Another first of the month means another check in…

Goals – 2015

Knitting

• Knit 6 pairs of Mystery KAL socks – I’m on schedule – I’ve knit one sock from my first pair.  The mystery is definitely helping – I’ve had this yarn in my stash for several years but I keep passing it up.

• Knit 3 things from stash for the Stash Down KAL – I finished my Weigh It Shawl a couple weeks back – 1 done, 2 more to go.

• Finish Paul’s Chicago Bears socks – they were his 2013 socks and I never even started his 2014 socks.  I’m a bad, bad wife.  No progress on that one yet.

• Finish Paul’s Pismo hat – he loved his last one and he deserves a new one.  I guess I’m not too terrible of a wife because the whole hat is k1tbl, p1 ribbing.  Oy.  No progress on this one either – but it’s sure been cold enough to wear.
• Finish Raspberry Tart – I’m less than a full sleeve away. You guessed it – nothing on this one either.

• Add other colors to my knitting – yellow and maybe some blue or green.  I did branch out with the Lucy Cowl.

Blog

• Post twice a week for the next 3 months –  January is a tough month to start because I need to plan photography on the weekends – but I’m working my way up.
• Post more recipes and nutrition info – I did exactly zero in January.  I said my goal was 2 per month, but I’m going to pull that down and start with one.
• Make 20 comments per week on other blogs – I started off the month strong but then work intervened. 

Personal

• FitBit – Um, it’s still in the package.
• Eat Well – I’m not doing the Gluten Free any more – I just didn’t feel any different.  And let’s face it – GF is HARD.  I still need to eat better but I’m getting back into the swing of things…slowly.
• Lose 8 pounds – I lost .8 pounds this month.  Not great, but at least it’s in the right direction

Goals – throughout the year

• Check in each month – assess, acknowledge and adjust.  Doing it right now.
• Make an editorial calendar – Nada (yet).

So, for January I’d say I did decent.  I’m happy to have an FO to show for it, and happy to use some stash sock yarn.

February Goals

• Make Sock #2 for the Mystery KAL
• Knit another FO out of stash yarn – this month’s challenge is Warm the Soul for the KAL.  I have about 20 ideas..
• Work on 2 UFOs
• Write the damn Editorial Calendar
• Get that freaking FitBit out of the box and on my waistband.
• Lose 2 pounds – this might be too much since we’re going away for a long weekend.  So I’m putting it on my list but I’m not feeling sold on this one.

How are your goals going?  Feeling good?  Need to adjust?  Hitting them out of the park?

The colors are awesome and I love the way it twirls at the bottom.  This is my favorite way to wear it so the ends aren’t too long and get in the way of everything.

Specs:

• Susan B. Anderson‘s Yowza Weigh It Shawl
• Miss Babs Yowza Whatta Skein in Perfectly Wreckless
• US #9 needles
• A kitchen scale

Garter stitch and wildly variegated handdyed go together so well.  I of course have been stalking ravelry for more ideas as well as the Miss Babs site.  I’ve held strong so far.

I only made one mod – instead of kfb for the ruffle increases I did a YO and then I knit the YOs tbl on the next row.  I just didn’t feel like doing all those kfb’s.

I did the plain BO because I didn’t think you’d notice the picot BO with this yarn and let’s face it – picot BOs take FOR. EVER.  600 sts of picot bind off?  No thank you.

Once done I washed it in the machine on delicate and tossed it in the dryer on low temp for 15 or 20 minutes.  It came out perfectly and I love that I can easily wash it to freshen it up.

I end up wearing it this way a fair amount of the time because it’s quick – just put around my neck, tie it and go.

And here you can see the colors up close as well as that pretty BO.  I just did a regular BO – the prettiness is all in the yarn.

I got this coat in the late summer because I thought I’d be able to wear more accessories with it.  So glad I got the black!

I’ll catch you on the purl side…

I quickly decided that I wanted to knit Briquette out of Miss Babs Yowza in Scarlet Letter.  Pretty color and the hoodie is something I’ll get a lot of wear out of on the weekends.

But then I looked at my sweater yarn stash – I actually have several choices.  Going with my “be more deliberate” approach that I’m taking on this year I wanted to make sure I wasn’t making a rash decision.  I don’t want to frog this just because it wasn’t a good choice.

I came up with a few more options…

Briquette in GGH Bali Brown with a small stripe (or two) on the sleeve with the blue.  I like the sportier look for the weekend.

Pier 60 out of Dream in Color Jilly.  The pattern is designed for worsted so it would be a big change from the original.  I think the stitch pattern could work really nicely in this colorway though and the neckline makes it fit the lighter weight feeling of the yarn.  This could be inspired or irrational.

Salted in Jilly as well.  I like that someone else made one in Tosh Merino Light (a very similar yarn) but it’s in a more solid colorway.  How will the openwork look at the top?  I don’t need you to see it well but I want to make sure it doesn’t detract.  And for the body I could do it in reverse stockinette stitch (knitting it inside out so I do knits in the round instead of purls).

I’m really not sure which way I want to go at this point.  One thing all these options have is that I’ll finish it right before spring starts so I’ll get a lot of wear out of it.

What do you think?  Any other options that you see here?  What are you joining in with for the KAL?

I’ll catch you on the purl side…

First up were these socks in yarn I bought (and loved) 3 years ago.

I special-ordered the bump from glblf and got it Navajo plied from Plied Together after I fell in love with a pair of socks in my Friends feed.  If it wasn’t for the Personal Mystery Sock Yarn Club I still wouldn’t have started these.  Since they’re handspun they’re a bit thicker than regular sock yarn so they’re knitting up quickly.

Then I CO these socks out of Gnome Acres House Gnome in the Berry Gnomey colorway.

Pink, purple, white and a splash of blue.  Love them.  They feel so thin after working on the handspun socks.

And then to keep in interesting I started a pair of mittens.

These are the Wood Hollow mittens out of some Cascade 220.  I have mixed feelings about the yarn – the color is great but it’s a quatro colorway and I think the speckliness takes away from the cables a bit.

I’m through the ribbing on mitten #2 and hope to be done this weekend.

So that’s it – three new projects from stash yarn to fill my beginning of year knitting.  I only finished 3 projects in 2014 and that bothers me – I want more to show for it – so I’m making more deliberate decisions with my WIPs.

What projects did you start?

I’ll catch you on the purl side.

You also know what I don’t like – blankets.  I love the look but dread the knitting.  That’s why I swore off blanket knitting back in 2006 when I finished this beauty for my nephew.

Loved the look, loved the feel but not the actual knitting.

But like many things, time heals and lessens the sting.

I started a Girasole out of 3 skeins of Miss Babs Yowza in the Blarney Stone colorway.  Bouncy, soft and a welcome departure of color for me.

Mom is redoing her living room in shades of gray and soft white so this should go nicely.  And like me she can always cuddle under another layer.

I’m in that honeymoon phase where every row makes me want to knit one more.

And I love the way the decreases work – paired decreases make such a pretty line.

Next up?  The rhythmic knitting of a leaf lace pattern!

I might become a blanket knitter after all.

I’ll catch you on the purl side…