January is for Finishing

So far this January, I've finished socks, sweaters, mittens... I'm getting a false sense of productivity here! I have to keep reminding myself that I'm merely finishing up projects that have been on my needles for a long time... as in the sweater below, since June. I am not some superhuman knitting machine who keeps spitting out sweaters in a couple of days, nice as that would be.

And don't you, dear reader or two, get used to seeing so many FO's! After this one, and another pair of socks that I'm hoping to finish in the next few days, it might be a while. In fact, I have very few projects on the needles right now, and I need to rectify that quickly.

So here's the next finished object of 2011 -- the long-awaited Paper Crane:



Modeled in the 20 degree temperatures by a woman with a bad cold.

Specs: Pattern: Paper Crane. Yarn: Wollmeise Lace-Garn, Merlot colorway. Needles, a teeny tiny size 2.75 mm.

The pattern is fantastic, really well written and easy to follow. The yarn, of course, is fabulous. Despite all my whining about knitting so many stitches on such small needles, it really was a pleasure to knit. The fabric that the lace makes on that size needle is drapey and silky without being too loosey goosey. There are a number of patterns out there that call for knitting laceweight yarn on big needles, similar to the size you'd use if you were knitting a shawl and wanted a lot of stretch and openness, in order to provide extra drape, but I find that 1) I don't like my sweater fabrics so loose, and 2) this fabric is plenty drapey.

I'm planning to make a pullover version of this. It should be really easy to modify the pattern to do that, too. I'll have to make it a little bigger, because this version has negative ease, but I think it will look fabulous. So all I need to do now is pick a skein of lace to use and get going.

Look for it to be done in another 7 months or so. (Of course, I knit three other sweaters, a large number of socks, some lace, some mittens, and some handspun projects while I knit this, so it's not like I'm a total slacker.)

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Tomorrow is Jr. Jr.'s 10th birthday! It's so hard to believe that my little guy is that old. That dessert by the way, is his coveted chocolate waffle from Silverado. He wants an iPod for his birthday. It's hard to fathom that in 8 years or so, I'll have an empty house.

In Sr. Jr. news, we handed in our application for transfer to the I-B program at the other high school. I continue to really feel the difference between the two schools. I know he'll be fine no matter where he goes, because both schools are excellent. I'm anxious to find out whether he gets in or not!