First Finished Objects of 2007

Okay, so actually I finished these things a couple weeks ago, but we all know how frequently I post here, so there ya go. First item finished was a lovely Booga Bag in Noro Kureyon colour 172, and it's for me!

I may re-block it sometime, though, because when I felted it, I didn't have anything to block it on, so it's sorta shapeless right now. My sweetie bought himself a pair of enormous shoes last week, so at least I've got a suitable box now! I love the colours, especially the band of rusty red. Currently, this bag is holding extra balls of yarn that are waiting to be cast on. Unfortunately, I won't let myself cast anything new on until I finish at least one project that's already in progress. I've got five things on the needles right now, and while that doesn't bother me in the least, I can't cast on any more because there simply isn't enough room on my little knitting table to put them down when I'm not working on them.

Second thing completed this year:

The most gorgeous pair of socks EVER!!! Mountain Colors Bearfoot, colourway Sierra, on size 1s with a baby cable rib on the leg. These were done toe-up with a short row heel. This yarn is so wonderful...it has small shots of olive greens & burnished golds in there, and it just makes me so happy. On the instep, the olive green wound up with a plummy colour right next to it, and that made me really want to get my mitts on a skein of Puck's Mischief STR. I'm not generally a fan of purple, but the green next to it really made it lovely. These socks were also done as my January Socktopia socks, in the Blue Monday theme. Little explanation of how I got red socks for Blue Monday here. I have my own weird rules in my world. So pretty!!

On the needles right now, we have a non-photographed pair of socks for my Sockret Pal. My lovely downstream Sockret Pal is into pink in a big way, so I'm using a pretty pink/blue Koigu with the Crusoe pattern from Knitty. (Geez, I'm just all kinds of link-happy today, aren't I?) It's certainly not my colour, but it is nice to step outside my personal box, as it were, to do something different. The pinks range from pale cotton candy to bubble gum to hot pink, with bits of blues & purples, and I'm really liking the way they're turning out. The pattern is way too fun, and I hope to make another pair someday for me. It's also my first time working with Koigu, and I really think I love this yarn! The twist is really nice, and it makes a pretty fabric. I'm down to the toe decreases on one, and halfway through the instep on the other, so I hope to finish in the next couple days. I may, however, make a second pair of socks for this lady...she recently had the most adorable baby girl, and since it's a sock-themed swap, I thought it'd be nice to have a pair for the wee one, too. We'll see how much yarn I've got left over, though.

Also OTN, my beloved's giant sweater. I'm a few rows farther along, but I don't work on it often, so it's nothing too impressive yet.

I didn't take a picture of the whole thing, since it just looks like a lump of black, but here's the cable & rib detail. It's some 220ish stitches across, so I only get to do a couple rows at a time. Not the fastest knitter, I. My sweetie loves it, though he's very realistic about how soon he might actually get to wear the thing.

Also in the realm of unphotographable lumps of black is a hat I'm making for myself. It's just a plain ol' roll brim stockinette hat, but it's in black Malabrigo, and it's the first hat I've made for myself. Lord knows I could sure use it right now! It's freaking AWFUL outside! Well, okay, it could certainly be worse. It's sunny, which is a big deal for me, and it's not terribly windy, and it's not dumping big piles of snow on me, but oooh, it's cold! I don't like cold all that much. Anyway, I'm looking forward to finishing this hat. It's painfully soft, the first Malabrigo item I've made, and verra warm. I loves it already.

The last item on the needles (aside from the Elizabeth I scarf, which hasn't made hardly any progress at all) is a weird antimacassar thingy of my own design. See, I've got this beautiful chair that my beloved gave to me last Christmas, and it's my knitting chair. I adore this thing! It's gorgeous, it's comfy, and it's the nicest piece of furniture we own. Unfortunately, due to my poor kitty's neurological problems, it's getting damaged already. Tipsy has a lesion on the right side of her brain (I think I may have mentioned this already?), and it messes with her balance something fierce. She has good days & bad days, and while they don't seem to upset her too much, it's wreaking havoc on my poor chair! She stands on the arms of it to cry at the closet door (she wants IN, make no mistake), and occasionally falls off, dragging her hind claws all across the finish as she goes.

As you can see, she's ruining my beautiful chair!! That's not the only gouge in the wood there, either. It's really breaking my heart (and making my husband mad!), and I certainly can't tell her not to sit there. So, I pulled a couple skeins of chestnut Wool of the Andes out of the stash, killing whatever project I'd intended them for, and started knitting up a superthick antimacassar pad to go over the arm of that chair. I'll probably felt the thing when I'm done, hopefully making it all the harder for her claws to get through to the wood. Cross your fingers for me that this works...I love that chair! Poor Tipsy, too. She sure can't help it, and it does make me sad that she has to go through such un-catlike indignities.

So that's what's on the needles as of right now. I'm really hoping to finish up at least the socks & hat within the next week, because I'm dying to cast on my first Fair Isle project, and also a pair of socks in some Socks That Rock. I've not decided yet which colour STR, or what pattern, because I'm waiting for our next Socktopia themes, but I'm really excited about it. I've had a couple skeins of the much-coveted STR in the stash for a while now, and haven't yet had a chance to work it up. I'm also dying to get my hands into that Fair Isle stuff...it looks really fun! In a challenging sorta way, anyway.

Oh, and while I'm in the posting zone, a big ol' HI to my Knitty SP8!! I'm crap at remembering to reply to comments, though I read each & every one of them and love hearing what y'all have to say. I think that should be another goal this year...to remember to not just read the comments, but respond as well! Oy...