Lots To Share (So Lots Of Pictures)

It's the beginning of a new year (yay!) and I have lots to share with you. I spent most of New Year's Eve boxing up Durwood's books, putting them on a shelf, and removing the shelves they'd been on. Then I put up the set of shelves my brother, AJ, dropped off for me. They were throwing them away where he works and he offered them to me. They're perfect for my yarn bins. Perfect.

Then yesterday on New Year's Day I sifted and sorted through my yarns and projects started, patterns and fabrics so that I now have room to pursue my crafty manias in an area of peace and calm orderliness. For a while, anyway.




Skully suggested that we all make a Sky Scarf in 2012. The idea is that you look at the sky at the same time every day for a year and knit two rows using representative colors so that by the end of the year you have a scarf that chronicles the weather over the past year. I think it's a great idea. One problem, I don't especially like blue and don't want a blue scarf. She and I brainstormed ideas of things we could observe that would change almost daily besides the sky. We talked about birds that visit the feeders or colors of sunrise or sunset. After a lot of thought, I decided to knit the maple tree outside my window. It's a beautiful tree and it has the best autumn display of any in the area. I sorted out all the browns, a little white for snow, some autumn variegateds, and every green or variegated form of green I had in stock yesterday and the only thing I'm lacking is a mid-summer green, so if anyone has some leftovers of emerald or Kelly green in worsted or Dk they'd be willing to donate or swap I'd really appreciate it. Z-Dawg?









My other knitting resolution for 2012 involves finishing the metric crap-ton of UnFinished Objects I've got scattered around. That was another benefit of tidying the crafting area; I was able to assemble all of the UFOs and determine how much effort is required to finish them.

First up is the Red Marl sweater. It's my first Fair Isle project and once I had the back done the front somehow got shunted aside. Since January is a 31 day month, I thought that would be an appropriate project, plus it's damned cold and I want to wear it. Soon.






Because February is a short month, even though it'll be 29 days this year, I'm going to finish knitting the Lava Shawl. This time I won't have to tink back because I've forgotten how to knit it between times.






In March I will finish the Khaki Cardi which only needs a sleeve and a half to be finished.










The striped Pompom Christmas Stocking gets done in April for one of my DILs. (Neither of them has a stocking made by me. I am a terrible MIL.)









I'll be making the last 5 blocks for the Bandwagon Afghan, sewing it up, and knitting the applied I-cord edging in May.





The onset of warmer weather in June makes me think I'll want something non-wool to knit. That means the Mae Geri Scarf will get finished.








That's as far as I've gotten assigning projects to months. I hope you noticed the confident statements and lack of equivocation. I will have other, quicker projects on the go at the same time each month. I have 3 socks On The Needles (OTN): a Yoga sock, a Fixation Ankle sock, and a Stashbuster Spiral sock (thanks for the yarn, Z-Dawg) that I'll keep working on, one at a time. They're all plain socks so they're something I can knit on with people around. I want to knit at least 2 preemie hats per month for the Knitting Guild charity but those don't take much time. This month I've cast on another pair of Fast and Fearless Mitts because I absolutely adore the first pair I made and I want a pair to match my favorite hat.

I love the clean slate and the endless possibilities of a new year spread out before me. I AM going to exercise regularly in 2012. I am going to STICK to the Points Plus food plan and lose 20# this year. I am NOT going to buy yarn until I have knit up almost all of the yummy and beautiful yarn I snuggled up to yesterday down in the stash. I am GOING to spend one day per week sorting, donating, and tossing things that we don't need and don't use. The insane and endless six weeks my brothers and I spent sorting through and disposing of Mom's stuff convinced me that we need to get started clearing out NOW to spare our beloved children and their spouses from having to do that when we kick the bucket. Amen.