A Little Slip

I've been doing rather well with my continuing monogamous ways and no new yarn, so I guess it was inevitable that I slip a little.

I have two pairs of socks that I am working on, one sweater from an old Manos kit that I am trying to make into something that will get worn and just needed to get myself out of the doldrums of looking at the same old stash yarn.

With the break in the weather this past week, I went out to my LYS, just to look.

Right!!! I signed up for a class to make the oscilloscope shawl and found some gorgeous neutral hued yarn that I think DD#3 will like for her birthday.If she doesn't, I'll keep it. I also picked up yarn for the February Lady Sweater that I tried to make with the old stash yarn that was reminiscent of steel wool. This is Cascade, in a beautiful green. I think I'm in love. So these two new projects should have been enough, right? Not so much.

On Saturday I got my Amazon order which included Kathy Taylor's new Fearless Fair Isle. I fell in love with every project in the book. I used the Knit Picks gift certificate I received for Christmas to order yarn for two of the sweaters. I have already read the whole thing from cover to cover. It is wonderful. Well written, easy graphs, great pictures and really terrific projects.

Uncle!

It's winter in Buffalo. It snows and it is cold. These are givens. We have avoided the big nasty snow storms that have pelted what looks on TV like the whole world. So I should be really happy, right? Here's what we have on the patio.

That's two feet of snow, if it's an inch. It didn't come down all at once, oh no. It comes down 2 or 3 little inches at a time. It hasn't stopped snowing like that since December. Only one day on January did it not snow. And we haven't had anything remotely resembling the January thaw we usually get. Sigh!

My West Virginia DD just said imagine in a few months you will be sitting out there in the sun reading the newspaper. I'm not so sure.

On the knitting front:

Once upon a time (in the '80's, look at those sleeves) I made this lovely mauve sweater.

I kept it in a box and got it out recently and thought I could rip it out, wash the yarn and make a new sweater. The color is so pretty and I wore this one all the time. So I did.

I was going to make the February Lady Sweater out of the reclaimed yarn. I started a few months ago, working on it at the same time I was working with cotton. The number of stitches
on the needle and the way the yarn seemed to be unyielding, made for very sore wrists and fingers, so it was sent to a time out.

Now it's February and of course there are a number of KAL's going on to knit this sweater, so I took it back out, making all sorts of excuses for it. I was working with cotton at the same time and cotton is very hard on my hands; I was knitting too tightly, just needed to relax a little; it isn't really like steel wool, it must be my hands are dry from the cold; once I get to the lace pattern it will be much easier.

My hands and fingertips are now so sore, I won't be able to knit until they heal, which may take a week or so. I have stopped kidding myself, this yarn did not age well. It got stiff and as far from wool as yarn can get. It is going in the garbage because it really isn't fit for human consumption. I wish I had admitted that to myself before I took it out the second time.

Freeeeeezzzzzing

It's been a good week for knitwear. I find myself wrapped in afghans and I used the Advent Calendar scarf as a cover while I was knitting it. The kid's school has been delayed for 2 hours so they don't have to walk in the -8 ° cold. Which, of course, makes complications for parents who have to go to work. DD#3 is going in to work late, so I don't have to schlep to her house or have the kids brought here for a bit before I take them in to school, or have them miss the whole day.

It was a blustery winter day yesterday so it was good to hunker down, knit and watch football. Nowhere to go, just perfect.

My knitting hasn't been pleasing me, lately and I think it was because I was locked into finishing the Advent Calendar Scarf. Which grew to gigantic proportions, as I was using fingering weight instead of lace weight. I ran out of yarn at day 19 which was fine, as after blocking, the scarf? measures a hefty 20 in x 100 in. I felt like I was listening to Jacob Marley's ghost telling me mine was a "ponderous chain". I spent all last week diligently working on just that project, to the exclusion of every other project, until the last bit of yarn was left and I could cast off and block.

The wonderful thing (miraculous really) about knitting lace is the results when you block it. Like labor, you forget the pain when you get that baby in your arms. Maybe not forget, exactly, it just seems very worthwhile.

I'm going back to my monogamous ways and knitting one project until it is done, before beginning another. This is what makes me happy and it gives me the time to really know what I want to make before I start it, rather than throwing myself into a number of things I lose interest in.

So right now the push is on to finish the three projects I have on my needles. DH's first socks are #1.

Taking It Easy

This has been a very quite week or so. We have been taking down the Christmas decorations and getting the house back to normal, watching playoff games and just kind or recovering from the holidays.

There hasn't been much knitting getting done. I think I seriously hurt my fingers and wrist knitting too much, maybe too many projects on magic loop and tighter tension were the culprits.

I have to remind myself that this is what I do for fun, it's not my job and no one is going to care if I don't get miles of knitting completed in a certain amount of time. It's not a race or a competition. By not joining in any knit alongs, I avoided this last year and think I need to hold to this resolution this year. I do like to make mittens in January for the NaKniMitMo on Ravelry, but I do this just because I like knitting mittens and this group gives me a lot of great ideas and patterns for them. I don't enter the prize drawings and just do it for fun. I made one pair already and am working on a pair of fingerless mitts for DH. I am still knitting the Advent Scarf but, again, not racing to get it done (obviously) just enjoying the knitting and the beautiful patterns in the sampler.

It's been very cold here and we have had a bit of snow almost everyday, so there is a clean white covering on everything.

I made a new hat for DH, the Turning Square hat which came out great and hugs his head, which his other hats didn't do.

