After Christmas, I decided that I needed to keep up the momentum and continue to knit like there’s no tomorrow.  I can honestly say, I think I’ve knit even more than I did during the Christmas panic.  However, I have found that every time I look at my stash, I want each skein matched to a project… like, yesterday.  Now that my stash is no longer hidden in a cabinet, I have become slightly psychotic about it.  I keep bagging up yarn with printed patterns or index cards with notes about how to use each skein, but this doesn’t seem to be enough to put my racing mind at ease.  There seems to be so much I want to accomplish immediately.

Open bookcase=stash always staring me in the face.

On top of that, I find it harder and harder to justify buying more yarn when I have so much just sitting around, being pretty.  Now, I know that compared to many crafters, my stash is not so out of control, but I told myself that I would not buy any yarn for at least the first six months of 2012.  Unfortunately, I fell off the wagon this past week (more to come on that in another post).  So in order to feel better about my very short-lived fiber diet, I’ve decided to do something extreme.  I plan to cast on at least one project every week.

These projects will likely not be quite so epic as the Thin Ice I’m working on for the Knitabulls Podcast knit-along, especially since I only have one skein each for most of the yarn in my stash.  However, if I have all of these skeins truly locked into a pattern, surely I’ll feel better… and I may even have all of this year’s Christmas presents ready by March, or at least cast on…  Now that’s real productivity! 😉

After months preparing for Christmas and years of knitting for others, I am dedicating the entire month to myself.  This does not mean knitting items that will not be gifted in the future or go to M, but instead, knitting whatever strikes me at that moment.  So far, I have cast-on three new projects since Christmas and I have many more in mind.

First, and so far, most importantly, is the Thin Ice shawl by Laura Linneman of TheKnitGirllls Podcast.  I was eyeing this shawl when Laura was working on it on their video podcast and have wanted to knit it ever since.  So when Diane of the Knitabulls Podcast clearly read my mind and made it her January Knit-Along, I had to cast on immediately.  Though the pattern calls for a fingering weight yarn, I opted for a beautiful grey semi-solid lace-weight 100% merino wool that was in my stash. Viola’s Merino Lace in Raven is working up wonderfully in this pattern, giving just enough variation to show off but not compete with the pattern.  I have also learned to finally use lifelines in this project, note the bright green, blue and pink yarn going across the work.  I want my January knitting to be fun and intriguing, but laid back, knowing that any mistake can be easily fixed without hours of headache.

Next, I cast on a vest that has been in my Ravelry queue for as long as I’ve had a queue.  The Talia Vest by SweaterBabe is working up to be interesting, but a simple knit as everything except the bottom and front border is in stockinette.  However, this also means that if I have any real time to sit down and knit, this is not my go to project, so not a lot of progress has been made thus far.

After knitting a crib-size blanket for M last year, I have a few small skeins of a couple different colors of KnitPicks Shine Worsted, very soft, machine washable, Pima Cotton blend.  I decided that I would use these remnants to knit a small blanket using the same method as the larger blanket of knitting an original square and picking up stitches to make subsequent blocks around and around, but with few colors and knit until I run out of yarn.  This is my go-to M knitting.  That is to say, it is garter stitch, so I can put it down mid-row and pick it back up at any moment.  M can walk up and swat it to the floor and run all over it, and I won’t be bothered.  Not to mention, she knows it’s for her and her new baby doll that her aunt gave her for Christmas, so she has a bit of a vested interest in it’s completion.

Beyond these three projects, I have many a child, newborn, and soon-to-be-newborn to knit for. Typically, one might see this as a burden and not very selfish knitting.  But none of these projects have deadlines, as none of the parents are aware of my intensions and the babies aren’t due any time soon.  I am just excited to knit small, quick projects that will give me a sense of productivity and will cut through some of my stash!  The best part, if I get bored with ANY of these projects, no one will stand in my way of putting them down and casting on something new.  I love being selfish.

Since I was a young child, I have never been able to sit still, and now that I am a mother, I am constantly reminded that M is just like I was, running EVERYWHERE.  So when I entered high school, my mother decided to teach me how to crochet, potentially to give me something productive to do to relax while not worrying about sitting still for any length of time.  Unfortunately, I made the most hideous scarf ever known to man and my mother only knew the very basics and couldn’t help me improve.  I was quickly over it…. but something connected.

My sophomore year of high school I decided that a hook might not be my style and opted to pick up my great-grandmother’s beautiful wooden knitting needles instead. I had no family members to help, so I quickly turned to the internet as my guide. I sat at the computer for hours, many in pure frustration, trying to follow pictures and diagrams of how to make a slip knot, cast on, hold the needles and finally make a knit stitch. But when I got it, it stuck.  I knit many a garter stitch scarf for months.  Until I came across something that awed and baffled me, the purl stitch.  An important side note : I’m a thrower, but to this day, I cannot throw a purl stitch.

I struggled to maneuver the yarn to the front of the work and to my other hand.  I do not hold my yarn with tension, so I drop the yarn between each stitch using my left hand.  But, let me tell you, my stockinette scarves were out of this world!  I was completely set for life.  I would just make scarf after scarf, AND GIFT THEM TO EVERYONE.  In college, I threw in a rib here or there, some seed stitch and other fun stitch patterns I found in an needlework book.  I treasured every scarf I made and gifted them with such enthusiasm, thinking all the while, “Wow, my friends must LOVE these.  They are complete works of art made with care!”

After everyone I knew had at least one, or two… or really three of these magnificent works of art, I grew tired and stopped. I was a full time student working almost a full time job. That is, until my last semester when I took on a second job, training with the company that was hiring me full-time after graduation.  I was over-worked and had no time to enjoy my craft… and started to look back 0n how few of my scarves I ever saw again.

Luckily, the joys of pregnancy hit me hard.  As soon as I found out, and my stomach settled, I dug out my needles and started knitting M a sweater… sized for a three year old, just in case.  Though I finished knitting it in about a month, I was far too excited about learning new techniques and left the piecing of the sweater for her second birthday…

I have now been knitting for almost ten years and have resolved to learn at least one new, major, technique a year to make up for the years of boring scarves.  Last year was lace, which I adore.  This year – colorwork.  Now, if only I knew how to hold back and find a simple pattern to learn on, instead of a complicated Fair Isle JACKET for M.

Wish me luck!