Last Of The Old, First Of The New

Things have been a little slow in my knitting world of late (it's difficult to find the energy to knit when doing house renovations), but I finally have some finished objects to show.

For my last finished object of 2010, I knitted Mum a pair of socks for Christmas. It is now something of a tradition that I give Mum a pair of hand knitted socks every year for a Christmas gift. Another part of the tradition is, that no matter how much I plan ahead, I always seem to be up late on Christmas eve, doing a mad dash to finish them while watching Carols by Candlelight.

Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Medium Weight - Hollyday
Pattern: Sock Recipe: A Good, Plain Sock by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Duration: Started 20th November 2010 - Completed 24th December 2010
Modifications: 56 stitches instead of 64 that the pattern calls for to give a nice snug fit, and a short row wrap & turn heel

For my first finished object of the new year, I have finished another pair of socks to add to my sock drawer, which brings my collection of hand knitted socks up to 13. These are the Loopy Ewe Sock Club installment from September 2010, and despite the fact that brown is not a colour I normally choose to knit with, the skein looked so pretty that I had to cast them on immediately.

Yarn: Madelinetosh tosh sock - Loopy's Favourite Season
Pattern: Berries and Leaves by Ruth Greenwald
Duration: Started 2nd October - Completed 16th January
Modifications: Extra repeat in the legs to add length

Hopefully I should have some more finished objects to show soon. At the moment I'm have two different pairs of socks on the needles (one for the S62011 KAL, and one for Dad), and a shawl for The Knitgirllls swap, so as long as I don't get distracted with casting anything else on, I should be able to finish something. Fingers crossed...

Happy Knitting New Year

Overly ambitious as always, I've completed a list of knitting related goals I want to achieve this year.

* Buy less sock yarn. Yarn purchased through sock clubs doesn't count, and sock yarn purchased for larger projects (i.e. jumpers), or for gifts also does not count. (Let's just ignore the fact, that at last count, I have signed up for at least 4 sock clubs to count, and am signing up for another 2 this weekend).

* Knit 2 jumpers - 1 for Mum as a Mother's Day present, and 1 for me.

* Knit Featherweight cardigan for me

* Knit 12 pairs of socks.

I have signed up for the S62011 group on Ravelry, and have chosen the below selection of yarn, which includes my first ever skein of Wollmeise purchased. Can you believe that I've been stalking Wollmeise for over a year and haven't knit with it once?!?

I'm also going to knit from my personal sock club along side this, as there's several patterns that I've wanted to knit for ages, that I've never gotten around to doing.

In my personal sock club for this year, I've got the following patterns earmarked:
* Hayrick
* Flaming Desire
* Holidazed
* Lenore

I've also got to do some gift sock knitting in there too, with 2-3 pairs for Mum, and 2 pairs for Dad.

This list of goals doesn't even begin to cover all the other things I want to knit this year either. Other assorted items I want to knit this year include the Yarn Harlot's Pretty Thing cowl, a shawl or two, several pairs of fingerless gloves, and somewhere along the line, actually finishing my niece's jumper while she can still fit into it.

I'm overwhelmed just thinking about all the knitting I want to do this year. I think I need to go and have a lie down...