Late update on the Stash Afghan. Not much work has been done on it, other than a row here and there. Until next month!

I finally finished up the Pink Dishcloths I’d been working on. I had wanted to use all of the remaining white and pink cotton I had on hand and so powered through the creation of eight dishcloths based off of the Double the Fun Dishcloth pattern.

They are double sided with one side featuring the pink and white waffle pattern and the other a solid pink. I’ll pull these out in the springtime.

stash knit down 2010 total: 2 project

My So-Called Scarf turned out pretty nice. I knit up two skeins of Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica to make this scarf, which will match my Spring Beret. It took forever since I felt the pattern got a bit monotonous. What do you want from a scarf. Alas, it is done. So I look forward to wearing it this week.

stash knit down 2010 total: 1 project

Ethan was kind enough to pose during the shooting of the first progress report of the Stash Afghan. I plan do this on a monthly basis. We’ll call this the beginning of the month update, since I am a little behind in taking the pictures. I also had a ton of ends to weave in before the photoshoot.

Check out how long it is. Probably about the length of the closet doors if it weren’t for the needles pulling it in.

Here’s a close-up shot of the colors. At this point, I have knit 20 inches on the afghan. I almost done using the pieces from the original version and continue to add to the color queue. I’m still shooting for at least 90 inches in length so I’m about 20% complete. I just have to keep knitting away. I think once the smaller pieces are used, I can focus more on knitting and less on weaving in ends in the middle of the blanket. I’ll still have to deal with weaving in the ends on the blanket’s sides.

I had a moment of genius craftiness tonight. I had bought this little bud vase from Crate & Barrel, unsure of what I was going to do with it exactly. I didn’t really need another vase; I was more looking for some kind of chotchke or decoration. Then it hit me: Fill the vase with itty bitty balls of sock yarn for a colorful, yet simple display. I have wanted to integrate my knitting obsession into my home decor before and this was the perfect solution. The stash afghan project lent itself well to contributing to this side project. I was able to find a home for the scraps that were too short for a row on the blanket.

The yarn ball vase will find a home on my coffee table next to my leaf candle holder and my hideaway box for matches.

Every good knitter likes yarn for Christmas. I got a few skeins. Mom got me Knit Picks Stroll in Make Believe and Cartoons.

La Petite Tricoteuse got me a skein of Zen String Lotus Toes Fingering in Judah. I can’t wait to cake this to get an idea of how the colorway will work up.

Angela got me Dream in Color Starry in Lunar Zazzle.

Adrienne got me some Fleece Artist Somoko in Nyoni.

These skeins are the first additions to my stash in 2010. I have all of the yarn entered in correctly this time, and my total start of 2010 yardage is: 36,337.7. This year I am going to be a lot more careful in reducing yardage. Instead of using Ravelry’s export stash XLS feature, I will deduct used yardage from this total and add any yards that some how make it home with me.

taking a look back

Last year I set out to have realistic and attainable goals I could track. Although I didn’t cross everything off my list, the long-term goals were accomplished, including reading at least 12 books, running in a 5k and knitting at least 52 projects..

• Take digital photos of all the valuable in each room for insurance purposes. This is mostly done.
• Create a “best of 2008″ tally. Whoops, forgot to do this altogether.
• Restack tupperware and sort through items. Completed 01/14/2009.
• Work up to running three times a week. After getting sick in the spring, I got a little off task with this one.
• Pay off bills completely. I’m still working on some of my bills, but a good deal of them are taken care of, including my car payment. Yay!
• Read 12 books from my bookshelf. Completed 10/23/2009.
  
• Run a 5k. Completed 9/26/2009.
• Create an emergency slush fund of four months of expenses. With all my bills, this didn’t happen either but there’s always this year.
• Participate in Stash Knit Down 2009’s 52 projects by December 31, 2009. Completed 12/21/2009.

resolutions for 2010

Just like last year, I will be challenging myself with a few resolutions.

books of 2010. This year I’m upping the ante to 17 books for 2010. This gives me about three weeks per book, which is generally how quickly I can get through a novel if I stay focused. Because I read 14 books last year, three more shouldn’t be unattainable.

stash knit down 2010. For my knitting challenge, I am still striving to reduce my stash but instead of targeting 52 projects, I’m doing something different. Again I don’t want to add to my stash, so I will remain on my yarn diet unless it is necessary for a particular project I need to make as a gift.

The first part of my goal will be to tackle my hibernating WIPs. I have three: Flower Back Sweater, Icarus Shawl and Amigurumi doll. I also have three active projects on the needles: dishcloths, My So-Called Scarf and the Stash Afghan (which is excluded from this challenge). Once these are all finished, I will go through my stash and work on knitting up the skeins I have bought for various projects.

fitness. Workout regularly at least three times a week. An ongoing goal, but this year I’d really like to get back into this. Again, I’ll sign up for 5ks. This year, I’d like to at least do two.

financial. Finish paying off my bills and begin aggressively saving. One goal here is to save up enough money to go to Europe.

explore more of chicago. I’ve lived in the city for about three years and feel like I haven’t really seen it. This year, I want to explore a neighborhood a month. So 12 neighborhoods in the year. I have a few books to use as a reference and I’ll document my explorations.

Here’s to a happy and successful 2010!