If I'm dead, this isn't heaven...

I cannot shake this cold. It settled in my throat earlier this week and now I have no voice and a terrible dry cough. Vast tracts of blowing sands and acres of prickly cacti have sprouted in my throat. And I haven't been able to take sick time because it would short-staff us to the point of leaving one person on the Reference Desk for two days in a row. I can't do that to my coworkers.

For the past 2 nights I have awoken sometime around 2 or 3 in the morning in a fit of coughing that won't subside until I get up and make some tea with honey to sooth my vocal cords. I think it is entirely possible that I may have died in my sleep last night but if I did, I didn't go up. This afterlife that I am floating through like a jellyfish looks remarkably like a library with a Reference Desk I must staff and answer questions. And I know it must be hell because the questions seem stupider today. (More stupid? I'm stupid.)

I didn't go to my knitting group on Thursday...I stayed home. We didn't do anything last night....I laid on the couch. We're supposed to go to Sarah's tonight to write, but I have a feeling we'll bag that too. If I am, in fact, still alive, I will need to rest mightily before going back to work. Chicken soup, lots of fluids, blah, blah, blah.

Of course, no one tells you that when you are in the middle of an obsession and you get sick, that yearning for yarning doesn't go away. My husband calls my knitting "yarning" which I think is cute and endearing. But I was lying in bed like a good girl on Thursday night, resting my weary bones. I took a nap until about 8 when my Mom called. After that I lay there and thought about cabling. I knew the theory of how to do it, but I wanted to try. And I actually dragged my ass out of bed to knit. What is the matter with me? I did, by the way, my first swatch of cable. And everyone who told me about it is right - it is really easy.

So when I go home at 5 I am getting chicken soup. I am going to go home and have dinner. Then I am going to try to fight the urge to knit and actually get some rest.

I really hope I'm not dead. I thought heaven would be full of hand-dyed, hand-spun cashmere.

Frog of a different kind

The cold is better, but I have lost my voice. So instead of the usual "frog" of knitting (i.e. ripping out stitches) I am croaking. And that makes working with the public a special treat. No one can understand me. Especially on the phone.

Last night at we met with our writing partner to finish a script. While we worked, I knit. I finished the pumpkin hat! I learned how to do the vine on the top from Crazy Aunt Purl here. It was really freaking hard to increase two on every stitch because the work got super tight on my needle. But it worked on the first try! The secret is to cast on super loose so you have room to knit into the front, the back, and the front again of every stitch. When I finished it, Sarah and I squealed over the cuteness. Well, she squealed, I just sort of did a squeaky hiss. I can hardly wait to send them off. I just have to get the address again. I am notorious for losing addresses.

Here are the pair:

Can you stand it? I am so freaking proud of them. I just found out another friend of mine from college just had her third little girl, so maybe I'll whip up another apple hat. They go so fast! If I had the uninterrupted time, I could knock one off in an evening.

And I just might have some time tonight. I was going to go to Gabriella's tonight for weekly Stitch n' Bitch, but I think I may have to stay at home and rest instead. I have to work Saturday, and I am going to need some strength, as mine appears to be waning. Who are we kidding? I'm shot right now. Besides, I don't want to spread my lovely germs with my coughing tonight. It's bad enough I have to come to work and spread it around. I still can't believe Kosta hasn't gotten it yet. He is usually the one who gets everything that comes down the pike, while I stay well.

Well, time to suck it up, make some tea, and go face the world.

Getting off the Couch

Seriously. It is harder than you think.

This cold has kicked my ass. Finally today (that's SIX DAYS after I initially got sick) I am starting to feel better. I only made it through half a day of work yesterday and slept most of the afternoon. No one talks about it, but it is really hard to come back to 8 hours a day at work from being prone for 5 days. I slept all yesterday afternoon. Then I finished the apple turned orange, turned back into apple because I found some appropriate red yarn hat.

I was so pleased with it, that I am going to make a pumpkin hat to go with it, and send them off next week!

I have also discovered Ravelry. (I sound like I am a pioneer who has made a breakthrough here, but no...I am a bit late to the game.) Ravelry is a knitting social networking website. Let's just heap another one on the pile, shall we? I'm already on facebook, twitter, and have an old, decaying page on MySpace. I also have an account on Good Reads, where I keep track of the books I read, and now I have Ravelry. I don't use MySpace anymore, and I have decided just this week that I am decidedly OVER twitter. I don't need to know what you are doing right now, and my life is so boring that I would be completely vain if I thought you wanted to know what song I have running through my head. I used to follow a bunch of people, but my phone was dinging every time a text came  through, and 99 times out of 100 it was something so inane, that I started wondering... do others feel the same about my clever little snippets of life? Surely not! Well... um, maybe... But I digress.

