2nd Year Bloggiversary

Come tomorrow, I will have been blogging for 2 years. Not bad for something I started out as a 'lets just see if I can do this'.

I really enjoyed taking a look back over the last year of posts. Here are some random observations:

• I completed approx 35 projects in the last 12 months. Whew! I'm thinking my speed must have improved this year. Either that, or other things have taken a back seat to the knitting.


• 25 of these projects were gifts. Which made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Sharing the love... ;o)


• Of the 10 knits I made for myself, 4 were sweaters. And I wear them all! (This is a first.)


• My stash seems to have grown a ridiculous amount. Some as a result of the Colorado blanket. Others because I seem to lack self control in a yarn store. This coming year I am going to make a concerted effort to try and knit more from my stash.


• I have good intentions - NanKniSweMo, Ravelympics and the like - but rarely seem to meet these self-imposed goals. I'll probably refrain from signing up for these events in the coming year, and instead knit at my own pace.


• Most importantly, this year I made some really great knit friends - both locally and online. I appreciate you all for making this hobby even more enjoyable :) Thank you.

Happy feet

As the weather starts to turn a little cooler each year, the requests for felted clogs start coming in.

The finished items aren't particularly beautiful, but they are soo snug and well loved by the recipients that it's always worth the effort. (And when I say effort, a pair really only take about 3 evenings to complete). One request was for my 5yr old nephew. Since the pattern is only written for adult sizes I was pleased as punch when I figured out how to downsize to little feet size. (I've only partially felted these since I'm not sure of his foot size -- I'll let my Mum or Sis take care of felting them down further, if needed. )


The other advantage this year is that I really did try and use leftover wool from previous years' clogs, or other finished projects. So it's been a good stashbustingwhittling exercise -- this basket here was brimming over and now it's... erm... well... just full.

Next up, a pair to keep my toes toasty!

6 Random Things

Amanda tagged me with the '6 Random Things About Me' Meme.

Here are the rules:

• Link to the person who tagged you.
• Post the rules on your blog.
• Write six random things about yourself.
• Tag six people at the end of your post.
• Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
• Let the tagger know your entry is up.

So here goes:

1. I work for a technology company, but haven't been able to figure out how to load my iPod with tunes. (And I've owned the darn thing for over 2 years.)
2. My right eye has a rebellious streak. Most of the time it behaves, but every now and again it decides to do its own thing.
3. I love to sing. Full volume. I'm one of those folks that likes to belt out a tune in an animated fashion whilst driving.
4. I often dance around the house.
5. The fact that I have absolutely no talent for either of the previous 2 activities has never stopped me giving it my all. But only in close company. Or with a few drinks inside of me.
6. And speaking of drinks, I picked my husband up in a bar. There's actually a far more romantic version of the story... but the facts remain the same.

I'd love to learn more about:

• Bea
• Donna
• LaDonna
• Ruth
• Terrie
• Tiennie

Does anyone else want to play?

Baby Miter Blanket

I finished the baby miter blanket yesterday with the leftover* corntastic yarn:

*leftovers plus 2 extra skeins to make the colour scheme work

The blanket was inspired by the Mitered Square Blanket in Mason-Dixon Knitting by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne. But instead of stocking stitch, I used all garter, and alternated the colours every 2nd row.

Here's the basic instructions for my version of the pattern:

• Cast on 40 stitches. (Place a marker between the 1st 20, and the 2nd set of 20 stitches.)
  
• Row 1: Knit all stitches
• Row 2: Knit until 2 stitches before the marker, k2 tog. Slip marker, ssk, knit to end.
• Change colour.
  
• Repeat row 1 and 2 (changing colour after every row 2) until you have 2 stitches left -- k2tog and pull yarn through.
  
• Sew all squares together. Add a crochet border (double crochet around the edge, working 3 dcs into every corner).
  

Things I would have done differently:

1. Plan the colour scheme out in advance -- it wasn't until I was 2/3 of the way through that I decided to match up the colours so that each outer edge would match the colour of the edge it was placed next to, and each inner colour would match the inner colour of the squares that it was placed next to. You can only imagine how long I played with this 'puzzle' until I found a way to make it work, and then fill in the blanks.

2. Leave the ends until the end -- I thought I was being good by weaving in the ends of each square as I went along. If I was smart I would have left longer tails, and used these for sewing the squares together. As it was I think I did 2x the amount of sewing that was necessary.


3. Wash and block; do not iron -- I washed and blocked, but because I'm impatient and wanted a picture, I decided to throw in the dryer and then just iron the edging. Bad idea -- turns out this yarn doesn't agree with a hot iron! Luckily it was just an edge and I pulled the iron away before any real damage was done!

So there you have it. It's done, and will be winging its way back to the UK this week.