Goals not resolutions

I guess it would actually help if I posted on my blog more regularly instead of when I happen to think about it.

I woke up on December 31 with the following thought: Twelve in 12. Twelve is a significant number.
12 in a dozen
12 tribes of Israel
12 disciples
12 months in a year
I have TWELVE goals for this year. I will list them in order of importance:
1 Grow my relationship with God.
2 Build and grow relationships with others (family and friends)
3 Get healthy
4 Get finances in order
5 Communicate more effectively
6 Improve followthrough
7 get house in order
8 Downsize at home and at work
9 Read a book a month
10 finish knitting UFOs
11 pratice flute and piano 3 times a week
12 go to the archery range 2-3 times a month

Sounds achievable, right? Some of them are one time things, others are ongoing. So part of the getting healthy thing is going to the gym and getting my money's worth out of my membership and lose 5 pounds a month. That's practical. It would be if I went back to the eating habits I had BEFORE the holidays! I'm working on that.
I'm getting ready to move so that getting the home in order thing will be coming up soon along with the downsizing.
Building relationships: That'll be fun. That will force me to work on the communication part. And hopefully get me out of the house more often. Going to the gym and the archery range will help me do that.
Reading and practicing the instruments will get me from in front of the TV and off of the computer.

I'll keep you posted on how it's going.

Almost a year

The last time I posted I was preparing to go to Hawaii. I made it. Jet lag sucks. Since then I have quit my Facebook games that kept me away from knitting and have knitted I think 5 or 6 pairs of socks since then. I just finished the socks from hell: ARGYLE! Although they turned out pretty good now that I finished them, the journey was a treacherous one. I started with the prescribed needle size, got through the 1st pattern repeat and they wouldn't fit over my heel. Ripped it out and put it on larger needles. Still a no go. Added stitches. DING,DING, DING! We have a winner.

After that I had to deal with the following: backing up to pick up a dropped stitch; backing up because the pattern got screwed up, backing up because it got a little too tight. Once I finished the pattern portion of the sock the rest of it was CAKE and PIE. The second sock took a lot less time because I wasn't having to deal with trial and error.

The remainder of this month and October, I plan to complete several of my UFOs: The throw I started how long ago?! Three tops, wait make that four, felt 2 totes (that's so easy I can finish that this weekend. I have to go through my stuff and see what else is hiding in there!

Heading to Hawaii

I am STOKED!!! Right now I am at Tampa International Airport preparing to fly to Hawaii of all places. It really hit on the drive over. I thought "WOW! This is for real. I'm going to Hawaii." At some point in nearly every American's life, there is a desire to go to Hawaii. It is considered paradise. I mean seriously, the temp is constantly in the 80s. SWEET! Let's see what the humidity is like. And I am SO looking forward to taking a dip in the Pacific Ocean. I brought a swim suit and a beach towel. We had better spend some time at the beach. And I brought along my laptop. Facebook addict. I hope there is some access to wireless at the time share. We shall see. I also need the capability to upload the hundreds of pictures I will be taking over the next five, six days.

SWEEEEEETTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Still knitting

Even with the economy as it is, it has put little dent in my knitting escapades. One of my latest purchases at me LYS was over $100. And my stash grew. If there were a class that I wanted to take available at a time I was available, I would have signed up. (mo' money!) So right now until I complete my current projects (place mats, top and socks), there is a temporary increase in my yarn stash. Future projects include a top made out of bamboo (That's be a new experience for me), a felted piggy purse, felted coasters (If I ever manage to master DOUBLE POINTS! GAG!!), fingerless gloves for the sis, maybe a Fair Isle vest for Mom, and believe it or not, more socks!

Reality check

Here's the reality of lace patterns:
1. One error has the potential to screw up the entire pattern
2. One error will screw up part of the pattern
3. One error won't make a difference because no one will notice
It all depends on the pattern. And it depends on the error you make.
Here is a sampling of errors:
1. dropping a stitch
2. adding a stitch
3. forgetting to knit a row
4. repeating a row you weren't supposed to
5. repeating stitches before you're supposed to
Etcetera...
A lace pattern like the one I am doing for my second place mat falls in the category of #2. I've already ripped it out, um I think twice. The second time was because I had done something really screwy in one of the pattern repeats that made it look pretty bad. Now the 3rd time around I got to a pattern repeat and left out a row, but the pattern still looked good...so I left it alone. I know Mom will accept the gift not caring one whit or another that I left out a row.

I have also found that it is important to check stitch count FREQUENTLY. This is how my pattern got screwed up the 1st couple of times. An additional stitch here and there. I though just knit 2 together to fix it. HA! The pattern was already messed up. Doing that wasn't going to fix it. Neither did adding stitches when I found several missing. When these mishaps occurred I was too far from the initial error to back up and fix it thus forcing me to rip out the pattern to the border. (Have you ever tried to put a piece back on the sticks that has a lot of yarn overs? NIGHTMARE!) So every 3-4 rows I count my stitches. When I notice that the end of a row isn't ending as it should, I go back and check. I back out until I: a. find the error or b. get to the point where I have the correct number of stitches and take it form there. Now the pattern is finally looking like the picture in the book.

