Happy!

I woke up this morning and thought, "There's so much I want to do!" So many knitting projects, some sewing projects, tidying my apartment (not so much a want-to as a should, but still), sorting yarn, snuggling kitties, reading books...

This made me really happy. I can tell that I'm very depressed when I don't want to knit. Since I've got about 6 or 8 knitting projects right now that I'm having a hard time deciding between, I figure this means I'm in a really good place. The sewing projects have been more and more tempting recently as well, so I may actually sit down at my machine soon-ish. I do so love textiles!

Recently, I was doing some research for our booklet on Tokyo for the most recent Knitting Tour booklet. It made me remember how much I enjoy researching! (And this research culminated in a short, conversational style essay, which is so much more my writing style than the dry prose favored in college, so that helped, I'm sure.) I think I may start reading non-fiction sometimes, and perhaps pick a research topic.

Back to knitting now. Later today, I'll take some photos and publish this.

(While caking a skein earlier, I was admiring a bookshelf full of knitting books, and realized I've never read No Idle Hands all the way through. So that's where I'll start.)

I Want to Knit All of the Things!

I am in the lucky situation of having many interesting projects right now! But it is also hard, because I want to be knitting everything at once...

I'm working on my lovely Cherry Me shawl in Alpacacita, which is just gorgeous to knit with. It's a simple lace pattern, which is always nice.

Then there's Annie's Graduation Shawl, in Yasmin (one of my favorite yarns!) This is in the boring, Estonian flower stitch stage right now, but I'm getting closer and closer to the lace bit. The desire to knit on this one is mostly so I can finish the boring bit and get to the fun.

I've started a new Starmore, Zauberflote, because there's a KAL in the Starmore Junkies group, and I'm a sucker for Jade. This one is super-addicting, and so lovely and graceful!

The other stranded sweater I'm working on is the Sheeps! sweater. Not as much fun to knit, but I love the look of it!

Marie's Robot mittens are now in a boring bit, but this is my first time knitting in a lining, so that's a bit interesting. Good reading knitting, except for the catching.

And I want to cast on two more projects:
The Followill Shawl (as a scarf) for Missy, in some yarn Babs kindly dyed for me.

A Simple Cardigan in Chinese Rhubarb Yummy 3-ply. This one has been hanging around for ages, and I think it will be excellent reading knitting, plus it is my favorite base, and a beautiful color! I want the sweater!! This one will be partially a Product Knitting project, I think.

Then there are the sewing projects floating around in my mind. How will I spend the afternoon?

Luckily, my faithful helpers will keep me on track.

I Guess I'll Be Sitting In the Middle

NB: Annie, this only applies to this situation on the couch. I'll hunt out some Barbies before I'm in Arlington next, so that we'll have a proper bribe for you.

(Knitting on the table: Laptop case is a knitpicks kit from a while ago. The pink in the lower left corner is Cherry Me, the newest kit for the Miss Babs Knitting Tour! There is knitting in a basket, a bag, and a bunch of project bags near the couch as well.)

Kitties and Sheep

Who I am snuggling with:

What I am knitting:

Defenestration

So this happened on Monday:

I'm fine (amazingly and very luckily), but as you can imagine, the car is not. This led to a very upsetting and grumpy week. I did comfort knitting, and didn't work on the projects I'm hoping to finish in the not-too-distant future, so my plans for "on time" gift-giving may well be out the window (hence the title of the post).

However, my excellent parents are looking into cars up in their area, since there are so, so many more Subarus up there. (Here, they are in such demand that there aren't really any available in my price range.) This means that I can spend the weekend working, tidying, and knitting. So I'm now vaguely hopeful that at least one of the March birthday gifts will be done by next weekend... we'll see!

(The other photos on my camera when I uploaded the car photos were much nicer... Gino being helpful with Vicki's Hug)

A Most Productive Month!

It is very, very likely that I will finish my Abalone today! It is not yet 6.00, and I only have 1.5 button bands and the finishing left! I am about halfway through P&P (I had a great craving for it, even though I had just watched it two weeks ago), which should give me plenty of time to finish. This will mean that I will have finished both sleeves and the finishing in two weeks. I am mightily impressed with myself!

Penny being helpful this morning

I'm also moving along on my FLS- it is quite likely that that will be finished by the end of the month as well. In that case, in February I will have knit:

• a hat for Kyle
• a shawl sample out of Yowza (a full 560 yard skein)
• at least 1/3 of a stranded sweater
• a February Lady Sweater

I have decided that March will be the month of gift knitting-- more particularly, knitting (and finishing) gifts for family and friends that have no particular deadline (with the exception of the two birthday gifts...) Hopefully it will be as productive as February!

I will also cast on my next Starmore, of course. It will be St. Aula, as I think I could do with a super-cosy stranded sweater. I plan to make it a zippered cardigan, perhaps with some shaping and pockets, since my current favorite bulky sweater is the St. Peter's Port hoodie (well, the one without the hood. I don't wear the one with the hood nearly as much, as hoods get uncomfortable while driving unless placed very carefully.) I have been pondering the pocket possibilities while working on the checked garter bands of my Abalone.

Kitty Blankets

Photos of kitties on blankets:

Photos of kitties as blankets:

(My arms are not long enough to take it all in at once, so there are two photos. But when it is cold, and I sit long-wise on the sofa, they sometimes do this. It is nice, but makes it difficult to knit.)

I may well finish the first sleeve of my Abalone today (shown here before I cut the first steek). This means I may actually finish it in February, as was my goal!!

I'm also hoping to finish the February Lady Sweater I started this week- I'm maybe 1/4 of the way down the body at present, but it's knit on large needles (size 8!), so it's going quickly. I think February is an excellent month to knit an FLS, don't you? 

Then I realized that if I'm going to keep up with my goal of being on time with all gifts this year, I'll have to get going on Marie and Daddy's birthday gifts. I have a scarf started for Marie (actually 2), but one is such amazing mindless knitting and would be so boring to push and get done, that I think I'm going to keep it for when I am brain-dead. The other may be finished in time, but most likely not. 

But then I bethought me of the Lopi from Iceland, and the robot mittens! Clearly, I should start a new project, lined mittens, instead of finishing a wip.

For Daddy,  I have a pair or two of socks in progress. The pair I plan to finish needs to be completely frogged, since I've changed my mind about the cuff, but I think that I can finish in time, especially if one interprets "in time" loosely, as "in time for the next time I see them" rather than "in time for their birthdays." This gives me an extra two weeks- plenty of time!

My other knitting goals for the year are to buy much less yarn (none bought so far this year!! Yarn given to me does not count. But I'm still working through some stash, so that's good!), to finish as many wips as I can, if not all of them that I went into the year with, and to finish some large projects for me. The year is going quite well so far!

Back to my knitting- I've got to rescue the sweater before Gino settles down on it!