Finish-it-up-itis might actually exist

Because lookie...I finished DD2's mulberry socks:

And DD1's mulberry socks:

And my co-worker's baby gift:

And I wrote up the pattern for it:

And I've even started back onto my Elizabeth of York vest! But no pictures there yet - all I've done is started picking up more stitches along an edge. Not a huge whoop, but at least it's progress.

Work proceeds apace

My 12-in-12 challenge is going fairly well so far. I've got my first submission all ready to go. I haven't sent it off yet, though, because my second submission is going to be to the same publication, so I'm going to wait until both are finished and then send them off in a single package. The second submission is proving a little trickier because it takes way more swatching and planning and perfecting. But hopefully it'll turn out okay. I'm pretty excited about both of them.

After that I will be going full-tilt on things that need to be done for February. I've already made good progress on one thing: the Parfait cardigan I started back in June for the daughter of one of my bestest friends. Her birthday is in February, so that's the perfect time to give it to her. (And I made it in a pretty big size for her, so the fact that she's had half a year of growth since I started is not going to prevent it from fitting...I hope.) I'm on the very last tier before the neckline and am very pleased so far.

The other thing that's in February is my anniversary. In honour of it, I will be gifting my husband with a cardigan...for me.

I know that sounds weird, but there's a perfectly logical explanation. Bear with me.

Years ago, my MIL gave me Elsebeth Lavold's "Designer's Choice book one: The Viking Knits Collection" for Christmas, and enough Silky Wool yarn to make myself pretty much anything in it. (Later on she also gave me the PERFECT buttons for it, so I'm completely set.) I can't remember when I started it, but it was probably shortly after I got the book. I've been working on it excruciatingly slowly in fits and starts ever since - I think I have the back done and one side almost done at this point. And the amount of time that it's taken me to finish it has been absolute torture for my husband, who thinks it's a fabulously sexy cardigan and has been salivating at the prospect of seeing me in the completed garment this whole time. :)

Therefore, as a love present to him, I am planning to have it all done in time for our anniversary.

To that end, I went hunting for the book yesterday...and couldn't find it. This seemed very strange to me, since I was fairly sure where I had left it lying around and it was in absolutely none of the many logical (and some illogical) places I looked for it. I began to suspect, therefore, that perhaps my husband had taken it? To work on something for me for our anniversary, perchance? (He has admitted that my gift is going to be a knitted one.) So when he came home, I mentioned that I'd been looking for it (under the pretext of finishing off a different project I've got that also uses the book), and...wouldn't ya know it...he managed to "find" it really quickly. Now, I could be completely wrong about my suspicions, but the facts of the situation do make it a reasonable theory, I think. I have no idea what he'd be making, though. He's not a fast knitter, so I don't think he would be trying a sweater or cardigan. Maybe it's the Gram cap, or mittens, or the Tyra hat. We shall see.

And in between all this proposal-preparing and deadline knitting, I've been making some progress on other stuff. DD1's socks now both have legs:

And I'm getting ready to start the legs of the socks for DD2.

I haven't made any progress on DD3's giraffe toy, but I did at least take a picture of the one measly hoof I've done so far:

And I started and frogged the Tyrolean Mittens from Marcia Lewandowski's book "Folk Mittens". This is as far as I got:

I started them as a charity project for my LYS's charity knit night, but firstly, it turns out that charity knit night has now turned into just a regular knit night, and secondly, even though I went down to a sport weight yarn from the called-for worsted weight yarn, the mittens were still coming out really big. I love the pattern a lot, so I'll have to try again another time at a smaller gauge.

Challenge

There seems to be a fair bit of talk around the online and offline knitting worlds about "12 in 12". That is, knitting twelve of something during the 2012 calendar year. As I understand it, you're supposed to set your own challenge for yourself, based on what would be challenging for you personally. For example, some might knit twelve pairs of socks in 2012. Some might knit twelve hats. Some might complete twelve WIPs. Knitters who are very fast or have a tremendous amount of time on their hands might choose the challenge of twelve adult-size sweaters. Etc.

I happen to be a fast knitter, so I could certainly set myself the challenge of doing twelve adult-size sweaters in a year, but the sticking point of that is that I don't actually want to knit twelve sweaters this year. I certainly plan to knit a few, but I have no need to accomplish as many as twelve. But I am intrigued by the challenge, and would like to participate if I can.

Now, a few months back, I happened to have two submissions in consideration at the same time by two different publications, and I really liked the feeling of having multiple balls in the air. So I realised that what I really would love to accomplish is twelve design proposals being sent off to various publishers in 2012. I may not be able to actually pull it off, but I'm certainly going to see how much I can do. So far, so good: I have one design in progress that I'm super-happy about, and may be able to manage a second proposal for the same publication before the submission deadline. After that, I've already had a design proposal that I've been planning for a while which will be sent out in March. So that would take care of my first three. After that...we'll have to see. But it's exciting to think about!

In the meantime, I've also been working on finishing up the two pairs of socks I'm making for DD1 and DD2:

The challenge, you see, involves submitting those twelve designs on top of all the other stuff I would usually knit!

WIP pile-on

Startitis continues to hold me in its thrall.

My girls gave me this yarn for Christmas:

It's fuzzy and unbelievably soft. I think the girls (the older ones, at least, who chose it while shopping for me at the LYS) had the idea that I could use it as a bib for DD3, but I didn't think the polyester content would make it absorbent enough for such a purpose. So I did a search on Ravelry and realised that it would be fabulous for a stuffed toy. It was tough to narrow it down, but I finally decided on the adorable (and free!) "Sock Giraffe" pattern by Bobbi Padgett. I got started yesterday, but have only done one hoof so far. Pictures when there's actually something substantive to see.

I also decided that the older girls needed socks, so I went stash-diving and found some Patons Kroy Stripes sock yarn that I'd bought on sale at Michaels some months back. I had never quite decided which kid it was going to be for, so I thought I might see if I could actually get two pairs of socks out of it. I started with DD1's socks:

Once the feet were done of that pair, I looked at how many colour stripes I had left in the ball and figured each ball probably had about 26 stripes in it. DD1's feet had taken 20 stripes, which meant DD2's feet would take about 18 stripes, leaving 14 stripes for 4 sock legs. That would give me legs which weren't terribly long, but certainly longer than ankle socks. Score! So I went for it and started DD2's pair as well. So far, I've finished one foot:

Amazingly, I also remain disciplined on the finishing-up of my Elizabeth of York vest. This shot of all three pieces (back, left front, and partially-done right front) was taken earlier, but I'm a bit further along on the right front at this point - hopefully it won't be too long before I can start the armhole shaping on it.

Ugh, so pretty, I love it! Yes, Carrie K, I definitely recommend taking another look at it. I think it might just be my favourite texture pattern ever.

Happy new year, everyone!