Knitting resolutions

I don't usually make New Year's Resolutions, as they seem to be destined to be broken, but I am going to commit to this one...

I Resolve to Knit More in 2008.

Yup, it'll be hard, but I'm committed to completing as many projects as humanly possible this coming year. I have made a list of all the people for whom I'd like to make knitted gifts. Some will be for birthdays, some for winter solstice, and some will be taken with me when I fly over to visit my family in the Spring. In among all these gifts, I will hopefully also have time to make things for myself. So the needles will be flying this year. And talking of needles, I used some of my Christmas money from my mum to invest in a Boye Needlemaster set - it has aluminum needle tips sized from US#2 to 15, cables, etc. I already have a Denise set of interchangeable needles which are made from resin. Michaels had a 50% off coupon - I wouldn't have bought the Boye set without it as the regular price is $100.

The above picture is of the Fidget I just completed. What is a Fidget, I hear you ask? It's a neckwarmer, basically a scarf that's about 23 by 5 inches that wraps around the neck and buttons at the front. Mine doesn't have buttons yet. You will find the free pattern here.

Michaels are having a sale this week - all yarn is 30% off. I went and splurged on enough yarn to see me through the first part of 2008. I can't say what all this yarn is for, as it is for a number of gifts and those people might be reading this blog! However I can tell you that the creamy coloured Bernat Soy in the centre of the photo below is destined for a Seamen's scarf of my own design for my father-in-law. (He doesn't have a computer and the chance of him reading this is zero!)


I haven't knitted with the Soy before. It's a blend of soy and acrylic and feels very soft, so I'm looking forward to getting started with it.

However there's just one more thing I'd like to get done before casting on for that scarf. I have some brown Red Heart Soft Touch lurking next to my knitting machine that I want to use for a shrug. I reckon I could knit it in one evening - maybe even THIS evening - and then add a little garter stitch around the edges by hand to finish it off.