Saturday Sky

It's been awhile since I've added my piece of sky... too many gray days lately. This pretty one is from our trip to Disney World, it's the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. You can sort of see the castle on the bottom left.

Online knitting magazines

When I first started getting into knitting, Erin told me about Knitty. Then I discovered MagKnits and a bunch of others. Today I added a new one to my bookmarks: For The Love of Yarn. It's similar to Knitty but smaller and "dedicated to knitting and crocheting." There are three issues in the archives and I had fun taking a look through everything the patterns, articles, and product reviews.

Resolutions update

Resolutions

• - use more yarn from my stash (especially the good stuff!)
• - finish one of my UFOs
  
• - use my new sewing machine
• - use my new ice cream machine
  
• - make a good loaf of no-knead bread
• - lose my holiday weight
  

Update

• 1) Done
  
• 2) Still have not even touched one of my Unfinished Objects.
  
• 3) Still have not even opened the sewing machine box yet.
• 4) Done
  
• 5) Done
• 6) Still working on this one too. Although I've been going to yoga twice a week, since Max started his online classes, our trips to the gym have all but disappeared. Starting today we're going back to the food diary and counting calories. That should hopefully help.
  

Another hat!

Sadly, the partners yoga workshop I was supposed to go to with Max on Sunday was cancelled because of heavy snow. 5-6" in the DC area is alot. While it was snowing on Sunday, I finished the hat I was making for myself. I was worried I might run out of yarn but I didn't, even have a few ounces leftover. When I showed Max the finished hat, he commented that the top (where I crocheted the hat shut) looked like a rose. What do you think?

Frivoli for me!

For Christmas, Kristina went ALL the way to Italy just to buy me this yarn:



Okay, not really... she was there for school and came back with all kinds of yummy yarn from Italy and interesting pattern booklets from Poland. This is one of the many balls of yarn she brought back (photo taken using a make-shift light box... white paper on three sides... and surprise! It works! This is actually the true colours!). It's a combination of merino wool, alpaca, and something else. Very soft. After knitting up so many things for other people, and especially after making this hat three times for other people, I decided to make one for myself since I like it so much. I've knitted another repeat since taking this picture.

Purple frivoli

I've been on a real hat kick lately. This purple frivoli* I finished over the weekend. It's a gift for a long way off so once it's washed and dried, I'll put it away in my "gift box" for many, many months. Feels good to get something done early!

*Warning! Pattern is in PDF.

Brookline & Erin

I never wonder what my kitties do at home all day while I'm usually at work... I already know the answer to that from the various Monday holidays and sick days at home - ABSOLUTELY nothing.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Gung hei fat choi!

A popular greeting at Chinese New Year... it translate into something like "May you explode with happiness!"

When I was really little, my family used to go to my grandmother's house for Chinese New Year. My Mom and my aunt used to help my grandmother with the cooking. Everything would be prepared in the kitchen. When the dishes were cooked and ready, they would be brought out to a table that was set up in the living room by the fireplace mantle. Above the mantle was my grandfather's photo. He died when my Mom was 15 so I never met him. I always only knew him from the black and white photo above my grandmother's fireplace mantle. When all the food for Chinese New Year was ready, my grandmother would light a stick of incense, then my Mom, then my aunt, and then my uncle. They solemnly intoned words in Chinese, bringing in the new year I think, but I was too young to understand what they were saying or what was going on. When I was a little older, I got to help light the incense and got to drink the water from the little white cups that were set out with the food. At the time I had no idea what was going on but essentially it was Chinese ancestor worship, worshiping my dead grandfather whom I had never met.

When that part was done, all the children were given hong bao, red Chinese envelopes with cash. Then all the food was brought back into the kitchen and the whole family sat down to eat together at the long table in the center of the room.

Tonight, Max and I celebrated Chinese New Year simply. Cards were mailed out to our parents two weeks ago so they would arrive in China and Canada on time - which they did. Max's parents called last night (time difference) to wish him a happy new year and ask about his studies. We made Chinese for dinner... rice, dofu and lop chung stirfry, and one of my favorite Chinese dishes, sea and sky chicken. For dessert, we had mandarin oranges (all the way from Morocco!). And we watched House of Flying Daggers. Simple but very Chinese.

Happy Valentine's Day

Here's my sweetheart, out in the snow, getting the driveway and sidewalk cleared.



