Now. This is half of my February ornament, which, for obvious reasons, I’d wanted to finish several days ago.

That didn’t happen as planned because I wrote up a little pattern for it and couldn’t find it. Then, I found what I thought was the pattern (this is what happens when bits of paper take over the place), but alas, it was not.

What the Frankenheart?! I don’t even know why I kept the paper with this tragedy scribbled on it. I should’ve burned it, said a prayer over the ashes and buried them.

Good news, though. I did find the right pattern so it looks like February’s ornament will be finished in February! With all the stops, starts and general malaise going on here lately, having a bit of good news makes me very happy.

Almost as much as these flowers do.

I bound off the striped sweater yesterday (after its little time-out), but I’m not quite done yet. Still left to do:

1. Weave in ends
2. Knit a neckline
3. Sew underarm seams
4. Weave in ends
5. Block
6. Weave in ends

Oh, did I mention I have a boatload of ends to weave in? It’s not that I cut the yarn after every stripe, because I definitely didn’t do that. When I was good at remembering things, I remembered to bring my working yarn under the unused colors and carry them up the side. When my memory slipped, I forgot all about it, got engrossed in knitting, then found super-long floats. Plus, with the way the pattern is, rounds don’t always start in the same spot, so I had to cut yarn at times, leaving me with a lot of ends.

What I learned is that I probably won’t knit another raglan with stripes, at least not stripes this skinny. I had an idea once I hit the raglan, and I gradually decreased my stripes from three rows to two to one. Just a little design inspiration I had.

Otherwise, there was an awful lot of remembering I had to do, between the “decrease stitches for raglan and at the same time, decrease at neckline” every 2 rows 55 times, every 4 rows 9 times, or when the rooster crows outside. Just joking — but whenever I see instructions that say “at the same time,” I get a little sweaty. I had post-it notes everywhere.

But it’s almost done, and that’s what counts, right?

I know, I know. Christmas just ended, so why am I crocheting an ornament?

One of my goals is to have a Christmas tree decorated with all handmade ornaments. Knowing my track record, I figure I better get started now if I’m going to be ready come December. (Since I’ll probably only make one ornament per month and hopefully end up with twelve, I’m looking at a mini-tree for a handmade one this year.) Even I can tackle one ornament per month, right? That’s my aim, so this is January’s entry. I think I’ll tie in each month’s ornament to some kind of theme, maybe related to a holiday that month. Or maybe I’ll just wing it. Since it’s January, I thought a soft blue and white fit this month well.

Anyway, this was nothing more than a simple double-crochet (UK: treble-crochet) circle.

1. Chain 5, join with a slip stitch and form a ring.
2. Ch 3, 11 dc into ring, join with sl st to close.
3. Ch 3, 1 dc into same spot, then 2 dc into every st of previous round, join with sl st to close.
4. Ch 3, 1 dc into same spot, *[1 dc into next st, 2 dc into next st]; repeat from * to last, 1 dc, join with sl st to close.

Fasten off. Make two circles (same color or different). Affix button to center of each circle. With wrong sides facing, join circles with sl st, leaving a small opening to stuff with filling of your choice (I used Poly-fil). After stuffed, continue to sl st until closed. Ch 12 and join end of chain to beginning with a sl st. Fasten off.

Admire your handiwork!

Taking part in Creative Friday at Natural Suburbia — happy weekend, all.

While that bread rose, I started on another bread — this time, banana.

While the banana bread baked, I got back into my current read, Her Fearful Symmetry (also joining in with small things’ Yarn Along today). It’s a ghost story. The saleslady at the bookstore told me it was a “strange book” when I bought it. It is odd, but I absolutely love it. Plus, it fits into my plan to read more about other places/cultures — it primarily takes place in London and it’s atmospheric and spooky without being scary.

Not much to report on the knitting front — that’s the same ole sock that’s been hanging around for a while, but at least it’s #2.

After that, I went out back with Macy, our little dog, and enjoyed the scenery while she sniffed around and got into the usual — stuff she’s not supposed to get into.

As I stood outside looking at the clouds, I thought about what happened very early this morning, as the boys and I first headed out for school. It was still nearly dark and we heard an owl hooting in the distance. Animal Magnet practiced his “owl language” and hooted back. The owl hooted again and they “talked” to one another for a couple of minutes until I reluctantly said it was time to go. It felt like breaking a spell, one that I would’ve happily lived with for a little while longer.