Weird

I have done very little knitting this week. I'm trying to think of the last time I knit. I think it was Sunday. I've been so bloody tired and trying to complete my National Board retake...AGAIN. (3rd time's the charm!) I ended last week very depressed and dejected because my VE class betrayed me as I tried to tape them for my musicianship entry. So I was sullen for a number of days. Taped a 2nd grade class and it would have worked... if I had the darn camera at the right angle so it could capture the kids as they played the instruments. So I tried again on Wednesday with my most prized class. They were off...chatty, which is abnormal for them. Then my little 1st graders showed up and saved the day. I looked at the tape at the end of the day and said "This is IT!" Skipped church Wednesday night to work on the 2 entries.

Entry 2 is right at 11 pages and there is stuff I still need to add which will probably put it over the maximum of 12 pages...double spaced...in New Times Roman in 12 point...with 1 inch margins. That means I'm going to have to reword or delete stuff. I like this dilemma. I ran into the same problem the 1st time around with entry 1, which passed. 12 pages does not guarantee a passing score. It's all about providing the evidence in the writing and the video to prove I meet the standards.

Spring Break started for me today at 2:40. Here's the plan:
-Go to the library with the laptop and work on my entries for 2-3 hours, pretty much everyday until I'm done.
-Get the apartment together so I can start inviting my knitting buds over. I'll spend an hour or 2 a day until it's done.
-Do my taxes. I can do this in a day or 2 dedicating a couple of hours each day to the task.
-Knit...maybe a couple of hours of day and even spend some time at my LYS
-Go to Busch Gardens. I'm looking at Sunday after church since a cold front is coming through on Monday.
-Go to the Florida Aquarium. I'll do that on one of the cool days
-And I just might go to Lowry Park Zoo. I haven't been there in years.
-Hang with Janice and Morgan. We'll watch the Lifetime Movie Network as Pups (Marty the Maltese dog) jumps up on the couch and tries to act like a cat.

Technology MELTDOWN

I have this love hate relationship with technology. When it works I love it and wonder how I got along without it in the past. And when the crap malfunctions, betrays me, I hate it and wish it would go away to end my frustration and aggravation.

I had taken quite a few pictures over the weeks. The 1st error was not deleting from the camera the pictures I had already downloaded to my computer. The 2nd error was not me regularly downloading the pics onto my computer. The 3rd error was dealing with stuff that simply didn't want to work properly when I tried to use it. You see I have a laptop and to facilitate its use, I connect a mouse to it instead of using the touch pad. Well today, both were giving me equal amounts of grief. Let's not forget the fact the after I connected the camera to the computer and downloaded the 1st set of pictures to a particular folder I had a hard time finding the program I initially used. To make a long story short, in my frustration I re-downloaded pictures I had already downloaded and pics that were supposed to be WEREN'T. And of course instead of checking to make sure that ALL pics were downloaded I didn't and deleted them from the camera and discovered minutes later that THEY WEREN'T ALL DOWNLOADED onto the computer. ARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH!

These are the pics I lost: Second grade PTA pics, and the kids were SSSOOOOO cute with their little paper flower costumes on. Those pics are lost...FOREVER! linen yarn and place mats I had knitted. No big deal there. I can retake those. Pics from church as we build out our building. Lost FOREVER! Pics of the 1st Elementary Music Multicultural Festival. LOST FOREVER! MELTDOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm kicking myself and want to throw the computer and the camera out the window and curse them both straight to HELL! There! I'm done. Rant OVER!

New Creations!

I decided this year for Christmas (yes I'm already thinking 9 months ahead) that the relations are getting household stuff this year. I just completed number 1 in a set of 4 place mats for Mom. Done in Euroflax linen sport weight yarn, it turned out pretty nice. Now all I have to do is weave in the ends and knit the other 3. I decided to go with a lace pattern with a leaf motif since Mom's curtains have a leaf motif. The colors I selected should go well with the dining room set which is a very dark brown. (I think they call it coffee or someting releated to coffee) I'm using Willow (a pretty green color) and Ginger. It'll add some color to the dining room.

Next home project will be felted coasters!

Holiday pics

Well Christmas has come and gone and now it is time to prepare for the New Year! This year's knitted gifts were well received.




Mom used her tote yesterday to see me off back to Florida.

I finished the sweater for my brother-in-law yesterday before I left. I gave it to my sister to give to him. I think they're fighting over it! It is a unisex pattern. I made the medium size so it could fit either one of them. WHAT WAS I THINKING?!

