New years resolutions and a super secret project

Happy New Year!


Today is the last day of the decade. Do you remember what you were doing this time in 1999? I sure do. We were home. Bradd and I were working on 4 months of married life. The now teen was just a little sweetie. We had the TV on and watched the new year in in all the different time zones.  We had snacks. We had drinks. We had fun. We had no clue what the next 10 years would bring us.  Heck, I did not even knit when we welcomed in 2000.

With another decade behind us I am looking forward.  What can I do now to make the next ten years better than the past ten?  I have come up with a few resolutions.


1. I will not take those I love for granted. I will hug them and tell them I love them every chance I get.


2.I will remind myself that I have everything I need and to stop wasting time complaining about things I want.


3. I will add more charity knitting on my list of things to do.


Finally...


4. I will TRY to keep my knitting and yarn from exploding all over the house.


I think that I have come up with a pretty do-able list (all except for that last one).  

Now on to my super secret project. I do say super secret project with just a hint of sarcasm. Hubby has a birthday coming in a few weeks.  I am planning on making him something as part of his gift.  That is no big secret.  I have, in the past, made him things for birthday/anniversary/Christmas.  The problem is keeping him from seeing the gift before it is done.  Hubby works from home and I knit at home.  You see how that could make things a bit tricky?  I have decided to embrace this and see it as a challenge.  I will now be known as Sarah the Super Stealthy Knitter.  


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Christmas gifts and projects started

Merry Christmas


I hope one and all are having a great Holiday season.  We are having a blast.  I am actually enjoying having the kids home for break this year.  The house is a bit messy but not too bad.  It just looks like we are having too good a time to stop and clean.  


Hubby and the kids were quite the little Santas this year.  I have to take a sec and share one of the great gifts that I got from them this year.

I was gifted three hanks of yarn from three different yarn shops and a gift card for each.  The three shops were: Off the Beaten Path a shop that I have only been to once and that was before they opened in their new location.  I look forward to checking out the new shop.  Lakeside Fibers where I love to go get a coffee, shop, or just knit while looking out at the water. I can't wait to spend a relaxing afternoon there. Finally, The Knitting Tree This shop I have only been to a few times to find some swanky yarn that I could not find anywhere else.  It is a great place and they have those beautiful leather knitting bags (one may have to come home with me this time).  Props to my Hubby for thinking up my Madison tour of yarn.


Now that Christmas is over and the gifts are out (except a scarf for my bro-in-law, sorry Bryan, I will have it done soon, I PROMISE) I was able to start a few new projects.

I started working on the Sven that I talked about in my previous post. One correction has been made. The sweater was going to be for O, now it will be for me.  I decided that I would make that change and accept the fact that O does not like warm sweaters.  I think once I embrace that I will be better off in the long run.

I also started on a pair of socks for me.  I have had this yarn for almost a year now.  I bought it when I went to the Knit-In held by the Madison Knitters Guild.  The yarn is from Creatively Dyed Yarn.  I fell in love with his dyer the moment I laid eyes on her stuff.  She uses some of the greatest color combinations I have seen.  The pattern for the sock is Teosinte Socks from Knitspot.  I have bought many a pattern from Anne.  If you have time you might want to read her blog too.  She designs a lot of socks and lace projects.  


Yesterday I ordered a pair of shoes to show off my collection of knit socks.  Hopefully I will have the Teosinte Socks done by the time they get here.  They would be perfect for the first day out in my new shoes.


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Post Christmas project

I have been working, for what seems like forever, on Christmas gifts. Today I crossed two more items off my list. Yippie!!!  With only three projects left to go I figured it was high time I started planning out what I would work on once the gifts have been gifted.


Thinking about what to knit next is quite a task. Over the years I have compiled a list, longer than you can imagine, of things I want to make. Trying to narrow it down to one project makes my brain ache. I sat on the couch and was staring out the window watching it snow. Thinking snow led me to skiing and that led me to warm, cozy ski sweaters. That in turn reminded me of one of the first sweaters I ever made. O was the lucky recipient of that sweater and she loved it. She looked so cute in it.

Eventually, as all children do, she grew and no longer fit in the sweater. I carefully packed it away and planned out the colors for a new one the next size up. The sweater knit up quickly and in my opinion, was just as cute as the first one. Well, O did not agree. Yes, she said she loved it and put it on right away. She wore it for about 5 min, took it off, and has not put it back on since (I am not counting the times I guilted her into putting it on). That was two winters ago now. I have mentioned maybe giving the sweater to someone who might want to wear it but she continues to insist she loves it. Wants to keep it "for decoration".

Using  the same pattern, The Big Sven Sveater by Cottage Creations, I am determined to make her another sweater she will love. I got her input on colors and even went back to the same brand of yarn I used for the first, Encore by Plymouth Yarn.

