the Akamai Knitter

The Last FO of 2006

Here it is, the last finished project of 2006. The Pirate Mittens!

And here they are again with the underbelly exposed.

Pattern: Pirate Mittens from Hello Yarn

Yarn: Knit Picks Telemark in Drift and Black
Needles: Size 3US Inox Grey
I cannot believe how quickly I knitted these babies up. I finished the first mitten on Saturday, December 30th, and quickly cast on for the next mitten so I wouldn’t lose my momentum in the project. During one night of desultory bad television, one football game, and one basketball game I was able to finish the second mitten yesterday, Sunday, December 31st!

I’m a little worried that they won’t fit Joe, my friend’s son, but I’ll be more then happy to knit him up another pair if I need to! They seemed a little snug on me. They certainly fit my mother who modeled them for me along with our cat Pressie in the following shot.

This was my first try at two-handed colour knitting and I am utterly in love. I’m already planning on doing more. Such as the:

• Pirate Hat
• Anemoi Mittens
• Endpaper Mitts
• Tiffany Mittens
• Fair Isle Bag (maybe)
• Corazon (maybe)
• Red Light Special (maybe)

They only thing that I could possibly use for myself is the Fair Isle Bag, but I’m a little concerned at the price tag at the yarn pack*. I’m just not sure I should be spending so much on myself at this time since I have already shelled out for a printer and spinning wheel. At the same time, I want something that I can hold on to that’s in this technique. I’m also running a little short of close friends that wear wooly hats and mittens. A sad day indeed, but I can always give these to Dulaan or another charity. It’s the joy of knitting these things that matter to me, not the actual end product.

Looking Back
So it’s 2007 and another year has come and gone. Looking back at the year 2006 I’m quite proud of my knitting accomplishments. I’ve made great strides in learning new techniques. I have become a somewhat accomplished lace knitter. I learned how to do entrelac and I can now add Fair Isle to my repertoire.

I feel that my blog has grown up and that I’ve grown up with it. I am particularly proud that I participated and completed NaBloPoMo. That was a rather challenging project for me to say the least!

I resolve…

For the year 2007 I have just a few resolutions. So here’s 7 resolutions for the year 2007.

1. Get over my sweater fear and knit a few. I really need to get off my lazy ass and my comfort zones and just dive in. I have enough yarn for one sweater. I just need to get rid of the mental block in my head that I can’t do this.
2. Spin more and with specific projects in mind. I’ve already started doing this, but I want to keep it up.
3. Knit with what I spin. I have yet to knit with what I’ve spun except for one afghan block. This is just plain silly. I must stop this kind of silliness.
4. Lose weight. I’ve been slowly losing weight this past year and I’d like to keep it up by going for regular walks and cutting down on my snacking. I think if my body were at a more acceptable weight I’d be more inclined to knit sweaters for myself too.
5. Get my Christmas presents out on time. I was really bad this year and I feel really badly about it. I had them all knitted up I just didn’t get them wrapped and mailed in time. Shame on me.
6. Buy more yarn. I’m really hard on myself when I buy yarn. I agonized over every purchase like I’m bleeding money when in fact I’m not. I don’t have a terribly big stash and I do use what I buy. I need to stop with the guilt trips whenever I buy yarn. (I do need to go easy on the sock yarn though. My sock yarn bin is huge. I need to go on a sock yarn diet.Oh and I have huge amounts of laceweight.)
7. Be more patient and kind to myself. I find that the courtesies that I unthinkingly extend to others rarely get extended to myself by myself. So I need to start being more courteous to myself by being more tolerant as well as being patient and kind.

Now that your eyes are all about bleeding from this overly long post, I’m going to go and work on this:

I promised myself I’d finish it before I start the Pirate Hat!

*As you can see Resolution #6 is harder to do then it is to resolve.