Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Another year over.

I have this weird habit of not feeling like its "next year" until my birthday. I have no idea why that is but it does let me write off any residual post-December crud as last year's problem.

That does mean January is a pretty weird month for me though. I tend to simultaneously feel very unproductive and somehow manage to get a largish amount of stuff finished. I think it might have something to do with the fact that January is a grumpy month for me and I spend a lot of my free time avoiding people and thus manage to get a lot more craft-y time in (I have debated if this is a good or a bad thing but its hard to draw a conclusion in light of that trade-off).

So far this month I've knit a Pretty thing:


Finished my first project to come off the pendleton (which - I would say about 90% of was done this month because I took so long to warp it and then got distracted):


Finished a pair of socks:


And finished half of another pair of socks:


I also did a bunch of little design swatches and tonight I warped the flip. I'm also in the home stretch on my handspun targhee sweater and yesterday I got around to sewing some hook clasps on the featherweight which was handy because I wore it today and it DIDN'T FALL OFF ONCE.

Clasps are nice.

In completely unrelated news (and Mom, I can totally hear that face you're about to make all the way in Texas) I was trying to decide what to put on the loom tonight and after trashing my stash looking for some KP Shadow that I was positive I had but apparently don't or else have lost I came to the conclusion that I did not have any yarn.

I was pretty convinced of it for about an hour while I tried to find something I wanted to work with.

Eventually I turned up some Rittersporn left over from my Porphyria mitts so it ended OK but I still can't help feeling like my stash redistributed itself into sweater quantities and spinning fiber when I wasn't paying attention.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

11 Fiber Goals for 2011

I've been meaning to make this post for a few weeks. I actually had it all figured out back in December - it was written out and everything - but I lost the scrap paper it was scribbled on and then it was the New year and my brain shut down for awhile.

Anyway in no particular order these are my knit/spin/weave goals for 2011:

1. Design and knit a large piece (garment or lace shawl - I am waffling on which I want to tackle more).
2. Cast on a Neibling pattern (I had originally planned to say "Knit a Neibling" but well... I would like to think I can be realistic.... Sometimes.) I am thinking maybe this one.
3. Spin/Knit/Finish a Handspun sweater.
4. Knit a pair of knee-socks.
5. Knit or Weave a blanket/large throw/afghan
6. Finish THE YELLOW SHAWL OF NEVER-ENDING ANGST (and then start calling it something a little less angsty).
7. Do a steeked project. Maybe this one because its been in my queue forever & a day now.
8. Learn to use a support spindle (competently) & get the almost 4 oz of texas cashmere that is sitting in my stash all spun up.
9. Knit a yellow sweater. I think this should happen after the Most Evil Shawl That Is Trying To Make Me Crazy is done. I anticipate I will need a yellow project at that point. I rather like Madelintosh DK in Gilded for this but I also have some Lonco in a gold color that I really do want to work up as well.
10. Knit more colorwork - get comfortable with the two-handed fair isle techniques.
11. Hunt down a nice colored fleece and finish a project all the way from raw wool to knit or woven scarf/garment/bag (depending on the type of fleece I hunt down).

What are your Fiber goals for 2011?