Joyful, joyful, we adore thee

I have the happy task of deciding what I'm going to take on vacation in terms of knitting projects, wool, needles, and patterns. Yippee! I am already having fun. There are too many candidates, though.

UFOs (that I intend to finish)

The anniversary socks (top-down; halfway down the foot! size 1s are so slow though)
oh, crud--I'll need to either bring the book or xerox the finishing instructions. Yoiks!
The "Sublime" v-neck sweater I hope I don't hate the bell sleeves. Of course, they are bottom-up, so if I rip them, I rip them entirely. At least this very fuzzy yarn does, indeed, rip.
Son's scarf hoping to finish this by Christmas. Not sure if he realizes it's a gift. Maybe that's a good thing. (my own pattern; this will be the fifth one, I think!)

Knitting Dreams

Kiri Instead of Birch. I keep hearing its praises--why not? In Cracksilk Haze, Smoke.
Icarus Probably from the blue Misti baby alpaca I got from Little Knits a long while ago. I have the pattern from the Interweave Knits issue. (Color of the yarn is spot on.)
Shetland Triangle Out of what yarn? No idea.
Odessa For the gf; she chose the beads and prestrung them for me.
Anemoi mittens Finally, a stranded (Fair Isle) pattern that really makes my heart go pit-a-pat!
Tiffany Well, ditto the above. :) (but I'd choose different colors)
Ethereal Fichu Bought the pattern; still looking for the perfect yarn. Fell in love when I saw it on JoVE's blog.
Backyard Leaves I've always wanted to make this and was thrilled to find it included in Interweave Knits' Holiday Gifts issue. I think I already have yarn from which to make this.
Cozy Isn't that the perfect name for a Christmastime knitting project? Already have the yarn for this one, too, from Elann. Two different dye lots, but the oatmeal color probably won't matter.
Sleeveless top (to which I will add sleeves) from Lang Yarns Viva. In the green. (big needles--that's a draw right there.)

See my dilemma? Votes and opinions welcome.

Later: Oops, forgot one: another 3-way scarf like the one for my son, but for me, out of chocolate fuzzy stuff from my late, lamented yarn shop. OK, I think I'm done now.

And then sanity set in.

You may recall that I was working on a k3p1 ribbed scarf for G's teacher. I had also started a knit hat with a very fine mohair blend yarn (read: taking forever) for one of his aftercare teachers who always seems to be cold.

Since the last day of school has passed, there is no chance of getting a scarf to G's teacher for Christmas (if she celebrates it; I asked him to ask her but he forgot, or thinks he forgot). So...

how 'bout a little less stress? Current scarf goes to the aftercare teacher (just needs binding off and fringe), and I'll whip something up while on vacation for his regular teacher.

Phew.

Much progress

I am almost 4" done on the foot of the Anniversary socks. They really look good but damn, I swear those needles are getting smaller every time I knit with them!

While on jury duty (see my other blog), I buzzed along on the charcoal Knit One Purl Too Sublime Easy Fitted V-Neck. Man, does knitting go fast when your needles are 9s instead of 1s! I'm a little worried about the scratchiness of the mohair, but the color is great and it's even froggable, to my astonishment. I whipped out the front, back, one sleeve, and started another on the BART commute and while we waited (and waited and waited).

I also started and finished another Magic/3-Way Scarf for my son's young friend in a pink (#8; it is less blue than the photo) so bright it almost hurts the eyes. She'll love it. It is a Christmas present; nice to be able to mark that one off. While I was working on it on BART, a women asked if I'd made the one on my neck, too (my black one). I said yes and pointed out the 3 ways to wear it (long scarf, short cowl, hood) and she pointed out two more! You can pull the cowl up to cover your ears like a headband, and if you let the top scrunch enough, you can make it into a hat. Very cool!

After that, I started one of those scarves for my son in a Fluff Print (#26) he'd chosen a while ago. I'm betting on him having forgotten, as it will be one of his Christmas presents. When I'm done with that, I'm going to make myself another one with some soft brown yarn I bought when my beloved local yarn store closed. I don't know how well it will work, as the NY Yarns Fluff yarn has worked beautifully, and this stuff is a little heavier and the yardage is less (although I always end up with about 1/3 ball left of the Fluff).

I only have two more Christmas projects to finish (since I have chosen very few to begin with, for once!): a scarf for G's teacher and a hat for one of his Y-Kids teachers. The hat pattern came up in my 2006 Knitting Pattern A Day calendar. It's a simple mohair hat and I just found a ball of black mohair in my stash. Don't know where it came from. The teacher's scarf may come out of a ball of L!on Brand cashmere-blend yarn I got with my 40% off coupon at Beverly's and some gorgeous jewel-toned chenille I'm sure I got from Dharma. Neither is enough for a full scarf, but I'm going to attempt one of those "Cast on a million stitches and knit 2 rows with each yarn" scarves and see how the yarns hold out--and look together.

I'm hoping to just do fun knitting while away at Christmas--maybe a lacy scarf from an insert in a recent Interweave Knits, maybe some Fair Isle (OMG are these gorgeous?!?) with the yarn I got at Yarn! and the Palette sampler I got from the Destash blog from YaiAnn. I have spotted a Fair Isle sweater I want to knit (interesting note: there are very few I find attractive) and I need to know if I hate it, first.

And someday? I'll restart Birch. Because I must prevail, dammit.