I made a hat.  It was actually finished some time ago, but I decided that it wasn't complete until I  added gold sparkly bird pins.  (Do they look like birds?  I'm not so sure, but I do enjoy a pink/gold colour combination.)  I shaped the "birds" out of modelling clay, used liberal amounts of awesome glitter from Paper-ya, and hot-glued pin backings on them.  The stitch pattern is Little Birds, and the hat pattern is my own (it fits more like a beret than a toque, which may not be clear in this photo).  I'm still working on my rose cardigan, but after seeing this incredibly cute hedgehog scarf, well... there's an incredibly cute hedgehog scarf in my future.

In food updates, high tea at Last Crumb was excellent; I'm also excited to find out that Butter has high tea too -  this will be an expedition for May.   I'm thinking of heading to Patisserie Lebeau for traditional Belgian waffles, and to Miura Waffle Milk Bar for a waffle sandwich (!).  In the last while, I've had two excellent home-made breakfast items that are worth sharing: granola (the best I've made yet), and baked oatmeal (a nice change of pace from my regular go-to baked oatmeal with apples and raisins).  Lastly, the April cookie of the month!

I was intrigued several years ago when a co-worker made a comment that people, like fields, need fallow time.  While I haven't been completely idle these last few months, I've certainly had less of a to-do list mentality.  My goal for January is to lower my expectations of what will be accomplished, and to pick one small task or activity and just focus on that.  Bake apple cake.  Write a letter.  Put something away that's been sitting out for a long time.  Watch Gilmore Girls and knit.

This cardigan has been on my radar for some time, ever since it appeared in a Debbie Bliss magazine a couple of years back.   Over the holidays, I finally bought appropriate yarn for it, and am just finishing up the right front.  Kimono sleeves are knit concurrently with the front and back pieces, and it's hard to tell intuitively exactly what's going on and how it will come together and fit.  This is one of those times when I'm just blindly trusting the pattern.  No doubt it will be fine.

And while it's mid-January, it's not too late to announce new year's resolutions.  What's in store for 2013?  Eating more often at French restaurants.  And reading another Daphne du Maurier novel.  Resolved!

This weekend was both rainy and unscheduled; perfect conditions for taking stock of uncompleted projects lying around the house, and also for making pumpkin cinnamon rolls. 

These socks have been my main knitting project for the several weeks, and are going to be gifted soon.  

Status:  After taking this photo on Saturday, I finished the toe and now just have to finish weaving in ends.  My self-imposed deadline will be easy to meet, and then I can focus on the pink beret that I've started in the meantime. 

Last year I made two knitted ice cream cones (kawaii!), and have since had a request for one more.  This is a great project for using up odds and ends of yarn; am I a bad friend because that was one compelling reason to say yes?

Status:  The actual knitting went quite quickly.  However, since finishing the "good" part, these pieces have been off to one side of my coffee table where they have been slowly turning into part of the living room decor.  Once I double-check that the size/shape of the scoop is right, I just need to add sprinkles, and stuff and sew it up.  Hey Mary, get on it already!

I've made several pairs of mittens over the years, and tend to turn to these general instructions for coming up with my mitten plan-of-action.

Status:  Neglected for months, and thwarted on the finishing.  
You see, I had planned on adding a duplicate-stitch rose to each mitten.  To that end, I took my time coming up with the perfect flower design, but when I stitched it on to a mitten it looked like crap.  I then tweaked the flower design.  Once again, it looked like crap.  The flower idea is now scrapped, but I've since been undecided as to what  embellishment to finish the mittens up with.  Beads?  I don't know.  Like the ice cream cone, they're nearly done.  I'm just sort of uninterested in them.

In Part 2:  the remainder of the knitting projects, and...  oh gosh, who knows what I'll unearth when it comes to sewing projects...