End of January Update

Coraline in Araucania Naturewool Sante Fe Shawl in Sundara Fingering Silky Merino

Not-so-warm version of Einstein coat in Noro Kureyon

Melody shawl #2 in Sundara Fingering Silky Merino

And you will notice these pictures show that I accomplished all of my January goals!

I bought very little yarn this month and sold a lot so I am down over 14,000 yards so far this year!

February goals:

- Loppem in Sundara Worsted (cast on today)

- Citron shawl in KnitPicks Shadow

- Knit 19 afghan squares in the Ravelympics

Resolutions...

FOs so far this year:
Tree skirt (yeah, I know, who starts a tree skirt on 12/30?)

Crocheted bookmark for a knitting friend:

Ribbed pullover:

RESOLUTIONS:

• Finish 12 sweaters from stash
• Finish 6 shawls from stash
• Buy yarn with PayPal balance only
• Decrease the size of my stash
• Dye some yarn this year
• Figure out the Christmas knitting a little earlier this year!

To facilitate all this, I have joined several groups on Ravelry: IntSweMoDo2010 (knit 12 sweaters in 2010), 10 shawls in 2010 (actually a subgroup knitting 5 from stash), and a stashbusting group in the Yarn Snobs.

I downloaded my rav stash to excel and totalled up my yardage - I have several years worth of stash at my current knitting rate. I'd like to reduce it by about half. That's gonna be a lot of work.

January goals:
- Finish Coraline
- Finish Einstein
- Finish Sante Fe shawl
- Finish Melody II

17 Miles

That's how much yarn I knit up this year. 10 sweaters, 10 hats, 7 Christmas ornaments, 6 wraps/shawls, 6 pairs of mitts, 4 dishcloths, 3 scarves, 3 cowls, 2 pairs of felted clogs, 2 afghans, some legwarmers, a felted tote, a Christmas stocking, and a cup cozy.

This month's finished objects: (details on my ravelry projects page)

Christmas ornaments - all for gifts except the red one.

'Incognito' for my son:

Dad's wrap:

Fernando's hat:

Claudia hat:

' Fetching' mitts for my MIL:

Owl cup cozy for DD:

Edited to add - ha ha! I totaled it up and I actually knit/got rid of 274 yards more than I acquired!

STASHFAIL!

I won this adorable Sheepy Bank in a ravelry contest - I was runner up in yardage knit in October.

This month, in addition to the yardage-knit contest, I am participating in Stashdown. The goal of Stashdown is to knit/sell/give away more yarn than you acquire. As of the end of November, I am in the hole about 1800 yards. It would be worse except that you get to count all the yardage for a project when it's finished. The downside is that you can't count any yardage for a project until it's all the way done. Seamed. Ends woven in. Buttons sewn on. I bought an embarassing amount of yarn in November. It was bad enough that I am now really motivated to quit buying yarn!

A few more finished objects:

Christmas stocking for DD's dorm -

A cardigan for DH for Christmas -

and a felted tote -

Details are on my ravelry project pages.

Hopefully by Christmas eve I will have a few more gifts knitted! In January I plan to finish some UFOs, and then in February I want to knit 2 sweaters for me!

Mid-month Update

I have some finished objects I want to share 'cause I love them so much!

First, Slanting Gretel from the Fall 2009 Interweave Knits in Sundara Sport Merino (Leaves of Grass LE colorway) -


This is a cardigan I made for my beautiful daughter - Sedum variation in Knit Picks Swish Bulky (Fedora colorway) -

Felted slippers for the same gorgeous girl (in her college colors) - Fiber Trends Felted Clogs in Cascade 220 -

I've also ordered yarn I'm afraid, but it's gorgeous and I can't wait for it to get here! Four skeins of Sundara Worsted Merino in Nuances of Nature (green) and 2 skeins of Madelinetosh Pashima in Tart (red). I also bought one lonely skein of Kureyon at half price when I was in a LYS last week. Not too bad. (So far.)

Much better, thanks!

I knit a lot this month!

Charity hats:
Felicity/Toasty sets for DD and her BFF:

Plus more mitts for Dad, an earflap hat for DS, a cardigan for DD that needs buttons and finishing touches, a surprise for her that I can't tell you about, clogs for DD that need felting, and I'm almost done with a tote that will also need felting.

Only 3 stash enhancements, 2 of which have yet to arrive. This is Sundara Sport Merino in Leaves of Grass which is being made into a Slanting Gretel already.

The other purchases were 2 skeins of Sundara FSM in Granite Falls which won't arrive for a couple of months, and the last installment of the Sante Fe FSM, all of which is due to arrive Monday.

Total yards knit in October: 3464

Total yards destashed in October: 2920

Total yards bought in October: 2625

For a net loss this month of 3759 yards! (Not double the yards bought, but way better than the past few months!) The only October goal I failed to meet was finishing that tote, but I am really close on that one - got held up trying to find the mesh to reinforce the bottom.

November Goals:
-Finish Coraline
-Finish Slipped Hours
-Finish Slanting Gretel

I still have some knitting I want to get done by Christmas - Stan's cardigan and some mitts for his mother, and maybe a wrap for my mom, but I may not work on them until December. I did a lot of obligatory knitting in October and now I want to work on some fun stuff!

End of September Update

Well, the stash photos insist on being first -
Sundara FSM in Sun the Painter: Sundara FSM in Serengeti:

Yarn Chef Creme Brulee in Fossil:

Finished objects -

Ingenue Slippers:

Cowl:

Blackberries scarf:

Alpaca scarf:

Melody Shawl:

Meandering Vines Wrap:

A couple of these have been languishing for awhile, so it was good to get them done.

I did manage to knit/destash more than I bought this month. Not twice as much, but still a decent amount considering how hard I hit the Knit Picks Lace sale. I will do better in October!

Christmas knitting is on my mind, and there is quite a bit planned. Some sweaters, some vests, some mitts, hats, cowls, wraps, a bit of everything.

October knitting goals:

• Finish Celtic tote
• Start Coraline
• Knit Dad's mitts I promised on Father's Day
• Get 1/3 of my Christmas knitting done
• Plod along on my Slipped Hours and Melody II (or III)