Hats R Us

(what I wouldn't give to be able to make that R up there ^ appear backwards!)

I suppose it's a good thing I haven't yet documented any lofty Knitterly Resolutions For 2007, nor have I created a knitter's almanac for myself for this year. I've had plenty of ideas swimmin' around my pumpkin-sized noggin, but haven't felt compelled to document anything firmly In Writing, as of yet -- I guess I was seeing where the year would take me before committing to anything.

But, in the past week, even though I just completed two hats, I continue to add more and more hats to my mental checklist of Things I Must Knit In The Near Future, so I thought I'd better write myself a list, to keep track of them here.

However, there is some danger in list-making, at least where I am concerned. Once a list has been made, the items on it start looking less like joyful gift-knitting to delight the process knitter, and more like duty-bound obligations which take the fun out of my knitting process. Which is why I promptly forgot about the Christmas list I made for myself last year, and ended up only knitting what I knew in my heart I could comfortably finish by the holiday deadline.

But I do really want to knit each and every item on the first list below, and I don't want to forget anything, so I will formalize my mental checklist here:

Things I really, really want to knit in the next two months:

1. Snowman hat for my sister-in-law
2. Snowman hat for my sister
3. Redskins-colors birthday beanie for nephew (got the yarn at Unraveled yesterday!)
   
4. Birthday hat for my younger brother
   
5. Baby hat for someone I know who is pregnant....
6. Baby (boy) hat for friend's grandchild

Things I'd really like to knit in the next two months:

1. Snowman hat for myself
2. Hat(s) for Afghans For Afghans (details about local collection
here - deadline 3/7/07)

3. Flip-flop socks for my sister's birthday in late April

Things I'd really like to knit sometime this year:

1. Something warm for my hands (mittens or fingerless mitts)
2. Bobble & Braid hat
3. Blue Heron Rayon Metallic shawl (I started ages ago and frogged more recently - a story for another day's blog post)
4. Socks for myself
5. Sweater for myself (something simple -- a loose pullover, or maybe a cardigan if I'm ambitious)
6. A lace project [I was recently given
Victorian Lace Today, (thanks Rita!), and have recently purchased Artic Lace, so I have lots of inspiration!]
7. A beginner fair-isle project (which will probably be,
you guessed it, a hat)
8. A shadow-knitting project
9. Knitted Christmas ornaments for my dozen nieces & nephews. I started this last year, but didn't finish. So, I might finish all 12 stockings, or maybe I'll knit 12 mini-sweaters, or perhaps give a combination of the two ....
10. Linen dishcloths. So. Help. Me. God.
    

There are more things that I may add to that third list as I remember them, but I don't want to get too crazy with it, or I'll just overwhelm myself. Of course, if items rollover from that list to a Things I'd Like to Knit in 2008 list, it's all well and good. That's the beauty of a hobby. Or a labor of love, as I recently told my brother.

He and I were instant-messaging one day about something or other, (I think it was about the virtues of Windows Movie Maker for editing videos taken with the digital camera before uploading them to YouTube), and I mentioned my recent knitting retreat. His response was, "perhaps it's about time you start looking into making some money off of this hobby". I told him that, in reality, unless one owns a yarn shop, (and Richmond has five -- I think the market is saturated), one can't really earn a living from this hobby, and besides, I don't have the skills (or desire) to do something in this field professionally. So, any efforts I make in it are purely for fun and are a labor of love, and I actually prefer it that way. You add money to the mix, and the joy of this hobby would be lost for me, I think. But that's just me, a pure process knitter.

Okay, I guess I'll knit some more on the snowman hat I started last night....

Later!