Also...

I realize that my previous post did not mention knitting in any way. To give you just a little taste of what has been going on, I will mention that I ordered some yarn from Webs the other day. I haven't bought any yarn in a long time because I have been trying to use up some of my enormous stash. However, I had $32.00 left on a gift certificate from a while ago and they were having a huge sale so I thought, "what the heck." I ordered enough Rowan All Seasons Cotton to make Trellis from Knitty (I have been jonesing to make this for a while now) in the 18 month size, and a couple of random skeins of yarn that looked pretty. I am not sure what I will do with the other yarn I ordered but hey, my stash could use a little sprucing up. I'll post pictures of the yarn when it arrives. There is knitting happening too, including a pattern for baby mitts, but that is another post for another day.

Cheers!

Organization

I have a love-hate relationship with organization. In many ways, I am a tremendously organized person. I almost never forget meetings and appointments, I don't double book my schedule, and I don't generally lose things. In other ways, I am a disaster. If you saw my desk at work, the chaos might make you wonder how I accomplish anything. My house is often in disarray and my car is usually a mess.

However, it is the time of year when I feel compelled to organize at least one part of my life. In 2006, my closet got a makeover. In 2007 we bought a shed and completely organized the garage (Hub did most of the work). With 2008 quickly approaching, my goal is to get my recipes organized. While this might not sound like a big job, you have to understand how many recipes Hub and I have. We both like to cook and we both like to buy cookbooks. The two shelves on our baker's rack are completely crammed with cookbooks and there are more squirreled away in the basement. Of course rather than use all of those cookbooks, I constantly go online and print out new recipes to try. Once I am done with them, I usually shove them in other books, put somewhere on the baker's rack, or bury them on the counter, never to be found again. I also like to tear out recipes from magazines and add them to the pile. Because these recipes are all over the place, I tend to forget about them and never make them.

To counteract this craziness, I have embarked on Phase I of Recipe Organization, 2008. Hub and I went to Staples and purchased a sturdy three-ring binder, a package of 200 sheet protectors, and some dividers. I have spent my free time over the last few days gathering all of my printed and magazine recipes, going through them, tossing the ones I will never make, and setting aside those that I like. I am now going online and printing out copies of all of the magazine recipes that I can find. For those that I can't get access to, I am typing them out in Word. Each recipe goes into its own sheet protector (with the picture cut out from the magazine if available). The binder will be organized by category, with the recipes arranged alphabetically. Phew, it is just so much organization that it makes me giddy!

Once this is complete, Phase II will involve going through our cookbooks and donating those that we never use. I am not sure if there will be a Phase III yet, we'll have to see how the first two pieces go.

The biggest upside of all of this work is that I will never again have to ask my mom for the same three recipes I ask for every year.

Cheers!

Peepers? We Have Your Peepers!

A title like that can only mean one thing... I finished the girl's bear! Woo hoo!

After yesterday's post, I decided to just suck it up, get out the needle and thread, and go for it. I went pretty simple, just a french knot for each eye. They are small but I think they work nicely with the bear face. Take a look and tell me what you think:

I think Mr. Bear is pretty darn cute. He will be peaking out of the girl's stocking, courtesy of Santa. I hope she likes him.

I probably won't post again until after Christmas. The fam is headed to my mom's house in "outstate NY" (says Hub) and there is no Internet access there. Have a lovely holiday, eat lots of good food, and hug your loves ones. I hope Santa is good to you all.

Cheers!

Oooo, Christmas is Almost Here!

I am really excited for Christmas this year. Having a kiddo brings all the excitement that Christmas used to be rushing back. I have always been a lover of all things related to Christmas; I believed in Santa until I was 12. Seriously - I just figured that he didn't bring anything to the non-believers and that was how he made it all over the world in one night. It made logical sense to me. In any case, watching my girl get all excited when she sees the tree ("tee, tee" she says while pointing at it and wriggling her little body around) makes me so happy. I really can't wait until she gets to open all of her presents. I am sure that she will have way more fun playing with the wrapping and boxes than the actual toys, but whatever. I mean, how many times in your life do you get to roll around in a veritable orgy of wrapping paper? Not nearly enough!

Of course it helps that the weather is playing along. Here is the view from my home office:

My Winter Wonderland

As long as I am cozy and inside, I love that deep blanket of snow. It makes me want some hot chocolate... mmmm.


On the knitting front, I am putting the finishing touches on a little pink bear that will go in the girl's stocking. All that is left is to embroider the eyes. Did I mention that I HATE embroidering and that I am terrible at it? Unfortunately, I can't justify leaving Mr. Bear without peepers so embroider I shall.

Peeper-less Bear

I am also working on a little set for one of my coworkers. It is a crazy baby factory in my office right now and the first of the pregnant ladies is due on Jan. 2 with a little girl. I am working on a set that includes booties, mittens, and a hat, all in a lovely white yarn with a thread of pink metallic sparkle running through it. These will be very stylish outerwear options for the trendiest winter babies! I am almost done knitting the second bootie and once that is finished, I will sew them up and get going on the mittens. The only thing I don't have is a good hat pattern so if anyone has a link to one knit with sportweight yarn, don't hold back. I'll post pictures of the whole set once I get it finished.


I hope you have a merry holiday (or whatever you celebrate). I am off to get me some hot chocolate.

Cheers!

Toddlers and Stash Don't Mix

I have made it through the first year of motherhood and seem to have emerged relatively unscathed. If only the same could be said for my knitting. Actually, the knitting is fine, it was just taking a hiatus while I learned what being sleep deprived really means and how to balance full time work with full time work (i.e., balancing paid work with non-paid-but-equally-demanding work).

I am proud to say that I am officially back. My needles are no longer lonely and my yarn is being loved once more. In fact, I made a hat last night. That's right, a whole grown-up sized hat complete with a pom-pom. It even turned out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. Said hat was knit from a pattern out of my 2005 Knitting Project A Day calendar in RCY Soft Lux using size 8's. The RCY is nice and soft and is a lovely winter white color. What you can't see in the picture is that the yarn has a thin gold metallic thread running through it that adds just a hint of sparkle... perfect for a holiday winter hat.

Other things that I have been working on lately include:

Thumbless baby mitts (don't they just make you want to cry from cuteness!) and...

A scarf in a lovely heathered purple alpaca. This is the yarn that I bought for my very first knitting project years ago. I learned to knit with this yarn and produced a finished product that was, in a word, awful. It was a ribbed scarf that was knit with needles way too small for the yarn and a pattern that hid the loveliness of the texture. I frogged it and spent the last two years trying to figure out what this yarn wanted to be. Turns out, my scarf instinct was correct and this is the final product

The picture isn't the greatest but suffice it to say that the yarn is finally at peace.

There is more knitting going on too but I don't want to blow my load with my first post in a year so you will have to wait.

As for the title of this post, girlfriend has recently figured out how to open the plastic drawers where I store my yarn. Most of the time all she does is open the drawers and pet the yarn (we use the word "gentle" a lot in my house these days). Every once in a while though, her impulses get the better of her and suddenly there is yarn flying all over my home office. It makes quite a mess and takes a while to untangle the skeins (especially when she rips the labels off). Unfortunately, she thinks playing with my yarn is the most fun a girl could ever have, so there will be no keeping her out of it. Oh well, at least she has good instincts.

Cheers!