A Year in One Post

Well, it was an interesting year. Mom had a kidney transplant in February, and I got the flu. Work had a month of complete insanity, where I worked for three weeks without a day off, working for more than 8 hours for most of those days. Good for the wallet, bad for the knitting goals. Went to several fiber festivals, including a few that were new to me: Maryland Sheep and Wool, Crooked River Fiber Fling, Michigan Fiber Festival. Also hit up the Great Lakes Fiber Show, and went to Rhinebeck again. Already have reservations for this year, woo-hoo! Ended the year with some hospital time - my dad had knee surgery on Dec 28, and on Dec 29 I drove my mom to be admitted with pneumonia. The enforced knitting time allowed me to meet my goal of 52 pairs, though. Yay for felted clogs!

I did not meet all of my goals, but did get a lot accomplished.

First, let's record the the annual book list so I can clear out that widget.

Books Read in 2011

001. The Luck Runs Out, Charlotte MacLeod
002. Wrack and Rune, Charlotte MacLeod
003. Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads: The Culture and Evolution of Natural History Museums, Stephen Asma
004. Hillbilly Gothic: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood, Adrienne Martini
005. Sweater Quest: My Year of Knitting Dangerously, Adrienne Martini
006. Ash, Malinda Lo
007. Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories, Truman Capote
008. Labyrinth, Kate Mosse
009. Welcome to the Jungle (graphic novel), Jim Butcher
010. Old Filth, Jane Gardam
011. Zeitoun, Dave Eggers
012. The Gospel of Judas, Simon Mawer
013. Sepulchre, Kate Mosse
014. The Whistleblower: Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors, and One Woman's Fight for Justice, Kathryn Bolkovac with Cari Lynn
015. The Dragon Seekers: How an Extraordinary Circle of Fossilists Discovered the Dinosaurs and Paved the Way for Darwin, Christopher McGowan
016. Bee Season, Myla Goldberg
017. The Winter Ghosts, Kate Mosse
018. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson
019. The Owl Killers, Karen Maitland
020. Barnum Brown: The Man Who Discovered Tyrannosaurus Rex, Lowell Dingus and Mark A. Norell
021. The Man in the Wooden Hat, Jane Gardam
022. Emotionally Weird, Kate Atkinson
023. The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards
024. The Perfect Man, Naeem Murr
025. Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Kate Atkinson
026. When Will There Be Good News? Kate Atkinson
027. One Good Turn, Kate Atkinson
028. Zombie, Ohio: A Tale of the Undead, Scott Kenemore
029. The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
030, Started Early, Took My Dog, Kate Atkinson
031. Agnes and the Hitman, Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer
032. The Postmistress, Sarah Blake
033. Gentleman and Players, Joanne Harris
034. An Unquiet Mind, Kay Redfield Jamison
035. Company of Liars, Karen Maitland
036. Lover Mine, J.R. Ward
037. The Silent Miaow: A Manual for Kittens, Strays, and Homeless Cats, Paul Gallico
038. Return to Sullivans Island, Dorothea Benton Frank
039. Lowcountry Summer, Dorothea Benton Frank
040. Lucy's Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins, Donald C. Johansen and Kate Wong
041. You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News: Shocking but Utterly True Facts, Cracked.com
042. Kraken: The Curious, Exciting,m and Slightly Disturbing Science of Squid, Wendy Williams
043. The Carpet People, Terry Pratchett
044. The Wild Things, Dave Eggers
045. Last Call, Tim Powers
046. The Unlikely Ones, Mary Brown
047. Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome
048. Magic Bites, Ilona Andrews
049. Magic Burns, Ilona Andrews
050. Magic Strikes, Ilona Andrews
051. A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend, Emily Horner
052. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Catherynne M. Valente
053. Magic Bleeds, Ilona Andrews
054. Stranger Things Happen, Kelly Link
055. Heartless, Gail Carriger
056. The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
057. Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things, Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee
058. Unearthing the Dragon: The Great Feathered Dinosaur Discovery, Mark Norell
059. The Cellist of Sarajevo, Steven Galloway
060. Nerd Do Well: A Small Boy's Journey to Becoming a Big Kid, Simon Pegg
061. Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones
062. Bright's Passage, Josh Ritter
063. How to Bake a Perfect Life, Barbara O'Neal
064. Flamingo Fatale, Jimmie Ruth Evans
065. The Egypt Game, Zilpha Keatley Snyder
066. Ghost Story, Jim Butcher
067. The People on Privilege Hill, Jane Gardam
068. There Will Be Dragons, John Ringo
069. Emerald Sea, John Ringo
070. Against the Tide, John Ringo
071. East of the Sun, West of the Moon, John Ringo
072. God on the Rocks, Jane Gardam
073. Hounded, Kevin Hearne
074. Feed, Mira Grant
075. Deadline, Mira Grant
076. Hexed, Kevin Hearne
077. All Wound Up, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
078. Hammered, Kevin Hearne
079. Snuff, Terry Pratchett
080. Tall, Dark, & Dead, Tate Hallaway
081. The Princess & the Penis, RJ Silver
082. Bedtime Stories for Children You Hate, Antoinette Bergin
083. The Tale of St. Picklas, Nicholas Pfeifer
084. A Walk in the Snark, Rachel Thompson
085. I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution, Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum
086. The Velveteen Rabbit, Margery Williams Bianco
087. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
088. Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell

