Holiday knitting 2014: Fun and games

I have not talked about knitting in a while. In August and September, I went on a major dishcloth-knitting binge.

This is my basket of knitted dishcloths. There are many more dishcloths in the basket now than there were when this photo was taken. With knitting for my family AND Dan's family, I'll need 64 by Christmas time. I usually put four dishcloths in a little gift bag with some soap. This year I'm considering little jars of pepper and onion relish from Harry & David along with the dishcloths and soap. I'm a little more than halfway done with the dishcloths, but took a break for a bit to work on...

Convertible mittens for my cousin who is in college where it is cold. This picture doesn't show the mitten flap part, but I'm knitting it right now. Cousin said he wants "something warm, and Mountain Dew." Consider it done, cousin.

Also finished:

A pair of socks for my dad, finally. He's wanted socks for a while. My mom has like six pairs of socks I've made. My brother has had two. My dad got one sock once, and then I never knit the other one. I used my default man sock pattern, Earl Grey by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, along with some yarn I purchased from one of my favorite indie dyers, Pandia's Jewels. The color is a Star Trek-inspired colorway called "Data." I recently joined Pandia's Jewels' Doctor Who Companion Sock Yarn Club because I can't get enough yarn in my life this year.

With the major life renovation that happened early in the year, I haven't been as disciplined as I could have been about avoiding frivolous purchases, going to the gym on a regular basis, eating well, keeping up with the chores and just having my shit together in general. I'm definitely a New Years resolution-maker, so there'll probably be more order in my life really soon. I drew up a yarn diet back in 2012, and I'll probably follow that to get some of my old projects off the needles and to knit some of the yarn I have. On top of the sock yarn club, I got some yarn from a shop at the beach when I went with Dan in September and I ordered even more yarn from Eat Sleep Knit (my favorite yarn shop, which I might get to see in person next summer, fingers crossed.)...

This yarn is for a dress for my smallest cousin. I've had my eye on the Teacup Pinafore literally the instant I saw it four years ago. She'll be in the size for a 6-year-old this year. I'm going to make it for NaKniSweMo. It's not a sweater. It probably doesn't have 50,000 stitches. I won't qualify for prizes anywhere. But I want to make a conscious effort to spend some time with my knitting every day, even if it's just a little bit. Knitting, running, reading, and all of the other hobbies I pursue are my way of unwinding and meditating and uniting me with my sanity again.