The Barking Lamb

12 Months

As 2008 drew to a close, I couldn't help reflecting on the year past.  Every January people make resolutions that they feel will make them a better person in the coming new year.  I was no exception to that rule.  I had vowed to keep on the path of losing weight and to be a better mother and wife.  I promised that I would knit more, and buy less (yarn that is) and to challenge myself to try the patterns that I had only dreamed of knitting "one day".   I swore that THIS was the year that I would get the house organized!  I would no longer make excuses and "get it together".  Oh the promises and resolutions that I made!  So easy to do when the year is brand new!

So...What happened?  I gained back 15lbs of the 40 I lost.  I am no super mom or wife, but the kids are still alive and my husband seems to still love me.  Still, I could do better.  I didn't accomplish much with knitting...lots of false starts and half finished projects are stashed in various places in the house.  The stash has grown...and grown, but it brings me happiness so I can live with that.  The house is better but still no place that I want my friends to come over and hang out at.

If the year wasn't a total loss, what do I have to show for it?  Well, still 25lbs lighter, that's something.  I finally got on ravelry in January and am slowly getting all my info/projects/stash up and running.  This summer I met a great new friend Colleenwho opened up a whole new world for me...spinning!!  YUP, finally succumbed to the siren's call.  From spindle to wheel in less then four months.  I love it!  And it has opened up a whole new side to the stash...FIBER!!  LOL, oh boy, more to stash, how can you beat that?  I now happily spend my Sunday afternoons (and any other time I can get away with it) at her house, knitting and spinning and hanging out with her, her great kid and my other newest friend Laura.  I HAVE FOUND MY PEOPLE!!

The house is better, the kids are finally realizing that if they put it away there is less chance of it getting broken or eaten!  OH yeah..eaten. 

The biggest news of the year is our new addition!  No....not that kind...The four legged furry kind!  Finally the childhood dream of having a dog that no one could give away and would be mine no matter what has happened.  Miss Ruby "Sparkle" came to live with us on 10-30-08.  She was a three month old Cocker Spaniel rescue from the SPCA.  Our friend Dave who does animal control for them gave us a call about her and somehow it was meant to be and she became ours!  She is bad!  She pees (and worse) on the floor (thank goodness for hardwood), barks at everyone (can anyone see puppy boot-camp in her future?), trolls for whatever she can get away with eating, is moody, and sleeps in my bed.  Ahhh...she is wonderful!  She is always glad to see me, or the kids, or daddy, thinks everything we do is wonderful, loves the car, snuggles, and generally makes us all feel loved!  Happiness is furry!

Which brings me to 2009.  What promises do I want to make to myself this year?  Get back on the weight loss wagon?  Yes, that is definite!  Better mother...wife...clean house...blah...blah...blah!  It's all just words anymore.  Promises spoken into a vacuum.

What do I want?

12 Months

As I was looking through the stash, one thing was obvious...I have a lot of sock yarn!  Why do I keep acquiring it?  I think it is because there so much potential in sock yarn.  So many colors, fibers, patterns... it is all so beautiful.  And so easy to buy.  It doesn't take a lot for a project, you can stash it in all kinds of small places, and you can carry it around an admire it everywhere you go.

So here is my challenge to myself this year.  Get the sock yarn out of the stash and onto the needles.  Finish what I start with it!  Challenge myself to try patterns and techniques that I have never tried before.

12 Months...12 pairs of socks

Every month for the next 12 months I am challenging myself to make something from my sock yarn.  Whether it be socks (or in January's case, leg warmers) a BSJ, or any other project calling for sock yarn, there will be one a month for 2009.  I am also promising to finish the two sock projects I started (one last year and one THREE years ago!) and get them off the needles. Or in the one case..get the second sock ON the needles.  Yup...believe it or not...my first pair of socks is a single!  I finished one and never started the second one.  I think it's time.....I promise!

(pictures to be inserted when I have the time...darn dial up!)

Look what I can do!!

SHRUG it off!!

Whew!  It's done.  My Dream in Color shrug is finally finished.  I couldn't have done it without Laura and Colleen's help.  Thanks for the technical and moral support you two gave to me.  You guys are the BEST!!

Stats:

Dream in Color shrug in deep sea flower colorway.

It came out to gauge until I dunked it into the bathtub to get out the excess blue dye.  It grew to elephant like proportions!!  But a trip to the dryer put it back where it belonged. 

"A" was nice enough to model it for pictures since when I looked at the pictures she took of me wearing it, I wanted to hang myself from the nearest tall object.  I swear I am making a homage to weight watchers as soon as I get home from my trip!

And the "pose" shot:

Dish Rag Tag!!

My turn at dish rag tag came today.  My package came from Holly and inside were all kinds of goodies:

(There was also a fortune cookie, but I made short work of that. Oh and another ball of cotton which I knit my dish rag with.)