As far as 2011 goals, well, I made 52 pairs and a few random things. I didn't knit any sweaters, and I didn't even finish those that I started in 2010. Argh. Add them to the list for 2012...

I didn't make my goal of 100 books, either, and didn't even touch anything cross-stitch related. I'm not sure if I knit more yarn than I acquired. Maybe.

Goals for 2012:

Knit my Blanket of Insanity. 5000 yards of bulky weight yarn, size 13 needle, and oodles and oodles of cables. Printed the pattern today.

Participating in a 12 FOs in 2012 KAL. I can finish 12 things, right?

Get back to sweater knitting. Possibly knit the Autumn Rose Pullover since the world is going to end.

Knit more socks. I don't have enough. Would like to make a pair a month, but we'll see if that really happens.

KNIT ALL OF THE THINGS!!!1!!1!! Maybe a goal will be to play the lottery more often so I actually have a chance at winning, so I can be independently wealthy and stay home and knit all day.

Finish things. I really have a lot of WIPs and UFOs, and I need to finish or frog many of them. Finishing would be preferred, but sometimes frogging is a better option.

Wear pajamas as often as possible. (Yes, I want to succeed at *something*, why do you ask?)

That's all I can think of now. May post later if I have any more brilliant ideas. Part 4 of my summer shawl KAL was released today, and I'd like to work on that tonight.



Actually, maybe I will share some pictures first. You like pictures, right?

First FO of 2012. Hat made from Claudia Handpainted Single Ply yarn won from the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival. Yarn stained my hands blue, and the hat needed four rinses before the rinse water was anything resembling clear, but the colors make me happy every time I see it, so it's a win.



Thrummed bunny slippers for my mom, made while she was in the hospital.



Scarf for my MIL. Really like the colors, and the yarn is not bad at all for acrylic.



Zuzu, because she still loves her alpaca blanket.



Clogs make good kitty capes.



And kitty cushions.



We also bought Zuzu new chairs this year.



Beaded shawls make good blankets.



Oh! Should also talk about Huxley. The fox in the cowl (at least the brown/grey parts) is knit from fox fur, plyed with cashmere. Many thanks go to the Wildlife Resources staff at CMNH for sharing Huxley's fur with me.



My friend Rebecca spun the yarn for that shawl. I love it!



My birthday project. Love the colors, just wish it was a tad bigger.



My friend Nicole spun the yarn for this scarf. I am so lucky to have such talented and generous friends!



First FO of 2011



I have been lax in sharing silly Zuzu pictures. She got a snuggie for Christmas last year.



