2010: A year in knitting

This year, I knit a total of 23 things:
16 pairs of socks (15 pair adult-sized, 1 baby-sized) (9 for me, 7 gifts)
5 hats (3 adult-sized, 2 infant-sized) (2 for me, 3 gifts)
2 little shawls (both gifts)

All of this means ... I met my knitting goals for this year! I wanted to knit 12 pairs of socks, and I most definitely topped that. I also wanted to make a shawl for my grandma, and I did that.

It'd be hard for me to pick a favorite thing I knitted this year, but I'd have to go with grandma's shawl or maybe these socks for myself. They're just so cheerful.

Overall, I knit fewer things than I did in 2009, but my output this year was more of what I love: socks!

My only knitting goal for 2011 is to knit more socks than I did last year. I better get crackin' -- I have several pairs on the needles already!

Happy knitting, friends.

Christmas knitting ... and a Christmas miracle

It's been done for weeks, and the recipients have received them, so it's time to blog about them!

Knit out of a hair over two skeins of Regia Tweed (thank goodness I bought three!), these socks were started in August 2008. Yes, I know. Embarrassing! It was a visit from my brother in October that kicked my butt into gear and got the first sock finished, and the second one followed soon after. These were knit cuff-down with size 1 needles, and each sock was 80 stitches around, so that's my excuse as to why they took so long. But because they're knit so tightly (and it's Regia), I'm hoping they last forever! I got a text message from my brother that "These socks f---ing rock!" So I know he's pleased. =)

Next up are socks knit from Colinette Jitterbug for my mom. She picked a skein out at a visit to a LYS here more than two years ago (gulp) back when I was new to sock knitting. I was worried the yardage so I got a half-skein from The Loopy Ewe and alternated them up the food and leg (they're knit toe-up). Boy, Jitterbug is plump and lovely to work with! I just wish skeins didn't have knots ...

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Finally, these are socks for my dad. My dad has large (size 13 feet) and I knit the first sock in FIVE DAYS! I just couldn't put them down. (Overall, the pair took about two weeks.) It's Universal Pace sock yarn on size 2 needles (I learned my lesson ... no more size 1s for my dad and brother!). I'm hoping the nylon content means they'll last a long time.

I have been quiet on the blog front because I've been going through some rough stuff lately. My dad was diagnosed with anemia, and he had a colonoscopy to check things out ... they found a mass on Dec. 9. So for eight days, we were in pins and needles waiting for the results. It was one of the toughest times of my life. But thank goodness, tests showed it was precancerous, not cancer, so they caught it in time! He will have surgery in early January and life will go on. It is the truly the best Christmas gift I could ask for!

With the anemia, he is cold all the time. So I've started another pair of socks for him. I started them during the waiting period between his colonoscopy and finding out the results, so I was knitting them with lots of thoughts of healthiness and cancer-free results. (And I'd like to think it helped in some way!)

So these are happy, hopeful socks now. And I can't wait to finish them!