Knitting for the holidays

I seem to be making it a tradition to knit something for family member every Christmas. I rather enjoy it, kinda like the way I like cooking for others (Which takes far less time than knitting an object.). The look of awe and joy on their faces. The comments, "You could make money doing this" not realizing how much I'd have to charge to net a profit.

In '06 it was a hat and scarf set for all. Last year everyone go socks or slipper socks. This year it is a felted tote for sis and Mom and a sweater for the bro-in-law. I'm already looking ahead to Christmas '09: pillows, table runners, place mats, waxh cloths and towels, and so on. For the most part stuff that is quick and practical and you don't have to worry if its too big or small. I just have to hope they don't paint or buy new furniture between now and next year. Can't have the colors clashing now, can we?!

Socks are complete

Finished the ribbed lace socks yesterday and immediately began working on my next project. I also ripped out the Tropical Tee project I began work on over a year ago and started over. It was incredible how quickly I knitted it. Now all I have to do are the arm and neck bands and sew up the sides. It will be too warm to wear right now, but it will cool down in about three months and I can get some use out of it.

Camp has ended :-(

I officially returned home from camp today. Although I don't miss the bugs and other little outdoor terrorists, I think I'm going to miss it especially the ARCHERY!

Nice grouping, eh?
The knitting pretty much went everywhere with me in camp. I bought a little black back pack where I carried a small knitting project (socks, what else?), poncho, umbrella, water bottle, flash light, and bug repellent. I was one of about ten archery instructors. Some days the horse girls came in two groups so I was out there THREE hours. It was nice having some time between groups to practice shooting, read, or knit. The inability to gain Internet access was trying to say the least. With gas prices hovering around $4 a gallon, I made no plans to jet off to the nearest Panera during my break for free wifi.

Now while at camp, I sent off my camera for repair. The picture drought is over.
Monkey socks:

Love that green!

Spiral lace socks that sat for how many months before I finally completed the mate:

CRAZY!

I will post a link to other camp photos in the near future!

More SOCKS

I am currently working on a Charlene Schurch sock pattern out of her SKS book. I finished one sock and just began the other. These are the lace rib socks.

Eco-knit-mic stimulus check

It took the feds a while to get my knitting relief check to me but it arrived (via direct deposit). Mind you my thoughts were initaly on spending it on August rent seeing that school is about to end and my cash flow will dry up. I do have some $$$$$ saved, but usually I am pinching pennies by the time August rolls around.

I decided to splurge a little and add to my "stash." I have plenty of sock yarn, so I guess I could knit other articles of clothing. Too hot for sweaters, but I can always be ready for when the weather does get cooler, not to mention those places where the AC is so cold polar bears would feel at home.

Anyway, school is coming to a close. I'll do camp again and knit during my free time like I did last year. Once I buy my bow and arrows, I'll knit a felted quiver!

Bummer

Wouldn't you know my camera would go on the fritz right before Christmas! BUM-MER! SO I haven't been posting. After I finished the socks for my brother-in-law, the sock bug kinda left. I am presently working on two tops. One is being knitted with Berroco Soft Twist yarn and the other with Berroco Cotton Twist.

I've been pretty good about not buying yarn. I did buy my first yarn of the year last week. It was on sale. How could I possibly pass that up? Once the camera is working again (or I buy a new one) I can take pics of my stuff and post project pics again.

more washcloths

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Hello again

I've been busy with work and all that. Not to mention extremely tired no thanks to insomnia nearly every night of the week. And yes I still find time to knit. I am presently in Cleveland, Oh for the holidays. It has been cold, yet there is NO SNOW yet again. Everyone got socks this year. I'm sure that they went over as well as the hat and scarves. I have a new plan for next year's gifts. I did not get a chance to take a picture of the gifts because my camera is not working. New pictures may be absent for a while until I get this rectified.

Other issue are early signs of arthritis in of all places, my HANDS. It has been hell in this cold weather and I have been feeling it EVERYDAY. Until the camera is working again, I will be featuring links to sites about arthritis help, especially for knitters and natural remedies.

Dishcloths

Dishcloths are good projects to practice pattern stitches. I have knitted several over the months. The white cloth uses the trinity stitch which I love. If you are looking for stitch patterns try the following site:
You can also find free patterns and other helpful information on this site.

Back in action

I have been back in action for about three weeks now. I had surgery on my right hand for the trigger thumb I had been sufferning from for some 4 months. I was getting difficult to not just knit, but to write, type, play my computer games, lift stuff, and so on. I thought I would be able to knit immediately after the surgery. No such luck. I waited until after the stitches were removed and even then I was still dealing with some pain. My hands have been a bit stiff, but it is slowly going away. Here is more information about trigger thumb.

Completed blanket

I completed my blanket last Thursday. It is presently on my bed and covers me at night. Should I make another one using the same pattern, I will definitely make it wider and maybe even longer. (pic forthcoming)