She also got to attack an opossum. She would have killed it, too, if it hadn't been for that meddling glass door!



I also put things on her head.





I occasionally make her wear her snuggie.



Anyway, I should get knitting. To close, FORK YOU!!



Happy 2012!

Failure, a.k.a. I Love Lists

Well, I didn't manage to finish all of the sweaters in 12 months. I still have four to go, all relatively close to being done. That said, I definitely spent a lot of time knitting in 2010. The list is as follows:

• Eight sweaters, one of which had to be frogged about halfway before it could be finished
  
• Seven blanket squares*, and seamed the blanket - it was much more work than I expected
• Four partial sweaters - all more than halfway done
  
• Two pairs of fingerless mitts and one pair of cabled mittens
• Two and three-quarters baby bibs
  
• Two and a quarter scarves
• One and a half shawls
• One Very Large felted bag
• Half a pair of socks
  

*I think I made additional blanket squares for other blankets, but can't quite remember and didn't keep track. Maybe that was 2009.

Reasons for failure:

• Too many projects. I worked on many not-sweater projects for various reasons, and frequently had more than one sweater in progress at the same time. I know that different situations require different projects, but I feel like I didn't finish enough before starting something new.
• Poor time management. I purchased a smartphone in April, and I think that really affected my knitting. I found (and still find!) myself playing solitaire more frequently than I should. Also, it is very easy to put down my knitting to look at the email message that just arrived. Or to browse Ravelry, just because I can.
  
• Just plain laziness.
  

Things I learned:

• I really like knitting sweaters, preferably seamless ones.
• While I love hand-painted/kettle-dyed yarn, it is a PITA to switch skeins frequently. Will consider yarn selection a bit better.
  
• I can knit A LOT! (Hmmm, maybe I should add a pair of Alots to the list.) When I participated in NaKniSweMo in Nov 2008, it was definitely a challenge, and I found it much easier to knit a sweater in a month now. And back then I spent weekends "working" on call, spending Friday night and all day Saturday sitting in an office knitting.
  
• My knitting has improved in the past few years. My finished pieces, while still not perfect, look a lot better than my NaKniSweMo sweater.
  

Anyway, I still have hopes of finishing the mostly-done sweaters in January. But first, I think I need to test knit a shawl, because I have a serious case of startitis and all this finishing makes me want to start something new. Unfortunately, the yarn I had planned to use is a bit short on yardage, so I need to spend some time in the stash room figuring out what else to use. Will need to finish Spoke first, because the needle for the shawl is holding Spoke stitches ready for the edging. (And why, oh *why* did I work on Lia's sleeves yesterday when chances were good I could have finished Spoke?)

So. Goals for 2011. I want to focus on pairs, and attempt a sort of 52-pair plunge. That said, I do not want to be nearly as strict as the Official 52-pair plunge people, who insist that all pairs should be socks. Plus, I want to operate on a calendar year rather than the arbitrary year that they use, so this is a self-challenge rather than a group KAL.

Guidelines and Goals:

1. While I want to complete a pair each week, I am not limiting pairs to socks. Mitts, slippers, gloves, shawls, hats, and even bags can count as pairs. As long as there are two items, it's a pair. Items do not necessarily need to be identical, but do need to be similar to each other to count. A beanie and a balaclava cannot count as a pair, but two shawls of similar yardage and same weight of yarn will count. (I was tempted to try to knit 12 shawls in 2011, but that will wait for 2012. Along with the Autumn Rose pullover.)
   
2. WIPs will count. This is not cheating, this is encouragement to finish some of the things that have been languishing in my WIPs pile for far too long. Like socks! And the slippers that have been sitting around for two three EEP!!! four years waiting to have the cuffs sewn on.
   
3. In 2010, I discovered that I really like knitting sweaters. It was very tempting to extend my sweater-a-month challenge through June, especially since I didn't quite finish. I'd like to knit at least two sweaters, preferably four, in 2011, and those may or may not count towards the pair goal; I haven't decided yet. See Rule #1, similar weight/yardage sweaters can count, if I decide to count them.
   