My office, like many in this area, follow the federal government. Today "federal agencies in the Washington, DC, area are OPEN under a DELAYED ARRIVAL/UNSCHEDULED LEAVE policy. Employees should plan to arrive for work no more than 2 hours later than they would normally arrive, and employees who cannot report for work may take unscheduled leave." This affects the shuttle bus that normally picks me up down the street and drives me to the Metro station. The roads are a mess, cleared but still snowy. Max is working from home today, and my boss told our department to feel free to do the same - so I am too.

The upside to this? Max's new hat is finally getting some action!

In knitting news, here's the progress I made on a Frivoli hat last night (in one night!):




I'm using size 8 needles and the yarn is Red Heart Soft.

SP10 questions

• 1. a) What are your favorite yarns to knit with? Debbie Bliss' cashmerino astrakhan, Knitpicks' Swish, and Lion Brand Woolease.
  
• 1. b) What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? Scratchy, splitty, fun fur
  
• 2. What do you use to store your needles and hooks? Fabric needle case and large tin.
• 3. a) How long have you been knitting & how did you learn?Since December 2004. My sister taught me how to knit.
• 3. b) Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate, or advanced? Intermediate
• 4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Yes
• 5. What's your favorite scent? Cinnamon apple, vanilla, and flowers
• 6. a) Do you have a sweet tooth? Yes
• 6. b) Favorite candy? Snickers, jujus, Crunchie, Payday
• 7. a) What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Baking, cooking
  
• 7. b) Do you spin? No
  
• 8. a) What kind of music do you like? Enya, Jewel, Bon Jovi, U2, Cher
• 8. b) Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? Yes
• 9. a) What's your favorite colour? Blue
• 9. b) Any colors you just can't stand? Muddy, muted, murky shades
  
• 10. a) What is your family situation? Married
  
• 10. b) Do you have any pets? Two cats
  
• 11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Yes
• 12. What are your favorite items to knit? Hats
• 13. What are you knitting right now? a helmet liner and a cotton dishcloth
  
• 14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes!
  
• 15. a) Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Depends on the project.
• 15. b) Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Yes, yes, and no.
• 16. Do you own a yarn winder and swift? Yes, both.
• 17. How old is your oldest UFO? Over a year old
  
• 18. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas! Unless my birthday counts as a holiday...
  
• 19. Is there anything that you collect? different kinds of wooden knitting needles
  
• 20. a) Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? Victorian Lace, Wedding Knits
  
• 20. b) What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? None
  
• 21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? maybe weaving or spinning one day but I think I'd rather someone showed me how in person
  
• 22. a) Are you a sock knitter? No.
• 22. b) What are your foot measurements? Size 7
  
• 23. When is your birthday? June 18.

Excerpt from Moby Dick

CHAPTER 4

The Counterpane.

Upon waking next morning about daylight, I found Queequeg's arm thrown over me in the most loving and affectionate manner. You had almost thought I had been his wife. The counterpane was of patchwork, full of odd little parti-coloured squares and triangles; and this arm of his tattooed all over with an interminable Cretan labyrinth of a figure, no two parts of which were of one precise shade--owing I suppose to his keeping his arm at sea unmethodically in sun and shade, his shirt sleeves irregularly rolled up at various times--this same arm of his, I say, looked for all the world like a strip of that same patchwork quilt. Indeed, partly lying on it as the arm did when I first awoke, I could hardly tell it from the quilt, they so blended their hues together; and it was only by the sense of weight and pressure that I could tell that Queequeg was hugging me.

TGIF

In addition to the article from Real Simple I read a few weeks ago, this morning I read a bit in the February Vegetarian Times saying that positive thoughts are good for you. So here's my list of good thoughts for the week:

• 1. Max bought flowers for me on Wednesday. It was totally out of the blue. The lilies are pretty and very fragrant.
  
• 2. Yoga twice a week is paying off... I'm starting to notice a slight increase in flexibility, like being able to put my feet flat on the floor in poses that I could not when I first started. Still a long way to go but it's nice to see improvements.
  
• 3. Max and I are having dinner with Erin and Simon this weekend. We haven't seen them in awhile so I'm really looking forward to it. I'll take pictures so you can see her knitting.
  
• 4. My Mom received her birthday card on Tuesday, the day before her birthday.
  
• 5. Last Saturday, Max and I went to see Pan's Labyrinth. It was dark and weird and I liked it.
  
