A New Year 2012

I'm going to try to post every day.  I totally forgot that blogger changed up the dashboard thingy - for those of you non-bloggers, it is where I go to do this posting thing.  So, I'm going to have to figure it all out again.  I need to figure out the side bar stuff again...

I want to (in fact, I always wanted to) make one of those bar graph things that show what projects I'm working on, and what projects I've finished, etc.  Since I'm not there yet, I'm going to have to do it in the body of the posts for now.

So - here goes.  I've finished a bunch of hats for Christmas presents - and at least one type, the football beanie, generated requests for three more.  So, I did finish last night making one of those.  No pic, may take one today before I deliver the hat tomorrow early morning, but since it looks just like the others, I may not bother.


I have tried a few times, and pictures don't want to load today.  So, will try again tomorrow.

I also made myself a hat, using the beanie pattern, but doing it in one solid colour.  I'd also like to take a few minutes to give some yarn reviews - since I used some yarns for the first time recently.

I showed pics in December of the sweater I made - I couldn't find the yarn I wanted to use - Paton's Classic Wool in a tweed or aran fleck type.  Finally,  I was able to find it in Red Heart acrylic.  I'm not a yarn snob, though I nearly became one for a while, lol... Anyway, as long as I worked on the sweater, I was fine.  But, I used some scraps of sock yarns and baby yarn to hold some stitches, and one of those was a merino wool. I had no trouble with the acrylic until I had something to compare it to!  But, I persevered, and I have no trouble wearing the sweater.  In fact, I wore it to my son's house for Christmas Eve. :)

The hats - I used several yarns for them.  First off, in my last post, I told you about the lime green set I made for someone else.  I used Cascade220 for it.  First time using that wool - and I was quite pleased with it.  It actually feels very soft.  I have leftover, and I think I'm going to try using it for some heavy socks, just to see how it holds up.  I would definitely buy it again - feels at least as soft and nice as the Paton's Classic.  But in solid colours, and costs a little more.

The next up - I made most of the footballs, including my "non-football", in Paton's Decor.  Good quality washable acrylic wool blend.  Feels nice and soft, too.  I'm quite happy with it. 

The girl's hats were made from Lion Brand's Vanna 's Choice acrylic, with the accessories made from Paton's Astra.  I really like the Vanna's Choice.  A very nice soft acrylic yarn, softer even than the Decor, in line with a wool, really.  I enjoyed working with it.  Vibrant colours, very good yarn.  A bit more pricey, but worth the extra (as long as you're making a smaller project, lol...)  As for the pink football - mostly bought that yarn for the colour.  Having worked with it, I don't think I'll buy it again.  It is thicker than most worsted weight yarns, and doesn't even feel as nice as Red Heart... Really.  It felt all right - and the hat is fine; because of the extra thickness and the nature of the crochet, it did turn out soft enough that I had no problem giving the hat to my daughter in law, but I wouldn't buy the yarn again, unless I was again desparate for the particular colour in a washable yarn.  It was called "Loops & Threads Impeccable", and acrylic found at my local Michaels store.

So ends the yarn review portion of my post.

Now, I'll start my future type project list.

I plan to finish off all the projects I have in various stages.  Some are definite UFO's.  They've been around for ages... Then there are the WIP's - things I've started more recently, that are not quite UFO's, or are in current progress.  And the WIM's - Now, I consider it a WIP if I've bought the yarn or fabric or whatever, because that is the first step. However, since I haven't gone further than that, I guess technically it is a WIM - I have it in mind to do.  Then there are the WIM's that I have downloaded, bought, or otherwise saved the pattern for - no materials bought, but I want to make them - I have a mind to.  Finally, the WIM's that are original patterns - they exist so far only in my mind.  I may or may not have acquired materials for them, or I may need to find just the right yarn....

So - new projects.  Well, there are some KAL's, CAL's, and BOM's starting up.  I kind of want to get in on some of them... But mostly, I'm going to use some of those WIM's instead of starting too many new things.  I should be getting re-excited about what I have, instead of getting excited about what I see.

List:
1) to start on:  2 more football beanies, in grandson's team colours, sock KAL from Ravelry - 1 mystery, 1 theme, 1 stated designer (Ravelry group is http://www.ravelry.com/groups/sock-knitters-anonymous, Sockdown, January KAL)
2)to finish:  crochet afghan "just because", two colour sock, Celtic Cape KAL started a year ago! and crochet tank and bolero set
3)Determined to get the house finished!!!! Really - I know, you're all tired of hearing about it, and I'm tired of talking about it.  So, this year, I'm going to do it.  I got the bathroom done around Christmas, and since I redid the bedroom and the closets, they shouldn't take much effort to whip into shape, so I'm ahead of the game.  Really. 
4)Finally - will get the UFO's sorted, will frog anything froggable, (hey, I actually returned some yarn to the store last year!) and will work on at least ONE UFO to bring it back to WIP status.

Ok.  Now to see if I can get these pictures to load.... Tried a little while ago, and something didn't happen...

And for those who aren't sure:
UFO = UnFinished Object
WIP = Work In Progress
WIM = Work In Mind
KAL = Knit ALong
CAL = Crochet ALong
BOM = Block Of the Month (usually quilting, but could be an afghan block, I suppose)