can't wait for my copy to arrive...