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.