• 6. Marvin received his care package on Tuesday.
  
• 7. We have the new Scrubbing Bubbles® Automatic Shower Cleaner with shower caddy thanks to a new BzzAgent campaign. Not only is our shower cleaner because we can hang the Scrubbing Bubbles® Automatic Shower Cleaner higher but it is also less crowded because we can do without our old wire shower caddy. I loved our old unit but the new one is way better. There's a $5 coupon available online if you want to try it out.
  
• 8. Max left work early today to get a haircut. Since he finished before 5, he drove to me office to pick me up from work! Always love not having to take the Metro home.
  
• 9. Finished reading part 12 of 252 of Moby Dick. I'm remembering as I go along.
  
• 10. My coworker brought her son into work and I got to snap a picture of him wearing one of the hats I knit for him. He's so cute!
  
• 
  

My Dad's sweater

After asking many times, I finally received pictures of my Dad wearing the sweater I knit for him for Christmas. It's the Cambridge Jacket pattern from the Summer 2006 Interweave Knits in Lion Brand Woolease. I made the sleeves much shorter than the pattern calls for so it would fit right on my Dad. Had to knit them twice because the first time around it was going to be too long. My Mom sewed in the zipper so I didn't have to wait to mail it.

I'm happy it fits and it looks right. My Dad says it is very warm and he likes the colour. Can't ask for more than that!

I’m not perfect

The I’m Not Perfect photo meme was dreamed up by Natalie of keeping me in stitches. I'm definitely not perfect when it comes to housekeeping (unless there are people coming over for dinner or staying overnight, then I frantically clean for two days prior and up until the minute they arrive).



Tagging: Ashley, Tina, and Harriet

Also, there is a college student, herself a knitter, who is doing her thesis on knitters and knitting. She has set up an online survey to collect the information to put her paper together. If you're a knitter, would you mind taking a couple of minutes to go over and fill it out? It doesn't take long.

Here's the link!

Care package

Yesterday, Max mailed a care package to his brother, Marvin, who is in university. I was somewhat puzzled at first about what to include, as I never received one when I was in university - my parents only lived 40 minutes from my room on campus. Here's what went in:



A Swell hat I made for him. Can you tell this is my favorite pattern? With the cold weather well upon us, I figured this is the best time to send it.

Also included: homemade cookies (mint chocolate chip and coconut oatmeal raisin), chrysanthemum tea, hoisin sauce, a t-shirt we bought for him at WDW, and some magazines.

New Year's resolution status update

Resolutions

• - use more yarn from my stash (especially the good stuff!)
• - finish one of my UFOs
  
• - use my new sewing machine
• - use my new ice cream machine (Christmas gift!)
  
• - make a good loaf of no-knead bread
• - lose my holiday weight (helps that I'll be practicing yoga twice a week starting tomorrow)

Update

• 1) I have been using yarn from my stash, both good stuff and some of the acrylic. I've made a poncho for myself, several head scarves that will be Christmas gifts for my little cousins, a scarf, and some baby stuff for friends... plus I gave some to my friend Meryl.
  
• 2) Have not even touched one of my Unfinished Objects.
  
• 3) Have not even opened the sewing machine box yet, argh, really need to bite the bullet and at least do that.
• 4) As you've already seen, I made ice cream! And I can't wait to make some more.
  
• 5) As you've also already seen, I finally made a good loaf of no-knead bread. Only took me three tries!
  
• 6) Hmmm... my weight. This is a tricky one since my appetite seems to increase in the winter. I've been doing yoga twice a week and going to the gym on the weekend at least once but so far... well, it's a good thing I don't have a wedding to go to until the end of April. Still, all my new size 6 clothes fits, so I it's only a little extra.
  

Kristen's red scarf

Here is the scarf completed by Kristen R. for the Red Scarf Project.



It has been mailed to the OFA.

Excerpt from Moby Dick, chapter 3

"Can't sell his head?--What sort of a bamboozingly story is this you are telling me?" getting into a towering rage. "Do you pretend to say, landlord, that this harpooneer is actually engaged this blessed Saturday night, or rather Sunday morning, in peddling his head around this town?"

"That's precisely it," said the landlord, "and I told him he couldn't sell it here, the market's overstocked."

"With what?" shouted I.

"With heads to be sure; ain't there too many heads in the world?"

