Deadlines Force Progress

Will all of the event based crafting behind me I'm now able to focus on some of my deadline projects.  I loved how Tour de Fleece and Ravellenics are so goal orientated and let me focus solely on what I want to do because for most of the year I'm working on my To Do list.  My list is completely organic and as soon as I cross a few items off I usually re-write the list again.  It's not a looming thing, it's an organizational thing.  There is just so much I want to knit and spin that if I didn't have a list to refer to I would become very overwhelmed.  The best part is that I already have all of my Christmas knitting projects done.  Boo-yaa!

After taking Sandi Wiseheart's class on knitting sweaters that fit at the retreat in March my big goal for this year was to do exactly that.  My Mom was a willing participant and has allowed me to measure her several times throughout this process.  We picked out the cardigan pattern together and shopped for the yarn during the Yarn Cupboard's Black Friday sale last year.  Here birthday is September 3rd and I should have plenty of time to get it done by then.  I've got all the pieces done and they're blocking/drying on my spare bed right now:

It's taking a while to dry and while I could have probably just thrown it in the dryer for a few minutes I decided to let it lay so I could knit another small project:

While I was waiting for my Ravellenics medals I read the description for the "single skein sprint" and realized that I had too much yarn leftover to really qualify for it.  I weighed the first hat and then my leftover yarn so I could make sure I had enough for a second hat.  I had more than enough so I made a matching hat for my husband by adding 2 stitches to each DPN and an extra pattern repeat.  I had only a yard or two of yarn left so I feel much better now about the whole thing.






Tonight while my cardigan pieces are still drying I'm planning to spin some alpaca on my wheel.  I haven't had a whole lot of luck with alpaca in the past so this is definitely going to be a learning experience for me and an exercise in patience!