In Flux

I am considering some changes to my blog, as I've said earlier.  Most likely, I will be moving to Blogger.  I'll leave a link here once I make the move.  In the meantime, I won't be posting for the next few days.  It will take me a little while to figure out how to set up things the way I want.  See you soon!

Theme for the New Year

Making resolutions has never been a priority for me, and  setting goals makes me nervous.  However, giving myself a needlework theme for the year seems to keep me focused.  The theme for 2004 was Family Knitting, and I think I did pretty well.  ABM was the only one who didn't get a handmade item, and if I try really hard I could probably make his scarf by Friday. 

For 2005, I am leaning toward The Year of the Afghan.  There are so many afghan patterns I want to try, but I have been scared off because I have  trouble completing large projects.  However, I think if I focus on afghans that consist of squares or strips I might be able to finish two or three next year. 

My other choice for a theme is 20th-Century Knitting.  I have a small collection of vintage patterns that I have never used.  My idea was to confine myself to patterns that were printed before 2000 and document my progress on my blog.  The main difficulty I see with that plan is that many of the patterns would require me to do some MATH (ahhh!) to make them wearable.  Still, I am attracted to the idea of having a 1950s-style sweater or two in my closet.

Any thoughts?  

My Christmas Gifts

My biggest and most important gift was that the kids were happy with and thankful for the things they got.   That has been my main holiday focus for the past couple years.  Since we can't afford to give them the moon, I really want to make sure that they at least get one or two of the stars they point at. 

As for material gifts, I didn't get much.  ABM pretty much decided that the gift giving part of Christmas is for the kids, so we don't buy a lot for each other.  It took me a while to mature and get to this point because I grew up in a household where presents were the sole focus of Christmas and there were a LOT of them, even for the adults.  ABM's childhood was just the opposite, so as long as you show you remembered him by getting a little something then he is happy.

Anyway, ABM bought me The Big Book of Knitting by Katharina Buss.  This purchase shows the difference between us.  I pointed to the knitting book display at Michaels' a couple weeks' ago and told him that a knitting book always makes a great gift.  When I said this, I was thinking of this year's more trendy offerings like Stitch and Bitch Nation.  He, of course, was thinking of something more practical.  Don't get me wrong, though; I am very appreciative of his choice.  It shows me that he takes my knitting seriously.  Also, he said that he picked that book because it had lots of interesting necklines in it and he thought it might help me with my neckline problem (I avoid knitting sweaters because I can't seem to knit a neckline that doesn't look stretched out.)  That shows me that he stayed awake at least once or twice when I was rambling on with some tale of knitter's woe.  Katharina Buss' book may not be the sexy choice, but I bet I will probably refer to it a lot more than all the cute pattern books I have on my shelf now.   

Currently Reading Big Book of Knitting By Katharina Buss see related

Still knitting

It is 7:30p here, and I am still knitting!  I showed the Beaujolais hat to ABM and he felt  that my bunch of grapes looked more like flowers.  I had a huge leaf out to the side and I was going to stitch a vine from the grapes to the leaf, but he still thought it would look like a flower.  He suggested that I make a couple smaller leaves and tuck them under the grapes.  Normally, I would be insulted at his frankness; for some reason I expect him to love all of my work without reservation .  Today, however, I accepted his comments with the correct spirit.  Perhaps the fact that we were both working on creative projects at the same time today and exchanging suggestions enabled me to see that he doesn't hesitate to tell me when something doesn't look right because he is confident in my ability to make it better.  If only I could remember that six months from now!

Anyway, I still haven't even looked at C1's Kittyville hat today.  I probably won't even get to it until 9p.  This shouldn't be a problem since we won't even get around to putting out the kids' presents until 11p.  We haven't wrapped a single thing because we didn't even start shopping until Sunday.  I keep trying to get ABM to let  me put each kid's presents  in a trashbag with a big bow on it, but he isn't having it.  We're going to be up all night wrapping, as usual.  Think of me as you are tucked snugly in your beds .