Whew! I made it!

Back in September I created a challenging list of gift knitting for myself: 3 shawls, one scarf, one pair of mittens, a pair of fingerless mitts and some ornaments.

It was September, I had months to finish everything.

I got a few "you'll learn" sorts of smiles and nods from those who thought my after Christmas post would most likely be titled "Grand Plans".

Well, to that I say, Ha!

I made it, even with last minute additions and a detour for myself.

BSJ for little Cupcake
Stetland Triangle for Mom
Breathe Deep Mittens for SIL
Scholar Collar in One Row Scarf Pattern for Dad
Evangeline Fingerless Mitts for Niece
Ornaments for lil gifties
Lace Beret for myself
Highline Shawl for Sis
Elfin baby hat for a wee one's shower
198 Yards of Heaven for MIL

The BSJ was added to the list a little late to finish by Christmas, but it was very close. And Cupcake didn't know the difference, so I'm safe there.

For months I've been putting off selfish knitting. Oh I did take a short detour to make a beret for myself, but that felt like a blip in the sea gift knitting. Don't get me wrong - I loved all of those projects, but now it is January the time for selfish knitting, and the time for new projects. Perhaps later it will be the time for finishing some WIPs, but only once the joy of starting long awaited new projects has worn off.

The first FO for the new year is a Thorpe from my own handspun.

Ravelry Link

I love the browny stripe in the middle and the chunky braids for the ties.

Thorpe is one of the many fabulous patterns from the talented Kristen at Through the Loops. I used two of her patterns for gifts (Breathe Deep and Highline), and I just started a pair of mittens using her All the Water pattern with some juicy cables. Yum!

A story of socks reborn

It's a new year, a time for looking ahead and focusing on the future.

It is in that spirit that I plunged a pair of socks into kool-aid and vinegar last night.

It was January 2008 when I knit these foot coverings of orangey goodness:

Ravelry Link

I was in love. I dyed the yarn myself with kool-aid.

The repeat worked well with the pattern.

They were the most beautiful socks I had created.
(cue ominous music)
Until the unthinkable happened...

new - black - leather - shoes

those new shoes coupled with my sock pride (I just had to show them off in my new shoes) ultimately lead to hand-dyed, hand-knit sock disaster.

I have no pictures because the result made me so sad: black stains all over the foot of each sock.
I soaked, and soaked the socks, and much of the black came out, but out came most of the beautiful orange color as well. I could hardly bring myself to look at the resulting dingy yellow color.

It took over a year and a half, but I was finally emotionally ready to do something about this sock tragedy.

Last night I overdyed them with some Blue Raspberry and Tropical Punch.
I wasn't sure what the final color would be, but they ended up a nice rusty orange-red.



The feet have some wear - fuzziness that looks a little white in the photo on the heel and ball, but it's not horrible for 2 year old socks.



It's almost like a brand new pair of socks for a brand new year.



Happy new year, everyone!