Welcome 2014!!!

It is so hard to believe that it is already 2014!!

Here is the Greatest Happy New Year Party Picture (Yes, I am biased!)

Now....I told you last week that I was making goals....and I felt like I was taking names and kicking butt!  Then.....I had the annual SNB Christmas Party....it was a blast!  The girls were talking about this new shawl they were starting the 1st of January....and how could I help myself? I mean, it is not really my fault...it is their fault.....so now I have another new project on the needles.  Here are some pictures of some of 'the girls' (not all) from the Christmas Party...the last picture is my best friend Darlene (in the green shirt) and next to her (with precious on her lap) is Barbara.....two of the gals I knit at lunch with.B

The shawl is called Hypernova....it is gorgeous. I read that it is great for a varigated yarn....and what do I happen to have in my stash?  Why a beautiful skein of Miss Babs Katahdin in Biker Chick colorway that I wound right up to start on the 1st.  We went ahead and made this the KAL for the first Qtr of 2014.

This colorway that I chose for the Hypernova shawl looks so awesome knitted up that I had someone contact me on ravelry saying:

"Love it....Send me your yarn immediately!   (grin)."

It was a super nice note and it made my day!

I am ahead of schedule with my gram count on my Suzi Shawl (I am already into tomorrows gram count):

And what happened to Paige's cardigan?  Well, I will tell you...

1st, I seamed the first sleeve in the wrong way with the wrong side of the cardigan matched up to the right side of the sleeve.

2nd, when trying to un-seam this sleeve, I cut part of the knitting...I hate myself!

3rd, I attached the sleeve the correct way and it is WAY TOO SMALL, and also looks a bit weird (Yes, I made a swatch...I apparently just suck at it).

4th....I ripped back the sleeves tot he 2nd increase and now have to decide how I am going to proceed so they fit (and also how I am going to hide the small area where I cut my knitting and did the best I could at putting it all back in place).

Yup....lots of drama in my knitting world with this cardigan for Paige...but I will finish it come he!! or high water!

At the SNB Christmas party, I got a gift from a great friend who recently moved to Virginia (I miss her so much)....I thought it was too cute not to share....Thank you Sara!

And another picture too cute not to share is Antonio making his own lego building (he is pretty proud of himself)....

And lastly.....I leave you with what apparently is the way my New Years Resolution is going so far....I said I was going to do better and not starting too many things and finishing what I started....apparently that was out the window before 2014 got here.....I stole this from a friend on the LSSK group.  I just thought is said "Carrie" all over it!

Happy Happy Knitting!!  Welcome 2014!

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone.  Did you all have a fabulous Christmas?  Was Santa good to you?  Santa was very good to me!  I got a beautiful necklace from Jaime and a gorgeous Mikasa wine set from Paige.  I got a few other things for the house.

 The best part of Christmas for me is spending it with my family.  I have a picture with Paige (that is super rare), Antonio, Celeste, Grace (my niece) and Sean (my nephew):  I also have a picture of Yvette (Celeste's mom) with Celeste and Cataleya.

Santa was super nice to Celeste and Antonio.  Celeste left my parents house with a SACK of toys....and had so much fun opening presents, he did not know what to do with himself.  Here he is in his toy train set on Christmas eve at my parent's house, and then on Christmas morning with his Cowboy hat and Gun (he just needed some boots to be complete).

One of his favorite gifts was a Thomas the Tank Train Roller Coaster ensemble.  I am going to attach a 6 second video, but in case you cannot see it, I put a chronological ordered photo shoot after the video that I think will give you the idea of how it works and how big that smile is when he is done.

Now, as for knitting (since this kind of is a knitting blog)......I finished my socks in the nick of time (12:09 am Christmas Morning) for the Hiya Hiya Sock KAL.  Paige snagged them and loves them.  I also finished Bizzles pom pom blanket and was able to put hers and Paige's under the tree to them...they both loved them!

I also went on ravelry and made some 2014 goals for myself.  This is the first year I have set goals like this so I hope I am able to get at least 1/2 done. I also want to be on a semi yarn diet. The yarn clubs should be good enough for my stash enhancement. We will see about camp loopy!

• Keep up with Yarn Clubs. I joined 2 yarn clubs this year. Strickmich Yarn Club and Miss Babs Knitting Tour. I know that I may not ‘fall in love’ with each and every pattern or yarn sent to me, but I want to try to keep up with the yarn clubs as best as I can.
• Finish the following:

Suzi Shawl 
Leaves of Grass 
Lazy Girl Again 
Vitamin D 
Knit Swirl (or at least knit a substantial amount of it).

• Finish some ‘old’ wips:

Pink Orchard 
Purple Cardigan 
Sweet Pea Blanket 
Paige Bath Mat 
Paige Dot Socks

• Selfish knitting. I want to make at least one more nuvem before next winter.
• I also want to knit a color affection….I have wanted to knit one since the pattern was released, but again….work keeps getting in the way. Maybe for the camp loopy highest yardage project (because we all know I will be doing camp loopy….I may just need to do it with stash this year…we will see).
• Make a Brickless with Biker Chick Yarn from Miss Babs.
• Keep up with some more sock KALs. I am now a moderator of the Hiya Hiya Free & Fun KAL group and I would like to be a more active participant but I cannot knit socks that fast and all the other moderators seem to be able to knit socks in 4-6 days...but I will try to be more active!

Oh yeah….and just as a challenge, I hope by completing some of the above goals, that I meet one more goal…..to knit more miles in 2014 than I did in 2013 (8.13 so far, but need to add the sweater for Paige to that).  

In my last post I said that on the 26th we (me and the gals I knit with) were going to cast on the Suzi Shawl....and we did.  Here it is so far.  I have a gram count so I can have it finished by the end of January (with me luck).

Lastly, I want to take a good look at any other WIPS I may have and if I am never going to finish it, then I just need to frog it....or rippit!

My annual SNB Christmas party is tomorrow and I hope it is a success........That is all for now.  You guys have a great week and a Happy Happy Happy New Year....and as always, Happy Happy knitting!!!