Not so good

It was to be expected. After all the hysteria and hijinks of Christmas and my sunny "cruise mood" of the past two weeks, I should have known it wouldn't stay that way. I'm back in full grief mode with not sleeping, nightmares, helpless weeping at inopportune moments - all the bells and whistles. It's okay. No, seriously, I'm not gunning for pity or anything. It's just the way this works. Fretting about the process does not simplify or shorten it.

Have I gone back to smoking in those long nights of not sleeping and nightmares? Nope :o).

In other news: there is some exciting new job stuff going on - a new book, maybe, go cross something, please - and some writing with an actual deadline.

There has been spinning, sock knitting and fair isling.

I know, the minute I mention that it might be nice to tackle a few UFOs this month, I'm following my startitis wherever it may go. However, please observe the mittens on the left. I started them back in November from one of my first home-plied, home-dyed yarns. No pattern, no nothing, just 2x1 rib, stockinette and a picot edging.


I can explain the lone sock.

It looks as if not much happened since last time, but I frogged what I had done on the Endpaper Mitts and started over on 3 mm dpns. Hence the lone finished Trekking XXL sock - I've got one set of 3 mm bamboo dpns, and according to my laws of KFYS, buying tools is only okay if I NEED them. Wanting to start two projects just because I can't wait to try the Trekking yarn/fair isle knitting does not count as a legitimate need.

This blurry thing
is the first Pink Ribbons sock. I'm making them to ease myself back into cabling, and because I like them a lot. The Tofutsies sock yarn is lovely to work with. It's soft, but crisp and will be great for spring socks. But then I like cotton a lot, so if you don't, this is probably not the sock yarn for you.

I admit it, I'm proud of my yarns.

The grey is my first alpaka two-ply. The singles could be a little less twisted, because I ended up getting a few hard, overspun bits, but overall it's slinky and soft and shiny. I love working with alpaka, even though it took me a while to get used to the slippery feel of the fiber. Maybe it's because the fiber is so soft and fluffy. I spun it thicker than I would have liked, because I was afraid the fibers would separate with even the tiniest bit of take. They probably wouldn't have, but I couldn't get used to the feeling.

The green is the neverending Wollfabrik merino. I've spun these two skeins of two-ply, and there's still enough left for another attempt at sock yarn.

On the left is Strawberry. The first yarn with an actual design process, which is to say I thought about what I would need to do to make it look like this. It's natural moorit Shetland laceweight single plied with mill-spun silk/rayon two-ply cobweb weight in a light beige. I overdyed the plied yarn with Jacquard acid dye in scarlet, which resulted in a deep red yarn with tiny candy cane spots of bright red (the silk) and a pink-y beige (the rayon). I like it. This skein is already destined to leave the house, but I've got more of the yarns, so I'm going to try to repeat the exercise and knit a swatch with it.

It's heigh-ho time. With a few knitting breaks. I'm only human.

All kinds of good

Okay, who wrote that confused post the other day?

In my defense, I had a fever. It was one of those 24-hour things that make sudden death look maybe not so unwelcome. But I'm back now.

And life is all kinds of good. Allow me to count my blessings for the record.

My long vacation is over, but I've got nothing but nice projects I like doing for nice people I like dealing with. Believe me, this is rare, and I intend to enjoy it for all it's worth.

Tomorrow will mark my first full week as a non-smoker, and I couldn't be happier about it. Okay, so I didn't exactly have a chain-smoking habit (anymore), but hey, it's still sort of an achievement. It's also embarrassing how little time I spend actually craving a cigarette - if I had only known (read: if I'd had the guts to try) I could have quit a long time ago. Whatever, I'm doing it now, that's got to be good enough.

I signed up for Project Spectrum 2.0. Love it! I so wanted to do the first one when I first saw it, but I was busy just looking around blogdom then - and PS1 was already well underway. It's going to be a great incentive to get creative and to take more pictures. I admit that I'm a bit of a photo slacker. Not my medium, really, but I can try to change that within the limits of Project Spectrum, which is easier for me than just resolving to "photograph more stuff".

Look what I made.

Outside in: Shetland moorit singles - about 25 g, for a fingering weight 2-ply, I think. Green silk (not hand-dyed, from Die Wollfabrik), about 50 g, also destined to become fingering weight. I don't know, spinning silk is really hard for me, maybe I'm not doing it right. So I'm very proud of getting the singles so fine. In the center is some Schachenmayr Merino dyed as a sort of solid in purple.I dyed the merino for this:

My first experiment in fair isle: Eunny's Endpaper Mitts. Yes, I know I said that I didn't want to start anything new in January. Fever, remember? It's terribly uneven, and I'm having a devil of a time knitting with the colours in both hands, but it's great fun.