Ravelry is cool because it isn't just a social network, it is an organizational tool too. I am able to keep track of all of my knitting needles, stash yarn (which has almost outgrown it's container, thank you very much), and keep track of projects. I can post pictures, and keep track of details. It is pretty nifty.

I am wondering what I am going to do next. I think I might make something for myself. I desperately need a knitting needle case, and I thought I would make one. There is a neat pattern in Fabulous Felted Hand Knits that I thought I would try. Right now my needles are in an untidy pile in my craft room. A jumble, more like. Also, I need a better way to store my circulars. There is a pattern in Stitch N' Bitch, but I don't know if I like the idea yet.

I still have to felt the hotpad and coaster set. They lie there, limp and languishing. I am waffling over how to do them, by hand or in the machine? Having never felted before, I don't know which one would be more suited. The book recommends the machine, so I'll probably do that.

Book Review: Knitting Rules! by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee


Okay, so I finished it late last week, but I've been siiiiick. (Yes, that was indeed a whine.) Anyway, I chose this book over most other knitting books that we have because Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is none other than the Yarn Harlot. Yes, that Yarn Harlot. I started reading her blog way back from the beginning, She has been doing this online blogging thing for going on six years now, and I think she's a stitch to read. (Horrible pun intended.) I know she has published several books, and this was the first one I could get my hands on, though not the first one she wrote.

I didn't know what to expect with this book, other than I knew it would be funny. And funny it was. Stephanie has a self-deprecating humor that has almost made me snort Diet Coke out of my nose on more than one occasion. If you are a knitter and you haven't read anything by her, go to her blog. Now. You're welcome.

The book is broken down into chapters about categories of knitted things, or knitting knowledge you must have. There is a chapter on hats, socks, scarves, and one chapter just about swatching, and its importance. I have already learned my lesson. The first hat I knit I did without swatching my yarn and checking my gauge. My first hat is lovely, pink, and would fit a watermelon. A jumbo watermelon.

Stephanie also talks about easy in-your-head patterns for things like hats and socks. I will make a pair of socks, but I think I will hold that off for this month. But it is nice to know that there are things you can make without any set pattern. I like that. It's like the brownie recipe I have in my head. I've made it so many times that it is indelibly engraved on my brain.

Thank you, Yarn Harlot, oh wise and wonderful knitting goddess, for bestowing your words of wisdom down upon lowly beginners like me. It is all good to know for the future.

Stay tuned for my forthcoming review of Knitting Lessons by Lela Nargi.

Another kind of cold

Uch. Thursday night I came down with a cold. I spent all day in bed yesterday with aches and chills. I feel better today, but still like I've been hammered into a new shape. And I don't think it is a very attractive shape.

Anyway, this week I worked on my felted hotpad and coaster set. I have finished all the pieces, I just have to felt them now. If I have the energy, I'll do it tomorrow. Here is what they look like pre-feltiing:

I also finished Kosta's pair of hand warmers. I took some awesome goofy pictures of him wearing them, but he didn't want me to post them on the blog (for someone so unabashedly weird, I find that surprising). So here are just his hands:

Why he looks like he his clutching the sofa arm for dear life I cannot say. At least now that I have finished these hand warmers, the weather is guaranteed to promptly hit the 80s again, and render them quite useless and unnecessary. So that will be nice.

In other news I went to a wine tasting/Stitch n' Bitch on Thursday night. Gabriella (of Gabriella's Yarn Shop) doesn't call it that per se, but that is definitely what it was.  There were about a dozen of us grouped around the big center table in the room. Gabriella's Maltese puppy, Lily, made the rounds, being adorable and snatching balls of wool off the lower shelves. I'll be sure to bring my camera next time to capture the little munchkin. So was so dang cute I wanted to put her in my pocket and take him home.

The wine tasting was an unexpected surprise. We had tastes of five wines, I think. There were some really good Chilean reds, and there was a kick-ass Sauvignon Blanc that we sampled.

