December Catch Up

As usual, I have weeks to catch up on so let’s skip the whole 2012 year-in-review thing and the inevitable 2013 resolution post (at least for now) and go straight to the yarny stuff.

No, I have not been gone for weeks because I died under a pile of smittens, but I did keep going with them for at least a few more days.

After smitten #10, I was able to conquer the obsession  (okay, fine, I started running out of appropriate handspun leftovers).  A day or so after I cleared my head from the smitten haze, I started back on my WIPs and the rest of December actually ended up being rather productive.  First up, I almost finished a sweater.

Yes, it's an odd picture, but the sleeve cuffs (can you call 8 inches a cuff?) are the coolest thing about the sweater so there ya go.  I totally could have been wearing this one for Christmas had I planned a little better when I bought this yarn for a completely different project over two years ago and psychically realized I was going to change patterns and probably needed one more skein.  For a couple of nights, I played the "maybe if I knit fast enough, I can finish before the yarn runs out" game.  Then I came back to reality, weighed my yarn, and admitted there was no way that what I had left would get me through the second sleeve.  I hunted up and ordered an extra skein, but was forced to put the sweater aside to save my remaining yarn so that I could alternate it with the new skein.  MadTosh is not exactly known for consistent skeins even when you buy them together, and two years apart?  Yeah, I was just hoping it was still some shade of grey.

Forced to abandon the sweater, a funny thing happened.  I was hit with strange motivation to knit my heart out and finish a pair of socks that were intended to be a Christmas gift--an idea I had long ago given up on since the first sock wasn't even completely finished.  This motivation hit on Dec. 22nd.  Nice timing, right?  Here is what the next three days looked like:

Yup, I said it, BAM!  I knit the entire second sock in two and a half days.  Yes, I know there are awesome knitters out there that can bust out a pair in the same amount of time, and yes, I realize these aren't exactly tall socks, but whatever, a sock in three days is about as good as it's ever going to get for this fickle knitter.

With the socks finished, I had the drive back from Connecticut to Maryland free to turn back to the handspun projects.  Relaxing on the couch after we got home, I finished up the Lacy Baktus scarf.

 

A few days and three different bind-offs later, Mike's socks made their way to the finished pile.

Then I threw some handspun on the loom and busted out a scarf for no particular reason.

  

And yet, I still wasn't quite finished.  I managed to squeeze one more skein of handspun and most of a hat in before the calendar hit 2013.

I tried to spin bulky yarn.  I mostly failed.  And while I love, Love, LOVE the hat pattern (Squall by Glenna C.),  I do not love how it looks with the color variation so the yarn is destined for another project.  Still, I enjoyed the hell out of myself knitting it, so it's all good.

And there's the December crafting.  Phew!  I'll try to get January in before we hit February!

'Tis the season

Having grown up celebrating only Hanukkah, having a Christmas tree is still a novelty for me.  For the past several years we have cut down our tree at Butler's Orchard in Germantown, MD, and this year we carried on that tradition.  I like that it makes the occasion a little more of an adventure and that we are supporting a local farm in the process.  Every year, I marvel at the rows and rows of trees to pick from.

In past years, we easily spent an hour wandering through the rows--we would find a tree we liked, decide to look a little further and eventually decide we liked the first tree best and now couldn't find it.  Usually it was around the third tree we found that we would actually start sawing. This year we were more efficient and cut down the first tree we decided on.  I admit, Mike did most of the hard work while I stood over him supervising and snapping pictures and being generally pretty unhelpful.

Soon the tree was on the car and we were headed home to start decorating.  Awhile back, I started my own little holiday tradition--each year I add a new ornament that reminds me of something that makes me smile.  I love that we are slowly accumulating a collection of ornaments with some sort of personal significance.  Each time I pull one of these from the box, I remember some happy experience or trip. I was thrilled when I was in a running store and found this year's perfect addition. 

I'm still really proud of finishing my first half-marathon (13.1 miles) this year.  No matter how many more races I do, I love that every time I pull out this little green ball, I will think about how wonderful it felt to finish that race and how much fun we had that whole trip.  This simple 13.1, therefore, became my "special" ornament for 2010. 

Another great thing about the trip to the farm is that it's about a 45 minute drive away.  Knitting time!!  The Leyfi pullover was my priority last week, and on the way to and from the farm, I eagerly worked away on the second sleeve.

 
Leyfi is now finished.  I'm quite happy with it--more so than I expected to be.  I haven't had great light to take pictures so hopefully this weekend Leyfi will get a photo shoot and I'll post all the details then.  Finishing Leyfi brings me down to seven WIPs.  I ripped out one fingerless mitten project since the cuff was too snug, so that brings me to six.  From fourteen to six in less than a month!  Now is when it starts to get a little harder though since most of the projects I'm trying to tackle are not very far along.  I've moved onto the Chelsea skirt, and I can honestly say I hate knitting this project.  Luckily, I still have a sock to work on when I need a break, but I fear finished projects might be few and far between for a bit.