"I tell you what it is, landlord," said I quite calmly, "you'd better stop spinning that yarn to me--I'm not green."

Yarn collection

I wholeheartedly agree!

Homemade Sunday

On Sunday, there was more food from the kitchen. Look at this beautiful homemade bread! I used the no-knead recipe and third time's a charm. This loaf is crusty on the outside, light and airy on the inside. We sliced it and ate it with cheese and soup. Yum!



For dessert, homemade ice cream. I used my new ice cream maker for the first time. The blurring in the first picture is the motion from the paddle.



I mixed 2 cups Stoneyfield Farms fat free vanilla yogurt, 1 cup heavy cream, and 1/2 cup of Bear Naked's Banana Nut granola. Delicious! Next time I'll probably use a little less granola and add a little honey for a slightly creamier and sweeter ice cream.

Waffles

This morning I made Whole Wheat Honey Waffles for breakfast. This is what mine looked like:

Toasted pecans and Canadian maple spread.

This is what Max's looked like:

Roast Beef and Black Diamond Cheddar Cheese.

Which would you prefer for breakfast?

After breakfast, we went ice skating for almost 2 hours. It was so much fun! I haven't been skating in a long time. Here's the sky picture I took on the way home:

TGIF

• 1) Routine. I like my routine of yoga twice a week, working regular 9-5 hours, knitting on the couch after dinner while watching TV, getting up around the same time, going to bed around the same time. A predictive index I took at work confirms this through and through.
  
• 2) Knitting blogs. I subscribe through Bloglines to many, many knitting blogs and it's nice to have something fun to read and pretty to look at during work when I need to take a break. So many of these knitting bloggers provide me with inspiration on what to knit, what to write, and what else is out there.
• 3) A new yoga top that shows off so much cleavage that I can only wear it at my Thursday class (which is smaller and only has two guys).
• 4) Our first snowfall on Sunday and small flurries throughout the week, pretty but virtually no accumulation - just special effects!
  
• 5) Picking out the perfect red Spanish wine for a gift for a wine aficionado, there's something so wonderful about knowing you picked the perfect gift.
  
• 6) Lunch today with a friend
• 7) Finding out that our friends Natalia and Alex are getting married in April. We're going to California!
• 8) My friend Erin is back from London! How cool is this picture?
  
• 9) Finished reading Julie & Julia. Great book! One of my co-workers is going to lend me Mastering the Art of French Cooking so I can make something from it.
  
• 10) Sending off a package to my friend Anne for her two kids that includes this hat:
  

Blue baby hat

As I mentioned, several friends of mine are either expecting or already due. This hat is for little William living in Massachusetts, who is just now a little over a week old. I used Lion Brand Woolease in denim, so it's warm and machine washable.

Using US size 6 circular needle (16"), I cast on 60 stitches, k3, p3, for three rounds (as in moss stitch, not ribbed), switched to stockingnette for a few inches, and then decreased in the manner of Swell until I had 6 stitches left, knit a little i-cord, and then bound off, pulling the tail inside the i-cord, and then wove in the extra yarn.

Cute, no?

Charlotte's Web

I didn't mention how much I loved Charlotte's Web. It was a great movie! Took me back to my childhood. I cried the first three times I read the book, and the first two times I watched the animated movie, so it was no surprise when I started crying during this movie as well. The animals were very realistic in their portrayal of E.B. White's story. The small children further down our row who were shout whispering, "Pig, pig, pig! Pig Momma!" were beyond cute. They didn't make it through the whole movie but perhaps that is for the best since they were quite young. There were some ways that the movie is different from the book but most of them were okay. I liked Julia Roberts as Charlotte.

Max and I love kid's movies... we're just kids at heart!

More red scarves

On Saturday, the red scarves were sent off to the OFA. Finished scarves by Mari, Erin, Meryl, Beth, Shirley, and the two I made were neatly folded, wrapped in their red scarf wrappers with laundry instructions attached, and tightly packed into a box for shipping. Alas there were no final pictures before the tape sealed the box. However, here are the pictures of the remaining scarves.

Finished by Meryl H.


Finished by Beth M.


Finished by me

Snow!

Today we had our first snow of the season! Max and I went to the early showing of Charlotte's Web and when we came out, it was snowing. I was so happy - just to see it snowing! Guess I was waiting to see it, just like Wilbur. There was only an inch or two but the kids on our street were outside this evening playing in it anyway.

