A Bit O'Knitterly News and Followup

Well, the Winter break between semesters is almost over. {sigh}
I'm excited about the new semester (weaving and ceramics) but a bit daunted at the expectation of extended and focused creation of original artful projects.

I'm also a'wishing that I'd accomplished more on my between-semester to-do list. Ok, I did accomplish quite a bit…but not as much as I'd hoped {I haven't even seen the 2nd Hobbit movie yet!!}.
{Tsk - sometimes there's just no pleasing me.}

I did accomplish a fair bit o'knitting:
I knit several fistfuls of fingerless mitts for family and friends. {grin-I was knitting them and giving them away too quickly to take many pictures!}
The Peekaboo Mitts pattern is a quick knit and fits most everyone nicely!

Pretty much anyone who didn't get a pair of fingerless mitts last year got them this year.
I also knit a few of these cabled mitts knit to gift away: Mitt Envy is the pattern.

 

I still have one 2013 Christmas gift on the needles - a 2nd Knotty but Nice hat like this one:

My lecture/between-class knitting for part of last semester were hats for the Podcaster Throwdown - Halos of Hope knit-a-long. In a very good-natured competition, several podcasters asked their listeners to knit hats for Chemo patients. Last week I washed and shipped the 3 hats I'd knit to Purlescence Yarns for delivery to the Halos of Hope folks (for the Team Knitmore Girls and Team CraftLit Podcasts).

The pre-wash photo. 

After I finished and delivered the majority of the 2013 Gift-knitting, I giddily enjoyed finishing off the "Hitchhiker"scarf. I was initially drawn to it for my perception of the curved/pointed "dragon-tail" end of the scarf. I became more tickled with the pattern when I found the points on the scarf represent "the answer to the question about the universe and everything" from Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"!! (The picture on the left is a more accurate color representation.)

 

Follow-up topics: 
The Origami Pullover. Last year I started knitting upon the Origami Pullover. I mentioned this pullover in the blog a few times, even posting a semi-rant when I realized my stitch gauge swatch had misled me {it lied} and I had to re-start the silly thing over again. I finished the smaller of the two rectangles and had happily started the larger rectangle when reality set in regarding how much there was yet to knit and how few balls of yarn were left. {sigh}

The moral of my Origami Pullover project is - don't just ask the sales clerk (who is holding the pattern you've yet to read) how many balls of yarn you need - check the pattern and do the math yourself.
The knitting has been frogged and the yarn and pattern await new pairings.

The 30-day Sweater Challenge/Tofu Tee.
{Ha - 30-days! grin} Um, well, the Tofu Tee is still under construction. In a lame stretch of the 30-day perspective: I didn't say the 30-day challenge would be consecutive days. {wry grin}

When the blog last heard-tell of this project, I had swatched, cast-on, knit for a bit and then I'd ripped it  out to change the yarn color progression.
After that blog-post, I made some headway but then ripped back again to avoid having to partially repeat the color sections when I got to the right shoulder. I got past the mid-way point on this Tee before it was abandoned for rampant Holiday Gift-knitting.
I'm looking forward to finishing it off…within 30-days. ;-)

Lastly - as previously reported, the Preemie Hat pledge from my Year 5 Blogiversary Post was fulfilled (and then some).

Preemie Hats about to be soaked. 

I found that the Old Pueblo Knitter's Guild (the local chapter of TKGA) collects preemie hats for delivery to local hospitals.
I attended the January OPK guild meeting and I got to hear an excellent presentation by Yumiko Alexander of DanDoh Designs.  I {and pretty much everyone at the meeting} became smitten with her clever, fun, and beautiful designs. "Fluid" was an apt description from the fellow knitter I sat next to for the meeting. One of my favorites of her patterns was Wavy Leaves. Oh, and Forest Weave is unusual and lovely. Then there's this vest pattern she's still designing. {happy sigh} I suspect Ms. Alexander's presentation will inspire an interest in projects that contain both knitting and crochet.

I also dropped off the preemie hats knit by myself and DrLeonesse.

I think there were 14 tiny hats in this bag.

Hmmm - I guess I do accomplish more than I realize. ;-)