Friday FOs - Two, Count 'Em, Two!

Before I completely melt today and lose all interest in anything, I have two finished objects for you - yes TWO.  Granted, neither one was a major undertaking, but they are still both finished, and that counts!

First up, the shortie slipper socks I knit for The Tim:

Project:  Same Mother Shortie Socks
Pattern:  Just a plain sock, turned into a shortie sock
Yarn:  Plymouth Encore Worsted Solids, in the Oatmeal, Purple, and Orange colorways
Needles:  US size 5
Notes:  As you know if you have read my blog for a few weeks at least, I knitted the first sock, and then strongly suspected that I would not have enough of the Oatmeal colored yarn to complete the second one.  For some people, that would mean they would take apart sock #1 and do some color-blocking.  I'm not those people, and because I had not thought ahead, I warned The Tim that his socks would not match and why.  He said, "Well, if you have to throw in another color, make sure it's something that pops." And I think the orange definitely pops, right??  Anyway, these were really quick to knit, and since they are just meant to be slipper socks, it didn't bother me that they wouldn't be the same.  I called them "Same Mother Shortie Socks" because they are like family members who have the same mother, and look similar but different.  😀

The best part was that when they were finished, The Tim was *thrilled* with them, so all's well that ends well.

*****

Next up, something for the kitchen:

Project:  Leftovers Kitchen Towel
Pattern:  At Your Service Knit Cloth (a free pattern)
Yarn:  Knit Picks ColLin, in the Conch colorway
Needles:  US size 7
Modifications:  None
Notes:  I had some yarn left from my Down the Shore Shawl, and decided to give this pattern a try, since we use these kinds of hanging towels in our kitchen all the time and they are not that easy to find in stores.  The pattern was overall easy and pretty quick to knit, but in my heat-addled brain, it did take me a few times to get the decreases right.  In the end, it turned out just fine, and I see many more of these in my future.  The Tim thinks they would be nice Christmas gifts, but I'm not sure that people would enjoy that kind of gift.  Then again they might.  I'll have to give it some thought.

Both of these projects were from stash yarn, and that always pleases me - the button for the kitchen towel is also from a stash of buttons that I have, so no extra money at all was spent for this project, which is even better! 

******

Before closing, I wanted to remind anyone who is interested that you have until one minute before midnight this coming Sunday, July 5, to comment on this post and be in the mix for a giveaway. 

And finally, tomorrow is Independence Day here in the U.S.  This country is far from perfect, but if we can get back on track, I really believe that things could move forward and we can be what we wanted our country to stand for.  It's still better than lots of other places.  So, if you celebrate, have a lovely day, and remember to VOTE in November!!

And for everyone, I hope you have a good weekend no matter how you decide to spend it.  See you on Monday for the announcement of the giveaway winner.

2011 Project Summary

Thanks for all of the well-wishes about our adoption of Dug the Dog.  We are so happy to have him in our family, and he seems pretty pleased as well.  Even the kitties don't have their noses too far out of joint - Jetsam is cautious, but not freaked out, and Pip is curious because if he could just get One.Good.Sniff. without Dug moving, he'd know what was going on ...

I made this mosaic of my 2011 craft projects (called so because one of them - the wreath - is not knitted, though technically it used knitting yarn to create), and though they are few, I'm pleased with all of them.

I was thinking that it seemed that I did more, and then I realized that two projects I was working on were sweaters that are still in progress, as well as the Graydon socks, which I haven't finished, because I'm not sure I like them that much after all.  They are in a time-out at the moment, until I feel like picking them up again and deciding.  In the end, they may be frogged and turned into regular plain socks, but that's a decision for the [probably near] future.

I'm in the process of deciding what projects I want to focus on for 2012, and how I want to approach things.  Remember I said I've been giving some thought to a lot of things for this year?  Well, that's one of them.  I feel like I'm getting myself organized with a plan, which always makes me feel good about anything.

One thing that will be new to me starts this Tuesday evening, when I take the first in a series of five classes in Beginning Quilting at Spool, which is about a block and a half from my house.  I have a class credit there, I've always loved quilts, and have actually tried to avoid actively taking a class, figuring that I didn't need yet another thing to become obsessed with ... however, I decided that I would just go ahead and take the class and find out how I feel about it.  I would like to think that if I fall in love with quilting, I'll have learned from my experience with knitting that I don't have to have every piece of fabric I like, any more than I have to have every skein of yarn that I like ....

(I'll keep you posted on that one.)