Saturday Sky

I took this photo on Monday before Max and I left Pennsylvania. This is a view of a garden in repose.

TGIF

• 1) Sunset is later everyday... love the longer days, even when it's cloudy and cold.
  
• 2) Four day work week!
• 3) Yoga with Olivia on Tuesday and Thursday, feels good!
• 4) Dinner at Whole Foods with my friend Meryl after yoga on Thursday.
• 5) Setting up two of my friends - it's fun bringing people together!
• 6) Reading Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell (lent to me by Kristina). I love it! Started reading it on Monday and I'm almost done. Makes me want to cook something French.
• 7) Reading Moby Dick by Herman Melville, via email from Daily Lit, one bit at a time. It's a book I started in university for one of my English courses but I only got through 2/3 of it before I couldn't finish. I'm hoping that by reading it by email three times a week, I'll finish it. It would just be too ironic to have Moby Dick be the one that got away. So far I've read 4 of 262.
• 8) Finished knitting a poncho for myself in this gorgeous sunshine boucle yarn. Just need to block it to wear it.
• 9) Massage with Paula on Thursday. If only I didn't have to go back to work afterwards, the relaxation would last longer.
• 10) My red scarf group. We met today at lunch for the last time, brought all our scarves together, took pictures, and they gave me this certificate. It totally made a bad day so much better!
  

Red Scarves

Progress as of last Wednesday:


Finished scarf by Mari A


Finished scarf by Erin B


There are two other finished scarves from my knitting group at work that have not been photographed. Mine is done except for weaving in the last strand. I should do that tonight. There are two others from my group that are in various states of undone. The goal is for them to be finished by this Thursday so we can take a group photo with our scarves. Then I'll pack them up and mail them this weekend. That's the plan anyway.

Pennsylvania

The long weekend went by really quickly. The drive up to Pennsylvania was slow because of the rain, but also because all the winding roads and hills in Pennsylvania were covered in fog. Kristina's parents live in the middle of the state, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Their neighborhood isn't even in our car's GPS!

We stopped for lunch at Cracker Barrel on the way there. We arrived at The Stone House Bed & Breakfast in Schuylkill Haven, PA on Saturday afternoon. It's such a nice place and our room was very pretty, plus the rates are pretty reasonable. Breakfast was very good both days. I had french toast the first day and blueberry pancakes with broiled bananas on the second day. If you want to make reservations, call Theresa at (570) 385-2115. She's very nice.

Kristina's Mom was still at the hospital and pretty tired out from the day's activities, so Max and I took a nap at the B&B. Later that night, Kristina, her brother Peter, Max and I went to see Night at the Museum. What a fun movie! We all really enjoyed it.

On Sunday, Kristina's Mom was ready to come home from the hospital and so Max and I went to the hospital after breakfast at the B&B to help with bringing her home. We carried some of her stuff back in our car, went with Kristina to pick up the medications at the pharmacy, went to the grocery store for some items, picked up the pizza for dinner... just a lot of helping out. That night, I helped clean up the kitchen and put the dishes away. I also showed Kristina's Mom the pictures from our Disney World trip.

Yesterday we left the B&B after breakfast, hung out with Kristina and her Mom, and then drove back. I did some knitting on the way back. I'm working on a poncho for myself. We stopped at Cracker Barrel for an early dinner. We got home before dark and it was so warm, we went for a walk just wearing a sweatshirt. It felt good to stretch our legs a bit but we were tired so it was a short walk.

Saturday Sky

TGIF

At lunch today, I read an article in Real Simple called "Get Happy" and the author wrote about ways to be more happy. One of the ways was to concentrate on the good things, so here's my list of 10 things that made me happy this week.

• 1) knitting my red scarf at lunch with my co-workers; and finishing it today! (Pictures to come)
• 2) gathering many signatures for a birthday card for a co-worker... he'll be totally overwhelmed and I can't wait to give it to him!
• 3) dinner with Max at Bertucci's on Wednesday; there was good conversation, great food, and it was a pleasant night out.
• 4) visiting Knit Happens on Wednesday; bringing home some fun stuff.
• 5) finding out that one of my many pregnant friends had her baby and that the baby is a boy (no one knew before); everyone is happy and well.
• 6) setting up a lunch with a friend in two weeks; we haven't seen each other in awhile so it will be good to catch up.
• 7) yoga with Olivia, twice this week! Twice the butt kicking!
• 8) happy hour tonight for a co-worker's birthday; seems like there will be tons of people there.
• 9) getting to see my bestfriend Kristina this weekend and hang out a bit.
• 10) finding out that my bestfriend's Mom's surgery went well and that she is okay.

