A Mid-month progress report

These are Doug's Socks that were going to go in his Christmas stocking. They are finally finished and on their way to a new home. They are going to be sold in a silent auction at a friend's church. I will be very annoyed if they don't sell for a good price. Too many times, wonderful hand crafted items are sold for prices that don't even cover the cost of materials.
Last year I donated some knitting to a bazaar and it was priced to only cover the cost of the yarn. There was nothing extra added on for the time spent knitting them. A plate of cookies was priced at $2.50 for a dozen. There is no way that the ingredients in the cookies cost $2.50 . I decided that I would no longer be supporting that charity by knitting but would be buying more cookies.
As long as the Ladies who are pricing crafts for charities continue to ignore the time spent in creating a garment, the public will continue to believe that mittens are worth a dollar and a pie is worth $!2.00.




Blankets for the New Baby (Why do we say that? Has anyone ever had an Old Baby?)



These are technically a new project for the month of March but since I made a dozen receiving blankets and one fitted sheet for the bassinet in only four hours, I'm not counting them. It's my rule. I can bend it anyway I want to!




Leaf Lace socks are also done. These were Sock of the Month project from Make 1 YarnStudio The pattern is from Fiber Trends and the yarn is Sweet Georgia. These one were residing in the basket since October, because I thought I had a mistake in them. The mistake was in not finishing them earlier.
The advantage to working on old projects is that you end up with many more finished projects instead of a full WIP basket.

TAG - I'M IT?????

Michelle tagged me for the Five reasons why I blog and while this seems like a simple tag, I don't know if there are a full five reasons.

1. I started this blog when I joined a sock exchange, which leads me to...

2. Everyone else had one so I thought I needed to have a blog too. Now, the next thing I have to do is figure out how to make my Blog look pretty instead of very boring. I just wish that learning stuff on my computer didn't take so much time away from knitting!

3. I love to show off my knitting. This is the same reason that I enter my stuff in the Calgary Stampede (Creative Living display).

4. I enjoy being part of a great knitting community. This opens up the ability for me to communicate with other knitters around the world and it really fascinates me.

5. In Theory, friends and family can find out what I do each day but since no-one in my family reads this that makes this a irrelevant point.

If you tag someone who doesn't know you have a blog, does it still count? Morgan - You're It!

On my needles

It's getting tougher to keep to my pledge to only knit on unfinished projects. Even if there was no new project that I wanted to work on, the mere statement that I would only work on old projects makes me want to start many, many, many socks and sweaters and shawls and cute little baby hats. This same process works whenever I decide to go on a diet. I'm never hungry for chocolate cake and chicken wings until the day I decide to visit Weight Watchers.

Projects are being Finished!

I hate to think about how long ago this little sweater was started. This isn't it's original shape. I started out with a pattern from a "Knitters" but then decided that it really wasn't working and ripped the whole sweater apart. After I decided on this pattern and had the fronts done, I ran out of yarn for the back, ripped it out and reknit it in a totally different colour.This has been complete for over a year except for the buttons being sewn on.
...and one final blocking will happen before it is donated to a local charity.

Now that it is finished, I'm thinking I should make another sweater with another pattern from Bee's Knees. There is no shortage of sock yarn in this house.

These are my Ladybug socks. The two pair were knit out of one ball of Opal. I had to one sock from the first pair and then the first sock from the second pair in order to get the sequence of the stripes the same. I'm just slightly obsessive about my socks matching.

And this is what happens when you knit one sock in August and the second sock in March. You forget what kind of decrease you were doing (naturally not what the pattern calls for) and then have to rip because, socks must match exactly. Yes, I fully expect that when I wear these socks, everyone will be starring closely at my feet and realise that they are exact matches to each other!

MARCH 1 - MARCH 31
NO NEW PROJECTS MONTH!

Each time I attempt to find my knitting chair, I trip over various partially completed projects. I can't put my feet on the stool because there are two unfinished socks there. There is another sock on the hearth and two more hidden in the basket.

There are a least three shawls that have been started and that are waiting patiently for me to finish them.

Two sweaters - one with a minor amount of finishing and one that is just barely begun - have been stuffed into the basket.

A baby blanket that is half done has been claiming most of my attention recently.

Knowing that this array of projects has not been enough to keep me from planning new projects. This morning I found my self checking out the stash and looking for new patterns online. (Where is Lily Chin's Reversible Cable Heirloom blanket?)


I have decided that the pile must be demolished or at least shrunk down to a reasonable size.

In several of the blogs that I read on regular basis, my fellow knitters have made 2007 a year in which they knit only from the stash. While this is an admirable goal, I realise that it is a futile goal that is doomed from the start. A year is a very long time. A month is manageable - maybe.