Pretty Good Year

I was just looking through my projects on Ravelry and I was pleasantly surprised to see that as soon as I've finished grafting my jetties & quays cowl I will have 25 FO's for this year.  Not too shabby me thinks. ☺
Sometimes the mojo strikes you to just get some things done.  I seem to have that kind of energy this week.  I've been organizing my office. Well, actually, I've transferred some yarn bins to my bedroom to be put away in my closet which I still have yet to do.  The office doesn't feel so overflowing anymore though and that makes me happy. Well, at least my side of our office doesn't feel that way.  DH's side, well, that's another story, although he is outside working on some drawers for a cabinet he built that goes under his work table.  Will just have to keep my face toward my own desk.☺
I've never done a project before that required Grafting/Kitchener Stitch.  The jetties & quays cowl is my first attempt.  I watched this video to see how to do the technique. The pattern also has written instructions.  It is pretty simple, but it's definitely something to do without distractions.  Of course I ooops'd this project.  Didn't realize until I was watching the video that I shouldn't have cut the yarn.  So I had to rejoin the yarn.  
The yarn I finished with is the same yarn I started with: Miss Babs Yowza - Whatta Skein in Oyster Monochrome colorway. I love the yarn. The yarn is gorgeous, sqooshy soft, superwash Merino wool.  Usually when I need to join yarn in a project that is 100% wool I wet felt it together. But I wasn't sure you could do that with yarn that has been treated to make it superwash yarn.  I decided to just learn to do Russian Join.  I watched another video for this technique and got it with no problem. The jetties & quays cowl is knitted in a tube so grafting the ends together also means managing 2 sets of circular needles and grafting around the circle.

jetties & quays

I'm hoping to have it finished today if I don't run out of time doing other things.☺
In the spirit of getting organized I'm going to try to make a To Do List on my Queue page on Ravelry for 2012 knitting.  It's nice to think ahead to what you want to knit for the next year.  With a new baby coming next Summer there will be lots of baby knitting.   I've queued: Baby Bear Newborn Hat; some Monster Booties which I think are sooooo cute....leetle claws and furry feet....might do these in the same yarn as the hat; Knitted Sock Monkey Hat because babies just needs some monkey things☺; The Baby Surprise Jacket/BSJ which will have a KAL on Lynne Ashton's Friends of the 28-row Scarf group on Ravelry in March; EZ's Knitted Garter Stitch Blanket which has a really great looking mitered corner pattern; Sock Giraffe ,and Wool Leaves by Jared Flood.  
I really like knitting baby blankets. I started a baby blanket based on the Grandmother's Favorite dishcloth pattern we did earlier in the year with my local knitter's group. This pattern is started at one corner, increased to the size you want it to be, then decreased to the other corner.  I chose some cotton yarns I've had in my stash since the baby will be born in Summer.

I haven't named the blanket yet, but I love the little turtles on the baby book my DD sent to DS and DDIL when they found out they are having a baby, so I plan on making some felt turtles to sew onto the blanket when I've finished knitting it.
We had a Gift Pattern Exchange in our group for the Christmas holiday that was really fun. I was gifted the B4Bag from my queue.  I actually had to set up a queue as I hadn't done that in the past. I queued up 7 patterns just to give whomever got my name from the exchange a choice.  In the end people decided to be really generous this Christmas and I got 6 patterns all together as gifts; 5 of them from my queue.  
In addition to B4Bag I got Wool Leaves by Jared Flood which I've already mentioned; Tiles Fingerless Gloves and Headband from LQM☺; Weave It shawl which I love the texture of; Koolhaas which I've liked for a very long time just never actually put it in my list to knit yet; and from a new Raveler, who chooses to remain a mystery, I got Roar, a Dinosaur Hat which will also go into my baby knitting queue.☺ I was really floored at the generosity of everyone.  It's something I love about Ravelers. They are generally cheerful, gracious, generous, humorous, supportive, encouraging friends.  I haven't found that anywhere else on the internet.☺
I knitted some things this year that I've not knitted before and learned some techniques that I'd not done as well.  I knitted a Jane Thornley Vest with lots of random yarns:

It was a fun project and I've worn it a lot this Fall.  I would knit one again, but next time I'd knit it longer.
I learned how to bead and knitted with lace weight yarn for the first time when I made my Bahama Dreams snood:

 This project was actually way easier than the end result looks like it would be.  
My 2012 List includes:
Spectra 
Clockwork
Wool Leaves 
Tiles Fingerless Mitts and Headband
EZ's Knitted Garter Stitch Blanket
The BSJ
Baby Bear Newborn Hat
Sock Monkey Hat
Monster Booties
Sock Giraffe
Io Flip-top Mitts
Roar, a Dinosaur Hat

Cocoon which I've wound my yarn and swatched for and which will be cast-on on the 1st
and
Color Your Own Cardigan which will be my other big project for the year.
I've also chosen yarns from my stash to knit Tiles Fingerless Mitts:

Just a few more things to do and finish before the end of the year. We're going to take down the Christmas tree tomorrow. I always miss the lights from the tree after Christmas.  And I'm going to try to clean out my closet and put the yarn bins I dragged into my bedroom away.  Plus I want to finish stitching the Felt Baby Shoes I started.  I'm not that far from finishing them. Everything considered I'm pleased with my knitting this year. 
I hope you had a good year too, in spite of the things in the world that are always happening.  

Here's wishing you a Joyful New Year.

Sally