I was a little timid walking in the room, but the ladies made me feel welcome right away. (The wine also helped.) I sat next to a very nice lady name Mary Pat who was from the Chicago area, and another lady (whose name I shamefully can't remember) from the Milwaukee area. That's the thing about living in vacationland - everyone is from somewhere else.

After we had wrapped up, I asked Gabriella  to help me pick out yarn for my next project. One of my really good friends in high school just had her first baby one week ago today. I am going to make this for her her little baby Jude:

She didn't have the right yarn in a good red, so I got orange and I am going to make an orange instead of an apple. If I feel ambitious and lucky after I finish the hat, I might try booties to go with it.

Otherwise, I am still pretty pooped from being sick. I don't feel I have made a very witty or interesting blog entry, but I wanted to keep up to date with things here.

Tomorrow I will write about the book I finished: Stephanie Pearl McPhee's Knitting Rules! I am currently reading Knitting Lessons  by Lela Nargi.

Key Worst

Well!

Well.

We had a craptastic weekend in the Keys. I should have known better. While I am not one to put a lot of stock in astrology, Mercury in retrograde kicks my ass every January. Thankfully it is over on the 15th. I always seem to have a run of bad luck in the first few weeks of the new year.

This year was no different.

Our Friday started off very nice. My husband and I had breakfast at our favorite place, then we packed up and headed out by 10 a.m. We decided on a leisurely pace, so we took US 41 across the state. You can take the freeway, but it isn't as pretty. Our drive was full of swamps with palm and buttonwood trees, wading birds, kingfishers, and yes, alligators. I knit the whole way across the state.

We turned south at Homestead and moved towards Key Largo. This was my very first trip to the Keys, but my husband had lived on Key Largo for a year back in the 90's. He even showed me his old apartment. Let's just say his life has improved since he met me.

On Islamorada we stopped for lunch at Wahoo's Bar and Grill. We sat on the deck in the sun and had beers, conch fritters, and fish sandwiches. Yum.

From there it was just another hour down to Marathon where our first stop was - The Coconut Key Resort. I think there needs to be an inspection you have to pass to earn the right to call yourself a resort. Our room resembled what I thought a prison cell at a low security prison might look like: cinder block walls, faded blankets, tile floor. Their slogan on the sign was, "Florida the way it used to be." Hmm... sometimes progress isn't all that bad.

We took a nap and went out to search for dinner around 5. We ended up at a place just next to the 7 mile bridge called Chappy's. After our meal Kosta renamed it "Crappy's." For the amount we paid for the meal, you would think it would have been a little better. The best thing about my meal was the Mango Poppy vinaigrette on my salad.

Here's one secret no one tells you about the Keys: unless you're a drinker, a diver, or a fisherman, there is absolutely nothing to do. After dinner, we retired to our prison cell and watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday met us cold, and rainy. There was a strong wind blowing from the northwest, and it was in the 40's. Surprisingly, for a "resort" with no heat, we stayed quite warm during the night. We headed across Route 1 to breakfast at the Wooden Spoon. We got the last table in the house, right by the door that blasted us with cold air every time someone came in or went out. Have you ever had the experience where you are seated at a table, you place your order, then you proceed to watch everyone else around you get served, eat, pay, leave, and then watch the whole cycle begin again? Add to that constant blasts of cold, wet air, and food that finally arrive cool and bland, and you have our dining experience at the Wooden Spoon.

We were even debating on whether to continue on to Key West with the weather being as miserable as it was, but one small fact clinched our fate: I had made our room reservations on Priceline.com. It is a great tool for getting awesome deals on hotel rooms, but if you use it, you pay in advance. Since we had already paid for our room in Key West, we had to go. Besides, how bad could it be?

The road to Key West was long and skipped across expanses of what surely must have been heartbreakingly turquoise waters, and leapfrogged over tiny islands with tropical houses and palms. I am sad that I did not get to see it in its full glory of the brilliant sun, but that's what I get with Mercury in retrograde.

When we finally got to Key West it was raining in earnest. We drove down past Higg's Beach, and on to the end of Route 1, and the southernmost point in the United States. (Kosta points out that it isn't really... you have to be on the naval base to have access to that). We took pictures in the rain, and shivered back to the car. We drove over to Duval Street, paid for 3 hours of parking, and only managed to use 2. We wandered around in the rain for a while, but got so cold and wet that we stopped for lunch even though we weren't hungry. We had more conch fritters, fish sandwiches and beer at a place called Fogarty's. We saw lots of bars and t-shirt shops, and we bought dry sweatshirts to wear that evening. We were cold, damp, and miserable.

