Roll Call!

 It's that time of  year again. Christmas is over, and while I've still got all the decorations up and  the house is looking festive, I'm thinking ahead to the next stages. Besides, don't we all like to start a new new year with a clean slate and some sort of plan? Well, if you have the patience to wade through  this post, you can see what's percolating in my rather active brain. (Just because the body is achy and slowing down, doesn't mean the mind has to follow along, right?)

First of all,  I thought I'd start with my knitting projects. Tomorrow if it goes as planned, I'll get on to the quilty things...but for now, it was easy to round up the knits-in-progress. Here's my current crop, rustled out of their project bags and primped for photography!

First up, there are some little sweaters--okay, there are four of them. Because I have four "little" grandkids. They're all made from the same pattern, the Gramps Cardigan by Kate Oates. (I'm sorry I'm not linking to these here, but really, I'm just glad to be posting pictures. Honestly. There is more information on my Ravelry projects page here.)

 So here's Audrey's: pink. Very pink.

 

Abby's is lime green.

 Nate's is a darker, kind of Kelly green.  And Garrett's is blue. Not quite Dodger blue, but pretty close!

This is a basket of afghan squares in Silk Garden. Started quite a long time ago. I'm afraid to look it up to see. There are 110 of them.

The last of the Absolutely Fabulous throws, in Colinette yarns. I do want to finish this. The giant needles kind of hurt my hands, though.

 The third of the Lady Eleanor entrelac wraps. This one is probably the most colorful.. It certainly is the best traveled. The second one was finished and given to Caitlin for her mumbledy-birthday; the first one is very close to done, just languishing waiting for blocking. I'm kind of thinking that a crocheted edging--single crochet, nothing fance\y--would help these to lay a little flatter. The Rowan Tapestry yarn is luscious, t hough.

 And so is this Frog Creek Luxuriant, in the Herbivore colorway. The pattern is Trillian, one of the Hitchhiker series by Martina Behm. This is the second of these I've made, too, but in fingering/sock weight it's taking much longer. This was my France knitting this year. It isn't so much in need of "finishing" per se, since it's my go-to group and general KIP knitting.

Here's a problem child. This is Jordan, in Euroflax, left over from a group KAL a couple of years ago. Euroflax is linen, it's lovely stuff, but it's like knitting with string and it's very slippery. In fact, some of the stitches have slipped right off the needles, and I am very seriously considering frogging this and then either starting it over, or repurposing the yarn. It's a lot of knitting to frog...but it's also going to show if it's got errors in it. The jury is out.

This is a little hat project I started last June, when I was at Webs and needed something to work on. I'd finished the project I'd brought with me--when does THAT ever happen?--but Webs is such a delightful place to look for yarn and projects in! Hence the hat. The ribbed part is done and it's ready to start the lacy section, which is why it's stopped where it is.

 A kind of old  hoary project--the yarn is lovely, the pattern not too difficult, and it goes quickly. Really it does.

 Swallowtail Shawl. Two things about this one: the pattern is not working out right, and I can't seem to figure out where it's gone wrong. It's not a hard pattern although one does have to like working nupps! (Nupps are little imps of Satan, lovely to look at and tedious to work!) The second thing is that this is an awful lot of turquoise yarn, and I wonder if I (or anyone for that matter) wants to be draped in this much turquoise lace. The yarn is wonderful to knit with, though.

 Cedar Leaf Shawlette. Not technically a WIP yet because it isn't cast on, but it is wound and ready to go. Another Webs purchase.

 Flambe shawlette. So close to finished... so close! Working the attached border, which is only 16 stitches wide. I even knit backwards so I don't have to turn it every time I do a row. This one's close.

 There's a name for this pattern but I'm not sure what it is. The yarn is Kid Silk Night, which is regular Kid Silk Haze with sparkles in it. This is a knit-till-you-run-out-of yarn project and nearly done. Got stalled when it got warm.

 This one is old enough to shave by now. It's not hard, it's just... I dunno. It's very lavender. The pattern is Hanging Garden by Sivia Harding, it's well written and easy to follow. Really it is.

Color Affection. Yes, I jumped on this bandwagon. Three colors of Madelinetosh. I love the colors, I love the yarn. I'm not so crazy about miles and miles and miles of garter stitch, though I'm now at t he short-row section so I may be able to work on it without dozing off mid-row.

 Cast on twice, frogged, ready to start again. Shawl with beads. Silk yarn. Pretty straightforward pattern.

 More silk yarn. Just not feeling it. Decided to frog the lavender silk and redo it in the deep dark midnight blue-black.

 Puff, puff. This one is the Obi Shawl, which was the first Fickle Zen mystery KAL. I got this far and my printer gave up the ghost, so I couldn't print out the rest of the directions. (I have t hem printed now. This is a gorgeous yarn and a lovely pattern and I am eager to work on it! Then I can start the second Fickle Zen pattern...)

There is one more UFO I'm embarrassed to mention, and that's the Original Map Of The World Sweater. My OOPS cohorts have promised to force me to finish it this year. Yes, this year...2012. I think it has about an hour's work left on it, max. So it may get done.

Maybe.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go start the button bands on Abby's sweater. It would be nice to get one of them finished this year!!*

*I was going to do all 4 of them during November for NaKniSweMo, National Knit a Sweater Month, the knitters' version of NaNoWriMo. You can stop laughing any time now.