In the winter, I often notice the lack of sunshine in my day. It affects my mood, how I dress, and what I feel like doing. Concentrating on the good things is not always easy but now that I've forced myself to do it, I feel better for having done it. Have a great weekend all!

Dinner and shopping

I came home this evening after work feeling sort of blah, so I asked Max if he wanted to go out for dinner. We went to Bertucci's for soup and pizza. Mmmm, Lestina. Just what I needed to lift me up a bit!

After we ate, we went to Knit Happens - perfect since they're open late on Wednesdays. There were tons of women inside knitting and chatting, the new display window looks great, and there was so much yarn on sale. I managed to restrain myself but I still came home with a set of ebony needles and a bottle of Soak. As an added bonus, I got to show off my handknit scarf and hat set. No better place to do that than a yarn store!

How Canadian Are You?

You are 97% Canuck!

 

You rock, you are an almighty Canadian through and through. You have proven your worthiness and have won the elite prize of living in a country as awesome as Canada. Yes I know other countries think they are better, but we let them have that cuz we know better than they do, eh?

How Canadian Are You?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Pictures from Canada Day

Saturday Sky

A day for catching up and getting back on track. We went to the gym, ran some errands, and, since it was such a gorgeous day, we opened all the windows to air out the house. Max is making Morrocan marinated grilled tilapia for dinner. Yum! I can't wait.

Here's a picture of Max trying on his new hat that I knit for him (it's another Swell sans earflaps). He managed to wear it for 10 minutes before he was too hot and had to take it off. With the unbelieveably mild temperatures this winter (today it was almost 70), I'm not sure that he's actually going to get a chance to wear it but he likes it and that's what counts. And in case you're wondering, he is smiling.

Snow

I mentioned that there was snow at Magic Kingdom on Christmas Eve. Well, not real snow but real enough. And my favorite kind... looks pretty in the sky and disolves when it hits the ground. All the beauty and none of the mess. I don't mind a light dusting either, just as long as there's no shovelling.

But not 10 feet of snow - like the first winter that we moved into our first house as first-time homeowners. That is not my favorite way to enjoy snow.

Or even 3 feet of snow all at once - like when we used to live in Boston. There's the weekend that we went out of town and came back to completely clear roads and no visible path to our front door. The footprints are from us and the mailman taking the shortest route from the street to our, then, front door. It took all the next day to clear the sidewalks, the driveway, and the walk to our door.


All things in moderation.

Happy New Year!

One year anniversary of blogging. Wow. When I started this blog last year... well, much has changed. I take pictures more with an eye for posting on my blog. Instead of emailing my friends and family about my trips, I direct them to read it on my blog (or email the post to some, like my Mom). Most of all, my expectations have changed.

Review of 2006

• - knitted 1 set of handwarmers, 1 bunny, 1 poncho, 1 airhose cosy, 2 stoles, 3 unrevealed items, 3 scarves, 3 sweaters, and 11 hats (hats rock)
• - crocheted 1 lumpy freeform item and numerous edgings on knitted items
  
• - attended one reunion, 3 weddings, and went on vacation via 5 plane trips to three states and two countries
• - still in progress (UFOs)...the Viking turid sweater, the rainbow scarf, my first pair of adult socks, my first pair of baby socks, the red scarf, and two hats
• - lost 20lbs (but gained a little holiday weight)
  

Resolutions

• - use more yarn from my stash (especially the good stuff!)
• - finish one of my UFOs
  
• - use my new sewing machine
• - use my new ice cream machine (Christmas gift!)
  
• - make a good loaf of no-knead bread
• - lose my holiday weight (helps that I'll be practicing yoga twice a week starting tomorrow)

Travel (much less planned this year than last year)

• - weekend trip to visit the Hylands in PA and stay at a cute bed and breakfast
• - weekend trip to visit Max's brother at Cornell University and eat at the Moosewood Restaurant
• - weekend trip to Georgia to see Kristina defend her thesis
• - Canada for the holidays