Happy New Year!

Yeah, I know it's not a new year (well, it might be on someone's calendar, but not one that I'm aware of). I've decided to make some resolutions anyway. To wit:

1. Any time I bring something up from my studio (aka, The Pit of Despair), I must take down something of equal or greater volume. This does not apply to the reverse.

2. I will designate every other Saturday as Not for Knitting Saturday and work on projects that are, well, not knitting. Caveats: If I have no "not knitting" projects that are portable, I may still knit in the car or wherever we happen to be that is not home. Also, deadline knitting trumps Not for Knitting Saturday.

3. I will, at all times, have at least one project in progress and actively being worked on that is not for me.

4. I will clean and organize The Pit of Despair, and I will endeavor to keep it that way. This means that when following Resolution #1, I will not just chuck a bunch of crap into the room and run away. I will put things in their proper place.

5. I will not buy more supplies unless at least two of these conditions apply:

• Someone has asked me to make them a specific thing and I don't have the supplies on hand


• I need the supplies to finish a project that is already more than 50% complete


• I am rewarding myself for meeting a fitness goal


• It's a really, really good deal (discount over 50% of normal retail)


• It's a one time only thing (vendors at special events like Rhinebeck, "bad" dyelots, etc.)

When I am tempted to break this rule just because I've found a yarn/fiber/whatever that I love, I will remember that I felt that way about nearly all of the yarns currently in my stash. When I have made a significant dent in those, then I can buy more yarn just for love.

6. I will not buy yarn/fiber/paper/etc. that is of lesser quality just because it's a good price. Even though some of it is perfectly good (like the mill end Lion Brand stuff), I know I will never make anything with it because I hate working with it. (Although, now that I think about it, I might use the Lion Brand stuff as a weft in something. That might not drive me too batty. But the rule stands.).

7. I will not work on projects unless the house is in a reasonable state of cleanliness. This means (to me): I'd be okay with my in-laws dropping in and seeing the house in its present condition, and if Becky Jayne started crawling I'd be okay with her doing so anywhere in the house. Not that I would let her crawl everywhere, you understand -- I just want it to be that clean. Deadline knitting for someone else trumps cleaning.

8. I will focus on what I accomplish daily, rather than on what I meant to get done but didn't.


Becky Jayne news:
14lbs, 4oz and 27 inches!
She's almost, but not quite, rolling over yet, and the same for sitting up. She can now get the bottle into and out of her mouth on her own, and practices quite a bit at the end of her meals just to amuse mommy. And here's what she looks like on her last day as a 3 month old:



Knitting news:
Progress aplenty made yesterday and today. I finished the left front of Sam,



and cast on the right front (twice, due to a counting error. And when I say "counting error" what I mean is "even though I reminded myself to cast on 6 extra stitches for the button band, I stopped counting at 31 instead of 37"). It looks like it's going to be a bit big for her now, but babies grow and this one is no slouch in that department.

I'm done with the first sleeve of the Mexicali and have done a few rows of the body.



This is great mindless knitting, as the yarn is interesting enough to make up for all the boring stocking stitch. Makes me all the more eager to start on the Socks. I continue to resist the urges of the Sock yarn to do a little light swatching...I know that way lies madness (at least until I'm done with Sam). Oh, and in my stash (well, okay, in a plastic bag that had been thrown into The Pit of Despair) I found enough silk/cashmere blend to make these. I have a darker color for the feet and a lighter color to do the toe and cuff in. So those'll be Son of Socks. Oh, and here's a pic of my little woven bag that I use to hold my knitting while I walk:

posted by Laura Y. @ 9:52 AM