It feels good to be finished... but now what?!

I finished the skirt, people:

It's beautiful. I was a little worried about the hem curling, but it barely does- maybe a tiny bit, but not enough to warrant adding a garter band. Besides, I didn't have enough yarn anyway. I worked right down to the last yard of the last ball of yarn. I really like the length-- precisely 19" from the waistband. Here's a picture of the waistband:

I altered it-- added buttonholes and an extra inch of length. I would provide the exact mod, but I never wrote it down. I used a cast off/cast on buttonhole because the buttons would have been too big for a traditional yarn over, and cast off 2 stitches, but turns out I should have only cast off one stitch per buttonhole. I may sew the buttonholes closed a bit, just so you don't see those little gaps. Otherwise, it fits well-- even snugly. I like the high-waistedness. That's very in right now, and it's a flattering look if you can do it. I wore it last week out in the city and my friends were very impressed. (I love telling people, "Thanks! I made it." Non-knitters are so amazed by what we can do!)

Now that I've finished all my major projects, I really have nothing going on. I have no projects. My sister wants me to make her a hat, but she's been very vague on her preferred color and style so I haven't cast on. And I had four balls of the Shine Worsted in Robot to make a baby blanket for a friend's baby in Israel. Um, except I didn't do ANY research and somehow assumed that less than 400 yards of yarn would make a sufficient baby blanket. Not. Turns out you need upwards of 1000y, and I have no intention of purchasing that much, so that project's in the dustbin and I have four balls of Shine Worsted. You know what, I could probably make a few cute hats with it, send them to my friends in Tzfat. (Two of them just had baby boys.) My wonderful South African friend Heather, mother to the children for whom I knit those striped hats, also had a beautiful baby boy about a week ago-- so exciting! I'm waiting for a picture of the baby in his hat and sweater, but wrangling the infant into hand-knits is probably not first priority when you've got three kids under the age of five.

However-- I did get a picture of Saulie in his hat! And it's gorgeous!

Look at my favorite little South African/Israeli boy-- kissing his new baby brother!

Here is a direct quote from his mother: "Saul does not leave the house without his hat-- he loves it!" There is no greater reward for a knitter than hearing this.

Meanwhile-- I've got no projects! Okay, there are the two WIPs that haven't been touched for months-- the gloves... weh! I would really wear them, too. I'll never finish them. It's second glove syndrome-- I've never once finished a pair of gloves. I really should. Dammit. They're so pretty and in the silk and everything. Yet seaming all those fingers is so annoying! If I ever do finish them I will knit the fingers in the round this time with two circulars instead of flat, because the seaming is just urrrghhhh-- very frustrating.

And there are the socks I'm knitting for Shannon-- I decided to experiment with the Magic Loop for the first time-- knit a few rounds last night on Sock 2 and my eyes started hurting from the tiny stitches so I stopped. When you don't have a deadline it's pretty easy to let things slide. When I actually get going on those, I'll tell you all about my feelings on Magic Loop. So far it doesn't seem tremendously different from two circs.

If anyone has any great ideas about my next knitting project, I'm open. I want a nice complicated project that preferably uses yarn from my stash, and which I will be excited about. I just made a sweater and a skirt, and a hat, so now what?? I don't like knitting for other people because they never appreciate it and I'm never motivated to finish it. That sounds pretty bad. I should be a better friend and knit stuff for others, but I swear, they never actually use the things I make! -- Well, not totally true. My mom and dad both wear their Knotty but Nice Malabrigo hats-- and they are gorgeous, if I do say so myself. I love that pattern. But the thing is about knitting for others is that I don't like buying nice yarn for those kinds of projects because it's so expensive, so I end up using acrylic stuff from my stash, which is good for most people because it's machine washable, but when I use crappy yarn I'm not excited about the project. Plus I'm just not motivated to finish anything because there's no reward. Man, I really am selfish. I've got to work on this in the new year. Maybe I should resolve to knit more stuff for other people.

On those rare occasions when I DO make things for other people, I now have absolutely beautiful personalized labels to sew into them!!

A Hanukkah present from my sister (though she gives credit for the idea to my mom). Amazing!!! Now I just need to make some stuff to put them in. I could retroactively add them to my parents' hats-- maybe on the outside so they won't be scratchy.

Anyway, that's my knitting life. Unless I'm hit by some inspiration soon I probably won't be posting again for a while.