So we went to the Days Inn where we had prepaid our room. The Days Inn's lobby shares a building with a Waffle House. Now some of you reading this may not be from the south and have known the pleasure of a Waffle House. (And I am using the word, "pleasure" the same way Coconut Key used the word, "resort.") I don't want to offend any southerners, but I am afraid I am going to anyway. My only previous experience dining at a Waffle House (which I refer to as a Shit Box) was in Pooler Georgia, with my good friend Beth. There was lots of cigarette smoke, the waitress yelled in our order from the counter, and a woman sitting at the counter peed in her pants and made a puddle on the floor.

And now our hotel has a Shit Box on property? Uh oh.

Actually, the room was much nicer. It had carpet, plaster, and heat. The TV was bigger, and the lights were better. But we find out very shortly into our stay that our room was right next to housekeeping, and both men and women kept coming and going, speaking in loud voices. (Door creaks open. Door squeals shut. Loud conversation. Door creaks open. Cart crashes out. Door squeals shut. Cart rumbles away. Repeat 50 gazillion times.)

We were cold and wet so we changed clothes and took naps to warm up. When we got up we didn't feel like braving the elements anymore for another fried fish dinner. So we ordered pizza. We watched football. I knit. And the next morning? You guessed it - my darling husband persuaded me to have a quick breakfast at the Shit Box. I realize the food really isn't that bad. But the couple that had a shouting match 2 tables away wasn't all that great. It isn't the food so much as the company.

Oh right. This is a knitting blog, isn't it? Heh. The knitting was the only thing that really went right this weekend.I finished two of the coasters for my teapot hot pad and coaster set, and I made the set of hand warmers! I finished the first on Saturday night in our hotel room, and then the second was completed last night. They are very toasty, and worked very well today. Did I mention the cold snap is continuing? I had many lustful looks at my hand warmers today from ladies at work with cold hands. My coworker Karen said if I had brought in 10 pairs today I could have sold them all. My husband was so enamored of my hand warmers, he demanded that I make a pair for him out of the same yarn. I started them yesterday. I wonder how he is going to feel about them when he finds out they are going to be predominantly lavender.

My question is, what am I going to make next? I was thinking I might knit a roll-up needle case for my knitting needles, which are all in a jumble at the bottom of my stash box. I am sure I just made a bunch of seasoned knitters either scrape their jaws off the floor, or they are still howling with laughter. Yes, that's right. My knitting stash fits in one blue plastic tub. I vow to make it grow. I vow to never be mocked by another knitter.

I have to say though, that it is easy to become obsessed. As soon as I found out I didn't get car sick from knitting, all I wanted to do was watch the stitches grow, and to see the gorgeous Noro colors unfold. It was the most turqouise I saw all weekend!

I am going back to Gabriella's on Thursday night. I hope it will be fun!

Crap...here's a dilemma

So I went to the yarn store tonight. I drove up to Gabriella's Yarn Shop. It is a good half an hour from my house, but I got good vibes from the website, and I had emailed Gabriella herself earlier in the week to see if she was offering any classes soon.

So when I pulled up tonight I was a little surprised to see an ambulance and police car in front of the store. There didn't seem to be anything going on inside (I could see in the windows and saw two women talking), so I went in. It turns out the husband of Gabriella had an allergic reaction to some kind of food and wasn't doing so well. They were all in the back room with the paramedics. I felt instantly awkward and made to leave. But Jill (one of the ladies I saw in the window) told me that he was doing all right and that I should look around. So I did while they were finishing up with Mr. Gabriella (can't remember his name, or their last name at the moment). I picked out some yarn, and Gabriella herself came out and talked to me for a few minutes. She was really sweet and encouraged me to come back next Thursday night for the group knit.

The store had lots of beautiful stuff, and a I bought a few things. Here is what I am going to make my hand warmers with:

Pretty, huh? This is Noro Silk Garden Light, color #2027. It is beautiful with blues, greens, purples and browns. I am starting on them tomorrow morning.

And then I bought some other stuff too. I don't have any definite plans for it yet, but the colors are so pretty, I might make a ribbed scarf out of it.

This is Galway Pure Wool, worsted weight in 149 (turquoise), 145 (lime), and 15 (dark periwinkle). My mother would call the last color blue, and I would call it purple. We always disagree about blues and purples.

