On the Seventh Day of Christmas

I knit.

You surely didn't think I'd make a New Year's Resolution not to knit? No, I didn't think you would. I was up dark and early this morning at 5:30 when my husband left to take a friend to the airport. There was an inch of ice on the roads, plus whatever snow had fallen or drifted over, and the wind had actually blow the car off the road here in town ... so the thought of a pre-dawn drive of 90 miles or so, one way, wasn't too thrilling to me. I must not be a guy.

I made myself a cup of hot cocoa, and finished Ball Band Washcloth #2 from -- what else -- the ball band of my white dishcloth cotton. Then I settled in at my Knitting Pattern-a-Day 2006 calendar to tidy it up before giving it to my mom, and opening my new 2007 calendar. As I was rotating all the pages back to their normal orientation -- a 'turned' page is my signal that something was interesting there -- I came across some patterns that both had caught my eye and used small quantities of yarn.

Before the day was over, I had a pair of booties. They're made out of purple Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport Weight, from a 4 oz skein. Part of someone else's stash that I adopted in Baltimore.

I had so much fun knitting them (and altering the pattern ... the one on the right was made following the directions, with a provisional cast on and kitchnered bottom. The one on the left was made with a figure 8 cast on and no trace of kitchener) that I decided to spend the next few days until my yarn order arrives in working down a specific portion of my stash.

The Colorful Basket

This is a basket of odds and ends from various sources. There's blueberry from Green Mountain Spinnery, that I got to finish a shawl which I started with a full cone from the adopted stash. There's Manos Del Uruguay, which was a sweater, then got unsweatered, and which was not used in the Booga Bags. All sorts of goodies ... perfect for all sorts of small knitting.

Like Mr. Hacky Sack. He's a simple 10 stitch x 20 row garter stitch cube, with beans inside. This has gone over well with my son, who would like me to convert the entire square to Hacky Sacks. That is not in my plans ... but it does strike me that Hacky Sacks with self-striping sock yarn might be a Good Idea.

My next stash project will probably be something ala Elizabeth Zimmerman ... reach into the basket, pull out some yarn, and cast on for a hat. Knit a bit, snip, and pull out another bit of yarn. Either that, or a stranded baby hat. Or whatever catches my fancy between here and my basket.

I thought about weighing the basket to keep tabs on my progress, but nixed that idea as too calculating.

Did I mention a yarn order? Yup ... last night I put in an order for 3 skeins of Elann's laceweight mohair yarn, to use for a shawl. And, while I was ordering from Elann, I got one ball of their cashmere/wool fingering weight yarn to sample for another shawl.

I have some plans of turning the baby booties into a Baby Set, and by such maneuver making it eligible for entry into the county fair. Perhaps a Baby Surprise Jacket? Who knows what will come out of that basket. I certainly don't.

Our New Year's has been quiet. Our household has been reduced to its normal size, and, since we were planning on being elsewhere today, we had no festivities planned. Books, needles, and crochets hooks were about it for the day's agenda. And it was fun.