Tying up loose ends

So if you've been reading for a while, you'll know that like many people, I have developed a tendency to have a lot of projects going at one time. I'm trying to cut back and actually finish up some of those long-neglected projects, but somehow the pull of new projects is always pretty strong. I've been letting myself get away with a few detours as long as they're using up stash.

Several of these little side-trips are wrapping up - I've been finishing up a few little things over the past couple of days. First I'd like to introduce you to Mr. (or Ms.) Bear:

Best Friend Bear from Interweave Knits special holiday issue 2006. Yarn is mostly vintage wool, and raglan sweater is vintage tapestry wool.

This was a really fun knit, and it worked up pretty quickly. I would definitely knit it again. I think it would be a really cute baby shower gift, maybe with a matching baby-sized sweater. The one thing I wasn't sure about was which way the arms are supposed to be attached. They're basically L-shaped tubes with elbows, but it's not particularly clear whether the short or the long "limb" of the L gets attached to the shoulder when assembling. An accompanying photo of the finished bear without a sweater on would have been helpful. I went with the short limb on top, which seemed to look the most normal. I know the eyes and nose look a little wonky, but I always seem to have trouble with finishing on toys. I just can never get it to look very professional. I decided to leave it with just one sweater, as much as I loved knitting the tiny raglan, because I was afraid that constant changing of clothing would be too stressful on the little guy's head and arm joints. It's really quite a sqeeze to get it over his big head! Anyway, as a stash buster and a learning experience, this was a great little project.

The next little FO has been on my WIP list for a while, but I don't think I've showed it before now. These little socks are for my nephew.

Basic Ribbed Socks, child's size, from Vogue Knitting Socks Two, in Super Socks Dazzle, on size 2.25 dpns.

These are supposed to fit child's shoe size 6-7.5. I guess my two-year-old nephew has pretty huge feet! For such a simle project, I was working on these for a while. I got one of them to the toe decreases when I realized that I had the wrong number of stitches, and I had to rip back to the heel. I guess I had gotten a little over confident (or I'd forgotten how to count - one or the other!) and wasn't paying much attention. I had hoped to have these done while I was home, but instead I finished them on the plane ride back to Ottawa. I'll have to pop them in the mail as soon as they're dry.

I finally found some buttons for that little baby cardigan that I made last month. They're little pewter buttons, and I thought that they looked cute. So cross one more almost-finished object off the list.


I think I've just about got the WIP list under control again now. Three FO's, and only one new project started (socks for my MIL - socks don't really count, right?!). I've been dong a little planning and dreaming lately, adjusting the "upcoming knits" list to reflect what I realistically might get to this year. I'm going to get back to DH's overdue birthday sweater now and put in a real effort to get it finished - just 1.5 sleeves to go. And then maybe I'll try to finish up the tank top and the red cardigan and the mittens that I've had on the go for, well, way too long. Once the pile of unfinished knitting that sits in (and around) the basket beside the couch gets reduced to a reasonable size, I have plans for a couple of vests for myself. I've come to like the looks of a vest over a blouse, and the Leftovers vest recently caught my eye. And then there's this cone of Derby Tweed that followed me home from Newfoundland...


It's 500 g of very fine wool, somewhere between laceweight and fingering. I followed up on a tip from the Yarn Harlot that Woof Designs in downtown St. John's sells off their ends and discontinued yarns - this was only $23. I'm actually proud of myself for not buying more. Oh, here were some beautiful purples, and lots of mohair. This yarn is actually more greeen than it looks in the photo. I'm thinking of knitting two strands together and making another little pullover vest of some sort. Or maybe a short-sleeve sweater. But that's way off in the future. I can still swatch though, can't I.... ?