Pattern: Kate Gilbert’s Syncopated Cap, Interweave Knits Summer 2007

Yarn: Regia Silk and Dale Baby Ull

Time Elapsed: Definitely under a week of knitting time

Notes/Modifications: No modifications. Jacob asked me to knit him a hat to wear, “to keep my ears from getting colder”. He requested red and black all together. It wasn’t hard to go from there to the Syncopated Cap pattern. Like many of Ms. Gilbert’s patterns, this is clever and a super-fun knit. The cable-like colorwork is fun, the cap shaping is really neat, and it produces a really warm hat.

The only real problem I had is that while the hat was a perfect size pre-blocking, the yarns really grew. I’m betting it will fit Jacob next year, as well.

Charmingly, he didn’t mind at all and insists on wearing it anyway (although after the photoshoot was done, he did let me roll up the brim).

I know this phase of requesting hand-knits isn’t going to last forever, so I’m cherishing every minute!

It was a fantastic trip, there was much knitting, and now I’m crashing back to reality here in CA. It is my sincere hope not to spend too many more holiday seasons frantically trying to see everyone, do everything, while living out of a suitcase. We’ll see.

I wound up finishing everything I really wanted to get done. Koolhaas for Adam:

(This shot is cuter than the FO. Just imagine it without the yarn strand, there.)

Shedir for my grandmother Grace:

Log cabin slippers for Nancy:

Silk Rhapsody scarf for Beth:

Bev’s hat and mitt set:

And last but certainly not least, the HoJo sweater for Jessica. As you all predicted, she loved it.

(And the fit is just great, if I do say so myself.)

It feels like I have a lot of catching up to do, with all of you. And there’s some blog housekeeping–FO post on HoJo, updates to my 2007 FO album, sharing pictures of a tiny bit of new yarn, the scoop on my current WIPs…

…but all of that can come some other day. May you all have a wonderful 2008, full of shining laughter and scrumptious hand knits.

(Clockwise from bottom: Finished lace hat and wine and roses mitts, finished HoJo, Almond-apricot cookie sandwiches, chocolate checkerboard cookies, mint brownies, ginger cookies, chocolate rugelach. We’ve had a busy day.)

The log cabin socks are started, but there’s very little chance I’ll finish them before hitting the road on Monday. I’m told there’s a lot of snow back east, and I just can’t wait to spend some time stomping around in it. Snowmen! Sledding! Snowshoeing! Knitting! Hot cocoa!

The possibilities are endless.

I do hope to blog while I’m back there, although I probably won’t be able to keep up on others’ blogs as obsessive-compulsivelyclosely as I do now. I have such big knitting plans! We’ll see if any come to fruition.

I’m going to save FO posts for all of the holiday knitting until I have proper modeled shots, but HoJo is done and I just have to say I’m in love with this sweater. My teeny-tiny friend Catherine offered to model the sweater for you all, since it won’t fit on my mannequin:

I hope Jessica likes it!

I expect I’ll only have a few yards left over of the blue yarn after I’m done with the collar, but all main pieces of the HoJo are blocking away. Thank goodness! Also, hubby’s side of the family decided to do a secret santa-type thing this year, so I’ve only got the HoJo to do instead of two sweaters.

Which, of course, has led me to the obvious choice of knitting a bunch of small things for the holidays instead of another big sweater. So once HoJo was blocking, there was nothing else to do but cast on for a couple of new projects. A lace-edged woman’s hat out of some Boise from the stash, which I’ve already had to rip because I didn’t like the fabric on US 6 needles, and Jacob’s baby alligator scarf. I like the idea of these small projects–they’re going to be stashbusters, all. Which is nice, given the way I’ve been feeling lately about my stash…

Now, you’ll never find me advocating a small stash across the board. I love my stash, and I’ll never apologize to anyone about its size, nor do I think anyone else should feel badly about the size of their stash, as long as they’re enjoying it. But lately, the sheer amount of yarn I have that I want to knit RIGHT NOW has been getting me down, a little. How am I ever going to find the time to knit all of it? I get kind of sad when I scroll through my Ravelry stash page. And that’s not a good relationship to have with my yarn.

On top of that, certain life goals will be much easier if we can take the next six months and really buckle down, financially. So, aside from a trade that I hope will score me some Cork for gift log cabin slippers, I think I’m going to try avoiding any new yarn for at least a few months, maybe more. We’ll see how it goes. Have any of you felt overwhelmed by your yarn before? What did you do, if so? Do you love your stash?