Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Cotton

Pattern: Soft Drawstring Pouch by Joelle Hoverson

Notes: Really only loosely based on this pattern; I cast on half the stitches called for to make a very small sack and other than that followed the instructions. It’s still kind of too big but I needed something for my soap scraps, the bathroom was getting out of control.

Yarn: HaldeCraft Handyed in “Sock Monkey” and Cascade 220 in “Japanese Maple”

Pattern: Feline Dim Sum by Julie Falatko

Notes: Made for Christmas stocking stuffers; hoping to make six, had time and yarn to make five (ran out of brown yarn after four so made one in Sock Monkey) and gave one away before being photographed. Meh. The cats like them about as much as I thought they would. They’d rather have the ‘nip right out of the bag from the pet shop. Why did I even bother?

I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned here the “Pay it Forward” thing I was doing on Facebook; basically, you post that you’ll make something for the first five people who comment on your post, if they agree to do the same thing. This is one of the things I made. First I made the mug, and then knit a cozy for it. Handmade FTW!

Yarn: sock and sport weight yarn scraps from many different projects.

Pattern: Loosely based on Knitted and Felted Ornaments and Garland by Leigh Radford

Notes: These were really easy to make – both sets were made in about a day and a half… but I found myself switching from sock on the batch of five to sock held doubled and sport for the second four, only because I was getting tired of making them. They’re very, very easy and I want to do more, but the last four rows or so, once you put the ornament inside and have to knit around it, are frustratingly twitchy. Still, hella cute! And very popular on Christmas morning!

Yarn: About half and half Fiesta Yarns Kokopelli and Trendsetter Merinos VIII; some handspun; bordered with Dark Horse Fantasy

Pattern: 2009 Afghan by Lorena Haldeman and Sharon Emery

Notes: About a week ago, I had to face the conclusion that I have so much other deadline knitting that I just don’t have the time to devote to this, and my wonderful friend Marie really stepped up and helped me out. In return for some handspun, she finished crocheting this beast together for me. I’m terrible at asking for help, so this was a good lesson in reaching out for me. Thank you so much, Marie – I can’t tell you what a load off of my heavy shoulders this was! LOVE YOU SO HARD!

And you know what? For all the time this took, for all the problems I had over-dyeing to get the colors more uniform… the finished product really kicks ass. I can’t wait for it to get cold again (and neither can Tim, since it fits him almost perfectly)!

Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Green Line DK in “Zombie BBQ”

Pattern: Iris the Gourmet Monster by Rebecca Danger

Notes: I wanted to put this on the class roster for next semester, but wanted to make sure I could actually make it; while I love to look at knitted toys and have many in my mental queue, I’d never actually *made* one. AND NOW I AM IN LOVE. Well, I’m not in love with the mouth, I really feel I borked that one up. But… live and learn!

Yarn: Trendsetter Merinos VIII in “Martini”

Pattern: Cable That Bag! by Chrissy Gardiner

Notes: Made as a shop sample/future class

Yarn: Classic Elite Premiere

Pattern: To be released in March 2011

Notes: Yup, another year-long afghan project!

Yarn: Aslan Trends Glaciar del Cielo and SWTC Vickie Howell’s Craft (my favorite cotton, ever).

Pattern: More of a recipe than a pattern– see the notes below.

Notes: There’s a knitting technique based on a quilting technique, and it’s called Log Cabin. You start with a box in the middle and then add strips of color around always heading in the same direction, with each strip getting longer. I wanted to learn this technique but don’t have the time/energy to put out another afghan right now, so I did a dishcloth. Usually one binds off each color and then picks up stitches; I thought that might drive me mad so I did it on four circular needles and kept the stitches live. I’m not entirely sure I’m going to become a fan of this technique, although I do like the finished product (from the front). From the back all I see are the picked up stitches and woven in ends – you could hide this in an afghan by sewing something to the “wrong” side, but not with a dishcloth.