4. Stash knit down! While Christmas 2011 will be another year of slipper gifts, and I will need to order yarn for those, I'd like to knit as much as possible from stash.
5. I'd also like to get back to cross stitch, at least a little. Ever since I learned to knit, my cross stitch projects have languished, and I'd like to finish at least two small cross stitch projects in 2011. I don't think these will count towards the pairs, but it's another personal goal.
6. Another personal goal is to read at least 100 books in 2011. If 2010 was any indication, I can still read a decent bit while knitting a lot.
   

Anyway, time to go dig around in the stash to see if I can find yarn for the test knit. Then finish Spoke to reclaim the needle. And if I can knit two shawls, that's a pair!

Perhaps I won't get to finish Spoke today after all. It has been claimed. That's what I get for leaving it on the floor.


Also, I might as well include the 2010 book list here, since there are so many lists already. In 2010,

• I fell a little bit in love with Rob Sheffield,
• read some charming but incredibly poorly-edited books about what might happen when Buffy the Vampire Slayer turns into a soccer mom,
  
• was amazed by how Jill Ciment can create such amazing characters in such small books;
  
• and laughed at several rewritings of classic novels.
  

I read some excellent books, and some trash, too. Fun stuff! Here is the list:

1. The Stupidest Angel, Christopher Moore
2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
3. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
4. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bible!, Jonathan Goldstein
5. The River King, Alice Hoffman
6. Venus Envy, Rita Mae Brown
7. Snow Falling on Cedars, David Guterson
8. Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her, Melanie Rehak
9. Uncle John's Unsinkable Bathroom Reader, the Bathroom Readers' Institute (90% read in 2009)
10. I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith
11. Tailchaser's Song, Tad Williams
12. Wishful Drinking, Carrie Fisher
13. Kit's Law, Donna Morrissey
14. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
15. Latitudes of Melt, Joan Clark
16. An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography, Paul Rusesabagina with Tom Zoellner
17. Soulless, Gail Carriger
18. I Don't Care About Your Band: What I Learned from Indie Rockers, Trust funders, Pornographers, Faux Sensitive Hipsters, Felons, and Other Guys I've Dated, Julie Klausner
19. The Rapture, Liz Jensen
20. Sand in My Bra and other Misadventures, Jennifer L. Leo, ed.
21. Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle, Daniel L. Everett
22. Einstein's Telescope: The Hunt for Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe, Evalyn Gates
23. The Tattoo Artist, Jill Ciment
24. The Last Train from Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back, Charles Pellegrino
25. Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story, Leonie Swann
26. The Glass Room, Simon Mawer
27. Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom, Julie Kenner
28. California Demon, Julie Kenner
29. Demons Are Forever, Julie Kenner
30. Deja Demon, Julie Kenner
31. The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World, Shelley Emling
32. The Law of Falling Bodies, Jill Ciment
33. Half a Life, Jill Ciment
34. Heroic Measures, Jill Ciment
35. Demon Ex Machina, Julie Kenner
36. Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier
37. The Wood Wife, Terri Windling
38. Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels, Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan
39. The Island, Victoria Hislop
40. Changes, Jim Butcher
41. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Seth Grahame-Smith
42. The Help, Kathryn Stockett
43. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, Helen Simonson
44. Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey
45. The Swan Thieves, Elizabeth Kostova
46. Bite Me: A Love Story, Christopher Moore
47. Just Kids, Patti Smith
48. The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova
49. Stones from the River, Ursula Hegi
50. To Love and to Cherish, Patricia Gaffney
51. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
52. Ahab's Wife, or, The Star-Gazer, Sena Jeter Naslund
53. The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
54. The Charlotte Gilman Perkins Reader, ed. Ann J. Lane
55. i know i am, but what are you?, Samantha Bee
56. The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Mohsin Hamid
57. Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, Daniel Okrent
58. In the Forest of Forgetting, Theodora Goss
59. The Water-Method Man, John Irving
60. Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter, A.E. Moorat
61. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, Beth Hoffman
62. Windflower, Nick Bantock
63. Bullet Points, Mark Watson
64. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
65. The Girl who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson
66. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, Stieg Larsson
67. Bitten, Kelley Armstrong
68. Little Bee, Chris Cleaves
69. Foreign Correspondence, Geraldine Brooks
70. A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
71. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Cory Doctorow
72. Little Vampire Women, Louisa May Alcott and Lynn Messina
73. The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers
74. McKay's Bees, Thomas McMahon
75. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls, Steve Hockensmith
76. Talking to Girls About Duran Duran, Rob Sheffield
77. Changeless, Gail Carriger
78. Year of Wonders, Geraldine Brooks
79. The Sheriff of Yrnameer, Michael Rubens
80. Jane Slayre, Charlotte Bronte and Sherri Browning Erwin
81. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Patrick Suskind
82. The Believers, Zoe Heller
83. Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Hill
84. Vampire Vow, Michael Schiefelbein
85. Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time, Rob Sheffield
86. The Darkest Night, Gena Schowalter
87. The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett
88. Little Women and Werewolves, Porter Grand
89. The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time, Jeff Deck and Benjamin D
90. Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures, Robert K. Wittman and John Schiffman
91. Only Revolutions, Mark Danielewski
92. Mansfield Park and Mummies, Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian
93. Mr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose, Lee Alan Dugatkin
94. I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett
95. Two Truths and a Lie, Katrina Kittle
96. The Passage, Justin Cronin
97. John Dies at the End, David Wong
98. Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, Richard Wrangham
99. If I Stay, Gayle Forman
100. Half Broke Horses, Jeannette Walls
101. The Blessings of the Animals, Katrina Kittle
102. Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, Mary Roach
103. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers
104. And the Heart Says Whatever, Emily Gould
105. Poplollies and Bellibones: A Celebration of Lost Words, Susan Kelz Sperling
106. God's Dog: A Celebration of the North American Coyote, Hope Ryden
107. Palimpsest, Catherynne M. Valente
108. The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science, Douglas Starr
109. Kraken, China Miéville
110. The Kindness of Strangers, Katrina Kittle
111. Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicholson, Louise Rennison
112. Fallen, Lauren Kate
113. Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot: The Autobiography of a Dangerous Man, John Callahan
114. Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change, Elizabeth Kolbert
115. Side Jobs, Jim Butcher
116. Blameless, Gail Carriger
117. The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession, Allison Hoover Bartlett
118. Greywalker, Kat Richardson
119. Rest You Merry, Charlotte MacLeod
120. Bright of the Sky, Kay Kenyon

Cruel to be kind...or right to be wrong...and beware the cars of orange

My dad was rear-ended yesterday. 1989 Chevy Van vs. Honda CRV. The CRV lost, although my dad saw it coming and was smart enough to turn the wheel so that he didn't smash into the guy in front of him. As he put it, he was "creamed." The driver's seat is broken. Dad was heading to the ER yesterday, to get everything checked out, and document any issues. Hopefully he won't have much pain as a result - the good karma of avoiding the driver in front of him should prevent pain, right?

Orange cars want me to rear-end them. An orange Vibe made a right turn on red just before I got to the intersection when I was on the way home last night. While I was impressed by the chameleon neon detailing (inside and under the car, and the colors changed!), I wanted to follow the kid home just to scare him.

Then this morning, an orange Element pulled out of a gas station right in front of me. I will do my best to avoid any more orange cars.

Anyway, I am happy that I was wrong. My camera has been dying, as readers of this page will probably know. Sorny has issued a recall for defective cameras with the same issue that I have,
but I was convinced that the model I own was not one of them. I checked this morning, and I really have one of the covered models. So I will be calling Sorny this afternoon to ship it back and have it fixed. Yay! No new camera expense for me! Although Mike (the big meanie that he is) said that I could spend my half of the tax rebate now, and get a new camera. I think I will spend about a third of it and get a sock club subscription, and more sock yarn. Tell me that I don't need these socks....