And finally, here is a picture of the teapot hot pad I am currently working on:

And herein lies my dilemma. What on earth do knitters do when they are in the middle of a project and they buy new shiny yarn that is begging to be used?

Tomorrow morning: The Keys!

Knitting Weather!

Baby it's cold outside...

So it is really cold for Southwest Florida. Yesterday the car thermometer read 41 degrees on our way to work, and 48 this morning. And I know I will catch a lot of flack from Northerners, especially all my relatives in Minnesota for mentioning it. Yes, it gets very cold in Minnesota. I heard it was 2 degrees in Minneapolis last night. That is mighty cold. It is what my father calls, "colder than f*$%." And he's right. And if one is properly dressed for such weather, you can survive just fine. (You won't have fun, but you won't die of hypothermia.)

When the temperature gets down into the 40's here in Florida, most locals freak out. Especially if they are Florida natives. (Incidentally, Florida natives are rare - most people are here to escape the cold.) The reason we have problems is because we are not properly dressed. When I moved to Florida I had lots of sweaters, heavy shoes and coats. Not to mention scarves, mittens (my favorite being a pair of red angoras knitted for my by one Miss Sally Watkins of Seabrook, NH), and hats. I gave most things away to the Goodwill because even the winters here are usually in the 70s and 80s everyday. I have lots of sandals. I wear flip flops almost exclusively when not at work. I don't own any pants that are appropriate for work. And then a day like yesterday comes, and I freeze all day because why? I am not dressed appropriately.

And add to the fact that it is like a meat locker in the back room of the library where I have my desk, and I was an ice cube by the end of the day. Kosta, my husband, made a strangled squealing noise when I put my hands on his neck.

So what does all this mean to a blog about knitting? I can actually knit something for myself that I can wear now! And I am going to make myself some arm/hand warmers this weekend! I am using this pattern from Crazy Aunt Purl. I am all jacked up because I am going to a yarn shop on Thursday night. There is a place here in Naples called Gabriella's Yarn Shop. They have a drop-in knitting group on Thursday nights from 6-8. Anyway, I am going to pick up the necessary yarn needed for this project, because the next day we are headed off to the Keys for a long weekend! I have never been to the Keys, which is a travesty, considering how long I have been living here. So the hand warmer project will go with me. I don't know if I will be able to knit in the car without getting sick, but we'll see.

Yarn Porn
I can't take credit for coining the phrase, but I love it. I said I was going to review knitting books, and I already have two in my possession that I am going to read. The first is Knitting Rules by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Stephanie is the woman behind the blog Yarn Harlot, and she is a true obsessive knitter. She knits everywhere, including the subway and bus. (Oh, that I could take public transportation to work! Think of all that uninterrupted knitting time!) 

The other book I got (so lovely working in a library) is Knitting Lessons: Tales from the Knitting Path by Lela Nargi. I don't know anything about it other than what it says on the book jacket. Lela Nargi seems to be not a knitter, but she sets on a quest to find out about it when she notices everyone around her is knitting. Neither book has patterns (at least, it is not a book of patterns) but more essays on the ways of the knitter. I'll let you know when I finish them.

Current Project
You probably want  me to put my money where my mouth is, right? All this blathering about knitting, but am I really putting forth the effort? Actually, I am! Right now I am working on my first (and hopefully very easy) felting project. I am making a hot pad and coasters for my teapot. I got the pattern from Fabulous Felted Hand Knits, and I had to slightly alter it a bit. I needed felting yarn, and couldn't get to a real yarn store. So last weekend I went to JoAnns and bought a skein each of Lion Brand Classic wool. My teapot it pink and green, so I bought the following colors: petal pink, jade heather, and taupe (which is closer to a chocolatey brown). I am using the pink and green for the stripes, and the brown for the main color of the hot pad. The pattern in the book called for chunkier yarn, and this is worsted weight, so I just cast on the right amount of stitches (I hope) to get the finished size. I will post pictures tomorrow. I keep forgetting to put my camera in my purse. I am almost halfway through the hot pad, and will make the coasters afterwards. The knitting is pretty easy, just counting colored rows. The yarn says on the label it is good for felting, so I hope it works! I'll keep you posted.

Craftically speaking....

