Happy New Year! I must confess I did not knit a single stitch on January 1 -- I hope this doesn't presage what will be happening to my knitting in 2009!

On the other hand, I finished Jesse Kellerman's The Genius -- liked it very much -- and started the latest Anne Perry (Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series), so I am very pleased that I've fallen back into reading. When I was working, I seemed to get through three or four books a week and naively thought I'd read even more when I retired. Now I'm lucky if I get through three or four books a month. I didn't realize how much of my commuting time was spent reading and/or knitting. Of course, being retired means I spend a lot more time with the New York Times. I'm able to read more articles in depth instead of skimming and it's much easier to handle when I'm not on a bus or train.

Tonight I was planning to wind the yarn for my next charity project, a red scarf for the Orphan Foundation (www.orphan.org). However, when I went to the website I learned the submission period is Seoptember 1st through December 15th. (I thought time slot was in February.) So either I get a very early start for next year or go back to my Socks for Soldiers. Of course, I could also work on the umpteen other UFOs lurking throughout the house.

Tagged and Photoed!

My hat is ready to go to Save the Children. Now that I'm blogging, I'm trying to keep a photo of all finished products before they are sent or given to their eventual recipients.

The yarn is Dream Baby - rather nice for an acrylic.

I finished my Knit One, Save One cap today and must send it off to Save the Children tomorrow. It needs to be sent by December 31 to get to our next President in time for the inauguration.

I must admit it looks cute but strange...the pattern directions are sized for the heads of children in developing countries -- about a third smaller than I'm used to.

This is the second charity item I've managed to finish this month. I did a hat and seaman's scarf for the Christmas at Sea Program. The hat pattern was from the Seamen's Church Institute's website.

The scarf pattern was from another website and was designed by Myrna Stahman. I used the "Matt" pattern, since I tend to grow bored with plain stockinette or garter stitch... which is what was on the Seamen's Institute website. At the same time, the "Matthew" pattern was a little too ornate. The Matt was more of a Gansey type pattern -- texture created by the use of knit and purl. The closeup below gives a better idea -- the tail ends are a mix of blocks of 1x1 ribbing alternating with blocks of double seed stitch. Perhaps next year I'll try to design my own and create Christmas trees of seed stitch on a stockinette background!