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Happy New Year to 2015

Paul and I rung in the New Year with a rather routine ritual.  We always have some sort of seafood at home, pop open a bottle of bubbly and settle in for the night.  The end of 2014 and start of 2015 was the same.  We were crawling into bed just as the fireworks were being set off by neighbours around the inlet.

Yesterday was a day of college football bowl games.  Both the Wisconsin Badgers (my team) and the Buckeyes of The Ohio State University (Paul's team) played.  Since the Badgers played in some obscure bowl game because they were ranked something like 19th in the country, I had to listen to the play-by-play broadcast on the radio using my iPad and the new speaker Paul bought me for Xmas.  It sure is great for knitting because you don't miss seeing a single play.  I have to make a note of that for future reference.

Paul is in the habit of waiting until his team has played the entire game before deciding to watch it or not.  He records the game and watches if they win, dumps it if they lose.  And yes his #4 Buckeyes were playing #1 Alabama for a right to play in the championship game on January 12.  I was checking the score on the Internet and at times when his team was ahead, giving out the good news and then at other times keeping the score to myself.  But the Buckeyes pulled out a win and this morning the entire game was watched.

Today our meager holiday decorations are coming done and being put away.  The nice thing about not putting much up is that there isn't much to come down either.

Decorations coming down and ¨O¨ scarf frogged back

So what was I knitting.  First the ¨O" scarf was dismantled with amazing speed.  But my heart just wasn't into knitting in circles yesterday so it sits waiting to be done.  Perhaps it will be a good omen if I get it done on or before that championship game on January 12!

There is someone I know going to have a baby boy soon and there's a baby shower coming up on January 15.  My logic went something like this:  It is a New Year and I need to start on a new project.  So yesterday I searched and searched to find something that would work for a baby boy, keep me interested and also plays on the fashionista style of mom.  This is what I found:

Upscale-back_small2Upscale-front_medium


It is called Upscale Baby Sweater by WIP Insanity with the free pattern available here on Ravelry. I love that it is a simple cardigan with only one button.  The sweater is knit all in one piece with the sleeves and collar added in after.  The design element is made with purl stitches on knit rows and knit on purl rows which is keeping me on my toes.

A sideway view showing off the seed or moss stitch edge and some of the design
I want to keep the design more subdued because this is for a boy so I picked a darker colour, in fact, I am using Knit Picks Stroll Tweed in the colourway of Flagstone Heather.  The design is evident, but it doesn't show up as clearly as in the designer's photos above.  Here's what I have done so far



It should easily be done by the deadline, but haven't I said that several times before and missed the mark.  This time I am confident it will be done.

This year I have resolved to keep a spreadsheet with all my Knitting To Dos on it.  I don't want to run into October and realize there is not enough time to finish my Christmas knitting.  So far I have these to do:

  • Finish the Upscale baby sweater
  • Finish ¨O¨ scarf
  • Finish the charcoal Ashton cowl
  • Finish the Jeweled Cowl for me (BTW it will be unjeweled, not enough of the right coloured beads)
  • Finish a Xmas stocking I started about 4 years ago
  • Finish both pairs of Fiddlehead mittens
  • Make another charcoal coloured YO cowl
  • Make Miss M's Christmas stocking
  • Make a bunch of knitted letters for Miss M
  • Make knitted food for Miss M
  • Make several pairs of fingerless gloves

Well you get the idea, and this is a short list.  My year is starting out with a knitting bang.

Happy Knitting New Year; 2015 should be a very productive one for me.  I have all the time I need.





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