I'm not totally going back on my word though. There has been UFO knitting. And finished grey socks - only they are in action right now and I forgot to take a picture before. It will have to wait. See what I mean with being bad about taking pictures?

I've made lots of plans lately. For knitting projects, a bit of self-improvement and other things. I wasn't sure whether I'd write about it here, because I'm embarrassed about the amount of good fortune coming my way. It's always like that. However, maybe that's the wrong attitude. How about some grateful joy for a change?

So, Andy gave another Christmas present to both of us. He said that 2006 was overshadowed by this huge terrible event we knew would come. And by the one we didn't know about. It was a year of fear, sadness and death. Andy wants 2007 to be just as influenced by something utterly fabulous, so that we will be able to look forward to the passing of the year, instead of being scared by it. I'm not kidding, he really is that wonderful. I do know that I'm extremely lucky to have him in my life, not to mention rather undeserving. Me? Far from wonderful.

On August 23, Andy and I will make our way down to the port of Hamburg and board the Queen Mary 2 for a transatlantic passage to New York.

Way!

Yeah, this has only been my dream since I was a kid and my grandma force-fed me 1930s movies (not that I complained, mind). Eight days at sea on the Queen Mary and then the Statue of Liberty - seaside. And NYC, for the first time in my life. Name yarn stores, people! Oh, in Southampton UK, too, if you know any. We'll be there for a day, and while it's certainly possible to go to London that day, I know that I'll be too scared to miss the boat and probably won't budge.

You know, I've known this for almost two weeks now, but it doesn't get any more believable. Every time I think about it I could just sing and jump - and cry, because I can't discuss it to pieces with my mom, but hey, no plan is totally perfect :o).

The first words out of my mouth? "I don't even have an evening gown." (Well, I wasn't as horrible as all that, there was a lot of gasping and shrieking and crying and hugging before I could speak again.) There is no way I could come up with anything approaching a "suitable wardrobe" in terms of luxury (giggle, they do have "attire suggestions" in the daily board newsletter), so I think I need to beat that with originality. I mean, think Annie Modesitt's Corset Tank. That would be perfectly fine for a formal dinner if paired with a long skirt or something. Creativity rules is my motto.

So, tops, shawls and accessories 2007. Obviously, suggestions are very welcome. If I can figure out how to work it, there's going to be some extra cruise wardrobe action on the sidebar. But I'll have to fiddle with that a bit, when I have the time - either I am rather limited here, or Blogger is. Stay tuned.

Well, hello 2007

Nice to meet ya. Hope you brought lunch, because you are going to stay a while.

The party was okay. Andy and I partied the way we always do - mindful of the fact that a hangover is a terrible way to start a year.

Still no smoke in these parts, I'm rather surprised. I don't even want to, so I'm guessing that the hard times are still to come. We'll see what happens. I'm getting all kinds of support (thanks Claudia and Elyse :o), and I'll give it my very best shot. I promise that I'll be honest about it if I slip.

I would like to make January 2007 a UFO month, meaning that I won't start anything new - except second socks, because technically they are part of a UFO. My somewhat addled state of mind had me start tons of projects in the second half of 2006, and I need to review them, decide whether to finish them or not, and work on them accordingly.

Like this one:

This is a sort of lace sampler scarf in Lang Mohair Luxe. You know, the one with the beads :o)

I think I'm going to finish it. The patterns I've combined are not a perfect match, but they are okay, and I like it better now than when I stopped working on it.

Then there is the Sea Silk shawl, the new Clapotis, a shawligan I'm making up as I go along, and a variety of second socks. I'm also still frogging.

Andy and I decided that we need an afghan or two for the living room, so I'm going to think about squares soon. Or log cabins maybe? Obviously, I'm going to start thinking while finishing something else.

In the interest of full disclosure, let it be known that there was a bit of last-minute stash enhancement on Saturday.

Top: two balls of regular Regia in black for more dress socks for Andy, and a ball of Schachenmayr Merino for Eunny's Endpaper Mitts - see: getting the hang of fair isle. Next: two balls of white Regia to try the SP9 kool-aid. And two balls of eyelash yarn in blues, greens and turquoise. And I don't have any excuse except they were € 1 and I liked the colours. The last three balls are more merino in natural and white for some dyeing experiments - to get a contrasting colour for the mitts, obviously.

You know what? I'm going to stop nodding off and writing a blog entry in fits and starts and take a nap instead. I know, this is rather sudden, but ... see ya tomorrow.