Is craftically a word? It is now! Craftically speaking, I am all over the map. I love to create things, and I have tried my hand at lots of them. I even have an entire room in my house dedicated to crafts. It is full of things I dabble at: scrapbooks, cards, mosaics, stamps, paints, papers, scissors, pens, glitter (oh yes, there must be glitter), ink, silk flowers, ribbons, beads, yarn, needles, thread, fabric. You name it, I probably have it. And it is fun to have a project to do and make something beautiful (or cute) that makes one proud of their crafty prowess.

And yet, there are problems with this too. I find that since I don't delve deeply into anything, I just skim the surface. And all the supplies and effort I begin with leaves a room full of unfinished craft projects. For instance, 2 Christmases ago I was making everyone a mosaic gift. I finished 3, I believe, and the other 15 hundred sit in a pile in one corner. Then there was the wild hair I had that I was going to start an Etsy store and sell cards and paper goods. I did indeed sell a few things, but I was never thrilled with the paper products I was producing. And there were too many other things that were catching my attention and drawing me away. I am like a magpie in my craft room, really. I flit from shiny object to shiny object and never stick with anything seriously for more than a month or so.

That is why this blog exists. I have decided that it is time to stop being a crazy butterfly and settle down to one craft and do it in-depth and obsessively for a year. I want to see how my skills and talents develop when I really apply myself to something. And I chose knitting as my lucky craft. And there are several reasons for this which I will set forth to you:

1. Knitting is portable. I can take my needles and yarn anywhere and work. This is going to be highly useful because I haven't been home a lot lately. I just know one day my husband and I will come home and the cat will have sold our belongings at auction and moved to the south of France. We are both working on a writing project with another wonderful writer and we are trying to get it going. Therefore portability is key. I can work in the car when we go on trips (for instance, we are going to the Florida Keys next weekend). And I can work on knitting while I am sitting in front of the TV. I don't do that much anymore, but when I do, I find my hands itch to be busy with something.
2. Knitting is not messy. I love making mosaics. I love working with paper. I love stamping. But each time you want to engage in one of these crafts, you have to drag out your supplies, make a huge (mostly glorious) mess, and then clean up. And usually you have too much stuff to take it anywhere else but your home. That's why knitting is also excellent - it gives me the freedom to work without making a mess that needs to be cleaned up. With knitting, you just wrap up your work, stick it in canvas bag, and it's all done!
3. Knitting is utilitarian. I can't wear a mosaic. But I can wear a scarf, hat, mittens, sweater, or bag. Generally, the first four I can wear for about 15 minutes here in Southwest Florida, but other people I know and love can wear them.
   
4. I already know how to knit. Well, sort of. I learned how to knit your basic knit and purl stitches about 5 years ago, just before I moved to Florida. I was in a knitting frenzy back then, and I really liked it. But when I moved to Florida I found that knitting isn't the most practical of crafts. So why go back to it? Well, I figured the weather can go hang itself. I like knitting and I can make more than just hats and scarves for crying out loud. I still do need to increase my skill set. I can knit in the round and do decreases, and in theory I can do increases, though I have never tried. I would love to learn how to make cables and different types of stitches. And I will! That is what this year is for. To focus my creativity. But you already knew that.
5. Yarn is amazing. I don't have much of a yarn stash, I must admit. I've read of other knitters. Crazy Aunt Purl and The Yarn Harlot both talk about insanely huge and crazy stashes. I have been to yarn stores before and felt the pull of gorgeous wools, silks, and cashmere. It could become a problem. But hey, at least I'm not shooting heroin, right?

I think you see why I have chosen. It wasn't because I love knitting over anything else I have tried. I have known for a long time that I had to pick something and stick with it, I just couldn't choose. Well, it is January and I feel like knitting. So there, now I am stuck with it for the next 12 months. If I find I am sick of it by next January, I'll try something else. I just really wanted to do this as an experiment to see if I could. I am not going to put any sort of pressure on myself. ("Gee, this is awesome! I should sell these and make some money!") I am going to do it for my own pleasure and see what comes of it.

Now that I've said, "no pressure" (snort) I am going to set some goals for myself, just so 12 months from now I don't end up with a million scarves and cell phone cozies.

1. I will learn new skills. This means I will keep trying new things that I haven't done before, no matter how scary they may seem.
2. I will seek a knitting community. (Whether or not we want each other remains to be seen.)
3. I will chronicle my projects, review books, and yarn stores here. (As a librarian, I can't help reviewing books. It is an occupational hazard.)
4. I will drive my husband crazy. (That will probably be just a lucky bonus.)