Look at all the cobwebs!

So next week will be my 5-year Blog-iversary. Having said that, it has been well over a year since my last blog post. I thought to myself, "Self, maybe it's time to take down the blog. You are stretched thin enough with this social media stuff and spend most of your "knitting" online time over at Ravelry." However, my more sentimental self decided that, no, I would just restart the blog. I have a lot of knitting goals in 2012 and keeping up with the blog may keep me on track. (Have I said that before? Well, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again).

There's also the business of whether I should catch everyone up with what I've been doing for the last 14 months or so since my last post. Chances are there aren't very many people who even read this, so I decided that I'll just start fresh with what I'm working on now and we'll go from there.

I have quite a few projects OTN, but have put quite a few of them aside to work on for the 12 in 2012 KAL over on Ravelry. The goal of this group is to finish 12 projects over the course of the year using stash yarn. You can also complete any WIPs that have been sitting for awhile and not touched during the last month of the year. The leader of the group follows the pirate way of looking at The Code in that they are really just guidelines. But I do like to follow the rules, so I am not actively working on these right now. Here are a couple of my favorites:



Rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock. This is a double-knit scarf that is a self-design inspired by the wonderful world of The Big Bang Theory. I charted out the sections and am using the double-knitting technique to create a reversible scarf. I started a DK project back in 2010 for the Ravelympics, but could never really find my stride managing the 2 colors and knitting both sides at once. Then I took a DK class at Stitches East back in October with the lovely Melissa Leapman. I had an AHA moment during the class and it finally clicked in my head and my hands figured it out! So instead of finishing the other scarf that had been hibernating forever, why not start something totally new? This is knit in the Knit Picks Palette Fingering weight which I find really great for colorwork.




My "Once Upon a Time..." Cambridge shawl is a copycat version of the shawl the Duchess of Cambridge was seen wearing at the grocery store last spring. When a "muggle" sees a fashionable item that she wants, she normally just googles to find the item to buy. When a knitter sees a fashionable item that she wants, she seeks out a pattern to replicate it herself, or she designs a pattern herself. Well, a whole slew of knitters jumped on the bandwagon and there was a Kate Shawl KAL with many designers coming up with their own versions and a group of 1500+ knitters casting on the various designs. While I did not officially join the knit-along because I knew I wouldn't finish by the 9/15 deadline for the contest, I did enjoy watching everyone else's projects. For my shawl, I chose the Cambridge design by Carol Sunday to knit in Cascade Heritage sock yarn. And what would a princess shawl be without a little sparkle, so I added beads for a bit of pizazz.

Well, I've babbled enough for now. Until next time! Which I promise will be much sooner than 14 months!