March Break

I always plan to leave for my vacations with the best intentions.  We left for Maui on March 14 and I had intended to blog on the 13th.  The thing with best intentions is that they often don't come to fruition.  And, despite packing early and being reasonably organized this time, I still couldn't squeeze in a blog post.  So hi- sorry for the long space between there!

I really wish I hadn't run out of time, because I wanted to tell you that the "Ties That Bind" blanket was finished... BEFORE MAUI.  (yay!)



It needs a light blocking still which is why I haven't done a proper photo shoot.  But if someone were to hold a gun to my head tomorrow and say "GIFT THIS BLANKET"- I could.  Which is good, because after being pretty late, Mr. Marcus finally showed up on March 18.

I had a whole post to explain the insanity that nearly took hold of me when I nearly committed to knitting a lace shawl on my vacation.  Thankfully though, after a disasterous attempt at starting the shawl, I decided I better stick to a vacation sock.  As usual I packed way more yarn than I needed and barely knit anything.

It's hard to pay attention to a sock, (even a boring one), when you could be looking at this.

Did I also mention there were whales?  And if you looked away for even a second you missed the whales jumping out of the water?  So yes... very little knitting on vacation.  (It seems I don't really knit on my vacations even though I leave believing I will knit everything 10 times faster than I normally do and RUN OUT OF YARN.)

Also.... this munchkin is BUSY and all eyes need to be on him when he's moving around or else trouble will prevail.  (He's a cute beach bum isn't he?)

Fear not- we are home now and I'm trying to hammer home our regular schedule.  (Maui is 4 hours behind Calgary... child is miserable today- pray for all of us!)  Regular schedule means KNITTING somewhere in there!  I've got the rest of March to do whatever I'd like- which probably means I'll pull out the sock yarn blankey for a bit.  BUT- April 1, I begin a new project.  It's probably going to land me in the "more than I can chew" category- but it's my attempt at a Stampede project to enter for this year.  Here's the hint....

Know what it is yet?

I Can Make That...

The problem with being crafty, is that you often get cocky about your ability.  And pretty soon, what was supposed to be a simple project can take over your life by uttering these 4 words, "I can make that".

I should have further progress on the blanket for you today, (maybe even DONE) but instead I got a little distracted.  What I wanted to find was a small travel size magnet board for my son to play with on our insanely long flight to Maui.  (7 hours flight + 16 month old = SEND BOOZE!)  That ballooned from there and one minute later, MiL had the perfect suggestion- a felt board.  It was a great idea.  Except it threw my focus off.

I have this to show for it.  (MiL has also been distracted making felt items for my son too- so this was a fairly slippery slope.)

The entire alphabet and some cute farm animals.  I used a free template for the alphabet, but ended up finding some cartoon animals on google and improvising the animal ones.  I'm so utterly charmed by the way they've turned out I want to make more animals!  Zoo animals!  Circus animals!  Dogs!  Sheep! (Parker loves "woofs" and "baa baa's".)  But I'm trying to stop myself.  I need to not get carried away here.

As if that wasn't distracting enough- I also veered off last week and knit an adorable lion finger puppet for a friend who was needing a little extra courage for an unpleasant appointment she had.

Meet "Courage" the lion!

Pattern: Jelly Bums Lion by Raynor Gellatly (I made the finger puppet version)
Yarn: Scraps in the leftover bin... it's all worsted weight acrylic.
Needle: US 3
Thoughts: This is a great pattern!  The mane itself is INGENIOUS!  I literally had to stop myself from saying "I"m going to make Parker a whole collection of finger puppets."  I'm still threatening to that!  Then farm animals!  Then Circus animals!  Then Zoo animals!  (NOW... would be the time to stage an intervention people- this post is CLEARLY a cry for help!)

 

I need to stop getting these great ideas and veering off from the plan!  I need to finish this blanket!



Yes, it has seen progress.  It's just going to be a little blanket I'm afraid- but the pattern still has me completely charmed and when I AM working on it, I'm not at all bored.  In fact the fact that I haven't made more felt items and knit more finger puppets is due to the fact that I actually really enjoy working on this blanket.  Pictured above is the blanket beginning ball 8/9.  My goal is to have this done soon- no later than the end of March.

I need to have that blanket done because I did something "wild" and ordered yarn for my Stampede Project.  I'm worried it's more than I can chew already, but I need to do something "great" and I feel like this is going to get me there.

