UFO list added

I made a list of the UFOs I want to complete in the next 12 months. YIKES! Who knew?

To be honest, I had a hunch things were stacking up. In my defense, however, this list is NOT my FO (finished objects) list, a list that I have yet to start.

The most important and timely UFO on the list is the dissertation. Must. get.that.finished.

The UFO Challenge!

I've enrolled this blog and its many unfinished projects in the UFO ring. As I've been packing, I've been digging in boxes and bags and piles. The number of UFOs that I've found is bordering on astronomical. Time to get these puppies finished. Thanks, UFO ring members, for keeping me on target! (See the UFO ring listed on the right side bar.)

Five for Dulaan!

I've made my five (and more) for Dulaan, so I've met the pledge! I spent yesterday (a snow day) going through and sorting finished projects. Mittens, scarves, hats. Today's on campus project is to print the packing list for the box (check). Tonight I'll finish washing everything so they can go out by the end of the week. I'll get some pictures of them before they get sent off. One thing I'll be sending is something I spun, dyed and knit. Won a blue ribbon at the Boone County Fair! It's a cross between a shawl and a scarf, done in a 4x4 rib so it's really stretchy. Merino top so it's really soft. And a variegated green so it's ... green.

I've been looking for the perfect house, and I think I've found it. Well, not perfect because the bathroom is indescribable, but it's a unique idiosyncratic building, that's for sure! The Warming House. Pictures coming.

Mandalas and EZ Surprise Jacket

While cruising one day, I learned that the North Dakota Museum of Art is creating a mandala of knitted (and crocheted and woven) scarves! They are accepting donations of yarns, 8" by 7' long, that will be distributed to shelters in Grand Forks after the exhibit. How cool is that? TWO rounds of karma -- good art and good deed!

A seven foot scarf can get a little tedious. To help show me that I was indeed making progress, I'd add a string or marker on the edge of the scarf each morning as I began knitting.

To keep myself going, I would make it a point to knit at least a row in the morning before going to work. Since it is mindless knitting, I took it to work and knit during breaks/lunch/whenever I could steal a stitch or two. When I finally got to the last foot of the first scarf, I tied on a little gold bell to remind me that I only had one more foot to knit.

It worked! I finished the first one and almost immediately cast on for the second scarf, which I finished rather quickly. I'm now on my third.



Both scarves: Noro.
Green = Kochoran (the clumps of angora make this yarn so appealing!)
Bright multicolor= Kureyon (two different colorways; used my stash)


I also got the chance to try out Elizabeth Zimmerman's Surprise (baby) Jacket. Knit all in one piece, this knitting was all-consuming, painful, and totally worth it once it was finished. I'm seriously thinking of doing another one. One of the bloggers on the EZ KAL wrote that she wished she'd knitted hers in a variegated yarn, so that's what I did. Details follow. I still need to sew the two shoulder seams and add buttons. The recipient is Charley, who was due Feb. 2 but decided to come during our ice and sleet storm last Friday night, January 12th.


Happy Birthday, Charley!

Christmas Around the World (part 1)

Reading blogs today, I found a recent entry on Christmas in Mongolia, a very Buddhist country. The pictures are priceless:
Dreaming of Danzan Ravjaa

Good intentions

The Yarn Harlot is back! I knew that I looked forward to her daily post - there's just something about her day that is more interesting than mine. But reading about her day through her eyes, helps me look at my life in a different perspective. What a gift she has given us. I meet knitters from all over the country and everyone seems to know about her blog, and the great stories that help to unite us beyond our knitting.

And she's back. With a great idea for sharing. At a time in the year when we try to do good and sometimes slip into excess. Stephanie suggests a donation to Doctors Without Borders -- and then tally our gift over at the Knitters Without Borders page. She's explained it all here.

In the meantime, on my Christmas knitting: I am SOOOOOO done! Well, the grey/rose vest still needs to be finished. But the sweater is done and gone. A parcel went out to AfghansforAfghans. The mitts are done several times over -- mittens, mittens, everywhere. And a parcel will soon go out to Dulaan. And I gave several dishcloths away at Tuesday's nights KnitWits meeting as presents (along with Franklin's mean kitty pins).

And, since the commission on the grey sweater was donated to KWB - I get to add the logo to my page! Good karma all around.

Inspired by Dog-Lovin'-Knitter

Inspired by Dog Lovin' Knitter, I, too, will list the things that I will get done by Christmas 2006.

On the needles now:

• big grey sweater. First sleeve almost completed (maybe tonight), second sleeve and finishing (seams, weaving ends, blocking) to do. My working deadline is Nov. 11. For friend.

• rose/gray vest. Need to finish the edging on second armhole, sew in zipper and add buttons. For charity.

• 2-needle mittens in Noro. This was my easy-to-carry-around knitting for a day when I didn't have any small projects. Have to finish this mitt and do its mate. For charity.

• dish cloth. (Pattern posted earlier.) Another mindless project that I carry with me for found time (waiting in lines, waiting for meetings, waiting). For Christmas stash.

That's not as bad as I thought.

I need to get these done because I want to spend time on my dissertation. It is so much fun! No. Really!

I do want to get more mittens and scarves done, though, both for the Reservations as well as for our local homes.

Red Scarf is due in January. Dulaan isn't due until next summer. And Afghans for Afghans probably won't have another call until summer. So the pressure is off!