Well, I just finished adding details and photos to the 2006 Project Details page. except one that I forgot to take a picture of. whew!

Here’s a tally:
Mittens/Gloves: 5
Stuffed & Felted: 4
Hats & Headbands: 3
Scarves: 3
Washcloths: 3
Socks: 2
Kids Sweaters: 2
Bags: 1

Total FOs: 23

Out of those projects, 8 of them stayed home with me (or my dh). The rest were gifts (excepting the HP scarf which was swapped for some sock yarn upon rejection from my husband)
3 projects were started in 2005, one was from 2004 (the HP scarf). obviously, I did not make a very big dent in the number of leftover WIPs from past years.
many of them were finished shortly after they were started, but the actual finish date got delayed by my inability to weave in ends immediately at the end of the project. (though I am getting better at this)

The favorites?
              

Did I have goals last year? If so, I never made note of them since we were in the middle of moving. So I can’t review how well I did with those. Ah, well. I’ll have goals for next year.

I’m crunched for time, so if you’d like to see pics of the mittens, the felting frenzy from a couple months ago, or any other recent (or not so recent) FOs, please see the above metioned project info page.

alas. but I did manage to finish my Fetchings, Amelia’s mittens (”they match my hat!”), the Cigar gloves for my BIL, and the snowflake sweater. Pics to come.

So what xmas knitting is left?
* Lilin’s mittens (I’m doing the Fox & Geese pattern. I’m attempting to knit two colors in two hands. I’m having issues keeping the tension on the continental side. maybe I’ll figure it out by the time I finish these.)

* Eli’s hat. I attempted to strand the lions instead of intarsia, but it’s pulling in and puckering too much. I’m gonna try again with a bigger yarn, thus making the hat bigger. I’m undecided about whether to finish the half-a-hat in progress or just frog it all.

* Dad’s mittens. I had him try on the Cigar gloves, and he says they fit great, but he’d prefer full fingers. ok, can do.

mom loved her Fetchings, my sister loved her mittens, and everyone gathered for New Year’s was amazed by all the mittens, the lion hat in progress, and the snowflake sweater. Which fits perfectly. (my sister thought I must have sneaked measurements or something. apparently Lilin’s at that inbetween stage where things are too short or have ginormous sleeves).

ok, one picture, my sister is awesome and got a pic uploaded already!

The pattern is in the book Kids, Kids, Kids, this is the size 6. I used 3+ balls of Lion Wool-Ease (I swear I calculated that by the pattern’s yardage I’d need 5-6 balls) in the white with the sparkle strand. Took me about a month. (Had I not been distracted, I’m sure I would have finished the scheduled xmas knitting. ah, well.) that’s mom & dad’s tree in the background.

I think this is one of my favorite FO’s of the year. (The socks I made for the kids rank up there in the favorites as well.)

the snowflake sweater is nearly done. just need to finish up the neck ribbing, sew up the armpits, weave in the ends and figure out how to do the crochet edging. and while at this point it should probably be considered a gift, it’s not. we’re still going ahead with mittens for all.

which has resumed. I met up with Kelly at the gallery for some knitting (I also met both her dogs who attempted to help me knit on occasion.) She lured me with temptations like Scouts Swag and some Pirate yarn. Pretty colors. If I’d had money with me I would have bought some. That means I’ll have to go back. but back to the mitten knitting. since the sweater was to the point of needing a shorter needle, I pulled out mittens. I almost finished the first of Amelia’s mittens (it still needs a thumb), and then I started the ribbing for the BIL’s pair. since the sweater is nearly finished, I foresee much more mitten knitting in my future. and I’m feeling confident that they’ll all be done by the New Year (which is when we do the holiday visiting).

in other news, I’ve joined Socktopia - a sock KAL. one of my goals for next year is to turn the sock yarn stash into wearable socks. for me (and dh). hmmm. I should start thinking about the rest of my ‘knit year’ resolutions for 2007. (and what I’ll do for gifts next year, since almost everyone has a hat/scarf/mitten set now. and I don’t want to save kid sweaters for the holiday, due to fears of outgrowing.) hmmm…. much to think about while mitten knitting.

apparently I didn’t realize that my sister put up pics of Eli wearing the sweater I knit. She also put some pics of the kids modeling their hats last winter. Sorry!

and since I’m never home (or feels that way lately), I still haven’t gotten most of my pics sorted out to get them up on here. so you get to see her pics before my flat model-free pics. maybe that’s a good thing.

the snowflake sweater got stalled the last few days - no bus means less knitting. I did get over to Amazing Threads and found some amazing Alpaca (I want to keep it) that is destined to be sent to my Mitt Kit Swap pal, unless I find something else before the mailing date. I really need to figure out what I’m going to do for the bag for this. I found a felted bag that I’d love to send, but I still have 4 pairs of gift mittens to knit after I finish the sweater, so I may need to find a plan b (which would involve sewing).

the not-being-home thing also means that I still haven’t gotten the stitch markers finished. (I don’t think twisting beaded wire on the bus is the best of ideas.) I haven’t forgotten them, don’t worry!

I have been home long enough to pick up the mail though. The other night I got another package from my Winter Cheer pal (vegasknitter). She sent me some Karaoke yarn in a dark reddish sort of color and lots of other goodies. I also got a new monitor (thank you employer for the gift cards) - 19″ flatscreen. The best part is, the colors are pretty darn accurate! (The old monitor gave everything a greenish cast. Made it very hard to adjust pictures if they needed it.)

ok, so here’s one of the pics from my sister:

The other pics are in the gallery.

I had grand plans for this weekend - finish the sleeves of the sweater so I could have them joined to the body, maybe get some gift mittens done, make some stitch markers, clean up my craft room. you know, nothing much.

so I popped in a few DVDs to watch while knitting. both Saturday & Sunday. and what did I manage to accomplish this weekend? I made a pumpkin bread/cake thing from a mix and I got the cuffs of both sleeves done. that’s it.

now granted, I had issues interpreting the pattern at some point (cast on 30 sts, do a few YOs where the chart says and I’m up to 36. and yet, by the end of the chart there should be 42 sts. the only thing I can figure is that something got lost in the photocopying or the pattern is worded odd and I just couldn’t make sense of it. ah, there’s corrections -PDF-. go me, I did it the way they say to without having seen it first.) . so I had to go ahead and start the second cuff earlier than I wanted so I could make sure to duplicate my mods in the right place and all. but I really would have thought I’d have accomplished more knitting than that. I’m blaming my movie selections (I tried to watch some newer ones. they distracted me too much. back to the movies I can watch without looking, I guess.)