January, so far..........

I ended 2013 with binding off this shawl. It is made in lace weight and took 1500 yards. I was hoping that it would take less yardage than that. It ended up being 30" square and I had not even blocked it. I put a lifeline in it 36 rows back and ripped it back. I have to admit to breaking out in a cold sweat on the whole thing. It being black made it that much harder. I am now reknitting the edging and cannot wait to block it. 

I am ashamed to show you the next photo, but I need you to see what a mess my loom room was so that you can see the results of 7 1/2 hours of emptying it and reorganizing ALL of my yarn by yarn weights. It was terribly overwhelming at times, but I love the results. I ended up with 3 18-gallon tubs of worsted weight yarn, 1 of Knit Picks yarn, 1 of sock weight, 1 of acrylic worsted weight, 2 of cotton and cotton blends, 1 of lace weight, 1 of misc/ novelty yarns, 1 of yarns that are ready to dye, and 1 of WIPS and gift knits.
In my defense, I had accumulated a bunch of stuff from Poppy's house that had to be taken to my house to make room for Ben and Grace's stuff in their house. I had no choice but to clean this room. Michael had made me 2 shaker shelves (like the ones in my loom room) to go in my new quilting room and I did not have a place to set them up to paint them. 

The shaker shelves he made for my loom room. 

BEFORE!

AFTER!
See my cool little shelf/counter top by the washer and dryer. Michael put that up for me to have my microwave that I use for my yarn dyeing. I filled all of the cabinets at the back with my cones of weaving yarn. 

I had intended to start New Year Day with a new knitting project (I did, still on needles), a new book (I did, am loving it!) and a new quilt. Remember the book that Michael got me a couple of years ago called "The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt"? I wanted to start it or my flannel snowman quilt. Those will have to take place later. I need more time to get my quilting room organized before beginning those.
I did, however, get this pattern for a Mondo Bag from a friend. I needed a cool, big knitting bag for traveling. I had a couple of the Moda charm packs and some lining fabric that I could use with it. It called for over 200 2 1/2" squares. I cut these 5 by 5 squares into 4ths and got to work.

The pattern comes with a grid that you iron the squares onto. I love the colors. They are so ME!

All stitched and ready to put together!

Perfectly lovely and so big! Lots of room for books and yarn and anything else that I need to carry!

I plan on making another one or two of these for some friends. I may not make them quite this big. The bottom is a 10" square!

My yarn total for 2013 was 46,456 yards! I did 178 projects. I am sure that I forgot a few of them. Here is one the I had a lovely time making. It is called the Rainy Day Seattle Hat. I made it for my DIL for a Christmas present.

Here is the back. See the Evergreen trees and the apples around the back. 

Here it is on Grace. It has the Seattle skyline on it. It was a fun little challenge. Isn't it the greatest fun making your daughter something so cute! I have cast on another Vitamin D cardigan for her and am working on it, too. 

This is the Christmas present quilt that I helped Grace make for her sweet nephew, Jackson. 

The label for it. 

Wonderful bright colors for her sweet little Jackson. He will be getting a baby sister in April, so Grace and I will soon be working on a pink one!

Here is a new design, not written up, yet. I used some Shibui Knits Silk Cloud (the green), some Kid Silk Haze (the grey) and some Knit Picks Aloft (the white). It starts with a provisional cast on and is knit in the round, using 2 strands of the yarn through out. I love the effect that the color changes make. This one is a double length and I just cast on one in some grey, green and deep, deep purple. It will be a single length one. 

These are some sock that I just finished, too. 

Almost forgot that I have release two new patterns since I posted last.
The first one is a Swirling Slouch Hat that is a really fun knit and look so cute on. It is made using 130 yards of worsted weight yarn and a 7 and 10 needle.

The next one is my "To Zola With Love" Shawl.
In the title, you put the name of the person for whom you are making it. 

But to me this will always be To Zola With Love Shawl. 
It is a prayer shawl.

Center Medallion, unblocked -- 15” square; 
Side Panels, unblocked -- 15” wide x 19 3/4” long 
Shawl pieces assembled and blocked 71 long x 19 1/2” wide

It is a uniquely constructed shawl and it can be knit in several way. 
WAY #1--Knit in 3 pieces, by 3 knitters knitting on the project at the same time, then joining the two side panels to the Center Medallion by grafting the sts (this is super easy on this project). 
WAY#2--Knit by 3 knitters, with each person knitting one of the sections and passing it on to the next knitter(no grafting necessary). 
WAY #3--Knitting it all by yourself (no grafting of sts). 
I will be putting it up as a free download soon. I want as many people to make it for that someone special who needs prayers, love and encouragement, as possible.

Thank you Hope, for this lovely photo!

 Both these patterns are free on Ravelry. That is all for now. I will to try and keep you more up-to-date on my projects, but you know how lost in knitting I get.