Hopefully I'll be able to get back on "task" here and forge ahead- there's just too many great things to make out there to get behind!

(Oh people... I came so close to giving up on knitting and just making felted quiet books- they are SO cute and there are so many great ideas... but I really don't need to add another hobby to the list right now!)

The Highest Compliment Ever

I was knitting on my latest baby blanket this afternoon and after a row, I took a pause to check my email.  I noticed that a friend of mine, who I don't get to talk to all that often, left me a note.

Cat Steeleposted toJennifer Johnson

50 minutes ago

Today was 'Show and Tell' day at Scarlette's pre-school and she INSISTED on bringing the red heart blanket you knitted for her when she was born. She is still in love with it :)

I don't think it can get any better than that.  Can it?  Because honestly I am downright flattered and feeling all the FEELS because something that I enjoyed knitting is still loved by someone I hoped would love it.  This simple little comment MADE. MY. DAY.  Maybe even MY WEEK.  Possibly even my YEAR.  It meant so much that her little one still loves it.

The blanket in question?  This one.

Whenever I gift a blanket I regularly get extremely flattering comments and kind thank you's in return.  But in most cases the recipient tends to live far away from me and I don't know if they really liked the blanket or if they're being polite.  Do they use it?  Did I pick out something that was "just right" for them?  (I don't think people realize how much effort I put into to finding a blanket that I think might suit the parent's taste.)  Also, down the road does the blanket get used?

I do know the fate of some of my blankets, the "Little Beef" blanket is in shreds, loved to pieces by the little one I made it for.  (Torn to shreds = loved = still feel really good that the kid liked it... even if they wrecked it.)  The Pink Insanity Blanket, Moving Mountains and The Leaf blanket have all been in the professional "newborn photoshoot" pics I get, which is also insanely flattering to me.  And even the Diamond Cable Blanket, which damn near BROKE me, received high compliments from the couple it was sent to, who sent a note to say they had been looking for something in stores for exactly what I knit them for the baby's room.

Needless to say, I'll be flying high on that compliment for awhile and I HAD to share.  And because I thought you might be interested... here we are at 17", beginning ball 6/9 on my current project!

Happy Friday Everyone!

Blankets Aren't So Bad...

Remember when I was knitting the Diamond Cable Blanket and I was just B.O.R.E.D out of my mind and I couldn't find anything to say because I was SO. BORED?

That isn't the case here at all.  I'm actually quite enjoying this knit- enough that I don't want to take time out of my day to come here and tell you about it.  Progress is going quite well...

This is after 3 out of 9 balls and 8" in.  Maybe it's because this is going to be a short blanket; or maybe it's because the rows without a cable go insanely fast; or maybe it's just because the yarn is quite delightful and soft, but I am really enjoying this blanket and the knitting.  Enjoying it enough that I would totally knit this pattern again- I keep thinking how lovely it will look in a varigated yarn!

I know I said that I'd get around to casting on MiL's mittens, but the charm of this blanket has held me pretty solidly and I haven't wanted to cheat on it- I just want to knit and finish it!  (Weird for me... I know!)  Usually by 10" in I am regretting the fact that I'm knitting a blanket and already dreaming of the next project to cast on and start.  I've decided to allow myself to get to the halfway point of this project (4.5 balls of yarn) and then I must, at least, cast on the mitten and get going on it- and finish one.  That seems fair right?

I've started thinking about my Stampede entry for this year- and I think I know what I'm going to do- although it's going to be a "more than I can chew"' kind of thing, I can just tell.  I think I'll keep it a mystery for now, but my goal is to start knitting for that in April.  So- yes, more blankets on the horizon- but this one will be insanely cute.  Does that help?  (I can't believe I've let this blanket lull me into a false sense of security!)

February Fun

It's February!  And to celebrate I knit my February hat!

As if that wasn't enough... (and since it's going to be busy) I also knit my March hat!

Truth is, I knit March mostly because I was so frustrated by my other project that I needed something simple and easy.  (I nearly pulled out my simple stripe blanket, I was longing for it so much.)  I decided to knit the "Ties that Bind" blanket pattern for my friend due in March.  (um... surprise Viv?)  I did a little bit of swatching and decided to go with the smaller needles.  (US 4 for those who just HAVE to know.)

