Finished Objects 2010

Or at least most of them.

1/3 - Citron Shawl, 440 yds.

1/14 - Citron Shawl #2, 462 yds.

1/23 - Victoria Socks (VR) - 258 yds.

3/2 - Peasant Heel Socks #1 - 243 yds.

3/8 - Peasant Heel Socks #2 - 330 yds.

4/15 - South Sea Monkey Socks - 305 yds.
5/23 - Val's Wedding Shawl - 1787 yds.

7/7 - THB's Last Chance Socks - 440 yds.

7/7 - Whammy Kiss yarn - 335 yds.
7/15 - Plain Cornucopia Socks - 305 yds.
7/25 - Handspun Ishbel - 320 yds.

8/12 - Little Red - 1040 yds.

8/16 - Jolly Green Knee Highs - 545 yds.

10/27 - Baby Bliss - 365 yds.

It's a Wash.

And oh, how I wish I meant this kind.

He can captain my spaceship any day, if you catch my drift.

But alas, I do not. At this point, I'm not even going to bother weighing and counting up my yardage for this year because it won't make a difference and I prefer to imagine that my 2-3 pairs of uncounted socks add up to enough yards to magically take me to 11 (miles) and also I have yet to find my stupid kitchen scale.

I feel that I can confess to you, my dear readers, that my knitting mojo deserted me this year. I'm sure I did something to drive it off, but it takes two to ruin a relationship, and I was left with a closet ::cough:andahalf:cough:: full of wool and no mojo to make it sing to me. Like Garfunkel, I have stopped singing on my own; my knitting mojo's name, it appears, is Simon..

Next year I intend to start afresh with both the 12-Mile Quest and my Input/Output Equality Experiment. There's a picture on my camera that shows the closet all tidy and organized and the daunting Tika-high stack of boxes full of yarn that didn't fit in said closet; once I find the proper camera cord, I will reveal them to you, although I warn you beforehand that it's slightly distressing. I have a short and therefore do-able list of things I'd like to... do... before 2010 ends. They are:

1) Dig out all my WIP's and either auf them or place them in prominent locations so I can finish them. This should greatly help my totals for next year.

2) Clean my cherry Schact and make her ready to actually earn her keep this year. Not that she didn't last year, but it wasn't exactly a spinning-friendly household so she's rather dusty. Or a Tika-friendly household, to be honest. I'll stop now.

3) Bag up and prepare 12 months-worth of spinning for Spindlicity's 2011 Stash Down. This requires a Tossing of the Fiber Stash, which can't be a bad thing. it will also require a lot of discretion in choosing monthly projects!

Tomorrow is the 30th of December. I should probably get on this list.

It's been a tough year, gang, and I've just barely held it on the rails. Thanks for sticking with me; next year will begin in a much better place, and I'm more excited about it than I have been about the last several put together. Bring on the '11!

I Drank All the Tea

Internetlings, it is DECEMBER. Did you know? The weather in California certainly doesn't, although it has been ever-so-slightly colder lately. In fact, it was a grand 36 degrees (Farenheit, natch) when I sauntered off the plane from Chicago on Monday night.

Thanksgiving with the family was lovely. My Grandmother had her final chemotherapy on Monday and managed to stay relatively upright until Friday, which meant she made it down to dinner on Thursday, for which we were all thankful. She did try to direct the Making of the Dinner from her bedroom on the other side of the house (including calling my aunt and uncle on their cell phones from upstairs), and my Uncle Frank worried all day at work that we would forget to put the turkey in the oven, but otherwise everything went swimmingly.

Uncle Tony, Uncle Jim, and Tia Maria

Tia made an apple pie!

At table

On Friday I took a train to Chicago

on which I worked on my mitts, the second Primvera sock being finished already!

to visit two dear friends whom I have known just about an equal amount of time - give or take a few months back in 1999 - but who had never met one another. We rectified that on Michigan Avenue in the middle of Black Friday.

A handsome pair

It was fun and we bought not a single thing (although I did veer a little toward the H&M after we passed it for the 3rd time. The display was shiny!).

Me, Katie, Scott, Jessie, and Brandon, pre-Tangled in Chicago

Then on Saturday I took the train out to Geneva,

The mitts! They are done!

where Meghan and I spent a truly fabulous weekend immersed in fiber, yarn, and amazing food.

We carded batts

And met a certain hooligan in a red suit

We scored a mint green polar fleece blanket for 5 bucks at the thrift store, then took it home to wash and discovered we had bought...

Earlier in the trip, the fmaily took a trip to Michaels where I may or may not have bought some Patons Kroy stretch yarn to make summer socks (I did). I justified this to myself by saying that I had finished the major project I'd brought (the Primavera socks and mitts) and that I could potentially finish a whole 'nother pair of socks before I landed in CA.

Oh yes. It was an awesome weekend. Now if only I could find my scale so I could weigh all the things I knitted!

Moving Day!

And of course I was all, "most of my stuff is still in boxes in the garage, so packing will be a snap!"

I was wrong. I have a lot of shit (on top of the books and yarn, despite my best efforts last year) and not very many boxes, my Nieblings. This will be a Move in Stages, of which I am looking forward to the Final Stage the most.

Stage 1: Paint!