Happy New Year everyone!!!

 Hope everyone had a great one. :)

It's been fab having the last week or so off but now it's back to the grind, eh? Booo!

It was a fun week of making things, listening to 923413123421 Xmas songs on the Sirius Holly channel and enjoying lots of cookies OMG I'M FAT FAT FAT enjoying Santa's presents. He was much too good to me this year. Literally. I suspect *he* was the bad one this year and I'm giving him the side eye just in case because why so good? WHY? lol

This sleek little thing is quite fun. QUITE fun. I do really  need to find someone who could use my first generation Kindle now though because I have THREE Kindles now, which is a bit ridiculous, yes? I swear I don't know ANYONE in my 'real' life who really reads anymore and is interested in it. :(

Oh ho ho ho, and what is this?

Only the thing I've been lusting, drooling and price checking daily for the longest time. What is it?

A Breville Tea Maker. 

It's ridiculously expensive (for real - I'm not EVEN going to link it so if you're curious you'll have to do your own Googles on it), hence my hesitation to buy it for myself. But OH BOY HOWDY is this thing a whiz-bang-dangity-dang heart stealing winner. I *heart* it just so much. I love love loves my loose tea and this makes it as easy to make as a regular coffee maker. Fill the hopper, pick your tea type (or go custom), pick your brew strength and BAM! It perfectly heats the water, the filter comes down and steeps it for the perfect amount of time, going up again when it's done, making the most perfect pot of tea. You don't EVEN want to know how much tea I've had in the last week because of this jobber. It's so bloody perfect I would marry it if it were allowable by law. lol

I failed miserably at any stitchy goals I had for 2011 but I managed to slip under the new year wire and..........drum roll please............finish off the last 2 pairs of knitted socks for the year - making an EVEN DOZEN for 2011. Sweeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!

I suspect though I won't be as diligent with this for 2012. It was a bit of a chore some months to try and 'race' to finish that month's pair, etc. I gave over half of them away as gifts and the other few have been put away for future gifts and/or to replace any of mine that 'die'. (I couldn't fit another pair in my sock drawer if I wanted to it's so stuffed full of knitted socks. lol)

Although, having said that...................I'm elbow deep in another sort of sock obsession at the moment.......

More on that later if/when the obsession passes. :)

Klunk.

<--Sound of me falling down the rabbit hole. 

Yes, thanks to all of you posting about the super-keen new L*K snowman series (and the guilty know who they are)........

...I, too, now have to stitch this series. 

Oh hello, great-big-new project I have no time for! But aren't the colors bright and fun? :)

So thanks for that, people. lol

Also, 'October' socks............

Fini. 

 

The yarn is an Opal one I dug out from deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep within the stash and I really had no idea anymore what it was supposed to look like. It was a YARN SURPRISE. They have this Fruit Loop thing going on that I'm digging. (And yes, I could have looked it up beforehand on Ravely but where is the fun in that? I assumed I liked it enough at some point to actually buy it.) They are a teeny bit loose in the foot for me but as they are going into the box to possibly be gifted to someone at some point that's not a problem. I really should stick to size 0 needles though when doing 'girl' socks. I'm just not a tight enough knitter for the 1's, I think. :|

Sign ups start today for the Cookie A 2012 Sock Club, btw, for those interested. This year's club, the first year, was fantastic - easily the best 'club' of that kind I've ever joined, as far as sock knitting goes. I've joined clubs before and almost always disliked the yarn/pattern pairings and/or the patterns outright. Cookie does some FANTASTIC patterns though and to get 12 exclusive ones over the course of a year? HEAVEN. And I liked that all of the yarn was solid colored or mostly solid, the better to show the patterns off.**

Also x 2, new Santa posted:

  

Because I never get tired of doing Santas. :)

**Not a paid endorsement, if that's not obvious. I just really loved the club this year. :)

Deep breath.

Definitely been a trying week, you know? But I felt much better today so moving on..

 I went back to the project that I tried to start on Thursday, gotta get back on that horse you know......

Oh............my......

Yes the project that started all this was Death. Black Death to be exact. How prophetic. Or ironic. Or........something. 

It's Death by Candy Corn and why didn't I notice those cutie candy corns were over one before I started this? Holy lot-of-teeny-tiny-stitching-for-one-stinking-corn Batman! To be fair, the pattern calls for a half stitch for these but I couldn't see the damn thread when I did it that way so a full cross stitch it is. Oh hello, instant doubling of the time/stitches. *mwah*

I finished my-not-quite-August/not-quite-September pair of socks a couple days ago and aren't these the most ridiculous pair of socks you've ever seen:

Yep. Candy corn socks. 

