Obligatory Yearly Round-Up

Tonight, I say goodbye to 2008. It wasn't the best of years, but it wasn't entirely bad either. I learned a lot, played a lot of video games, knitted and spun, and accumulated enough fiber/yarn to fill several big Rubbermaid bins.

However, despite the allowance in the Social Pressure Experiment and my dwindling finances, whenever anyone asked me what I wanted for my birthday or Christmas, I said "nothing." That's right, instead of yarn, I said, "nothing," because I am an idiot. On the plus side, I did get several checks in varying amounts, so I decided to do the only possible appropriate thing: I used my Christmas money to buy yarn.

My first internet stop was WEBS, where I discovered that they sell 4 pound cones of Franklin sock yarn for $60. Actually, it's $48 because the discount kicks in, but let's just say $60 and include the shipping. That's 7200 yards, or roughly 20.5 pairs of Tika socks. I would like some recognition here and now for heroically abstaining from buying 4 pounds of yarn that I have never knit with, and instead buying only two skeins of the hand-dyed version instead. One is here:

Valley Yarns Franklin, "Macaw"
SW Merino/Nylon

And the other was curiously the only colorway that was sold out. Maybe it has something to do with the name. I also picked up the new Lorna's Laces colorway by Anne Modesitt, but it was mis-shipped so I'm waiting for that one too. Ah, the holiday season!

My second internet stop was at the Loopy Ewe, where I picked up some more Franklin-colored yarn:

Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, "Franklin's Panopticon"
SW Merino/Nylon

Delicious. And as if that weren't enough to keep me drooling all day, Jasmin and I went to the Bobbin's Nest yesterday for a sale. A 35% off sale. A sale at which I picked up these little beauties from Pagewood Farm:

Alyeska Sock Yarn "River Rock"
SW Merino/Cashmere/Nylon

Denali Sock Yarn "Santa Fe"
SW Merino/Nylon

And this one from Hazel Knits:

Artisan Sock Yarn, "Euphorbia"

SW Merino/Nylon

Yum. Even ManCandy was impressed with my carefully chosen haul. I also picked up Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns and The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns. Just, y'know, 'cause they were there. And because I'm involved in a supa-secret project that - should it come to fruition - would require a higher level of intimacy with designing than the one I currently possess.

So that was Christmas, not including the lovely case of 2-Buck Chuck hand-picked for me by THB and a set of awesome Dead Sea Spa products from the Mother Ship. Wine, spa, and yarn. Doesn't get much better than that!

All in all, this year I completed 8 miles, 944 yards-worth of knitted items, not counting my infernal Ribbi Cardi and languishing Salina Sweater. That's 50 items all together, spread out over 75 blog posts! Next year, I'm shooting for 12 miles again, but I think I've got a better handle on how to approach it. Next year I'm also going to begin knitting through EZ's Knitter's Workshop, as I said t'other day. I snuggled up and read the first 4 chapters last night and went to bed with visions of sweaters dancing in my head. I'm pretty excited to finish up these Seeded Rib Scarves and get started! Only 2.5 more to go...

I announced to Jasmin before Christmas this year that I was stealing her self-renewal idea for myself. Thus, Tika 2009 will encompass several ideas, all of which I will try to apply to several areas of my life.

1) Experimentation. I used to be the girl who said "sure, let's do it!" but somewhere along the line I lost my way. While my new, in-my-30's experimentation will involve fewer rock stars, I'd like to go back to the impetuosity that kept my life... well, if not enriched, at least entertaining.

2) Organization. I am an organization nightmare. When it comes to work or school, I'm totally on top of things, but in my house I have stuff everywhere and it's driving me nuts. I'd like to get rid of a lot of Things - the kinds of Things that weigh on the soul, not the Things that are made of wool or silk or paper! Books and yarn will always have a place in my home. They're insulating.

3) Reasonable Expectations. Cleaning out a box of stuff every day is not reasonable beyond 2-3 days. One per week, on the other hand, might be do-able. This is an offshoot of the SPE, since our whole intention was to adjust our expectations and habits.

Really, Tika 2009-75 might be about all of these things. But in keeping with #3, we'll just try it out for a year and see how it goes, shall we?

Happy New Year to all! It should kick off nicely with the inauguration, don't you think? The unknown has always held a special fascination for me; I'm excited to see how this year, with all its changes and adjustments will play out. Much love!