The bins are great since they are only about two skeins deep (or one sock skein on end), thereby eliminating the need to dig to see what I have - I hate digging. So... I bought a few of these bins... then a couple more. Darn DBNY deals! BTW - they're having a good January sale on Cherry Tree Hill yarn. Supposed to start at midnight EST for New Year's but they apparently jumped the gun and it's on now. An no, before you ask... I did NOT buy anything. heh I wanted to but the one yarn that tempted me got sniped by an early shopper catching DBNY's goof of starting the sale hours ahead of schedule meaning I'm sure to not be the only disappointed potential customer. Maybe it's the universe's way of telling me I didn't need that yarn... would have made a gorgeous sweater-jacket though! Ah, well, maybe next year when the stash has been depleted a bit...I did do well with some of my other resolutions however. I wanted to knit my 2nd pair of socks this year... and I did. My second, third and fourth! All of which I love. =) I also wanted to knit a sweater for myself (my first). That almost made it to completion. It was all finished other than the button bands when I finally admitted that it just wasn't right and decided to frog it. I learned a lot in the process though! Throw in a couple hats, a couple scarves, a couple pairs of fingerless gloves, a few bags and a few small gift items and you have my year of knitting. Not a huge number of FOs, but I'm happy with most of them so it's all good. =) I also did well with my savings goal and even purchased a newer car (yeah, I got a loan, but I put down a good down payment, but dang, haven't had to make a car pmnt in YEARS!) and have enough in the bank to easily move on. That brings me to this coming year...
So, what are my plans for 2010?
- Same as last year, I plan to knit only things I want to knit and not what people expect (unless they're the same of course, heh). Makes my knitting time so much more enjoyable!
- I've been knitting the past several years now and thoroughly enjoy it, but lately I've been getting an urge to learn to crochet... so this year, I want to learn to crochet, or at least try enough to decide if I like it or not. heh I haven't really crocheted (much more than a chain anyway) since I was maybe 7 or 8. I vaguely remember it being sort of flat and oval-ish. So many knitting patterns have lovely crochet edgings and I've always steered clear of those... until now. =) Plus, it's rumored to be quicker and use more yarn than knitting. haha Good way to make my way through some of my stash???
- Stash. Yeah, I need to get a handle on this. I used the excel spreadsheet download on Ravelry and added a couple columns to figure total weight in my stash as well as total yardage. Wow. That's an eye-opener! I knew it was a lot, but dang. I have a several skeins that I have no weight or yardage entered since they were grab bag deals with no info, but most of the stash has info entered into Ravelry so the insane totals are close, just a bit lower than reality. I currently have 104.2 pounds of yarn!! Geez, that's almost as embarrassing as posting MY weight! Adding up the yardage, that's 57.5 miles of yarn!! Yeah, I have issues. Hard to pass up a good deal! Okay, I know I can't/won't go cold-turkey... at least not for long, so my plan is to be sure the yardage/weight IN is no more than half the yardage/weight OUT so my stash will have to shrink. I better get knitting/crocheting!
- *sigh* Still trying to clean up my diet and get back on track with regular exercise. I've decided I need to start working out at least 3 days a week (to begin with). I'm also going to really try out a vegan diet finally. I've been wanting to do this for awhile and just haven't made the leap. It's time. And just in time for my birthday!
- I'll also be making another big move this year! Back across the country, back where I love to be, back to having my own space. =)
Happy New Year! May yours be filled with fun times andbe better than the last. =)
and 12 years ago. =)
We met this chick-magnet at the Market too. Austin is probably the biggest Great Dane I've ever seen. And such a sweetie! Just one more thing to love about Portland - such a dog-friendly city. 
We also checked out the 
In Portland, that is. =) I've been here 3 1/2 weeks (almost) and loved (nearly) every minute of it! Our first weekend, we took a 
There are some amazing homes along the river, including this teensy one we passed:
There are also some great floating homes to see: 
There's plenty of wildlife as well as people enjoying the great outdoors.
But I think this was my favorite shot of the trip:
The day started out incredibly foggy, but cleared up nicely for our outting. Definitely something I wouldn't mind doing again someday...
