Food for Thought #2

Once again Lee has posted another Food for Thought set of questions.

Appetizer: Look to your left. What color do notice see first?

Dark maroon - somehow there are two project bags and a kleenex box that all look like I planned them to match

Soup: What type of beans do you enjoy most?

Coffee Beans!

Salad: What was the most interesting thing that happened during the last week?

I realized that this week was what I'm calling my Knitter Anniversary. One year ago I met two amazing people, just a couple days apart from each other. One friend I met while knitting a sock and waiting to get a CT Scan. After that, we email, we meet for coffee and knitting, we went to Stiches together. She's wonderful, warm and caring. Another friend, Apryl, made a comment on Ravelry about my son's Pokemon Knucks. We started emailing (and snail-mailing) back and forth from that point. Today, both these women are now an important part of my life and I can't believe I've only known them for a year.

Entré: What was the most difficult decision your had to make in the last year? How did you decide?

My most difficult decision was actually made in December 2007, so a bit more that a year. That's when I decided to change jobs. Everything in the past year has been in support of that decision. It turned out to be a very good one. My stress levels have gone down, I feel respected and where I belong, plus knowing what's going on at the old one, a bit more financially secure. I have a wonderful manager, a great team and good colleagues and friends. Luckily there haven't been too many difficult ones since that. (Either that or my definition of "difficult" has adjusted a lot as I've gotten older)

Dessert: Among your friends and family, who has the next birthday?

Friend Kissa has the next one in March and then MojaveSis in April.

Food for Thought

Once upon a time there was a blog called Friday's Feast. It provide thought provoking questions in the form of a menu. Just about the time I added it to Bloglines so I could follow along and participate, it disappeared. Well now Lee has decided to honor it with his own version. I am participating today with his first batch of questions.

Appetizer: Who is the person physically nearest you right now? What is that person doing?
Son is close by watching the DVD extras on a Bionicle movie. He dug it out, hasn’t watched it since he was about 8 (he’s 12 now)

Soup: Hit Shuffle on your mp3 player. What do you like most about the song came up? (If you don’t have an mp3 player, use the song currently on your favorite radio station.)
The song that came up is “Go Figure” by Everlife which is from a Disney CD from one of their made for TV movies.. It’s on there because son loaded a bunch of those before. But also I like the message, even if it is a Disney tween song. It’s all about taking chances and realizing life is full of twists and turns.

Salad: What is your favorite restaurant?
Well, I’m not sure if it’s a restaurant but son immediately said “Starbucks!”

Entré: What are you most looking forward to in the Obama administration? What do you most fear? (Even Republicans has something to hope for, and even Democrats have something that they fear.)
I am looking forward to a president that seems consistent to himself in all situations, one that encourages hope and responsibility. My only fear is that while he is working hard in a rough time & place that extremists will not give him a chance. I worry that people are expecting miracles that no human could provide quickly.

Dessert: What made you laugh hardest in the last 24 hours?
I laughed a lot this past weekend. Friends’ 4yo daughter made me giggle, my son always makes me laugh, the freedom of true relaxation of self with good friends was wonderful. Returning to work, I find myself laughing with friends who have joined together daily for a quick break in what our manager has labeled the “coffee club”. Even on the rough days, I’m surrounded by wonderful people there.

Lovely Visit, Yarn with Kitty Help and a Bit of Sad

Son and I just came back from a lovely long weekend visit with friends. These are the same friends we visited in September. We both had Friday off so we went on Thursday night and came back earlier today. We did shopping (including yarn below), ate really well, there was a little sledding, played the Wii, spent time watching my son and their daughter (age 4) play chase around and around. It was freezing cold but we managed to keep warm. In general it was just a wonderful relaxing weekend. Case in point, Saturday and Sunday, no headaches!

While we were gone, our kitties stayed with my parents. Thursday to Sunday was just a bit too long for them to be alone. Esp the younger one because he's never alone for extended periods of time. They were spoiled at the grandparents house but both seem glad to be home. Tigger didn't want to leave my side for awhile, which is why he ended up helping take pictures of the yarn.

Now the bit of sad. Some of you know I used to work in IT dept at Harley-Davidson. Now they are making all these cuts. I knew things were getting worrisome since motorcycles are considered a luxury item but still. Here's one of the news postings. I feel bad for the worry my friends must be going through.

