Knitting Confessions

Criquette has been a knitting slacker

I have been a bad knitter these past few weeks. Everyone has been very polite about pretending they haven't noticed the lack of knitting content on my blog. Not only did I not finish a single Christmas gift, but I have hardly lifted the needles since before Christmas. I can't decide if it's that I've been too busy, or if I have too many projects on the needles. Probably both. I did take inventory of my current projects and UFO's so that I can start to change their status to FO's. I have 17 unfinished projects - not as many as I was afraid I had, but more than I want to have.




The list of shame includes (clockwise from the left: yellow chemo cap; multi- colored spring scarf; pair of pink wristwarmers (just need to be seamed), blue wristwarmers, brown wristwarmers (1 is completed); cotton market bag; lavender chemo cap (my oldest UFO); blue crocheted girl's chemo hat, taupe baby kimono; rose-pink girl's chemo hat; multi-colored Baby Albert jacket (center).


Here are the scarf UFO's, clockwise, starting in front: coral Li's Herringbone Scarf; glacier-blue alpaca in an easy 2-sided rib pattern; black with blue and green stripes; red self-striping Yarn Harlot's One-Row scarf; grey Urban Camo lengthwise scarf; purple alpaca YH's One-Row scarf. The babies are due in a week or so, one of the scarves is a belated Christmas gift for Mr. C (from last Christmas - how shameful is that???), and 2 of the handwarmers are belated Christmas gifts for our very close friends that we will be seeing in a couple of weeks. The glacier blue alpaca scarf was for my niece who was supposed to move to Columbus - since her plans fell through, she is staying in New Orleans so she will need an alpaca scarf like an alpaca needs a surfboard. The others are either for charity or for my gift stockpile - a headstart on Christmas 2008?

Fortunately, we're heading down to New Orleans in a couple of weeks and are driving, which gives me several hours of knitting time in the car. I plan to finish one of the scarfs for Mr. C (Valentine's Day is right around the corner), the Baby Albert jacket, the blue handwarmers, and possibly the purple alpaca scarf. Plus I need to start on the snuggly toy for my Hot Chocolate swap pal. I have already found the pattern, which resembles something on her blog. It's going to be fun!

Like many other knitters, I am going to make an effort to knit out of my stash this year. I will make an exception for the New Orleans trip, as I feel a Moral Obligation to spend some money in the local yarn stores down there so as to help their local economy (don't you admire my civic mindedness?). I also have a nice sized GC to one of my favorites, The Studio, here in town. I will probably need to purchase some yarn for the knitted snuggly toy as my stash doesn't have the colors I need. And I will acquire additional yarn from the swaps I have entered, but other than this, I will try to significantly reduce the stash this year, as I can't stuff one more skein into any of my bins.

I have also decided to become a more adventurous knitter this year. I am going to take a class on sock-knitting in February and I would like to learn to knit mittens and gloves. I want to make a French Market bag and a second kitty pi, more dishcloths and an afghan out of my growing stash of leftovers. I have some commitments as well, including a dishcloth for the Winter Doldrums swap, the snuggly toy for the Hot Chocolate swap, and 3 mystery items for Pay It Forward (yes Sonya and Faren, I haven't forgotten. I never had a third person sign up, so I am knitting something for someone I have chosen who I hope will be pleasantly surprised). I think that about sums up what I've been up to concerning the pointy sticks and yarn and answers the question:yes, I am still a ferocious knitter.



I took this closeup of the pewter ornament my brother created - I am amazed at his talent and just wanted to show him off a little bit.