The Year of Knitting Dangerously

This blog is a side effect of a fevered dream I had just a few days ago about knitting everyone I know this year Christmas gifts. That was borne of two different thoughts- saving money and getting rid of all the yarn I hate. I know it sounds like I'm foisting shitty yarn on people I love, but I promise you, that is not (entirely) the case.
When my grandmother died I inherited literally BOXES of yarn. Most of this was inexpensive acrylic, and lots of it in pastels because my grandmother's forte was knitting for babies. Most people over the age of 5 do not regularly wear mint green and cotton candy pink, and certainly not in tandem. I don't like wearing much pink at all, especially in accessories, and I would never knit myself a cotton candy pink pullover. So I was left with alot of yarn in colors I won't use and no babies to wear them.
This has changed! I now posses vastly superior knitting skills than I did at age 17, and can use up all those weird ombres on socks and mittens. Also, there has been a bumper crop of babies in my family this year- THREE all born in the winter months of 08. Hello mint green sweaters.

My goal is to have a very productive, noncommercial Christmas that makes everyone I know incredibly happy to have received handmade gifts, and me with lots of room and a clear conscience to join the land of natural fibers. I can feel the yummy wool and silk now...

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Currently on my plate are a few projects.
I am back-knitting a belated Chrismas gift for my gal Sa'iyda- pink mittens. The pattern is a recipe of my own invention based off of a the Knitty universal toe-up sock pattern. It utilizes short rows. In making my socks, I realized if you skipped the heel and added an afterthought-style thumb and a ribbed cuff, you could call it a mitten! Just cast on the first one tonight, already almost at the thumb. I am a quick one.
I also, somehow, got myself into knitting my two of my friends, the Weinbloom sisters, a Doctor Who scarf. Seven colors. Uneven stripes. Twelve feet long. Garter stitch. This is going to be epic. And worked a little bit at a time over the next few months. I cast on yesterday, and am about a foot or so in. Second stripe. We'll see...