If for some reason she does not love it this time, I promise to give up if only to save her the guilt of having yet another Mommy-made sweater she does not like. I will then return to making socks for C. That little man can't get enough hand knit socks and I love that about him.


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But those were my mittens...

A while back I saw this yarn. It was a beautiful, bulky, extra fine Merino wool in gorgeous colors. I saw it and bought it in almost the same moment. I knew that it would make a great pair of mittens. I knew exactly which pattern I was going to use. I knew I was going to go home and get started on them right away. And I did. That was on a Thursday night. The next day I left town to travel to Kewaunee to visit my sister then spend a night in Green Bay with my Grandma. I worked on the mittens in my free time during the trip. Deciding that I could hardly go to Green Bay and not visit my mom, I stopped by on my way back home. That, my friends is where the tale of my mittens turns into the tale of my mom's mittens... and matching hat. 

My mom asked me what I was working on so I pulled out the mittens and showed them to her. Like a moth to a flame she grabbed the half done mittens and started to sing their praises. The yarn was SO soft, the design so simple and non-fussy, the colors a perfect match to her new coat. All the while she was talking about the mittens I kept trying to remind myself that those were my mittens. I was making them for me. Obviously that did not work. By the time I made it home I could no longer see the mittens on my hands. I also had a plan to go back to the yarn shop and pick up another skien of the yarn to make her a matching hat.

This wonderful yarn is Trabajos del Peru by Plymouth Yarn. The mitten pattern comes from the book One Skien Wonders from Storey Publishing. The pattern for the hat I found while doing a search on Ravelry. It is The Republic Hat by Nik's Knits and she has the free pattern on her blog.

I have decided that I am happy to send this matching set off to it's new home. Like most knitters, I am thrilled to see something I made mean so much to someone else. I hope my mom loves them and remembers just how awesome I am every time she puts them on.


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Bell Ringing and Teacher Hats

Tonight I was ringing bells for the Salvation Army with C and O. It was our first time and we had a lot of fun. The kids are naturals. O was giving a huge smile and a sweet "Merry Christmas" to everyone. She was too cute to refuse. C passed out the candy canes like a champ. He made sure that no one went without. We ran into school friends, teachers, knit night ladies, and neighbors. Getting out there and volunteering our time like that really put me in the holiday spirit.

As I mentioned before, I am knitting quite a few gifts this year. I have a bag full of completed projects waiting to be photographed and talked about. I love the fact that a lot of my family and friends stay connected via the internet, however it makes it difficult to share projects at times as I don't want to spoil anything for anyone.


This week the kids will be bringing the hats I knit for their teachers to school. Since neither one will see this post I feel safe in showing off these fun hats.

Hat #1 is Ripple from Knit and Tonic. This was such an easy hat to knit. Some of the ripple sections took forever but it was SO worth it.

Ripple was knit in Fields of Barley sock yarn from The March Hare. This is the first time I have ever used this yarn. I am really happy with how it knit up. In my opinion, this is a sock yarn that is not just for socks. I love how the color goes from the lightest butter yellow to the deepest gold. 

Hat #2 is called Cabled Beret  from the Debbie Bliss knitting magazine fall/winter 2008 issue. The first time I saw this pattern I knew that I would make it many times.  I love how the shaping is worked into the cables and they get smaller as you work to the top.

Hat #2 was knit with Miski from Mirasol. This yarn is 100% baby llama and is so very soft. The blue looks solid in the picture, but has hints of white, dark blue, and purple. I like the fact that buying this yarn helps fund schools for the children of the shepherds in Peru. I figure, if you are going to buy yarn and knit, why not buy something that will give back.

Yesterday I knit a bit more on gifts that I need to have done for Christmas. All I managed to get done was the turning of 2 heels though. Whenever I feel like I am loosing steam all I have to do is look at the very long list of things to do. I smile when I see that almost everything is crossed off.

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The socks are in the mail.

A while back I was approached at a Madison Knitter's Guild meeting and asked to write out a pattern for the heart knee socks I was working on. Today, after much procrastination I got the socks and the notes for the socks in the mail. I am pretty excited as I have never had any of my own patterns in a magazine. Heck, I have never had any of my designs recreated by anyone but myself.

Not really thinking, I managed to mail off the socks having taken only the one picture.  Will fix the problem and add some shots of O modeling them once I get them back.


I have been working endlessly on all the Christmas knits planned. Can't wait to get them all finished.  Loving to knit as much as I do I never thought the words, "I don't want to knit tonight" would ever be spoken. Hopefully that has more to do with the looming deadline than the actual knitting.   


With the dogs playing/fighting at my feet I am reminded that I have a movie paused and some half done socks calling me.  Time to get back to it and see what I can get done before I have to go get the kids from school.


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