Ask and You Shall Receive

Pictures of the Dragon Scarf. It was a complete pain to knit, but my son loves it.....so it was worth it!!

And I'll have more pictures to share soon!

Resolutions

I try not to make New Years resolutions. I never seem to stick to them and therefore they seem a bit pointless to me. But I decided I would try again this year. I'm trying NOT to make the standard "Lose weight" or "Exercise more" type resolution - I *know* I won't do it, so I'm not going to pretend.

I decided that this was the year I would try and make a difference in the world. Very lofty goal. Now, I know that I can't do much about all the troubles in the world, but I could do my best to try and help where I can. Having said that......here I go:

1. Volunteer more. I used to be a back-up Meals-on-Wheels driver, but once the kids came, it got hard to coordinate a schedule. I'm going to call and get back on the substitute driver list.

2. Knit for charity. I already participate in a "Odd-Ball" charity blanket drive. We knit baby blankets for an area hospital. This year, I plan on knitting hats and mittens: One of the Ravelry gals I knit with teaches 1st grade at a local school. It's a relatively low-income area and she said that many of her students come to school without hats or mittens. In Minnesota, it's just too cold on most winter days not to have a pair of mittens and a hat. My resolution is to knit 2 hat/mitten sets per month. I hope to keep a few area children a little warmer this winter.

3. Donate Blood. It's fast, easy, and almost anyone can do it. I actually just scheduled my first appointment to give blood. I'll be heading to a local blood bank this Wednesday at 9:40 to donate my first pint. (I have a moderately rare blood type so I feel like this is a small way I can give back to my community.) The max I can donate is once every 8 weeks, so this first visit counts for my resolution! My goal is to donate 6 times this year.

That's it. Nothing earth shattering, but these are all easy things I can do to try and make the world a better place. What about you, any New Years resolutions?

Stick a fork in me.....

....I'm done!

Barring any unforeseen knitting emergencies, I'm done with my Christmas knitting. I finished hubby's convertible gloves/mittens this morning. They had a lovely soak and are now drying. (And just an FYI - Reynolds Lopi is *nasty* to knit with. It's a nice bulky weight, but scratchy as can be. It did soften up with a soak, but it's still scratchy.)

And now that I'm done - I don't really even have the desire to knit. I plan on finishing my Jaywalker socks. They are a super bright yellow and orange stripe - super cute. But for the next day or two, I don't think I'll be knitting.

Now on to the wrapping!

Note to self.....

....NEVER piss off the knitting gods!

I got so bold as to think that my Christmas knitting was done (or nearly anyway.) In the last 3 days - 5 more items have been added to the list. Has anyone noticed that it's the 19th of December? Does anyone care that my wrists are starting to hurt? Apparently not.

So we got invited to my hubby's cousins house for Christmas Eve. Now - I'm not planning on knitting for the adults, but the kids *need* something. So I'm cranking out some hats for the boys and little bobby socks for the girls. The socks aren't knit - I just picked up a pack of 10 socks at Target and crochet a cute little trim with Fun Fur. They really are adorable - and the Fun Fur disguises all of my cruddy crochet work!

All is not lost - I've finished one hat already. And the socks only take about 30 minutes for a pair (and each girl will get 2 or 3 pairs - I haven't decided yet.) Then I need to make one adult sized hat, and I'm done.

And hopefully I haven't pissed off any more of the knitting gods.

Knit on!

General ramblings......

....about knitting, dogs, and other stuff.

Knitting:

I am almost done with my holiday knitting!! Yippee! I made a sweater for my mom, gloves for my dad, socks and a hat for my MIL, gloves for my FIL, gloves for my FIL's girlfriend, the Dragon scarf for my son, a felted crown and some cute little socks for my daughter, and convertible mittens for my hubby. (These are the only things that aren't finished. One is done and the second one is cast on.)

I've also started re-cycling yarn. It entails shopping at thrift stores for sweaters that you can take apart and reuse. I found a lovely plum colored merino sweater in a fingering weight. I think it will make a Clapotis for me. I also have about 700 yards of a red DK weight, and an unknown quantity of a blue wool/mohair/acrylic blend. (I haven't taken that one apart yet.) As part of my Christmas present, my hubby make me a contraption for measuring the yarn as I unravel it. It's just a 2-by-4 with a dowel on each end. The dowels are 18" apart, so each wrap is a yard - brilliant! He beveled the edges and sanded it smooth so the yarn doesn't snag on it.....I love it!! I also ordered a ball winder from Joanns while they were 40% off and got free shipping - brilliant again!

And since all of the holiday knitting was getting me down, I cast on a quick cardigan for me using my stash. Here is the cardigan, and I am knitting it in Chestnut Wool-Ease. I'm done with the body, and mostly done with one sleeve. It's been a very quick knit - even with the modifications I made!

Dogs:

I've been taking my dog to the dog park. What a riot. This park is just a large fenced park with wooded areas, grassy areas, a pond, and a small hill. Luna adores it and she gets lots of oportunites to meet other dogs. I'm supposed to have a permit to park my car in the lot and use the dog park, but I don't. I feel kind of bad about not paying, but I really don't have the extra $$ for the permit. I know that I will probably get a ticket someday, and the penalty for the ticket is to purchase a permit. I guess I'll just keep trying my luck.

So I was at the dog park yesterday and saw a group (2 sets of owners and 3 dogs) of huskies. They were so darn pretty. If it wasn't for all the fur, I'd love to own one. There was also a beautiful Great Dane there. Huge, and very sweet. I always wanted to have a Great Dane, but I think I'll have to wait until the kids are grown - that dog was HUGE!!

Since today was a super cruddy day (rain for now, but freezing later), I took Luna to the park down the street. Since no one was there due to the terrible weather, she got to run around to her hearts content. I just carried the leash and my umbrella and tried not to get wet.

Other Stuff:

The job hunt is still on, but it's been very slow going. There are just not a lot of jobs out there right now. It's been very depressing, but I'm trying to stay positive. I figure the economy can't stay bad forever!

And until my camera and computer can talk - still no pictures!