2006 Wrap-Up

So, now that we're firmly into 2007, I finally have time to write up my wrap-up for 2006... Poor Stella isn't feeling very well. She must have eaten something yesterday that didn't agree with her, and her tummy has been upset since about 4am last night. I have the day off in honor of Martin Luther King day, so I'm sitting home with her and watching "Far From Heaven", which so far is AWESOME--maybe not the story, which is so like a play and so 50s it is hard to get into (although I'm still in the beginning anyway), but the costumes! the sets! the cars!!! YUM. The repressed homos leading their double-lives, not so yum. Just very very sad. Anyway...

List your FOs from 2006:

I went back and counted up everything, and there were about 36 items total. That was a lot more than I'd anticipated. It included:
*3 full-sized washcloths and one small one (the pattern was too hard to make a full sized one so I stopped when it was scrubby sized).
*babies/kids:
Last Min. Knitted Gifts baby hat
Knitty's Cargo pants
Anouk
Louisa Harding wrap sweater and striped hat
chicken viking hat
2 toddler hats with ear-flaps
2 kid-sized London beanies
baby umbilical hat and booties
*bags:
felted tote bag
felted sushi wallet
*socks:
1 Regia silk sock (one more to finish)
striped socks (first pair)
Spanky's socks (ankle socks)
*scarfs:
Nashua Handknits bulky scarf
Cherry Garcia scarf tube
fun-fur scarf for Gayle
*miscellaneous:
T-twist sweater from Knitty (pre-blog, I think)
throw-pillow cover
hallowig from Knitty
2 coffee cozies for Spanky
6 men's London Beanies
1 Hot Head hat (from Stitch & Bitch)

List your WIPs:
I don't really have many left:
1. Red Scarf Project scarf--It's not going so well. I messed up the stitch pattern when I was on vacation and when I tried to fix it, I messed it up further. I may just pull the whole thing out and just do a simple basket-weave or ribbed version instead. It's taking too long as it is.
2. Alpaca Hat for Spanky: While we were at Maryland Sheep & Wool, Spanky saw a hat that she really liked, and asked if I could recreate it for her. I'm trying, but she picked out this very thin (fingering weight maybe?) skein of black alpaca, and I'm a little concerned I'm going to run out of yarn. So far, so good, right now!
3. That last Regia silk sock!
4. The Starburst Sweater from Knit Picks. I messed up the lace pattern on the back, but I think I can fix it, so I haven't given up yet. I'm starting to forget where I was though, so I have to get back to it soon!

That's it right now. The Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl is finished, and I'll go into that in a later post. It's blocking right now. I think that's pretty good for left-over WIPs!

What was your favorite project of 2006?

It was a tie between the T-Twist sweater and the socks for Spanky from the Artyarns Supermerino. The sweater could have been a bit longer, but I learned a lot, and it was really fun to knit. The socks were fun because Spanky wears them a lot, and the yarn was yummy.

What projects will you never knit again?
I don't think I'll ever knit a striped hat like the baby hat I made from the Louisa Harding book the same way again... There were too many ends to weave in. I'll either have to find a different way of doing it, or just not do stripes. That was too hard.

What was your major knitting accomplishment for 2006?
I think learning how to knit a basic sock was my major accomplishment. I can't wait to try more involved lacy patterns.

What are your knitting goals for 2007?

I'm skipping all the questions about my favorite yarns, because I've liked almost all the ones I've tried this year. Also, I don't know that I can tell you anything you don't already know. I haven't had a chance to try anything really nice yet.

My goals for 2007:

1. Knit from my stash.
2. Start the Master Knitter's Program.
3. Knit more lace patterns--either shawls or fancy socks. I also want to do some better intarsia and perhaps a fair isle pattern.
4. Get better at documenting my FOs on my blog, so that I have a better idea of the totals at the end of next year and more info about my methods and materials, etc.
4. Finally, I want to be a bigger contributor to the internet knitting community. I read a lot of blogs, but I don't have most of them on my blog roll, and I don't comment as much as I want to. I'm going to try to make the time to actually be a part of the community rather than just reading passively.

That's it! I'll have an actual FO in my next post, with pictures! I'm finally caught up! YAY.