Knitting Resolutions

I'll go out on a limb here, to state that my knitting resolutions for 2013 are
1. to become comfortable with left-hand (aka Continental) style knitting so that
2. I'll learn to knit Fair Isle/stranded colorwork, and also
3. To knit at least two sweaters during 2013 -- Terry's, and one for me! 

I made a border of garter stitch in the round for my green washcloth, which I worked entirely left-handed.  Since garter stitch in the round calls for knitting one row, then purling the next, I got some practice with both.  I want to start my stranded knitting with something small, like a pair of mittens.  Anyone out there have a favorite and easy (& free!) stranded mitten pattern to suggest?  Please leave me a link in a comment.  I'd also like to hear about other folks' knitting resolutions -- maybe we can "egg" each other on!

Pup's 1st Steelers sock is now 4.75" long; at 7" I'll split the insole away from the heel; add on the Malabrigo fingering (solid black) for the heel flap, turn & gusset; then drop the solid black and work towards the toe. I have some black reinforcing thread I'll hold with the Malabrigo, to strengthen it.  The toe wiill be worked in the same materials.  I believe I'll use black heels & toes for all 3 pairs.  Erin has seen a stitch pattern that she'd like to have for her socks, in a booklet I've got.  The booklet pattern calls for a heavier yarn, so I'll have to do some swatching to figure out how many stitches to cast on & the number of repeats to work around.  Oh noes, teh dredded knittin' math!   

White (after-)Christmas

When I left the house this morning (about 0 dark thirty, which is an expression I've used FOR YEARS and I should so sue somebody....), the rain was slight to moderate & spotty.  Of course, I don't rate a window or even an outer wall, so I never know what the weather gets up to while I'm stuck in my cubicle.  Anyway, I called the Plaidman to review his plans for the day, and he told me the snow (Snow!?!) was already melting.  No snow fort this year!  Boy that brings back a memory:  I know I was pretty young, not yet out of elementary school so this had to have happened in Pennsylvania.  Dad used to watch for the snowplow to come down the street, and slip the driver some cash to plow our driveway.  We'd have these two huge mounds of snow across from each other at the end of the driveway; instant snow forts!  Just climb to the top and level it a bit, them back down a few steps and stomp that area flat, then make a slough of snowballs and the war was on!  We'd hollow out small snow caves on the backside (where did ya think the snowballs came from?); Mom used to worry that one or all (5) of us would be buried in a collapsing mound. It never happened, but I did lose a boot that wasn't found until spring.  Snow suits, we hadz them.  Disco hears this kind of story from both her parents, and she seems to think it must have been fun, but she'd rather not go outside in "serious" snow.  Just a southern belle, she is. 
ETA: I just realized I forgot to mention the "progress" on Pup's Steelers socks.  It's sorta two steps up & 1 back:  I'd started over, as reported earlier, and had about 4" done for these men's size 10.5, when I had a thought.  Why not get the Plaidman to try on what I had done, just to make sure it would go over his size 8.5 heel?  No sooner thought, than done!  Unfortunately, it would just barely go over his heel.  Back to the frog pond it went.  I wound the yarn into a hank on the swift, and washed it the next day to relax the kinks.  In the meantime, I wound up a whole new ball of the yarn (I have 6 skeins!) and started over with an increased cast on.  It's now about 3" long, and will go over the Plaidman's heel quite well.

Gotta take some pictures!

I'm nearly to the toe shaping on the second Moc Croc Mark II! And I'm working the third column of mitered squares for Dolly Blankie #3. I went to Bliss Yarns on Friday the 16th, and picked up some more solid colors for this blankie. One thing I noticed there -- a whole basket of Noro sock yarn mill ends, most just a few grams. They sure were tempting! I can see me getting about 8 different colorways, and putting them away for my own mitered square throw. But not just yet; I really need to buy less & knit from stash as much as possible. One of the projects that needs some time: unraveling all those thrift store sweaters I bought for the yarn! I should show DiscoDame how to do that, she loves frogging. Right now, all those sweaters are just in a bag behind the dresser in the living room, waiting for attention. Some are cashmere, some merino, etc -- can't wait to see how much yarn I get out of 'em. I've actually worn one that I bought at a yard sale, labelled as lambswool, and a very nice navy cardigan. It was meant to be unravelled for the yarn, but got picked up & worn. Guess I can keep it as is!
***About a week later (7/26/10): I finished the second sock on Saturday; after remembering that the first one was just a little bit short for my foot I added another repeat of the pattern to the foot before starting the toe. Now, I've frogged the first one back to just before the toe, Russian-joined in some more yarn, and I'm almost ready to work the toe (again! 3rd time better be the charm!). I must take some pictures!! And decide what pattern to use for that red Cascade fingering yarn. I'm thinking I could get pretty crazy with texture, since it's a solid color. I'm going to post this without pics, and add another post when I've got something to show!

FO, WIP, and last day of vacation

This past weekend I bought some elastic cord, and threaded three pieces through the ribbing on the Bobbled Tam (aka Afterbirth Hat). It fits!

Edited 4/11/09 to add photos & delete rant caused by Blogger failure to upload pics the first time I tried it.

And now I seem to have lost contact with Blogger. Of course! This may be why I blog only once in a while, since there's only so much aggravation I can take.

I've made progress on Tess' Lily, finishing the lacy "skirt" portion of this little apron-style top on Saturday, and taking a few pictures Sunday.


Well, I actually have better things to do than twiddle my thumbs while Blogger fails, so I'll just save this now & move on.