Ramblings of a Crafter: January 2010

Happy New Year everyone *yes Peanut Gallery, I know it's the 11th, but I can still say it* I hope this year brings good health, prosperity and happiness to you all!! I got to the spend the 1st day of the new year sleeping in, playing with my stash and dining & knitting with friends *that was the best part of the day* While I was enjoying the company of friends I also finished my first project for 2010!! I just love it when a year starts off so nicely :) The project was actually part of my niece's Christmas gift and oh there's a story behind this one too. My older sister, Mary, suggested that I make a scarf and hat for my niece as her gift. Mary said that they were in a store the other day and Gabbi had tried on several different style hats and the ones that looked best were the slightly slouchy and had a bill. So of course, I log into Ravelry and we start look at hats to find a pattern. She liked Struan and she also liked Hannah for when she was just out playing around (Gabbi is the sporty girl and wears her hair in a ponytail a lot). We agreed that I would make Struan and a scarf and she told me to make them in blue.

I managed to finish the scarf before I headed up to NY for Christmas. I went to go start the scarf two nights before Christmas and it had this special way of starting it since it is made from the top down. While I was on my mom's computer looking up the directions of how to do the special cast-on Gabbi saw the pattern and a picture of the hat and comment that she liked it and asked if I could make her one! So of course I'm thinking *SCORE!* in my head since I was already making this for her. That's when the Red Barron came crashing down!

"But Zia, can you make for me without this bill thing in the front? And can you make it in grey or bright green. Yeah, bright green would be pretty."

Me - "Bright green??"

"Yeah, I like bright green. Can you make it bright green for me?"

"Gabbi, You are definitely your father's child!" He father loves bright wacky colors. So of course I told her yes, I mean what else could I have told her!

I then go to find my sister and relay the conversation to her and of course says, "Just make it in blue. She'll be fine!"

Pattern: Struan (Rav link)
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted
Colorway: Tuareg
Needles: KnitPicks Harmony size 5
Modifications: none

Needless to say, she loves it. She even send me a Facebook message a few days ago to let me know again just how much she likes it and that all her friends like it and that they all thought it came from Aeropostale! We all know that to a teenager that makes all the more kooler ;)

Here's a picture of the scarf that a knit to go along with it.

Pattern: Malabrigo Waffles Scarf (Rav link)
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted
Colorway: Tuareg
Needles: KnitPicks Harmony size 8
Modifications: none

I also made a Jester Hat Maya. Here's a quick peek, because like most babies they just don't like to keep their hats on!

I just want to squeeze those cheeks! She understands so much for a 1-year old. She might not be able to talk, but she sure does understand and man does she have the should shrugging down pat!

The funniest Christmas story I have to tell has to do with Maya, of course! Here she is in her little party dress.

So, she unwrapping her gift from her godparents. You can see in that picture, I think that was the Playschool CD player that one of them got her. Her Godfather, my cousin Cesidio, bought her a Playschool laptop. Now mama didn't raise no fool, this little girl knew exactly what this was. She pulled the little laptop out of the packaging and toddled over to her little chair. She shimmied her little butt up onto the chair and pulled the laptop onto her lap. *Oh wait, this gets even better!* The little stinker leans over and hits the play button on her new CD player and then flips the top up on her laptop and starts typing!! So, ya think her mommy and daddy are on the computer too much? Just a little?

Well 2010 is here and I'm still dealing with my health issues. As you know I had a round of 3 Cervical Epidural Steriod Injection (CESI) back in November. Then in December I started physical therapy for both the herniated disks in my neck and my lower back. Unfortunately the injections in my neck did not alleviated the pain as much as it was suppose to and now my pinched nerve feels worse then it ever did! I have now started the series of injection in my lower back. Luckily my lower back is very mild. The spinal specialist is very concerned and wants me to try traction. He thinks I'm too young to have neck surgery, and hell, I'm inclined to go with him on this account. If traction in the office helps, then he is going to write a letter to my insurance to try and get them to cover the cost of a home traction device so that I can do traction on myself twice a day until the disk slips back into place. This is the most annoying injury I have ever had.

Goals for 2010 -

Lets just stick to knitting goals for now :)

I'm whole heartedly going to try an knit from my stash. I have such beautiful yarn in my stash and SO MUCH of it that it is ridiculous of my to constantly be buying more yarn. My problem is that colors call to me. I love certain colors and I just HAVE to have them. I'm going to take this in small steps my filling up my projects bags with a pattern and the required yarn and slowly work toward emptying a bin of yarn. This will take time and require me to shift yarn between bins every few months so that I can visually see the bins emptying. Maybe I should just say every 3 months (4 x a year) I will shift and hopefully by December I will have en empty bin or two! I am giving myself some exceptions because lets face it, I will buy yarn :) So, here are the exception, The Homespun Party, MDS&W Festival, and FFtC Vampire Sock Club II (if I get in). Any yarn that I receive as payment for testing doesn't count because I didn't spend any $$. I'm even going to cut back on the number of swap I participate in this year in the hopes of more skeins going out then coming in. Do I honestly, truly believe those are the only 3 times I will buy yarn in a whole 12 month period... oh hell no, but it's something to strive for :) I'm just taking it one month at a time. Some people call this going "Cold Sheep" and swear off buy yarn for a whole year. Since that is not what I'm doing I guess you can say I'm going more "Lukewarm Llama" :) *Hey, I haven't bought a single skein of yarn this year!! I'd say I'm off to a good start* Oh, and anything that I ordered back in December that arrives in January doesn't break my oath because I ordered back in '09!

I have deemed January as "Finish it or Frog it" month! I need to collect all the unfinished projects that are around my house, hiding in corners, lurking in cubbies, stuffed in knitting bags and take stock and decide to finish it or frog it. I have way to many things on my needles and I am overwhelmed with what to knit when I have so many things started! The only exception to this is my Stain Glass Afghan. Don't get me wrong, I need to determine if I'm going to finish it or frog it, but if the first it will not be done by the end of January. I requires something like 357 squares if memory serves me correctly and I think I have maybe *mublmblemuble* done so far!
I plan to start knitting my Christmas 2010 gifts starting in February. If I plan it out a little better and plan to knit one give a month I should have my family covered by the time December rolls around and I won't be knitting into the wee hours of the night on Christmas Eve to get a gift done. I'm planning smaller gifts because lets face it, I'm a single woman, on a teacher's salary trying to make ends meet with a mortgage on a 30 year old home that seems to need this or that replaced every time I fix this "other" this or that! I just can't do it all, unless God sees fit to make me a lotto winner to one of those really BIG jackpots!
I'm shooting to knit 52 items this year. Don't be shocked, this doesn't have to be a major undertaking. I'm not talking like 52 sweaters or 52 shawls, just 52 items in general. A lot of those items will be small projects like hats, scarves, and dishcloths. Items that can be cracked out in a day or two, when I need a break from knitting those more time consuming items. I've seen other people do this on Ravelry and I think this will also be a good way to cut down on my cotton stash and those one or two skeins of yarn I have floating around in my stash.