What else? Zuzu needs lots of love, as usual. I have been Raveling more than I have been knitting, but will try to get more accomplished today. Trying to decide whether or not to join Hat Attack, which is like Sock Wars, except with hats. I am a pacifist, you know, and don't like killing things...............................Okay, I will join. There is Scarves of the Living Dead group, so after I am killed (because you know, I will be - only one person can win) I can continue to knit as a zombie. That clinched it for me. Mmmmmm yarn brains.

I did finish the snowman hat, and gave it to Danielle for Jaden. She says he likes saying "snowman" so even if he won't wear it he will like to look at it. I think it turned out really cute. Another knitter at work took a few pictures, so when she figures out how to download and email images, she'll send them to me for upload.

Oh, I need to figure out my square for the Pratchagan. Must not forget.

Okay, I should really get knitting now. It's slow on Ravelry now, so I should be able to tear myself away. It really is an addiction, you know.

Yet another challenge

Happy New Year. Although it feels like it should be early November. I'm still not ready, but am enjoying the days off.

I gave up on November's sockdown challenge, and didn't cast on for December's. I think I might do January's, though - I'd need to knit either a pattern with intarsia (knitting with two colors - think Mike's socks that won me free sock yarn) or by Cookie A. I've been wanting to do Pomatomus and Monkey for a while; either one would qualify. And I now have lots of sock yarn. (As if I didn't before.) So perhaps I will participate again.

Also discovered a new group - Stash Knit Down 2008. Their first challenge is to knit a mile. Between January 5 and February 19 (time frame of the FIRST Robotics Competition - the group moderator has an interest in that), the goal is to use up 1760 yards of stash yarn. And if my calculations are correct (which they may not be), I knitted three+ times that in December, working on all the clogs. I will have to keep track of that. And get back to the clogs, even though I am still thinking sweater. I think I will need the clog-yarn box to send my package to my secret groundhog bunny partner (we procrastinate too much to have secret Santas), so I should work on emptying it. Yes. That is what I should be doing today. Am I? No. Shame on me. Anyway, I think I can knit a mile in six weeks - could probably knit a mile every month if I tried hard enough. So it's yet another thing to keep track of. It's good that I love spreadsheets!

I am learning.... A 6-12-month-old baby's head is about the same diameter as a spindle of DVDs. And that is the size of the snowman hat. As Nancy's baby will be six months old in June, and that's probably not the best time of the year for a snowman hat, the hat should go to another, slightly older, baby. Any candidates out there? Of course, I could just send it to Nina for next year, right? I will do that if I don't discover any properly-aged babies. Or I could just use the snowman hat as a DVD-spindle cozy. Emerson Cod makes gun cozies; I can make DVD cozies, right?

Some friends came over last night for New Year's. Had fun, missed the ball drop because we were talking too much. Stayed up until 2AM. Zuzu wanted breakfast at 5AM, as usual, but then she and I crashed on the couch for a lot longer than usual. Kitty needed to catch up on her sleep, too. Made cakewaffles. With ice cream. Apparently you can make instant cake by cooking cake batter in a waffle iron. Yummy! Ahh, the things I learn on Ravelry. Like how to spend my day thinking about knitting and not actually doing it.

Anyway, I should probably pretend to be productive. Lots to do, and this is the last day off to do it. Weekend work kicks in again on the 11th, so more knitting is on the agenda then. Perhaps I will start a sweater before February...... Oh, how I want to start a sweater now......

(Oh, I ordered yarn from French Creek for a second sweater. Peggy didn't have the amounts of what I needed, so she is ordering more for me, at the year-end discounted price. I will have to shop there more often. Too bad Avon is so far away. But wait! I should not be shopping at all. Perhaps it is a good that it is such a distance.)