(US size 6 swatch on top, US size 4 swatch on bottom)

I decided to go with the tighter swatch because the yarn is a cotton/bamboo blend and it's going to stretch out, no matter what needle I knit with.  A tighter gauge will keep it's shape a little better than a loosey/goosey one.  (Yes.  I just used loosey goosey in a sentence.  I hang out with a 15 month old a lot... it's starting to show!)  I was excited to cast on this project and take off... except it turns out that the i-cord cast on is tricky for us finicky types.

Oh no, it's not finicky as in difficult, (just slow) and quite frankly I really REALLY like the edge...

enough that I almost wish I had done an i-cord cast on for the stripey blanket.  It's finicky in a "looks loose" kind of way that drove me mad.  I recast this puppy on about 400 times.  I finally made myself just "let it go" and accept the cast on I had.  Good thing too- because once I started to knit the moss stitch border, it tightened up the loose looking stitches.

So now we're off to the races on this project.  I also wanted to cast on my mittens for my MiL too- but I think I'll push that off until I get at least 10" in the blanket.  If I'm being really honest the delay isn't so much about getting a jump into the blanket and the fact that I can't decide between four patterns to knit her!  Such great ideas out there- and I can't decide what direction I'm going to go in!

So yes- lots of fun things that will hopefully provide some blog fodder for us this month... I really need to get my plate reasonably clear because April 1, I need to begin my Stampede project, and I have a cute plan for that this year... stay tuned!

Adventures

It's weird to only have one project on the needles at the moment because there's really only so much you can say about a stocking stitch blanket.  Things are going quite well.

Pictured here is 13 inches of blanket- and as of this post, all ends (minus the yellow) are woven in!  You would think that I would be downright miserable and BORED knitting something so simple, but I'm not.  Not even a little.  I can't wait to sneak in my little colorful rows and in general I'm feeling pretty good about this little blanket adventure.

So good about this that after today, I'm going to put it away.  WHAT???  Yes.  This was a fun January distraction and will be extremely easy to pick it up and get back into it at a later date.  But, there are other pressing needs that need to be knit and I'm just the girl for the job.  Starting tomorrow I'm casting on the Mystery Mittens for February as well as a baby blanket for a friend due in March.  I'll use this fun little blanket as a reward for finishing up on those items... hopefully IN February.  (I don't know who I'm kidding that I think I'm going to knit a blanket in 3 weeks.  HAHAHAHAHAHA Jen.  HAHA.)

Since that's all going on in the knitting world... I thought I'd share another crafty story with you.  Growing up- my mom was a crafty lady, and many, MANY hours of my childhood were spent at "Fabricland".  (Mom's "crafter obsession of choice" has always been sewing.)  In fact I had many friends that knew what a trip to Fabricland meant: 3 hours of your mother looking at fabrics, changing her mind, waiting in line to cut the fabric and flipping through COUNTLESS pattern books- all while you are not-so-secretly DYING of boredom.  HOURS of my childhood were wasted in Fabricland.  (THANKS MOM....)

Remember- this was in the dark ages before cell phones or gameboys or things children have now to entertain themselves.  Entertainment at Fabricland was looking at the Halloween costumes in the back of the pattern books and dreaming up your Halloween costume for that year.  This would last all of about 5 minutes.  My very, VERY, patient father has done many things I'm sure he would have preferred not to but he puts his foot down on basically one thing only- he won't go to Fabricland with my mom- because he is certain he will die of boredom.

As I said- I wasn't the only one who would spent hours in a Fabricland with their mother, essentially waiting for a quick death to make the endless fabric store suffering stop.  My husband also shares this memory with his mother in a Fabricland.  As I got older, I began to appreciate and (gasp) enjoy my trips to Fabricland... and when I first moved to Calgary I even had my own member card!  (Which has since lapsed b/c I got obsessed with knitting instead and thankfully you don't need a member card to get deals on yarn! ... although I would totally buy one if I had to.)  My husband cannot drive by a Fabricland without shuttering- and he will go to a yarn store with me, if I promise to keep it short.

I give you this incredibly long back story so that you understand why this next part is such a big deal.

I took my kid to his first trip to Fabricland.... and he enjoyed it!

Grandma showing him a lovely print...

Parker loved Fabricland on his first trip.  To be fair; a) he's 14 months old and any time he gets to wander in a store and touch things freely and have old ladies gush over how cute he is, he's in his element and b) he can't talk so he can't tell me that he's suffering in his own personal hell.  I won't kid myself.  I think Parker's statute on limitations on this place is going to be brief.  Fabricland for a 14 month old is CHRISTMAS- so many textures to touch (if you have clean hands... which he did) and colors to look at, and the bolts of fabric are too heavy to pull out so you can let him wander down the isles and take a good look at things.