-Dfly

Yarnie Resolutions

I'm sure many of you have noticed that I went through and finished a bunch of lingering items. (or officially frogged them) Why is this? Because my first decision of the year was to get things of the WIP list. I realized when I added my current Ravelry projects to the side of this blog that there were more than I felt comfortable with so I decided to whittle down and complete all the really old UFOs or just admit that they weren't going to happen. As far as I'm concerned I'm down to three items now and that's right. I have a scarf that I can carry around absolutely anywhere for mindless knitting, a complex knitting project that pretty much needs to be done in quiet at home (the cabled socks with the teeny tiny stitches) and my second sock using the yarn from lovely Apryl. That one is also semi-mindless so it's going to compete with the scarf a bit.

Then I started thinking about what else I want to do this year so I decided to list them.

Dragonfly's 5 Yarnie Resolutions

1. Get rid of old UFOs one way or the other. I'm considering this one done as I'm starting out the year nicely now.
2. Learn to use my drop spindle. I bought two, both a top and bottom whorl but haven't used them at all. However, I'm signed up for a "Learn to Spin" class the last day of February as part of Sheep in the City so I'll get there.
3. Make conscious decisions on yarn buying. There is an ugly rumor by MojaveSis that I'm giving up buying yarn. Not exactly true. Mainly I'm just going to limit sock yarn purchases because I have plenty and I'm signed up for 3 sock clubs. Possibly 4 if I get the lottery pick on Loopy Ewe. On the plus side only one sock club is monthly, the rest are spread out and they were paid up front. Again, except for maybe Loopy Ewe, I like the idea that L.E. gives you a variety of yarns to try so I am going to let the universe decide that one. I will still buy yarn for "special occassions", like Sheep in the City, visiting friends in Wausau this month and later Stitches Midwest. (by the way, sock yarn gifts are always accepted because, after all, I'm not buying it! *grin*)
   
4. Learn how to do colorwork. Right now I'm planning to do the Sipalu Bag from KnitPicks. MojaveSis bought the kit for me for Christmas.
5. Complete a lace project. While I'm totally in love with this Mystic Earth Stole and even bought the pattern, it's way too complex for a first time project. Instead I think I will do the lace scarf that was in the most recent Knit 1 magazine. I don't normally buy this magazine but it had a bunch of things I liked this time. All of the project pictures can be seen here but I chopped the image to show just the scarf I'm referring to.

Note to Mom... WIP = Work in Progress, UFO = UnFinished Object and frogged is ripped back, as in "rip it, rip it"

-DFly

Flying Carpet part deux

Well as you may have noticed in last posts comments, I decided against the jester points. I just wouldn't ever wear them if I added them, learning experience or not. So these are now complete!



Two of the things interesting about this sock are the garter stitch square toe and the placement of the gusset. Pictures below are just to demonstrate where the gusset is, which allows for pattern on the sides of the foot.

Flying Carpet

I've been working on Flying Carpet Socks which are designed by Cat Bordhi so of course they have a slightly different construction. In this case, the gusset stitches are all under the foot on the sole. I'm up through the main part of the socks, finished with the ribbing of the cuff. Now though I'm trying to decide if I want to put the points on. If you look at the link above you can see what I'm talking about. Part of me wants to do it just to see how it works, but the other part of me knows I probably won't wear them if I add the points since they remind me of Jester boots.... hmmm... maybe that's my decision right there.

Still Busy!

All that acrylic from the last post is going to the Mother Bear Project. I decided to make another bear with it before I send it all. (Plus I never actually sent the one I made last year, I kept thinking she'd be lonely. *blush*) I adapted the original pattern to use magic loop so no seaming, except for some kitchener on the arms and head after stuffing.

Legs started two at a time

Joined to a single item and then worked up through the head

Finished bear

Shown with last year's bear, I definitely will send this time!


Back in June at the Bead and Button Show, I bought a kit that was supposed to make a bracelet and necklace. The bracelet was done almost immediately but the necklace was never even started. I finally made it, but it's WAY too small, it fits my bear perfectly. But hey, it's done, it's now an FO instead of a WIP!


Last thing finished... these ribbed socks, started in May, were supposed to be a mindless project to carry around, but they ended up constantly getting set aside. So they didn't progress for a long time. Then I realized they are actually too small for me, but I have a recipient in mind for them. I finished them late last night (2am, which is REALLY late for me). Now they are blocking. I don't normally block but they are going to be gifted. They are 4x2 rib throughout the foot and the cuff is 1x1.



Ok, and these are just cute kitty pictures...

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