Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a happy bunch of holidays, whichever ones you celebrate.  My sister loved her new Crabby Socks (shown here being displayed by my nephew).  My niece loves to steal my sister's socks, but this pair are way too large for niece to wear. Niece did, however, ask if I could knit her socks and also if I could teach her to knit.  I promised her knitting needles and knitting lessons for her birthday.

Sis and I hit Wool and Company in Geneva, IL on a day we got to hang out without kids.  She bought yarn for me to knit her FOUR more pair of socks and I bought the yarn for her February Lady Sweater.  I inadvertently bought enough Cascade 200 to knit both the pullover and cardigan versions, so I think I'll knit her both.  I initially cast on for the pullover, but then she said she was leaning toward liking the cardi better so I started the cardigan last night.  I should be able to get one of them done by the end of February for her birthday.

As presents, I received The Opinionated Knitter by EZ and Sock Innovation by Cookie A.  I really like the chattiness of EZ's newsletters.  I am thrilled by the extensive and detailed explanation of designing that Cookie wrote.  It helped solidify some ideas I've had about writing patterns and gave me some insight into a different way of thinking about designs.

On the knitting front, I added a couple inches to the default Yarn Harlot One-Row Scarf that's become my  mindless travel knitting.  I also managed to finish my Blueberry Sweater. Well, finish it except for the weaving of the underarms.  I'm happy that it's done, but I'm not as happy with the overall sweater as I'd like to be.  For starters, I think the arms might be an inch too short (which may or may not be fixable with blocking).  The other issue has to do with the shoulder "seams".  They stick out too much, giving the shape of the sweater an 80s big shoulderpad look that I really don't like.  Of course I have already sewn in the ends before I really thought about the fit and shape.  I think I was just so pleased to have actually finished an adult-sized sweater that I wasn't thinking clearly.  Now I'm putting off the underarm weaving until I decide what I want to do (if anything) about the sleeves and shoulders.  I've got plenty of yarn left (5+ skeins) so making the sleeves longer is definitely an option.

Future Knitting Plans:
I've had a blast with the new Strauch ball winder that Boy gave me for Christmas.  Being a wise Boy, he correctly deduced that buying me a handy tool like the ball winder might facilitate the production of more Foot Hugs for his feet.  He actually ordered the ball winder from Otto Strauch himself and it arrived on my doorstep just two days later!  I did spend the first weekend after its arrival winding a bunch of sock yarn, so Boy might be right about that Foot Hug production connection....

Despite finishing several items in the past few weeks, I'm not experiencing any knitting slump.  Quite the opposite, actually.  Once I get Sis' February Sweaters finished, I'm not sure what I'll focus on.  Several of my family members have now mentioned getting socks again, so I suppose it's time for round two of socks for them.  The last time I knit everybody socks was probably 7 or 8 years ago, so I can't really disagree with them.  I still have two shawls in progress too (Errold's Grove and the Fall 2009 Goddess Mystery Shawl) and the Tri-Cities Socks.  Maybe I can knit two rows of the Goddess Knits Mystery Shawl a day, then work on the February Sweater....  At least my knitting energies are focused on getting projects finished, rather than starting new ones. :-)