So I quickly stuffed the cookie into my mouth, grabbed one of the balls of cotton and the pattern, and began to knit.   About two hours and fifteen minutes later, I had a dish rag!!  (I tell you though, knitting with dish cloth cotton is for the birds!  My poor wrist is throbbing, and my pinky is numb.  Not a yarn to knit with when you have tendinitis.)

Into the box went some cotton, along with the pattern, instructions, and my own goodies to travel to Emma.  And of course...the dish rag:

Very early tomorrow morning this package will be on it's way. Good luck Emma...keep Dishin It Out!!

Barking Again

I'm back!!!  After an extended hiatus I have decided to get the blog up and running again.  Partly due to the fact that I have finally found a great group of knitting friends and they have inspired me to challenge myself in the knitting world.  I have found my PEOPLE!!   Colleen has unwittingly hooked me on the following:

Isn't it beautiful?  I love it so much!  It's 100% bamboo. I have been wondering what to do with it.  Should it be yarn, or should it be used to make my thrummed mittens?  It's so beautiful I want to do both. So....I ordered another batt of it today.  Best of both worlds!!

Ok, just a small beginning to get my feet wet again.  I have to go finish my dish rag for Dish Rag Tag.  I will post a picture of that later tonight.

What I did on my vacation...ect.

Ok, here they are, the promised FO's.   I finished the second of two Forest Canopy shawls for a wedding we went to yesterday.  The other was a Christmas gift.  I will have to find that pic to share.  Here is the wedding one:

And here are my Jaywalker socks.  They turned out so nice.  I finally finished a pair of socks!!  Yay me!!!

 

More to come, just an update with pics just so you could see.

Coming soon to a blog near you!

Be back this weekend with updates and pictures.  Stay tuned, jaywalkers, forest canopy shawl and more!

New stitch markers

I was hoping to have a Socktoberfest update, but since I had to rip back on my newest sock, that will haved to wait.  In the mean time, here are the stitch markers I bought from Amy.  Aren't they cute?  Wait until I show you the Socktoberfest ones I got!

I did a bad, bad thing! ;)

I can't help myself.  When I am good about staying out of the yarn stores, I end up ordering all sorts of stuff online.  I did stop in at Ewe and I a couple of weeks ago, thinking I wouldn't find a thing, and lo and behold, they have gotten with it!!  A bit of a yarn update going on.  They had Blue Sky and Mountain Colors.  Shock!!  I picked up a skein of  lovely Goat yarn.  I didn't think to take a pic of  it before I wound it up, but when I finish knitting it up, I will share a picture.  And then, when I swore that was it(!!!) I had enough yarn and projects to keep me busy for a lifetime...I went and did it!  I ordered a whole bunch of goodies from Knitpicks.  I had to have some yarn for my newly acquired Forest Canopy shawl pattern.  So I picked up some knitpicks Memories in Redwood Forest.  I saw someone else with the same colorway and knew I had to have it too!  That didn't stop the spree there either.  I also ordered some Shadow in Lost lake and Vineyard to make a couple of other quick shawls.  I am hoping to have these done for Christmas presents.  I only need about six more knitting months to finish all that I need to have done.  I can get that all done in two and a half months right?  Right?   Here is my first order in all it's glory (shame):

You would think that the madness ended there....it didn't.  I am now waiting another shipment from Knitpicks.  I found the Seascape shawl pattern at the LYS and picked it up to make my mother in law a Christmas present.  This is definatly one of the projects that WILL be done for Christmas.  My mother in law does so much for me and my family that I want her to have something made with love from me.  My father in law and her go to Cape May a lot and I think that the pattern is fitting.  I ordered some Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud in Stream.  I hope it is the right blue.  Just to hedge my bets, I also ordered some Shadow in Jewels.  One of them has to be the right color.  I hope it is the alpaca cloud.  It is so soft and I think t he drap is just perfect. 

Ok, enough chit-chat..Those Socktoberfest socks won't get done by themselves.  (Will they?)  I haven't even finished the first one yet.  World's Slowest Knitter!!!  Whoo  Hoo!!

Happy Socktoberfest!!!

Socks, socks, and more socks.  That is what it is all about!!  Check it out...Day one of Socktoberfest:

                                                             

It's the first of eight socks (four pairs) that I need to have done.  Wish me luck!  I have to make socks for my two brother in laws, my father in law, and my husband for November before they go away for hunting.  That sock there is my husbands.  I figure I would make his first, so I could try the socks on everyone else and make adjustments to the pattern as needed for them.  I hope I can make it.  I also have an ever growing list of Christmas knits.  I joined the Lonesome Skein KAL in hope of getting some of it done.  Whew...fingers crossed.  What are you all knitting on?