Do you knit a lot? I guess I do. Mr. HelloYarn and I are homebodies, and after dinner and dog-walking each night, while Mr. HelloYarn tinkers with or plays his banjos, I sit down to knit. Shambles the dog and I get cozy on the sofa, I tune in to something horrendous and fun like Miami Vice reruns, and knit in a pretty furious fashion until bedtime. That gives me an average of 3+ hours of knitting time per day, which resulted in the following projects completed this year:

This one’s my favorite for selfish reasons- it’s warm, it’s pretty, it fits, and it’s MINE.

January 2006

Skull Gansey, including skull cable pattern
Squirrel and Oak Mittens, including pattern
Generic Norwegian Hat Pattern
Pirate Mittens, including pattern
January was pattern month around here!

February 2006

I didn’t finish a thing, but worked my butt off on the Highland Norsk (see March)

March 2006

Highland Norsk WHEW!
Plain Brown Sweater
Baby Raglan

April 2006

Replica Sweater
Cotton Pinwheel Baby Blanket

May 2006

Short Row Socks
Squirrelly Swedish Mittens

June 2006

Feather and Fan Baby Bonnet
That’s a pitiful showing. Must have been furiously working on something secret.

July 2006

One Sad Mitten
Magnificent Mittens
Handspun Moccasin Socks

August 2006

Christening Bonnet
Top Down Bonnet with Anime Character, with pattern
Magnificent Mittens, now with cashmere lining!
Top Down Baby Bonnet
Striped Norwegian Hat 2
Striped Norwegian Hat 1

September 2006

Skull Gansey, now with proper sleeve length!
Lovely Noro Striped Scarf, complete with instructions

October 2006

Handspun Wave Yoke Sweater
Noro Tea Cozy

November 2006
Zilch. Nada.

December 2006

Two Meatheads
Fugl
Mark’s Icelandic Jacket
And this:

This project has been weighing on me for a month or so, and there it is just before being sent on its merry way this afternoon. I’ve got the whole weekend to perfect the pattern and then I can maybe even breathe a little.

Totals:

sweaters- 9
mittens-9
hats- 8
socks- 4

plus a tea cozy, a scarf, a blanket, and two other secret projects. I don’t even want to think about how much yarn I’ve spun and dyed. My whole sweater-a-month plan didn’t happen, but it’s been a great year, nonetheless. Did you get what you planned done?

Either way, Happy New Year and may your knitting be splendid in 2007!

Hey, look, my yarn’s in a book!

Way back when, I mentioned going to my friend Nikol’s “house” in Harveyville, Kansas for a knit-a-thon with a bunch of friends. Our purpose was to knit all the samples of Nikol’s patterns for the book Naughty Needles. The book’s filled with adorable, sometimes naughty (Nikol’s nothing if not sex-positive!) and very well-fitted garments and accessories. I am thrilled that she chose to use my handspun for some of them.

These sweet little owls double as condom keepers (Mom, I can hear you shuddering! Ha!) and are made from my handspun and hand-dyed yarns, as well as those from Sarah of Maisy Day Handspun.

The book’s filled with Nikol’s humor and great illustrations by Ron Miller, making the book a fun read, too.

Check out the Naughty Needles site for free patterns and other fun stuff. You can also visit Shojo Beat online for Nikol’s amazing Katamari earmuff patterns. I am completely clueless about what Katamari even is, but the earmuffs are so cute I could scream.

There’s been some kitchen craziness around here this week. Salted caramel truffles, toffee (with added salt and vanilla), and Martha’s Marshmallows have all been made. All are completely delicious, in case you are a last minute maniac, too. The toffee is the easiest and fastest, I think. I also made spiced hot chocolate mix that turned out very well. There have been many scientific tastings.

Aztec Hot Chocolate
makes one jar

*1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
*1 cup powdered milk
*1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
*1/2 cup granulated white sugar
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
*1 tablespoon ground chili powder- I used ancho, but you could go spicier (just don’t use as much!).
*about 3 oz. chopped dark bittersweet chocolate- I used Valrhona 71% cacao because it’s Christmas and I am a GIVER

Mix up everything but the chopped chocolate- get the lumps out! Stir in the chocolate and put it in a pretty quart jar.

Use 1/3 cup for every cup of boiling water. Makes 12 servings.

This isn’t spicy hot, it’s just very very tasty. You could definitely use something like cayenne and make it sting. Again, though, perhaps a tablespoon of cayenne would kill you is a bit much.

Happy holidays to everyone! You won’t be seeing much of me for the next week. Company’s coming!