January Finished Projects

While I don't typically make New Year's Resolutions, I did decide that one of my goals for 2011 is to finish up some of the Unfinished Objects (UFOs) that I have around my house.  And to use up some of the yarn that I have stashed in every available spot around my house and in my garage.  (I promise you, you'd be horrified if I were to disclose the size of either of those 2 categories here.)

So, in order to track my progress on that goal, I've decided to take pictures of every finished project for the year.  Hopefully, I will see some sense of productivity by year's end.  I won't be able to show you every picture every month, as a lot of them will be presents, but I will show them to you by year's end.  And, in order to stay honest, I'll let you know if the yarn used was a stash yarn, or a new purchase.  Oh, and I guess I'd better designate which projects were former UFOs, and which were new.

First up, a potholder.  Kind of mundane, I know, but I had purchased a book of patterns for dishcloths and potholders, and this was in there.  I wanted to try out some new techniques, my pot holders all look really awful, and I had the yarn in the garage, so I was totally able to justify this new project:

Next was a new hat for Maddie.  I had put a new knit hat in Don's Christmas stocking, and Maddie adopted it.  I really wanted Don to have his new hat back, so I had to make a new one for her, didn't I?  Plus, I tried a new technique, and I had both yarns in my stash.  (See how this justification stuff works???)  So here was new project #2:

P.S.:  She won't wear it.  She still has Don's hat!

Project #3 was for my grandmother, who fell and broke her finger.  I wanted to do something for her, kind of an "I'm thinking of you/get well soon" gift.  So, this was a new project.  And while I have lots of this type of yarn in my stash, I had none in her favorite color.  The picture doesn't show it very well, but this is a very soft purple color, knit in Lion Brand Homespun yarn.  It was a really quick knit, and I wrapped it up with her favorite teabags, cookies, and candy, and shipped it off.  So, while it didn't qualify for ANY of my goal criteria, I really, really enjoyed this one:

The next project was legwarmers for Katie.  That girl wears dresses or skirts almost every day, regardless of the weather!  It makes me cold just looking at her sometimes, so I made her some legwarmers, as a kind of compromise.  I actually knitted these on her birthday, and finished them the same day I started them, so they didn't stay on the needles for very long.  While they were a new project, I had the yarn in my stash, so that was a plus.  Here is Katie, modeling them:

That project led to projects 5 & 6.  Yep, that's right, they wanted legwarmers too.  So yes, 2 more new projects.  But, I used stash yarn for both, and had both pair done in 2 days.  Katie's are in the pictures too, but Emma's are pink, and Abby's are purple.  I was going to make a pair for Maddie also, but we discovered that her pair from last year still fits.

Project #7 probably shouldn't really count, but I'm going to.  I made this dishcloth last year, and it's been sitting around for at least the last 6 months.  Finished.  Except for one thing:  weaving in all the yarn ends.  And there were about 8 of them.  I hate weaving in yarn ends.  That is why this at around.  But, when I came across it, I decided that the time had come, and in approximately 15 minutes, I finally able to add a check mark to my list of UFOs. (I'm not proud, I'll take it!)  (Again, a new technique!  I found the pattern for this dishcloth online, and sadly, cannot find it now.  When I do, I will publish the link.)

I'm not going to show you project #8, because it may or may not be a present for someone.  I will say that I used yarn from my stash, but that it was a new project.  So it counts on one list, but not the other.

Project #9 will be a gift, and it was a UFO.  It was a fun project, and I learned some new techniques, so I will be making more of that one!

Projects #10 and #11 were UFOs, started before Christmas, and may or may not be gifts.  Also projects that I learned some new techniques in!

Okay, so final count:

1 new project with purchased yarn,

6 new projects with stash yarn, and

4 UFOs completed

All in all, not a bad January!