I imagine the novelty of Fabricland, or for that matter yarn stores, are going to wear off pretty quickly when he has to stand there bored out of his mind while I contemplate the difference between "sky" blue and "baby" blue.  (SORRY KID- IT'S A RIGHT OF PASSAGE!)  Husband and sister who still carry their Fabricland scars and never did quite see the fun in going are horrified.  Sister has accused me of child abuse and husband has forbidden me to take him again, saying (and I quote), "worst moments of my childhood- don't subject our son to that!"*

So yes- my week has been interesting and fun- and Parker is slowly learning about his mommy and her crafting lineage.  (haha)  Next post should be a little more knitting related- but thought you'd enjoy his first trip to the dreaded Fabricland.

*Knowing husband's mother as well as I do (the famous MiL)- let me tell you... he's being dramatic.  She would never purposefully torment her children... unless she could get 60% off on Fabric.  ;-)

Getting It Done

Okay- so we've had a frank discussion about stash and now it only feels right to show you a few completed things that I keep teasing about and let you know what's happening with the stash buster blanket.

Let's begin on a high note- FINISHED SOCKS.

Pattern: Balearique Socks by SpillyJane
Yarn: The Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga in "Sooty Dancer"
Needles: (Of all the dumb things I've done... I didn't write it down... I genuinely DON'T KNOW- small ones?  I wanna say US 2.)
Thoughts: This is a great pattern, where I should have really taken the time to learn how to cable withOUT a cable needle.  I found the cables piddly at times, and it required some patience to knit through the leg.  Also- these socks are for a man (Hi Dad!)-  and I think I would have attempted to knit them a little longer.  Especially because I did end up having leftovers and could have done at least 10 more rows (probably) on each leg.  The yarn was DREAMY to knit with.  Oh man, once the stash is a little smaller... I MUST get my hands on more.

The dark color doesn't really show the cables to their best most showy advantage- but they're for a man and so I felt I needed to balance the cables with a dark color to make it more "man friendly".

It feels good to get this done and out of the stash.

ALSO?  The January hat is FINITO.

It's cute isn't it?  This is the first time in a long time I felt very strongly that this hat needed a pom pom.  Bonus- pom pom's are great little stash busters.

And finally, the results you've been waiting ever so patiently for- the stripey blanket is started and ON the needles.

YUP.... decided to go with the skinny yellow rows vs. the thicker ones.  This is all just plain stocking stitch and this thing just ROLLS in on itself... I thought by now it would be heavy enough to stop rolling up, but I guess not.  It's kind of a neat blanket, although I've already instituted the "weave in ends after 3 color bands" rule because otherwise I'll be weaving in ends FOREVER at the end and I will be very knit depressed by the end of that project.

I have moments where I panic that I'm not going to have enough yarn to make it to 30" inches on this blanket (we're at 6" so far) and I'm already trying to come up with a contingency plan should I find myself requiring more colors.  I guess we'll just see where I end up and come up with a plan from there.  Cross your fingers.

I'm going to keep plugging away at this for a while longer (very easy knitting) and in February I'm starting a mystery project.  Mother in Law has requested mittens and selected her colors to match her coat.  I get to pick the pattern!  So I'm going to be very mysterious about the project, and will try to find some creative photos to take that won't give the whole thing away.  (MiL just spent a week in my basement helping me paint our playroom... to say that I really need to make this woman nice mittens is an understatement- she gave up a lot of time to help me, I need to pull out the fancy pants stops on these mysterious little numbers!)

Stash Analysis

On Dec 30th my in laws took "the boy" for the day, and husband and I were left with an unusual day of "doing whatever we'd like".  I spent the morning having a heart to heart discussion with my stash.  It seems every new year, I like to get into my stash and "assess the situation" if it were.  I've gotten a lot better with working down yarns in my stash... but there is still a long way to go.  One of my resolutions is to keep whittling down what's there- and I'm hoping from time to time this year, I can bring up a picture and discuss what's hopefully missing.  Ultimately my goal is keep just a few things in my stash and buy yarn as I need it... locally to support my local shops.  I achieved my previous goal of being able to close the drawers to the stash holder... now I'd like to empty one... entirely.

My stash can easily be grouped into 5 categories...