I'm totally going to wear them with some Mary Jane-style shoes too and not care one bit how many crazy looks it gets me. So there.

I will be offline tomorrow because, quite honestly, I just can't handle the 9/11 coverage. Just a handful of it on the tv or whatever and I start to feel panicky and overwhelmed by it like it's happening all over again, even to this day. :(

Boo Hoo Hoo. I haz a sad.

A moment of silence, please, for my dearly departed kiln:

8/2002 - 8/2011

Oh, I'm sure he will rise from the dead at some point when I can track down a couple new parts for him but for now he's DOA, having quit on me (of course) when I was smack-dab in the middle of a huge stack of orders. *sigh*

So I am kiln-less at the moment and awaiting a whole new one to find it's way to me hopefully within a week. It took some honest-to-god pitiful begging on my part to find someone who could build me another one *this* weekend because no one but no one has these babies sitting on a shelf ready to go, it seems. It's kind of nauseating to see '2-4 weeks to ship' over and over and over again when you need one like, OMG YESTERDAY. So I have week off from bead making while things are in motion and I think I need it to help alleviate my stress levels.

Anyhoo. I have grand plans for my upcoming 'unemployment' aka forced unpaid vacation like:

• catching up on six months/eight inch high stacks of paperwork. *ahem*
• work on the site/Etsy in regards to Halloween/Xmas stuff so it's ready to go when the new kiln is here
• no-excuses-anymore regular exercise.
• no-excuses-anymore down and dirty housecleaning
• track down some parts for the broken kiln so I will have a back-up in the future
• oh, and all the usual not-at-all productive type things in the larger sense like knitting, finally finishing the Dance with Dragons book, etc.

 First up in the non-productive type thing is to finish this pair of mittens I started this week:

I think I had planned for these to be a Xmas gift for the hubby last year but he ended up with just the skeins of yarn in his stocking. Heh. On the bright side, I am now on schedule to make a grand debut of them for *this* year's Xmas stocking. :)

And my personal 2011 Sock challenge socks for July are fini so it's time to cast on for a pair for August. (I'm thinking a pair of candy-corn-ish striped pair of Jaywalkers. Mmm.) The yarn - Lornes Laces - and pattern - Boysenberry Yo - are exclusive to the Cookie A Sock Club and were a fun knit.Vaguely reminiscent of a feather-and-fan pattern.

I can't tell you HOW MUCH I am enjoying this sock club this year. I've joined a bunch of sock clubs over the years and this is the first one where I have not only used the yarn/patterns as they came in but I've used them TOGETHER. Usually you like the yarn but not the pattern or you don't like how they look together, but this one has been just perfect with each shipment. I think we just have one more shipment to go, in November, and then it's done. *sad*

You can't keep me down for long.

Back in February I lost a beloved member of my sock family. The King Sock, if you will. I loved them too much, for too long, and blew a huge hole in the heel. *sniff*

(Mr. Chicken was in charge of the inspection process.)

There was only one thing to do, of course........

KNIT ANOTHER PAIR EXACTLY LIKE THE FIRST.

Same yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts - Socks that Rock.

Same pattern: Crusoe (free Knitty pattern)

AND I SHALL LOVE THEM UNTIL THEY FALL APART.

 

(Mr.Chicken approves.)

Happy Weekend!

Another month gone. This year is just flying by, isn't it?

I think we're going to Hartford tomorrow for some 'bee' thing that he's dragging me to and I have to work some in the middle of that. I fully plan on bringing my knitting to Hartford so lots of knitting too, I guess. (The ride down takes a while so, at the very least, I can get a bunch done in the car.)

I finished another pair of socks this week, putting me back in line with my goal of one pair per month this year. It was a squeaker but I got 'er done before April was outta here!

The pattern is Haleakala by Cookie A. which, for me, brings to mind Pee Wee Herman and Mekaleka-hi, Meka-hiney-ho. (Seriously. I can't SHUT IT OFF in my brain. Damn you Pee Wee! *shakes fist*) She say Haleakala, I say Mekaleka. It's all just gibberish, right? lol

 Super clever pattern, as always. Cookie is SMRT like that and a superb pattern writer. They're basically just a standard old 2x2 ribbed sock with the addition of a lace/cable segment running just down the front, combined with a bit of clever 2x2 rib detailing on the ankle. 

