So a while back, I blogged about one of the baby sweaters I knit, for my friend Heaven’s son, Aidan. I knit it larger, mainly because I wasn’t sure when I would finish, or what size babies actually are. So, I was excited to go to pick Heaven and Aidan up and see that he was wearing it!

It’s a baby in the baby sweater! How novel!  He’s far too young to have any sort of opinion about it, but I like to think it’s teaching him an appreciation for knitwear.

Maia and I saw this fountain at Omega Salvage on Saturday.

We burst into giggles, and shared  a moment of WTF with some two other girls who were shopping…and two of us promptly proceeded to whip out our iPhones and take photos.

I’m not sure what to think about whoever originally designed this fountain…but I’m very intruigued about the personality of whoever buys it for their yard…

One of my projects this year is getting closer to leading an adorable life. I see so many people on blogs and they always have such great photos and adorable homes and outfits….and I sigh wistfully a lot. So instead of being all sad, why not try to change that?

So, I called up Maia, who not only is a queen of organization, but who has great flea market and thrift store mojo. Since I do not, this was very helpful. And it paid off!

The first thing I found was a couch! It’s very pink and fancy. There are a a few stains on the arms that I’m working on cleaning–if that doesn’t work, then I’ll knit a couple of doilies and put them on the arms. I think eventually, I’d like to have this re-covered but that’s way down the road.

It’s a great couch, and has the distinction of being the very first piece of furniture that I’ve bought that didn’t have to be put together with allen wrench.

Being as how it’s pink and fancy, Fred immediately claimed it for his own. Silly kitten.

I also picked up a white shelf. You can’t see it in this picture, but there are actually four shelves. I just couldn’t get it in the frame, with the shelf where it is now. Obviously, it needs to be repainted once I figure out where it’s permanent home is going to be.

Finally, I picked up a box of little glass vials. I have great crafty plans for these…and it’s so exciting! It was a great haul, and a great start to my home reorganization.

Another FO! This one is really old–but I realized I only had the ends to weave in, so I dug it up out of hibernation and finished it off. It seemed kind of silly to let it sit there for ages, when it was so close to done.

Pattern: Anthropologie inspired capelet
Yarn: Moda Dea Cache

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. It’s a great layering piece, and looks super adorable.

What is it about vacation that makes you feel like you need a vacation?

I had last week off work, and I spent most of it hanging around my house, sleeping, knitting, and visiting friends. (I also got a new timing belt for my car, but that’s not really something I’d class in the “fun” portion of vacation.) But, over the weekend I got to go to Yosemite! I’ve never been before, and it was super exciting.

A couple of my friends rented some condos at Bass Lake, and invited a bunch of us to go over. It was fanatastic–the best part was having so many of my friends close together and being able to just wander back and forth between the condos, cook meals together, have a cup of coffee with someone just because…it’s real community, and I so wish that it could be like that all the time.

I actually spent a good chunk of the time hanging out at Bass Lake; I got to wander some, see my friends,  and even coax a couple of them into helping me take some better pictures of new finished objects. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of mine yet since I went old school and took my good camera (SLR) which takes film. So I have to get that developed. Yeah, I know, crazy talk, right? But I also got to see Yosemite and it was gorgeous–totally awe-inspiring, to see all of that. And there was snow! I haven’t seen snow in three years! So. Awesome.

Unfortunately, I have to go back to work now and I’m completely exhausted. Oh well…time to break out the caffeine and force myself awake.

Okay, so no new finished objects for 2010 yet, but I still have some stragglers from 2009 that I haven’t shown you!

I took part in a Secret Santa style gift exchange with a group of friends this year–it was great fun, and of course I wanted to make something! Abby, my gift exchange partner, is studying botany so I immediately thought of this pattern. You can’t see from the photo (I forgot to take a close up shot as I was wrapping it last minute; it’s also a tad crooked in the frame because I didn’t want to secure it yet in case she preferred a different frame) but the herbs are sage, basil, and cloves. It was a super fun pattern to stitch, and I love the way it turned out.

So, I’ve been on vacation this week, and I started off with grand intentions. I was going to write a lot! And knit a lot! And it would be fantastic and good and you know what they say about the best laid plans, right?

Most of all, these past few days, I have slept. Seriously. I wake up, I take a nap. I get up, do a little bit, sleep some more. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve been sleeping too much and that has made me more sleepy, or if my body just really really needs me to catch up on rest. Either way, it’s not ideal, but I’m trying to accept it.

I have been knitting on this sock though. It’s very colorful, and I’m quite sure it belongs to someone in CAYA….I’m just not sure who, yet. It’s my third pair of Jaywalkers. I don’t know what it is about that pattern, but I do seem to like it quite a bit. (Despite not having kept any of those pairs for myself.) I’m sure at some point I’ll figure out the perfect recipient for these, and all will be well!

So, I mentioned previously that I had signed up to knit twelve sweaters in a year. This is part of the International Sweater Month Dodecathon 2010, which you can find on Ravelry if you’re a member. I signed up for this because…well, a tragic lapse in sanity is probably the best explanation, but also because I need to knit more swetaers.

I’m starting off with sweater #1, Princess Buttercup. You may recall, in the dim and dusty recesses of your brain, that I have already started this sweater once. Due to an unfortunate lapse in which I realized that yes, you really do need to alternade skeins when using kettle dyed yarn, it has been slumbering in hibernation for some time. So I ripped it all out and began again. I need to pull out my steamer and steam the previously used yarn–I tried the shower trick, but my bathroom is far too drafty to trap steam effectively–but I went ahead and started with an unused skein. My plan is to knit 1/2-3/4 of this skein, then start alternating with the next, so that there is a gradual color shift as  use up skeins.

Yeah, I know it’s 2010 already so I’m a little bit late with this, but it seems fitting to reflect back on my crafty accomplishments from 2009 as I move into 2010.

Knitting-wise, it was a pretty decent year. I finished 18 projects. (One not pictured here, as I forgot to take a picture before giving it away. But I promise it wound up being cute!) Two of these are WIP shots, I realize, but I haven’t had a chance to set up a session to take photos of the finished objects.

All told, I completed six adult sweaters, two baby sweaters (one not pictured), one ornament, one shawl, one cowl, one scarf, and five pairs of adult socks. Not bad!

I also managed to bake up quite a storm! Not everything is pictured, but I thought I’d take a look at all the yummy baked goods I embarked upon.

Mmm…cupcakes.

Now, onto 2010! With more knitting, more cupcakes, and more fun!