Thursday Night Shuffle

We're into a New Year, and I'm back at KnitNight. I can say, with certainty, that I have been looking forward to tonight with much anticipation! It was great to reconnect and catch up with those who were able to make it tonight, and I celebrated by consuming a chocolate ice-cream sundae. As one does.

There were new yarns to show, tell and drool over; pattern books to examine and exclaim over, and completed and unfinished projects to examine and praise each other over.

I love the movements we go through as we arrive, choose a seat and plonk bags down. First, there's an exclamation of how busy we've been at home lately (children generally feature here!) or how busy the roads or shops were on the way. Or there's comments about how hot/humid/wet or cold it's been that day, and whether it's seasonable for this time of year. It never is seasonable, not where we live. Being summer right now, it's not unusual at all to see people in jeans and footy guernseys one day, and shorts the next.

Then comes the fun part - show and tell. It's so nice to have people to bounce ideas off, to solve problems with collaboratively, and to inspire you to try new patterns, yarns and techniques.

But I digress. Tonight's Shuffle song features on Robbie Williams' 'Greatest Hits' album, which was released in 2004. It's called "Let Love Be Your Energy", and it's a song I listened to a lot when I was pregnant with WonderBoy. I find it to be quite a positive, uplifting song, and it's a lovely one to belt out like a maniac when driving. We've been listening to a lot of Robbie lately, at WonderBoy's request... "Can you put on Wobbly Williams, Mama?"

Hopefully I'll manage at least one more post before we head off for a little family holiday before I go back to work... and then after our break, I should have quite a bit of knitting to show for it, as we've got at least four hours of driving time each way - I'm looking forward to it!

New Years' Resolutions... Knitting Style

"Resolutions, Baby they come and go, Will I do any of these things? The answer's probably no..." 'Next Year' by Jamie Cullum

I never make New Year's Resolutions... for precisely that reason. However, if I were really pressed to do it, I could make a list of New Year's Knitting Resolutions. I'll give it a bash, and we'll see just how many I've upheld by the end of this year, shall we?

1. Knit more socks. I just keep buying sock yarn and stashing it all over the house, probably because it's just so pretty! I only need to buy one skein for a project, too, so it helps to get me a yarn fix without having to spend a fortune at a time.
2. Try some more complex sock patterns. We'll see!
3. Finish Lola-Frog's 2009 blanket. I'm so close to finishing the squares, and I've worked so hard to get to this point, it would almost be criminal not to get this one put together and backed with a lovely soft flannelette.
4. Knit more gifts. I bought '101 Designer One Skein Wonders' by Judith Durant earlier last year, so there's no excuse for me not to be able to go stash diving and come up with lovely and quick gifts for friends and family.
5. Knit more from the stash. This one almost doesn't count as a resolution, as I think every knitter with a stash secretly means to adhere to this promise every year!
6. Finish the wrap cardigan. Bless it's heart, this one's been living in my stash cupboard for a long time now. It's about time for it to come out so I can figure out where I was going wrong and get it done. Finally!
7. Knit a lace stole or shawl. In real lace yarn, not just sock yarn. Probably with beads, too. This will be my biggest challenge for 2010!
8. Knit for my sister's new arrival. Due in July, this baby will need plenty of handknits!
9. Knit a jumper for Pete. I've always wanted to and intended to. I have a pattern ready to go. He says (repeatedly) that he'd like me to handknit him a jumper. *sigh* Hopefully this is the year it will happen.

And as we prepare to look towards this New Year, I'll finish with a quick look back on the finished projects I did manage during 2009. It was to be a year of Knitting Fearlessly, and I'd like to think I've expanded my skills base somewhat, gained more confidence and fallen a little bit further down the rabbit hole of Knitting...

New Year, New Socks.

... not that I've finished them yet!
But they're moving along nicely. I think I've hit my stride in knitting just your plain, basic socks. I grabbed this ball of yarn and needles to take with me to mum and dad's place on Boxing Day, after I did something not-quite-right after turning the heel on LeTissier's beaded cabled sock I'm (still) plugging away at. I might ask for a little assistance from the always lovely and talented Dianne when I'm back at KnitNight next week.

I'm a little disappointed to report that I'm nowhere near finished Lola-Frog's 2009 blanket... although to finish up to and including October (I think it was October, anyway!) is no mean feat in itself. As soon as I get one little poncho out of the way, I'll crank out another couple of squares, and block the three or four I've got sitting in my knitting bag, just waiting to be displayed!