First finished object of the new year - and other stuff

Boy oh boy, 2005 was a hard year for knitting in my house. Not that I didn't do plenty of it, I did. But I ended up with a lot of unfinished projects at the end of the year, many of which were supposed to be presents for Christmas.

New Year's Knitting Resolution #1: Be less ambitious/more realistic about the knitting queue.

I managed to make 3 pairs of socks for Christmas presents (several pair are as yet unfinished), but this sweater for my Dad (Christmas/birthday present) that finished blocking this morning is officially the first finished object of the year.


Details:
Yarn: Austermann Mayfair in Midnight Navy, slightly less than 11 balls (from Elann.com)
Pattern: Adapted from the Men's Cabled Sweater in Naturally New Zealand's Living 38 Degrees South, Issue 1, 42" finished chest
Needles: US size 7 and 6 (for cast on)
Comments: Adjustments to pattern are the crew neck (as opposed to a zippered mock turtleneck) and the splitting of the 22 stitch horseshoe cables into 2 mirrored 10 stitch cables. The Mayfair yarn is a really great quality 100% acrylic.

I love this sweater. If Dad wasn't expecting it and if the sleeves weren't so long, I'd consider keeping it. But god knows I have enough things to knit for myself at this point. Which brings me to...

New Year's Knitting Resolution #2: Pare down the list of things that need to be finished/fixed.

There are a lot of things on this list (yes I made an actual list and it's loooooong). I even coded the projects by about how much time would be required for each one, like quick fixes or a couple of weeks. At the end of the it is the list of stuff I'd like to start, but only after I finish the other stuff. This is long also. I got some energy last night and finished a hat I was working on and almost got a sweater finished up.

New Year's Knitting Resolution #3: Keep a running tally of finished objects on the sidebar. (This one should actually be fun.)

And this one I really have to stick to:
New Year's Knitting Resolution #4: I will only make sweaters out of washable yarn.

I am so sick of hand washing. That's it for now. Happy Knitting in the New Year, folks!