Supercute toddler hat and the end of my christmas knitting (almost)

So my husband and I finished a third had for another cousin of mine. It's the Tri-corner Baby Hat by Patricia McGregor. The hat has 120 stitches around, and at the end, sets of 40 stitches are divided and folded and bound off with a three needle bind-off. Then, you make little tassels and attach them to the corners and they flop around like little pigtails.

I showed my mom my creation, and she said it reminded her of Abby Caddabby some sort of fairy character on Sesame Street.

The hat is knit from a pink, dark purple and brown self-striping yarn, sort of the same colors as Abby Caddabby's pigtails.

My family's Christmas gathering starts in about 13 hours and I still have one beer cozy to finish, a whole beer cozy to make, and all of my Christmas presents to wrap. I'm not too stressed about it because I'll just head home after work and finish it up before I go to bed. No biggie!

Edit: So I was reading back through some of my blog posts and I realized I only post about six or seven times a month. I feel like I post so much more often than that, but it looks like I only have time for a little more than a post a week. It's not like anyone reads this blog anyway, which is fine. I just like tracking my knitting progress on here for my own benefit, and won't make a concerted effort to post more often.

Things I'd rather be knitting

So I'm done with my dishcloths.

I'm working on a weird, striped hat for my youngest cousin. Scratch that, my husband is working on it for me while I finish these beer cozies for my aunt and uncle:

There will be six of them. I finished the fourth one today and cast on for the fifth one. It shouldn't be too hard to finish them by Sunday.

Unfortunately there are a ton of things I'd rather be knitting. Some of them are stretching it. If I weren't locked into knitting Christmas gifts at this point, I probably wouldn't knit them at all.

1.) I told my friend Kevin I'd knit a pretentious looking scarf for him. You know, the triangle ones that people wrap around their neck like a bandana and drape over their chest. I've been looking at some Steven West patterns because they're the types of scarves you see people wear to Starbucks and when they go to the mall. I have tons of sock yarn, and while probably none of it goes together, I'm sure I could find a cool color combination that Kevin would like.

2.) Another pair of socks for the Sockdown challenges on Ravelry, via the Sock Knitters Anonymous group. I actually completed the September Sockdown challenge this year, and I'm looking forward to knitting down my massive stash of sock yarn, primarily using these challenges. Plus, it gives me a chance to win more yarn. And yarn that is won or traded doesn't count under yarn diet rules.

3.) Another pair of socks for my husband. A lot of the sock yarn I've purchased would make lovely socks for him. I think I bought masculine colors on purpose.

4.) My mitten kit. I got a mitten kit from Knit Picks with some beautiful stranded mitten patterns. I got it thinking I'd knit mittens for everyone for Christmas. My husband talked some sense into me and encouraged me to work on the mittens for next year.

5.) Oddly, more dishcloths. Only not ones made out of complete balls of yarn. Instead, I want to make them out of the gross ball of yarn ends. For my mom.

6.) Fingerless gloves for all of my coworkers. It's cold in the office! I think all of my coworkers would be knitworthy. Unless some of them are allergic to wool. And I know one is vegan, so I'd have to use ethically produced plant fibers.

7.) Socks for my boss. Because he said he likes socks.

8.) My badass circular lace shawl with the beaded edging. I'm dying to finish it, and I'm soooo close! I'm about 1/3 of the way through the beaded edging. I stopped knitting it around the end of the summer when I started my Christmas knitting, and I'm dying to pick it up again.

9.) ANY unfinished project. That sweater I started for my mom. That afghan I started just for fun. The coat for my husband. Anything but beer cozies!

10.) Anything from my Ravelry queue. My queue is about 300 projects long. It's mostly socks, but there are a couple shawls and sweaters in there too. Most of it would not violate the yarn diet if I picked it up right now.

I'm desperate to knit anything but what I'm knitting now. Thank goodness my holiday knitting will be done by Sunday and I have some vacation time for the two weeks after that. I will knit to my heart's content, and maybe have that beaded lace shawl done by the end of the year. (fingers crossed)

Pieces of a wallet and the 21st dishcloth

Today I went to Panera and finished Dishcloth No. 21. I literally had a couple feet of yarn left from that skein.

Shortly after I finished my 21st dishcloth, my mother told me the Christmas gathering for my extended family is on the 18th. I'm going to have to knit my butt off if I'm going to finish 7 dishcloths, 6 beer cozies, and a toddler hat for Christmas. I might axe the beer cozies and save that idea for next year. I DO have the yarn, so I wouldn't be violating the Yarn Diet Terms and Agreements.

These are the pieces of Mike's wallet so far. I have another small pocket (the one on the left) and a medium pocket to make. The yarn is super cool. It really looks (and feels) like suede fabric. I'm excited for it, but I'll probably have to put it down in order to finish knitting for the fam.

Tomorrow I work at some godawful early hour (for me) at the retail establishment. I think 9 a.m. is early now. My shift starts at 7 a.m., which means I'll probably have to wake up at 5:30 to be ready and drive there on time, getting a grand total of 3.5 hours of sleep. After work I WANT to go to the yarn store to get needles for the last hat I have to knit, but I know I'm going to be tired. We'll see how things work out tomorrow, I guess.

The 20th dishcloth

This is the latest dishcloth I've finished. It's dishcloth #20. I only have eight more dishcloths to go until I reach my goal of seven sets of four dishcloths. And the updated pile?

This is a pile of 18 dishcloths. I have another purplish one that I finished in addition to the puky green and pee-yellow one I just finished (I have a lot of love for knitting the same pattern over and over /sarcasm). I have a lot of variegated yarn that I'm rotating through so I don't get sick of the color.

And in the midst of the piles and piles of dishcloths:

I haven't knit very many hats in my life, but this one was a lot of fun. It's for my cousin. I knit it out of Malabrigo Chunky in Emerald Blue. The pattern is Thorpe by Kirsten Kapur. It fits my head quite comfortably, but it might be a little big on my cousin. She can just grow into it. I love how fast it was to knit and it was fun to make the little braided tassels on the earflaps. I even got to whip out my crochet hook and teach myself how to do a half double crochet or some nonsense on the edge. I think my friend Kevin might like one, but I've officially begun my yarn diet and can't buy any more yarn until January 2013.

I also finished the biggest part of the wallet I'm knitting for my husband out of the discontinued (in most places) and elusive Berroco Suede. I just have three pockets and some sewing to do and it's finished!

SSSSHHHH! It's a secret.

If you are my husband, don't read this.

A couple days ago, I started knitting a new wallet for my husband using some of the Berroco Suede I got from Yarn Basket in Chambersburg. I'm planning to give it to him as a Christmas present, since it might not be done by his birthday. I have three more skeins of Berroco Suede to use after that. My friend Kevin might get a wallet and Mike might get two more wallets. I love the pattern and the yarn is really unique. And I'm officially on my yarn diet.

Anyway, my husband is one of THOSE people. His birthday is a week before Christmas, so I have to get ALL of his birthday presents and ALL of his Christmas presents at once. I'm a cool wife, though, and don't make him wait until Christmas to get all of his presents. Instead, I'll get him random presents throughout the year. Maybe he likes that better. I'd hate to have my birthday so close to Christmas.