Test along, swaps, Yule, and contest

I joined a test group http://knitalong.net/testalong/ Martin and Larissa are writing a book and need test knitters for the book. This time around we were given a pattern, told what colors to use, and given a dead line. These are my submissions, it would be a great honor to have one of these three squares used in the book. The squares that are not chosen will be knitted up into afghans and donated to Warm Up America. http://www.warmupamerica.org/home.html
This first square is from Yarn Pirate http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=44421&sort=recent&page_id=1 the colorway is called Shamrock.
This is from Lorna's Laces the colorway is Funky Stripe. This little left over of yarn is very special to me because, it's what is left over from the first pair of socks I knitted.

This last one is from Handspun and Dyed Too http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=20393 the colorway on this one is Pizazz.

I am also in a potholder and recipe exchange, this is one of the pot holders, the pattern is called, Piece of my heart http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=20393

And this one is simply called Heart Dishcloth http://members.cox.net/designs.by.emily/patterns/Designs%20by%20Emily%20Heart%20Dishcloth%20Pattern.pdf
Yes they are washcloths however, what I am doing is knitting two identical ones, joining 3 sides, adding a piece of quilted material, then sewing the final side up, and adding a loop to hang it from.

This is the first of the 12 days of Yule Dish cloths by Ketutar http://fiberneed.blogspot.com/2007/01/12-days-of-yule-dishcloths.html I am not making dishcloths, instead the DH thought they would make a great holiday afghan. So I am knitting them up individually and will join them all when finished. I decided not to wait until the last minute, so I am going to knit one each month, this one should have been done in December. This is the partridge in the pear tree. I was supposed to make Two turtle doves in January, but haven't even started it yet. I have a few days left in January... so it's possible. Not likely but possible.

I also could not find a tree skirt that I liked that was less than $50.00 I am sorry, but to me that is just too much for something that is going to sit under the tree. So I decided to make one also I found this pattern http://www.gallentine.org/Knitting/Christmastreeskirt.html Yes, it has cables, but I think I can handle it. It's made from seven separate sections and then are joined together. I have already started on it but already frogged it because the directions are written a little wonkie and you have to keep jumping from top to bottom to middle of the page, I am going to print the pattern out again and cut and paste them in order for myself.

I also joined a contest from The Lone Knitter http://theloneknitter.blogspot.com/2006/12/my-first-contest-blanket-drive-for-mom.html This one the due date is not until June so I have time to make up a few squares. The will be donating the squares, blankets or afghans to the hospital that her aunt was a patient of while being treated for cancer. This will help to get rid of the small bits of left over yarn in my stash.

This week I am going to be working on the Fiber Trends Ruffles and ridges shawl (see side bar for pattern). I am not sure how many more rows I have to go but I am down to 250 stitches from the original 1095 that were cast on. I want to finish it this week.