...and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot? and auld lang syne ?

In the interest of fairness, before we move onto the new and all the newness of the new year, I felt that perhaps it would be a good time to look back and update the progress of the projects that I have been working on in this past year that remain incomplete for one reason or another.

So here we go, just in case you had been wondering what ever happened to that one thing she was working on. Let's start with the oldest (of last year, at the end I will show you the projects that I still intend to finish that are from years past that also linger in indefinite stasis. )

The Forest Path Stole remains unchanged.
After polling the blog, I had come to the conclusion that most of you thought that it would be best to keep the stole all one color.
Which meant that I would have to make a search to find more yarn in the same color. Going back to the yarn store that I bought it from was out of the question. I had bought their last remaining skein.
So I did a search on the Internets and there is someone in England who is selling the same yarn in the same color on ebay.

And just as I had made my mind up that this would be the best course, I started receiving comments on the stole on Ravelry.
Comments that said that the stole was absolutely lovely and that they loved the colors of the stole and that they thought the cream border should stay. Gah, now what do I do?
So I have decided that I cannot make this decision and that I am going to leave it up to the recipient as to which way she prefers,
( Which in retrospect, is what I should have done in the first place, hindsight is 20/20.)
She has seen the stole, I worked on it while my daughter was having her lessons. She doesn't know that I intended to give it to her for a wedding gift though, but I am so unsure of what direction to go on this that I think I need to consult her, I'm willing to finish it either way, I just want it finished.
The Mystery Stole 3 also remains nearly untouched since the last up date. There is no problem with this stole. It remains a lovely project, and I love the beading, and I am more than pleased with how it is going.
However, this project requires uninterrupted blocks of time with little to no distraction. The kind of time that has been in very short supply as of late.







I have begun the feathered section of the stole but that is where it remains. I am hoping that as things begin to slow down now that the holiday season is over and everything will grind down the eternally slow pace of Minnesota's endless winter that the opportunity to finish this stole will once more arise.
The Stellar sweater that I am knitting for my sister is progressing nicely. I have finished the body. I am currently in the progress of joining the shoulders and then I will cut the arm steeks to begin the sleeves.





I've decided to knit the sleeves down from the armhole to the cuff. My sister has long arms so I think this would be the best method to insure that the sleeves are long enough.
However the pattern is written for them to be knit flat from the cuff up so it will mean that I will have to do a little translating to get the shaping correct for a top down knitting.




And then one last project that I haven't shown you yet, although I actually began knitting this project back at the beginning of last year and then lost interest in it because I couldn't decide how I wanted to do the striping.
Needing another gift for my son and after two or three different tries, I finally decided upon this one for a tie for my son. Why, yes it is Packer colors, go figure.











BTW, this is knit in Jamieson's Shetland Spinthrift. The way the cat acts toward this yarn you would think it's made of catnip.

The dude will steal this yarn right out from under my hands. I must keep the yarn zipped in a bag even as I knit it or he runs away with it any chance he gets. I cannot put this down for a moment to do anything that he doesn't make a play for it. He's stolen yarn out of my bag before but has never shown this much persistence or been this bold in his thievery. Who knew that Shetland wool was his kitty crack?

Auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Now for my hall of shame, for old long ago.

Latvian Mittens















Bazaar Socks




Rogue Hoodie









Great Adirandack scarf for Lalle.





Monk's Travel Satchel



Same Old Lang Syne

Met my old lover in the grocery store
The snow was falling New Year's eve
I stole behind her in the frozen foods
And I touched her on the sleeve

She didn't recognize the face at first
But then her eyes flew open wide
She went to hug me and she spilled her purse
And we laughed until we cried.

We took her groceries to the checkout stand
The food was totalled up and bagged
We stood there lost in our embarrassment
As the conversation dragged.

We went to have ourselves a drink or two
But couldn't find an open bar
We bought a six-pack at the liquor store
And we drank it in her car.

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to now
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness
But neither one knew how.

She said she'd married her an architect
Who kept her warm and safe and dry
She would have liked to say she loved the man
But she didn't like to lie.

I said the years had been a friend to her
And that her eyes were still as blue
But in those eyes I wasn't sure if I saw doubt or gratitude.

She said she saw me in the record stores
And that I must be doing well
I said the audience was heavenly
But the traveling was hell.

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to now
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness
But neither one knew how.

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to time
Reliving in our eloquence
Another Auld lang syne...

The beer was empty and our tongues were tired
And running out of things to say
She gave a kiss to me as I got out
And I watched her drive away.

Just for a moment I was back at school
And felt that old familiar pain
And as I turned to make my way back home
The snow turned into rain --