Christmas break ended for the children a couple of days ago. My plan was to immediately get back to work. But I took a break; a very short one, but one that helped. And after reading “the joy of quiet,” I think I made the right decision.

Thanks, Monica.

It was part of my second place prize from the contest I entered last fall at the lovely Stitched in Color. The other prizes I won came some time ago, and this sweet fiber yarn arrived with a note of apology for the delay, but no apologies were necessary. Getting yarn on the last day of a not-so-stellar year was a great way to close it out.

The other prizes I won were this Everything Old yarn…

…a pattern of my choosing and the Try It interchangeable needle set from Knit Picks.

I tried out the needles right away on the sweater I’m working on for #1 Girl — the sweater that was supposed to be wrapped in time for Christmas, remember? I was knitting with the acrylic tips and they were awesome…until I noticed that the circular join had unscrewed itself so that my stitches were no longer securely on the joining wire, but were hanging in thin air.

Do I even need to continue? Can you see where this tragedy is going?

I screwed the needle back into place, but when you’re knitting away, you’re not exactly paying attention to what your needles are doing, especially when you kind of expect them to take care of themselves. Anyway, the join unscrewed again and I ended up dropping a bunch of stitches before realizing it. Sometimes you just get discouraged when things like this happen, you know?

The sweater did not make it under the tree in time. I went back to using my trusty fixed circular needles and put the interchangeables away…well away. At present, I need to work on  a project with no bad memories currently attached. I’ll get back to the sweater, and soon, but for now, I’ve returned to a project that’s nearly done. That’s really what I need right about now.

Thank You cards I made for two special aunties

I’ve made no resolutions, but I have made some goals that I hope to achieve this year. Crafting more is one of them and I really wanted to start the year off right by spending time making something — however, we ended up visiting with good friends who we hadn’t spent time with in a long while, and I guess eating, talking and laughing with friends was better than making, at least for yesterday.

Today found me in the craft store. I was there a few days ago as well, buying my first ever hot glue gun, which I love (can you really love an inanimate object that way?). I’m still getting the hang of hot glue gunning, and I’m seriously trying not to hot glue everything I see (Dog and Cat: beware).

Last year was kind of a bust where crafting and blogging were concerned, and I want to change that for 2012. I thought a lot about where I can improve and I’m taking steps toward doing better. I plan to be in this space much more, sharing and creating and interacting with all of you.

Welcome, 2012 — I’m happy you’re here.

Christmas Day was beautiful and warm. Because we always throw a massive party on Christmas Eve, I usually spend December 25 lounging around and recovering from two days of baking and cooking; this year was no different. I helped with batteries and reading instructions at about 5:30a.m. (!), but after that, it was horizontal lounging almost all day.

Today, the cleanup begins — notice how I’m carefully photographing around the chaos? I’m taking the cleanup slowly, slowly, slowly. The kids are home from school and in between mini arguments, there have been moments of peace that I love so much. I’m most anxious to clean off the dining room table; I don’t have an actual craft room and much of my crafting takes place right there. So the cake plates, treats and toys have to go so that I can get back to making.

I’m ready to make things again, especially since Binding Off 2011 turned into an epic fail didn’t go quite as I wanted. So I’ll be dragging a few projects into the new year with me instead of starting off with a clean slate. But you know what? That’s okay. Crafting should be fun, not riddled with guilt. We have enough things to feel guilty about (like eating an entire tin of chocolate-covered popcorn in two days). Creativity shouldn’t be one of them.

: : The house is trimmed
: : Cleaning is almost all done
: : One more venture to the shops and then no more
: : A few more inches on that sweater before I join the sleeves. It will be under the tree — not blocked (oh no, no time for that!), but it’ll be under that tree, complete

These are some busy, but rewarding, days. I’ll see you all after Christmas. Hope you have a wonderful and safe holiday with family and friends!

Merry Christmas, all.

Several weeks ago, when radio stations began playing Christmas tunes 24/7, I was not ready for it to be Christmastime already. That was early November, way too early, IMO. But now. Now, I’m ready, oh so ready for it to be Christmas. Is my shopping done? Not even close. Is the Christmas Eve menu finalized? Ha ha, no! Did I finish any holiday craft gifts? Sadly, nope on that one, too. But the excitement is building, the energy is there and my favorite time of year is happening now. With so much to do and so little time, I’ll be as scarce around these parts as I’ve been lately, but I’m working on how to change that in 2012.

P.S. I have three boxes of Christmas cards that I can’t find anywhere in the house.

P.P.S. I’m not going to spend my birthday searching for them.