I whipped up Ysolda’s Ishbel pattern in a week. I made the small size because I wasn’t sure how much yarn I’d use up. Turns out I could’ve down another main repeat but I still like the size of this little scarf/shawl. I used Crystal Palace Yarns Mini Mochi in this seascape colorway. I like how the stripes ended up working out with the pattern.

As the shawl got wider, the stripes got smaller, so throughout the lace portion the stripes are more subtle. I can’t wait to wear it.

stash knit down 2010 total: 6 projects

Another pair of the Yarn Harlot’s Earl Grey Socks have been completed. This time they are Earl Greens! I made these for my dad for Father’s Day. I originally made him these socks in red for Christmas 2007.

I used Knit Picks Gloss in Parsley for this rendition of the pattern. I really like Knit Picks Gloss. I’ve used it for a few other pairs of socks and they have worked out. I don’t think I’ve actually knit it up into socks for myself though. I need to do that one of these days. Here the Earl Greens are modeled by M.

I really like the side cable detailing in this pattern. It’s subtle and keeps me from boredom. I think it would be cool to add a center cable at some point (or find a mens sock pattern with a cable).

stash knit down 2010 total: 5 projects

I finished the first of the Charybdis socks.

I really like the swirl around the leg.

This was a group project between some of the SNBWB girls (FrenchKitten, LlunarLlama, KnightThatSayKNIT and ajs283) and the SNB South Suburban Chicago (kniftyred and Theresa) for MerryGentlemen. It’s a cuddly striped afghan made with hugs and love. It turned out pretty nice. The pattern is Olive’s Afghan by Larissa Brown from Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together. We knit it up in Lion Brand Cotton Ease. Each lady took a stripe (or two in the case of Kniftyred) and knit up their panel. Once all of the panels came in, LlunarLlama and I seamed the panels. Overall the project was a great group effort.

Although it may seem a little strange because I didn’t knit the entire afghan, but I’m counting this as one of my projects of 2010. It’s my rules and my prerogative!

stash knit down 2010 total: 4 projects

I’ve also decided that I’d like to get to my 200th knit project in the year 2010. I have 182 yarny projects logged in Ravelry so this shouldn’t be too hard of a goal to attain. I don’t expect to finish all 200 because one of them is the Stash Afghan, which will not be finished this year along with starting another 18 projects to meet my goal. But at least I have a goal now.

Finally, modeled pictures of the Flower Back Sweater! Here’s the top from the back.

And here’s a view from the front. In an effort to avoid cliched smiling shots, I tried this looking down method.

I finished Christine’s Wedding Garter just in time to get it in the mail for her shower. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it to the event but I wanted her to have the garter. Today is the shower, so I can post about this project, just in case anyone was a-snooping.

Here’s my thigh mock-modeling the garter. I almost forgot to take pictures so I had to do in my car before running into the post office.

stash knit down 2010 total: 4 projects

The infamous Flower Back Sweater is finally complete! Putting the finishing touches on this project (aka sewing on the flowers) felt almost impossible tonight. This little knit has had quite the journey. Reknit about four times due to gauge issues, then there were issues with the pattern itself and the yarn dye started to run. A trifecta of issues, oh my!

But it was all worth while in the end. I am so exited to wear this, which will be soon. I hope to get some modeled shots at that time that will show off the top properly. Until then, you’ll have to be satisfied with these.

The deeper V-neck version would have used the seven flowers but I think this is still nice. I’m thinking of making some kind of matching clutch or scarf at some point with the rest of the yarn.

stash knit down 2010 total: 3 projects

Well munchkins, it’s probably a mixture of a lot of things. For the garter, I did impose a deadline for myself. I’d like to get that wrapped up (by finishing the project and getting it into the mail) in the next week or so. I believe I can do a lot of the assembly today and Sunday in between all of my other activities going on this weekend. For the Flower Back Sweater, well, as I’m sure you’ve gotten the idea from my previous post, I’m done dealing with it on the needles.

This year’s knitting goal was to get things off of the needles, including the Icarus Shawl and an amigurumi project. I still have my Stash Afghan (which is not being counted in this endeavor). I allowed myself to start a pair of socks because the rest of my projects aren’t portable at all. I was missing knitting on the go a bit. But in the next week or so, I’ll be down to three active projects. I think if I can get the Icarus Shawl off the needles, I’ll start to feel like I can start some new projects. I want to clear out all the projects I’ve been “working on” for more than a year. I already know I have a bunch of things in my queue that I want to work on and other projects in my head too. Maybe then I’ll regain my knitting speed that I lost at the turn of the year.

Alright kidlets, here’s the Flower Back Sweater as it’s blocking on my dining room table. More pictures hopefully soon.