FO: Stripe Study

It only took four months. In all fairness, it sat in the closet for at least two of those months. Back in December, I shared about my participation in a little impromptu knit-along with some fun peeps. I may be the last to cross the finish line, but I finished!

Using nearly eight hundred yards of sock yarn, this shawl is hearty.

You can see an Olias silhouette in the window.

I love the asymmetrical shape, and I LOVED knitting it. LOVED.
The stripes and short rows made the majority of this shawl go very quickly.
As you can see, I got ten stripes. I didn't think I had enough of the Hazel Knits Artisan Sock (in Beach Glass) for an eleventh stripe, so I have a small amount of that left over.

The brown yarn (I love the semi-solid shade!) is Sundara Sock yarn in Ancient Place. It was part of a holiday gift bag I purchased at Christmas 2010. I bound off with a size US 8 needle, to make sure the bind-off was nice and loose.

Raveled here

P.S. Did you see Rachel's version?

WIPs to finish

Like most of you crafters, I want to make all of the things! I tweeted the other day that I feel directionally challenged when it comes to crafting.
I feel pulled to several projects and crafts. To find some direction, I first want to document my list of outstanding WIPs.

There are a few I'm not listing, but these are the items I most desire to finish.

Knitting

First up, the embarrassing 3.5-year-old Central Park Hoodie. I'm so painfully close to finishing. All it needs is for me to finish picking up the second side of stitches and knit that button band. Then, seaming.

Second, the Gray Skies Cardigan. This one is another nearly-finished sweater. I think I have one partial sleeve to finish and seaming.
COME ON.

I've also got two single socks that need buddies.

I'm also close to finishing my Stripe Study shawl.

Quilting

I have four quilts-in-progress at the moment.

There's Single Girl, which I haven't touched since April.

There's Bottled Rainbows. I've completed four of the sixteen blocks, and this is a long-term project. I like to do a block every now and then, but it would be rad to finish this before the end of the year. The bright side is that it's quilt as you go, so, once the top is complete, the rest should go really quickly.

There's Rain or Shine, which is probably the closest to being finished. I only have six more blocks to make for the top. I've actually been working on this one for the past few days. I'll have an updated progress photo to share soon.

And of course, there is Swoon.

I've made six out of nine blocks, which you can see in my Swoon flickr set. Lucky for me (and you!), Katy has assembled a group of (300+) quilters for a Swoon-along! Feel free to join in on the fun and make your own Swoon!

In the next few days, I'm going to share my additional goals for 2012. But you can surely expect to see progress on these nine projects in the upcoming months!

Hello, 2012

Well, hello! I hope 2012 is treating you well so far. I have a lot of things to share with you. First up, I met a blog friend last week.

Rue was in Texas last week, so I made the drive up to New Braunfels to meet her in person! We agreed that after talking online for so long, it was a little weird to be sitting across from one another. She's so sweet, and her little Tadpole is even cuter in person. And look at that completed Stripe Study she's wearing! Mine still isn't finished, but I am working on the border, so it shouldn't be too much longer!

I'm so glad I got the chance to meet her!

I've been working on a baby gift. My first best friend ever is having a baby this month. Her shower is this weekend, so I finally started on her present last week.

I'm making her a Fenced In quilt from Elizabeth Hartman's book. And of course, I am using the adorable Outfoxed prints by Lizzy House. Love!

I finished the quilting this weekend, and the binding has been pinned. I should be able to finish in time!

I'm also moving ahead with some wedding plans! I found a venue this weekend, which is really setting things into place! I'll share more on that soon.

Have a great week, everyone!