1) Sock Yarn/Fingering Weight stash

In the bottom left hand corner is the Wollmeise in all of it's splendor.  I will not allow myself anymore Wollmeise indulgences until at MINIMUM 2 more skeins find their way out of my stash.  (I will not hoarde... I will not hoarde...) There also seems to be a decent amount of self striping stash that needs some chipping away at.  (Although truth be told, it's the stuff I don't mind hanging on to the most- self striping socks are the perfect "I don't know what to knit so I'll just knit a simple sock" project to "cleanse your palate" for new projects.)  There's also some Madelintosh (top purple-y skein) and the much obsessed over "Butter Peeps" (top yellow) that still hasn't achieved it's destiny.  It helps that I knit mittens a decent amount now and that I frequently stash dive for at least one color in here.

2) The Natural Sport/Worsted/Thick Yarns

This is made of any natural fibers, (wool, alpaca, silk... etc).  I'm hoping to cut my teeth on a large "throw" for my living room with the big purple mound on the right hand side- conveniently in the colors my decorator is suggesting.  The light blue stuff on the bottom has been stashed for far too long and it needs to be summer sweater of some kind.  I'm hopeful that the navy and red in the top left will be my first "double knitting" blanket and DAMN do I regret buying the grey multi-color in the bottom right.  (One of those "WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING" and "drunk on 75% off" situations.)  I don't have a purpose for that... but it haunts me and I want it out- OUT... OUT... DAMN YARN!

3) The Cotton Collection

This is another piece of stash I can sort of forgive for being there- a dishcloth is one of those "quick and dirty" projects that help you "take the edge off" when you're looking for something new and fast.  Unlike the self striping yarn though, I do not plan on replenishing this.  No more dishcloths- until I have the time to sit at the door and wait for the husband again.  (I'm guessing this won't be the case until Parker is 21 and moved out...)  It would be lovely to say "this is gone now" and move on.  I kind of not-so-secretly hate knitting with cotton... so the sooner it's gone... the better.

4) STASH OF IMMENSE SHAME (Acrylic collection)

Yup.  I have it.  Truthfully I have busted down a LOT of it- thanks in part to charity knitting projects. I've committed myself to knit an entire WCOBB blanket myself using what's in this pile and the pinks on top will hopefully be gone after I knit a bunch of charity hats for Rockyview hospital.  Beyond that I'm not entirely sure what to do with this lot- but I am greatful that I at least see a large portion of it will be on it's way out this year.  My goal is by then end of next year not to have acrylics... at all.  I can do this!

5) Leftovers

These are the "too plentiful to throw out" bits and bobs and odds and ends from various projects that probably bug me the most.  I feel like I need to use up a whole skein of yarn to count it as used and so a lot of this stuff just kind of sits in my stash, getting under my skin and I don't really know what to do with it. (One can only knit so many baby hats.)  Last post I was asking about a potential blanket that would eat up a lot of this stuff (another post on another day) and I think there's enough in here to get me thru a few pairs of mittens.

My goal this year is to whittle away at this, and the rest.  I'm not committing to not buying any yarn at all- I have too many gift certificates and baby blankets that need to be done to say such outlandish things... but I want to keep chipping away and free up the space.  It's great that I can store my yarns in one bin... but there's a lot up there that I don't particularly feel much love for.

I've learned a lot about yarn stashing over the years.  I go to the sales with ideas that I want to execute on, I try really hard not to let a "deal" impair my practical stashing.  Yes- 75% off is a great deal IF YOU HAVE A PROJECT FOR IT... not so much if you don't and it just sits in your stash... laughing at you.

If I was really smart, I'd do this kind of stash analysis exercise BEFORE I go to a sale... reminding myself about what happens when a "deal" goes to one's head... but it takes time, and that's something I don't have in premium amounts any more.  I'm hoping to revisit these pics sometime this summer, and blur out what I've used, in a way hold myself personally accountable for what's going out there.  So there you have it- that's what's sitting in my stash these days.  What yarns do you have in your stash that you're sort of "meh" on???

Thick or Thin?

Alright I'm crowd sourcing!

As I mentioned last blog- one of my goals is to whittle away at my ever growing "excess" left over situation.  One of the ideas I had was to do a blanket.  Since I'm far to anal retentive to go "random stripe", I gathered together similar colors and came up with a "scheme".

Here's what's I'm working with:

Here's what I came up with:

Here's where I need your input:

Do you prefer the THICKER STRIPE (between the blue and purple) or the THINNER STRIPE (between the purple and grey) of yellow to break up the colors.  (Bear in mind that I will more than likely crochet a YELLOW border around the whole thing when it's complete.)





