Some progress

Actually, I have knit quite a lot since my last post, but I haven't been very good at taking pictures and posting on my Blog. As for my goals... One of my goals for River City Knitters was to knit a Fair Isle sweater this year. When I wrote that down, I was thinking of a sweater for me. A couple of months later, I was thinking about knitting one for one of my 11 year old granddaughters. By June, I was thinking about knitting a Fair Isle sweater for my 4 year old great granddaughter...now, well, we have to dress a teddy bear for our Christmas charity project, so I'm thinking my bear will be wearing a Fair Isle sweater! Can anyone say "downsizing?" I have knit tons of scarves with some railroad yarn and I am happy to say that I think that I have knit the last of it. That is a major stash buster. I'll post the pictures on Ravelry soon and post them here also. I've knit about 12 Fair Isle hats for charity and one for a Christmas present. Which reminds me, I have to have at least one Christmas project per month in my Christmas box...which I have done. I need 12 charity hats turned in and I have done that also along with 3 baby blankets. I needed 20 items made completely from stash yarn and I have done that also. So...maybe Alina will get her Fair Isle sweater after all...but then, I have a spider sweater to knit for Eli, and a shrug for my daughter and Fair Isle hats for Travis and Jessica...it looks like I will be knitting to the last minute after all.

How am I doing?

I have been knitting like crazy! I finished David's scarf in 2 days because they were leaving for New York and it was snowy there. I don’t think I have ever knitted anything that fast…even on Christmas Eve. Since we are in Florida, I thought I had a long time before he’d get into any cold weather.

I finally finished the bulky loopy yarn prayer shawls and the tam and scarf set. I did NOT like that yarn. It was a mill end and it kept getting tangled and the tiny individual threads snagged. Once knit, it looks pretty good, but it is not easy to work with. If I can find my camera, I will post pictures. I used it to take the picture of David’s scarf and since it was about 2:30 am when I took it, I can’t remember where I put the camera. I was more than a little sleepy by then.

I'm doing very well on my hats with several on the needles right now. Some are mindless and quick to take to my meetings and others have to be done when I am alone. The chemo hats are great to take along, so I am trying to keep one on the needles all the time. The only problem is that I want to knit everything with my size 6 Lantern Moon circular needles. I love them, but they are so expensive and I hate to get another pair of the same size.

I am also knitting squares for a charity blanket our group is giving away to the St. Gerard’s Campus in St. Augustine and blankets for another charity one of our group members is involved with. I’ll probably knit the squares all year long since they are so easy to carry and work up so fast. Then there is the sampler scarf and hat I am designing to teach my two friends how to knit. That will become either a gift or a charity project. I’m making it with Red Heart Fiesta and I really like it. I have a lot of inexpensive yarn left over from years of knitting kids sweaters, so I am trying to use it up.

That’s another thing I am doing pretty well with…using my stash. I have tons of yarn and now that my house is so much smaller, I have to do something to save space. I am trying to use the largest yarn first so I can reduce my stash quickest. Unfortunately, my cousin sent me some instructions for knitting Mary Hoyer doll clothes to sell on ebay, but they use very fine yarn. I love knitting things like that, but it isn’t helping make much space. About the only yarn I buy is what I need to go with something I already have and I am trying to keep that at a minimum.

So, how am I doing so far? I’d say pretty good. If I can keep this up all year, there should be a lot more space around here and a lot of warm bodies