I may have bit off more than I can chew

Want to see everything I have in progress?

And this isn't all of it. You'll notice that my stocking is missing- never fear, its being worked on, I just don't have an updated photo. And the photos of the vest and the socks are pretty out dated too. Maybe that should be a project all its own. Anyway, wish me luck, cause I'm casting on something new on the 28th!

Halfway

I've been trying to gauge my knitting time by splitting my projects in half- finishing the first half by tomorrow and then finishing the second half by the end of the month. I've been doing pretty well- first up, my socks:

These are some loose bed socks made out of Plymouth Yarn Happy Feet DK. I haven't made a lot of socks, so I thought making them out of a thicker yarn would be a good way to work my way down to all the lovely fingering weight socks.

Next:

This is the Botanic Hat and I'm making it out of Knit Picks Swish Worsted and Queensland Collections Kathmandu Aran. I'm making the folded over brim version, so that's why it just looks like a massive amount of ribbing. Its supposed to be 6 inches, but I'm at 5 inches now and that seems plenty long enough (and I'm just sick of knitting the ribbing!)

My OWL is coming along well, but I don't have an updated picture of it. Coming soon!

Zoomin

I'm working right along on my crazy plan. The cowl is finished, some socks have been started, and a secret hat has been started. I'm a little worried that I haven't spent as much time with my OWL as I would like, but I still really love working on it and I think I should be able to squeeze in some time this weekend. Here's a photo of the finished cowl:

I love how it came out. Its super soft and squishy, and I'm pretty sure the recipient will love it! I'm even contemplating making another, but we'll see :)

2011 Reading

Toward the end oflast year I decided I needed to start reading more. I used to read a ton as a child, but when I started college I was so busy reading course material that I gradually got out of the habit. I started using Library Thing to track books I had already read, ones I was currently reading, and ones I wanted to read. It works pretty well for me, especially since I get a lot of books from the library. I just mark them "read but unowned." I've been thinking about adding a new collection for my nook books, but haven;t done so yet.

Without further adeiu, these are the books I read after I started tracking:


Bradley, Marion Zimmer The Mists of Avalon
Bray, Libba A Great and Terrible Beauty
Brennan, Herbie The Purple Emperor (The Faerie Wars Chronicles, Book 2)
Brennan, Herbie Faerie Wars (Faerie Wars Chronicles)
Chapman, Gary The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts
Couric, Katie The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives
Downie, Chris The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life
Evanovich, Janet Plum Spooky
Evanovich, Janet Finger Lickin' Fifteen (Stephanie Plum Novels)
Evanovich, Janet Fearless Fourteen (Stephanie Plum, No. 14)
Evanovich, Janet Sizzling Sixteen
Gault, Teri Shop Smart, Save More: Learn The Grocery Game and Save Hundreds Dollars a Month
Hammett, Edward H.   Reaching People Under 40 While Keeping People Over 60: Being Church for All     Generations
Horowitz, Anthony      The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel
Irwin, William              The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy: Hogwarts for Muggles
Macomber, Debbie     The Shop on Blossom Street
Macomber, Debbie     A Good Yarn (Blossom Street)
Macomber, Debbie     Back on Blossom Street
Riordan, Rick             The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 5)
Rowling, J. K.            Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Rowling, J.K.             Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Some of these were rereads for me, but most were new. I'm looking forward to doubling this number in 2012!

Crazy Train

The out of town-ers are almost all gone, the new HPKCHC term has begun, and my normal work schedule has resumed. I've got a plan, and its a little crazy. I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted to knit all the things! You'll see two new projects over on the bar- the Christmas stockings are my OWL for this term and the Darkside is a cowl for Amy (my brother's girlfriend).  The stockings are going along well, I've already been approved and have worked on them some. I really enjoy colorwork, and even though this is the biggest colorwork project I've done I'm optimistic and and excited. The cowl is going really well too. I'm hoping to have that and my brother's vest, which is also coming along (slowly) ready to send in the mail for the middle of next week.

What else do I have planned? Well, I have a spreadsheet :) The plan right now is to make one hat, finish designing and making another hat, a pair of socks, some fingerless mitts, a baby hat, an maybe another design thrown in there for good measure. I'm also planning a shawl for my Order Mission (takes about 2 months, between a class and an OWL) but I'm having yarn issues right now.

Can I get all this done on top of grading duties? We'll see!