Poll closes on Jan 6- stay tuned for what I end up doing!  Thanks for your input!

In other plan details- I've decided NOT to do a garter border on each side, I don't like how it changes the shape and since there will be a crochet border anyways, it just works to leave it.  I'll do a crochet cast on in the same color to give myself a nice and easy border to crochet with later.

(The point of this project is to bust out some leftover stash... so I'm only using stuff that are directly in my stash right now- and not planning to buy anything to balance.  Yes- I wish the lighter grey was lighter...  but too bad.  It's going out of the stash so I will use it!)

It's the End of December!? WHAT!?

Yeah- December crept up and got the better of me and time wasn't there for a blog post.  I kept telling myself I'd catch up once the Christmas hub bub was over- plus I could regale you of tales of Boxing day yarn deals and I'd make up for it with a big post Christmas blog.

Then we all got sick.  Again.  And then Boxing day wasn't what it normally was.  And quite frankly... I found myself having not really knit anything, and not much to tell you.  But guilt it is a funny thing and I've decided to get at least one more blog out there before the new year.

First- let's talk Christmas haul.  There were books for inspiration, gift certificates from enablers (including the husband... so he can't complain about yarn acquisition!) and a circular needle holder case and glorious T pins.

The Quick Baby Knits book is probably going to see some action in the new year (one "for sure baby and 2 friends who have dubbed 2013 "the year of baby makin'"), and I have a goal to learn how to double knit something, hoping that the master color knitting book will hold my hand through that process.  As usual... great haul and thoughtful gifts from family members.

As I mentioned Boxing Day wasn't it's usual yarn diet binge of gluttony.  The are 2 reasons for this: 1) I was missing my Boxing Day Yarn Saling Enabler/Companion... better known as my Mother in Law. Unfortunately she had to attend a funeral- which one can hardly fault her for.  This meant I didn't have anyone to get caught up in a frenzy with.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing.  Frenzy yarn purchases lead to "why the hell did I buy that" stash items.  2) Even if MiL was there to go crazy with me, I'm not sure I would have.  I have systematically been working through my stash pretty well, and quite frankly, it feels good to get things going out the door.  I've become a smarter yarn consumer- less caught up by great deals (although I still feel weak when alpaca/cashmere/soft yarn are on sale... I'm only human!) and more thoughtful about what I buy.  I've finally gotten to a place where just because yarn is on a great sale, doesn't mean that I have to buy it.  I'm more a "buy what I need" kind of girl and it suits my stash and me just fine.

And yes, I have done a bit of knitting... just a little but enough to call progress.

Dad's sock- second one cast on.  I will fully admit I have second sock syndrome pretty bad with this one.  I just don't feel inspired to knit it.  I'll probably have to instill a "knit a so many rows" rule and reward myself with something else in order to complete it- and given that it's Dec 30... I'm going to say that the liklihood I finish these before Jan 1 is not exactly a reality.  But taking one unfinished item into the New Year isn't so bad, so I won't be too hard on myself.

Speaking of the new year, I do have a few knitting resolutions or goals to achieve.

1) 3 baby blankets.  I know.  You're sick of them.  I'M SICK OF THEM.  But these are 3 special friends who will have baby #1 and quite frankly... I want them to have something made by me.  You're going to have to see me through this.  I've got a couple of interesting projects planned... hopefully that will see me through the monotony of blankets.

2) Double Knitting.  I mentioned this above but I would really like to learn how to double knit.  I love the idea of a reversible fabric and feel ready to tackle this particular project.

3) 12 (+) Pink hats.  12 is the minimum that must be done. I bust out the purple acrylic stash in 2012... 2013 I need to bust down the pink stuff.  The rules are slightly different, the pattern can be the same but no hat can be identical, I have 3 balls of pink acrylic, I know I can achieve this.

4) Leftover Stash.  I need to figure out something for the leftovers stash.  Stash that has already had a destiny but I also have enough to have a second destiny.  I hate throwing this stuff out but OH MY GOD I have a lot of it and I need to do something with it.  Ideas and suggestions will be gladly taken into consideration.  (I'll address this situation in particular in another post on another day.)

I'll finish this post off with a slight peace offering... something to apologize for the lack of blog posts this month.  Here's a cute pic of my kid... late Christmas greetings and just ever so slight early New Years greetings!