Scarf + sock yarn = way too much knitting the same pattern over and over! I pretty much knit this exclusively on planes/in airports so it took awhile to finish, but it's done! And it's been getting lots of compliments from flight attendants along the way too. =) I love it... but I'm SO glad it's done! Really felt like the miles (okay, 6 feet) of scarf would never end. haha Fingering weight yarn (and boredom with the pattern) makes for sloooooow going. Not 
Should be a good fit for the mild Pacific NW winter. =)
I knit these up awhile ago actually, but since they were a gift, I couldn't post pics of course. heh Finally got them sent off a couple weeks ago, so... here ya go! I used the 
Should hide any dribbles nicely and it's SO soft! And washable, of course! Had enough for two bibs... and a matching basketweave washcloth.
It took a few trips to a few different stores, but I finally found buttons I liked. I wanted something cute but easy for mom/dad to use. Found these cute round ones with embossed flowers that matched perfectly! I tried a couple of knit shops and finally found these at Jo Ann's. heh Shoulda gone there first, I suppose. 
Never mind that I have to lean against the window and look as far left as possible to see this view... heh The rest of my view's pretty decent if I ignore the rooftops of the buildings near my hotel. =) I landed at PDX, got my bags and my rental car and was checked into my hotel all by noon PST on Sunday. Yes, that means I was up and had bags in my car and was on the road by 4:30a EST. I don't recommend that, btw. Not fun. But I'm here now and it's all worth it! We've had gorgeous weather - chilly but clear - the past couple days and are expecting good weather the next week or so at least. Everyone I've met here so far has been really nice and they all seem to love living here. Such a change from Albany where I only got pity when they asked how long we'd be there! And getting to see eagles on my drive in to the office, well... it doesn't suck. =)
Gorgeous. My friend Kim and I took a little road trip today and stumbled across this great old school house. 
Then, further down the road, we came across 
Nice park with some great camping spots and of course, the cabins for rent by the night.
and isn't going to get finished. =( I want to love it! I really, really do! It's my first sweater ever and I love the yarn but... this isn't working. heh Not sure what I was thinking when I chose this pattern other than I knew it would be simple for my first sweater. I'm not a huge fan of crew necks in general (great choice of patterns, huh?) and I'm not so sure the raglan style was a good choice for my body type either. The second being a bad sign for my capelet I began a couple weeks ago, also in a raglan style though it does have a different collar style. Anyhoo, I tried this on again tonight after I've been dragging it around for months, never getting the motivation to knit the button bands (all that's left to finish this other than weaving in ends). Standing in front of a mirror tonight, it is completely obvious... the sleeves are too big and an odd length, the back too wide, the fronts, well, not wide enough to contain the girls... It's also an odd length... not cropped, but too short to be normal length. What the heck was I thinking?! I think with some tweaking (involving completely ripping this out and starting over), it might be okay but really?! Is it worth it??? I say, nope! I've been wishing for awhile I'd picked a more involved pattern for my first sweater. This was just so... basic. Not that basic's bad, but, well, if I'm going to put all this time and effort into a sweater, shouldn't I LOVE it in the end and be proud to say I made it? This, I do not love. At all. Sadly. So, I'm giving up and it's being banished to the frog pond. Might leave it as is until I decide what to knit it up into later and then knit straight from this sweater, frogging as I go, save a few steps. Or maybe I'll just frog and wind it so I don't have to look at this disappointment anymore... heh I did learn a few things in the process at least. Maybe I should stick with hats, gloves and socks for now...
YUM!
and started the matching scarf at the airport while waiting for my flight home from NY Friday evening.
Wasn't so sure about 
And I'll be able to afford a few other small items to go in the package too with the deal I got. 
Last weekend (hey, we're almost current!), I was home... missing the New York Sheep and Wool Festival at Rhinebeck (*sigh*). I got so excited when I saw the signs up for the festival... until I realized it would coincide with my weekend home. Darn it. At least my weekend home also coincided with the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival in Indiana. I had a late flight back on Sunday so I took my mother down with me to the 
Even caught one of the DNR guys grinding corn into meal. There really is more than corn in Indiana... but I bought a bag for a buck. =)
As always, more pics in 
So, that was my morning. Then, back to New York for another two weeks...
and the Maid of the Mist (awesome!) and went back on Sunday to see the aquarium (meh, the animals look bored out of their minds and are in too-small enclosures, I think). They do seem to take in some special needs animals though. All of the seals and some of the sea lions are vision-impaired either due to injury or cataracts so that's good. A lot of the fish were pets that outgrew either their tanks or their ownerss interest. I'm hoping the penguins are being rehabilitated too since so many of them looked pretty peaked. They just stood around staring at the rocks. =(
Yeah, there is a crab under there! 