I'd link to the pattern but it's a Cookie club exclusive and only available to sock club members this year. (It will be out to the public next year though.) Sorry to be a tease. :)

First pair of socks for 2011.

Don't be too impressed though because I started them right after Xmas so they are really a 50% 2010 finish and 50% 2011 finish. :) 

I really should ALWAYS have a simple ribbed pair of socks going on a pair of circular needles because you can really bang these guys out without even trying hard doing them two at a time. I don't know why they seem to 'bend' time doing them that way but they do and it does. (Good grammar be damned. Heh.) 

I just got in another set of #1 circs from Knit Picks so maybe I can stick to that. (Not that it REALLY matters in the long run how many socks I do but I *do* have a veritable MOUNTAIN of sock yarn living in plastic bins under my guest bed. So, you know. It should be used as much as possible. Eye on the prize. Stay focused, etc.)

(Photo credit to Smitten Kitchen )

In totally unrelated news, if you love ribs you REALLY need to check out this recipe from Deb over at Smitten Kitchen. HOLY BE-JAYSUS BOY HOWDY they are good. I mean really really good. I only used one rack of ribs (approx. 2lbs.) so I halved all the spices, cooked them for five hours at 200 degrees (instead of splitting it up at 200/175 over 6 hours) and they were PHENOMENALLY GOOD. You will impress people with your mad cooking skillz good! They are BEYOND easy to make too - you just need to plan ahead so you can get them in the oven before noon if you want to eat them for supper that day. :)

2011 Resolu........errr.........GOALS.

(Older ornament currently on my tree.)

Because there is almost an inherent sense of failure built into the word 'resolution', yes? Goals seems more.......doable somehow. Besides, my personal new year's resolution would be the same one I've had for many years: resolve to survive the next year as best (and as happily) as I can. The End.

Having said that though, I'm setting out some crafty type goals for myself. Everyone and their brother is doing the Crazy Pants Insane 15 day/project Stitch-a-Long Thingy (I may have embellished the name a lot bit). I'm not going to link it because most of y'all probably already know about it. :) It is intriguing, it is. It hits all my Type A buttons - not gonna lie. But I think it's unrealistic for me to accomplish because I just can't do that much stitching. For whatever reason, stitching hurts my wrist/elbows much more than knitting does so I can't spend a whole lot of time doing it. I pretty much always have some sort of aches/pains/numbness going on with my hands/wrists (who wouldn't with the sheer amount of work I put them through day after day, year after year??) but the stitching brings out the worst.  *sadness* So I'm going to modify things a bit for the challenge.

I thought I didn't knit very many socks last year but a quick glance on Ravelry tells me I knit 8 pairs. Good, but could be better considering I have enough yarn stashed to make approximately 125+ more pairs. *cough* So I'd like to try and make 12 pairs or some other similar project (like scarves, gloves, etc.) for the year. Totally doable! Ideally though, I want to push for 12 pairs of socks. :)

(Another oldie but a goodie. I stitched this one in 2002.)

I would also like to finish up 8-10 stitched ornaments or some other similar small project (like my ongoing Blackbird stocking project). By 'finish' I mean 'stitched' and not actually, uhhhhh, finished. Because the finishing of the finish sometimes takes a lot longer than the original finish, you get? lol

Get back to working on squares for the Scrap Blanket of Doom. I think I'm up to 20 squares done on that so I'd like to do at least 20 more this year if I have any hope of finishing it before 2020. 

Start/complete my first sweater project. The yarn for this has been sitting in the Priority bag it was shipped in on top of my desk since October or so. I figured it might make a good January project so there is no time like the present to get started!

So all condensed that is:

12 pairs of sock, one per month (or at the very least 12 completed knitting projects of similar size/scope)

8-10 cross-stitched ornaments (not neccesarily Xmas ornaments - Halloween works too!)

20 (at least) new squares for the Scrap Blanket of Doom

1 finished sweater.

God that sounds like a lot. Did I just take a 15 project challenge and turn it into MANY MANY MORE projects? ON WHAT PLANET DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE??????????? Hahaha! And I didn't even get into stash dieting or book reading! Oh well. I did say these were 'goals' - I'd probably be happy if I finished up half of that. :)