What can I say? I'm fickle.

You will now find me here:

http://www.00queue.wordpress.com


I am also going to only maintain the one blog . . . two was too much work. I'm done here.  See ya there!

Cheryl just tagged me on this one, so here are my answers to the current meme:

The Rules - Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.
Since I don't do this very often, here goes:

1. What I was doing 10 years ago:

I was finishing up my sophomore year of high school, starting another summer of swim team practices and lifeguarding.

2. What 5 things are on on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

Coffee, breakfast, feed the kitten, pack my dinner, go to work

3. Snacks I enjoy:

Snap peas, sun chips, oatmeal cookies, cheese, fruit

4. Things I would do if I was a billionaire:

Go and find a small development of McMansions somewhere in farming country, buy them all along with some more land, knock them all down and build a smaller house and a barn and start raising sheep and goats.  Might even build the mostly in ground "hobbit" house I've always wanted.

5. Places I have lived:

Norfolk, VA; Wilmore, KY; Los Angeles, CA . . . lather rinse repeat

I'm not going to tag anyone with this - if you wanted a chance to do it and no-one's tagged you yet - consider yourself invited.

And yes Cheryl, I have another post coming, but I need a few more pictures.  So maybe tomorrow, when I have a day off, I'll get that knocked out.

I should begin an adventure in posting more often . . . but seriously.

I need to get some photo's taken so I can show the fun stuff I've been up to, but the light in the apartment has been abysmal, what with winter and all and there being a good bit of rainy days.  And I need to take some process shots of things, which is hard to remember to do when you're in the throws of actually doing it.

But beyond that I was having a thought the other day as to this whole adventure thing, and I was feeling a bit ungrateful for some of the "everyday" things I'd been taking for granted. Shame on me.  I guess it's amazing what you can get used to, if you let yourself.

For instance, we haven't bought bread in over a year.  It used to be that I made bread as often as I thought I had time, and when we ran out or I couldn't keep up with consumption, I bought a loaf.  I seem to have settled into a pattern where I can keep up just fine. 

Strange thoughts I have at 2am . . .

The Sweater

Yup, I said sweater.


Pattern: Tangled Yoke Cardigan, by Eunny Jang, size: 50"
Isn't it lovely?

After a couple months of hemming and hawing and a couple of failures to acquire the desired yarn followed by a far and wide search of all the places I knew sold yarn to find a cache of enough skeins for the project, I finally located and purchased what I had decided was the perfect yarn. I wanted a lovely tweed not unlike that called for in the pattern, because I could just see a sea of stockinette dotted with cute little flecks.


Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, 192 yd's/50g, color 08 Herb

I had intended to have some pictures of my progress over the last two weeks, but between rainy days that failed to provide good light for photography, followed by the sick lappy, I neglected to take any pictures prior to today - exactly the two week mark. So, I'll make up for it with lots of detail pictures.


Now would be a good time to note that I felt that in order to make this a sweater that I would wear, I needed to make some modifications. I love the sweater as written, don't get me wrong, but it breaks a couple of rules for how to flatter my plus sized, pear shaped figure. First off, I don't much wear cardigans, as those pesky buttons tend to leave gaps that make it look like my sweater is too small. So, step one, make it a pullover. I added five stitches, and knit in the round.


My intention is to split for a button placket after joining the sleeves and just before beginning that lovely cabled yoke - making it more of a henley, with 4 buttons or so. The other problem I had was the ribbing, which, while very attractive, looked destined to cut me off at an awkward point and serve to be less than flattering. So, it had to go (and the part of my brain that hates knitting ribbing because it's slow, rejoiced . . . until it realized that I'd be knitting stockinette for.ev.er.). I decided on a hemmed edge.


I also decided to use that hemmed edge to add an extra inch of length to the body, as I am long in the torso, and don't like it when I sit down and my sweater and jeans gap. When I wear a sweater, it's because I need the added warmth: gaps mean drafts kids, and drafts are cold! I intend to do the same to the sleeves, as I also have long arms. Now to the things I love and wouldn't change for the world!


See that? That's a fake seam. I am purling one stitch at each side to give the appearance of seam. That is why I chose this sweater - no seams to sew.


And see that? That's waist shaping. My sweater is going to have a waist! I figure if I have one, why shouldn't it?

Ok, so far that's all I have. I have two more increase rounds to knit on the body and then it will be time to start the sleeves. Thanks for playing along!

I don't often get a good shot of the kitten, as she tends to walk off when I get the camera out, but since this one turned out so well . . . here you go, gratuitous kitty pictureage.

There you have pictures of nearly every project I completed this year.  And I can safely say that in terms of knitting, I accomplished nearly all of my goals. The only thing I neglected was my sock club membership - I still have 4.5 pairs of socks to knit.

And while the Christmas knitting got a little hectic towards the end, I really enjoyed working on it. So here you have the "secret" knitting for 2007:

I finished 4 grandma shawls (some of which you've seen before):






Then for the MIL and FIL : a pair of socks and a hat.




For one SIL, a pair of mittens, for the other a wrap, and for the BIL, a manly scarf:





And to top off this show, I have a huge hat.



Ok, you'll have to trust me on this one, but when I tried it on in this state, it hung down nearly to my shoulders. Now this lovely blue hat, has a lovely cranberry colored twin. And I can say now that they've both been felted down to fit a more normal sized human head. However, I was not present for the felting. I have been promised pictures of the finished product, which I will share if I have permission.

We had a great time with our homemade Christmas, a tradition I fully intend to continue for a good portion of my Christmas presents (I hope they don't mind). The other part of our themed festivities was Christmas dinner. The decision was made to wait until after dinner to decide on next year's theme. Suggestions for next year would make a good gauge for the success of this year - the more out there and wild we got, the more we thought of this years theme. And let me tell you, we weren't shy about suggestions for themes and ingredients - and I'm excited!