2010 Wrap Up

I have a little vacation. Four days off. No kids until 2011. This was a surprise. I thought I'd have them today and start the regular routine on Monday, but vacation days for parents frees me up to get my life in order for the new year and to do some major book reading and movie watching, relaxing and new year planning.

So a little review of how the resolutions of 2010 went.

1. No joining in on knit alongs.

I didn't join in any knit alongs until December, when I started the Advent Scarf. Don't regret it. I had plenty of time as I did no Christmas knitting. I haven't finished it yet but am making good progress and will probably have it done in the next two weeks. It is beautiful.

2. No knitting bags.

Nope haven't even thought about it. I think I am over this.

3. Taking only classes for items I am interested in.

Took a toe up sock class (great) and the Diamond and Pearls shawl also great and probably the most difficult thing I have knit so far.

4. Stop impulse buying.

I have to work on this. I did well all year, only buying for projects I was working on. Then the December Knit Picks sale happened and I succumbed to temptation and ordered more yarn that I really don't "need".

5. Keep to my list of queued items and not get sidetracked by new projects.

Kept to this fairly well which was why I allowed myself a knit along in December.

6. Improve my knitting, try new techniques, immerse myself in technique.

I'm working on this. Got to color work late in the year and will continue in 2011. Did more lace knitting and am learning a lot, improving my skills.

Reach my goal weight and read more. Not so much.

I am still struggling with the weight. The new program at WW has allowed me to reclaim my 15 pounds and hopefully this will continue. I actually read less this past year than last ( by 2 books).

What I accomplished in 2010:

2 Stuffed animals for kids

5 Sweaters

5 hats

3 shawls

7 pairs of socks

2 afghans

2 scarfs

I knitted 13.8 miles of yarn. Two projects were completed from very old stash yarn and eight from newer yarn that was re-purposed, or used up odds and ends from older projects.

So for 2011 here are the knitting resolutions:

1. Continue with culling out the stash and knitting from it. I had the rule of no new yarn until 10 items were finished and kept to it well. This year I will continue to knit from the stash. I am going to go through all the stash this weekend and prioritize projects.

2. Organize projects by quarters. I will have all the projects I want to complete for the first quarter of 2011 separated with their patterns and ready to grab and go. The first thing for the first quarter is to finish the Advent Scarf and DH's socks.

3. In conjunction with resolution #2, no new yarn for the first quarter of 2011.

4. Any new projects that need yarn, I want to buy yarn from indie dyers and independents. I want to be a little more adventurous with my yarn purchases. I won't do much of this, as I have plenty of yarn in my stash, but I want to have the oooh factor working when I get yarn.

Other things to work on:

1. Stop wasting time in the morning. I get up at 6:00am and usually spend this time on the internet. I usually check out blogs and comments from the groups on Ravelry that I am a member of and suddenly I fall down the rabbit hole and 3 hours have disappeared. I should be using this time for reading and knitting, or getting something accomplished.

2. Stop wasting food. I have been better at using up food, especially produce that gets overlooked until it goes bad. I want to continue with this and extend a little by doing better planning meals and buying only what I need at the grocery store.

3. Really embrace the new Weight Watcher plan and get to my goal weight and stay there.

4. Read more and include one piece of classic literature (Dickens, Dumas, and Austen come to mind) every quarter.

I love the start of new year and the idea of 365 days to fill with the things and people I love.

A Little After-Christmas Glow

The kids will be here all week so we will be busy and tired! We had a wonderful Christmas, with lots of eating and playing with new toys, and gadgets, wearing of new clothes and general togetherness. I say it constantly, how did I do all of this when I was working full time? I get crazy now when I have all this free time and it takes all my energy to get everything finished.

This year we actually had to make time for the kids to come over and do the Christmasy things, like making gingerbread men and women and making the Christmas graham cracker village. We usually do them on the weekend before Christmas, but we went to the BPO Christmas concert instead, so had to make up the time during the week.

I assembled the houses ahead of time, since it is fiddly and the kids can't wait to start the decorations before the houses are completely dry.

Let the decorating begin!

Quite the mess!

But the finished project and the quality time - priceless!

After the Solstice and Before Christmas

Well, I am finally in a Christmasy mood. Presents are wrapped, trees are up and decorated,

(this is the kids tree in the den that has a Fisher Price nativity set and a train running around it, totally kid friendly)

cookies are made, (there are Pecan Tassies, Hello Dolly bars, pizzelles, cuidati aka Italian Fig cookies, gingerbread, jam thumbprints, Mexican wedding cakes and cutouts.

Christmas dinner is made and in the freezer and all is right with my world. We had two of the grandchildren over yesterday for an evening of cookie making and pizza and wing eating. When I told the littlest granddaughter that we were going to make gingerbread men, she asked, "Why not gingerbread ladies?". Bless her little feminist heart. I feel I have made a mark as another generation of little girls fights for gender equality.

We went a little crazy with the frosting!

Here is a picture of decorated men and ladies. We had lots of fun, made a big mess and when we took them home we oohed and ahhed over the decorated houses and had a fun contest counting lighted Christmas trees.

I am on day 5 of the Advent scarf and am really enjoying the various beautiful lace patterns the designer picked for this project. I probably won't get this done by the end of the year much less Christmas, but no worries, it is a great project that I will finish in the beginning of the new year.

We have passed the day my DH hates the most, winter solstice (although I really love the dark, cozy time) and are now on the other side to brighter, sunnier days!