New year, new beginnings, new start – that’s what I’m talking about! I’m really excited to start the new year, I think mostly because I need a new start, and I’ve got a new attitude.

So with that, I have a list of goals. I’m not really a resolution girl, and I’m not sure why? Is it the word, the commitment, the fear of failure, the formality of it all? who knows? But goals, goals are good. Goals I can do!

So for all prosperity here is my unedited list of goals for 2009:

• Bake more cupcakes
• Live each day fully and freely. Is that too cliche?
• Get a new job
• Don’t work so much
• Get more spiritual
• Laugh more
• Journal more on paper
• Organize, organize, organize! Did I say organize?
• Start family game night again
• Get back to spinning 10 minutes every morning
• Dance!
• Don’t fear paperwork! Putting it off does not make it go away.
• Take items off the before I die list

This is more for my benefit than yours, for when I lose the piece of paper it really is written on, and it’s still very much a work in progress, but it’s a start. More importantly it’s something to blog about! :)

And now that I have added pretty picture - this post is complete :)

It really is going to be a good year you all. I feel it, feel it in my bones. Ha! I said you all and didn’t even blink.

Yes - we survived Ice Storm 2008! Actually it wasn’t until the power was back on that we were even aware that it was such a big deal. Talk about total disconnection.

The storm was strange in it’s intensity. Jess to my left - basically nada. Tina to my right (Now singing ??? to the left of me - jokers to the right, here I am…stuck in the middle with you. Did you catch that worm?) also fine and dandy. Me in the middle - nuked! Good times :)

Jesus candles were on sale 3/$4.00 so we had light at the ready

We played a full and complete game of Monopoly, then a little bit of Trivial Pursuit, then freaked a bit when we realized it wasn’t even 8:00pm yet. It’s amazing how much slower time passes when you have no gadgets hogging it all up. We called it a night pretty darn early. Then Zach made the mistake of announcing he still had some battery time on his PSP. so we all gathered in my bed and watched Lords of Dogtown on the 3″ screen. Talk about togetherness! at least we were warm :)

Saturday was a bit harder.

The house was now less than 40F and so freaking cold. They had a shelter set up down the road at the firehouse but the kids decided guitar hero and Batman watching at Tina’s sounded like the better deal, so I took her up on her offer and brought my posse with me. It was nice - and tropical like in her warm, warm apartment. Yowza.

When we arrived home Sunday morning for needed church clothes the power was on! We sang, we dressed, we flipped switches on and off in awe of the wondrous power.

Power - it’s a good thing.

ETA: There are many around without power still - like my 75 year old MIL who lives alone. She’s doing alright, she at least has heat and some awesome neighbors! Now I’m stressing a bit because my car died on the way to her house to bring her supplies. So not only do I have a dead car on my mind (again!) - but her safety also. Does the stress ever just stop?

If you know of a sugar daddy that has money or cars to burn - for absolutely no sex in return - please send him my way. I’ve given up men only - not money.

Yeah :)

Don’t laugh! I was really going to try do do NaBloPoMo again, and knit a sweater, and make a few things out of Noro, and have all my Christmas gift knitting done. Ha! Dream big I say! That way you really feel that fall from grace when it happens. I wish I could say my absence was because life got all crazy fun, but no that didn’t happen either. Life just happened in a sort of blah, blah, blah way.

I have/had the funk! Big time!

It’s breaking, slowly but surely. I did get a bright spot the other day when I virtually ran into an old friend from Bermuda (Hi Max!!). Crazy how this online world works at times! but I’m totally enjoying the mental trip down memory lane. Then again as the, oh so mature women I’ve grown to be (stop laughing I have my moments), I cannot believe how young and dumb I was! oy! I wouldn’t give any of it up for the world, yet if my missy even thinks about half the stuff I did I will have to hurt her. Earlier today, when I told her for no particular reason I may just have to duct tape her to the chair until she’s 40 she just gave me that ‘whatever mom’ look that makes my neck twitch.

So stuff keeps happening , but I just keep rolling. It’s been quite the coaster ride. Not the Yes! this is the ride of my life type with your hands flailing in the air, it’s been more like, if this ride doesn’t hurry up and stop I just may lose my lunch type. In the famous words of Nemo “just keep swimming, just keep swimming” so I do :)

Now for some real content - I do have a sweater to show you! I know! (proclaiming my love for Craig Ferguson and saying it just like him) It was finished awhile ago, August to be exact. Yowza - and I’m guessing most of you here have already seen it because it’s gone crazy on the love meter. (Believe it or not I haven’t been to Ravelry in weeks) This is one of the finished items I mentioned long ago. See this time my extended blog break wasn’t even due to lack of content - there’s more finished. Any way on with my wicked sweater.

My passion for wicked was not the love at first sight type. It was a slow, burning desire that then went into full helter skelter, must knit this now mode, when I ran into this little pretty. Then, when she mentioned

Also, I have to admit I kind of love how … buxom a good cabley sweater makes my modest A-cup look.

I knew this was to be my next sweater at all costs!

And it worked! Modest A to Vavoom with the help of a fine cabley sweater.

Who needs a wonderbra when you have a wonder sweater! I love, love, love, this sweater!

But it is just a sweater…not a miracle worker!

Truth in advertising and all that…it’s Debbie Bliss Cashmerino the better stuffer upper. You think Craig will still like me?

I still love this sweater!

Pattern: Wicked (Worsted Weight Version)
Yarn: 2 1/2 skeins of Dream in Color Classy in Beach Fog
Size: S (32 -35″)
Modifications: Turned it into a cardigan with a knit at the same time button band. Pam has since written a wonderful how to cardiganize post. I did mine very much the same except the button band part.

All the missing pieces can be found on Ravelry here

I love this pattern and fit so much I’m probably going to do it again, but more like the original pattern.

We had a power outage first thing this morning, and it threw me all off. I’ve done absolutely no work yet, and you know what, I’m keeping it that way. Money, who needs it! Joking! but I’m sort of enjoying the (very much needed) mental break. I’m going to see how far I get in playing the blog reading catch-up game before I push the big read all, and do a bit more walking down memory lane. I was so young and perky then! Max called me quirky :) I’m thinking that’s a label that still fits where the perky one is long gone! Why is getting older so hard on the body?

No matter the outcome - tomorrow is just the beginning. So exciting yet scary!

Happy Election day all!

I had to - even though these videos totally mess up and invalidate my code :)

What can I say about Rhinebeck that hasn’t been said? I’m thinking not much :) So here are a few of my favorite highlights in pictures.

When knitting mimics life:

I wanted to knit these mittens. No. I had to knit these mittens, and I had to start them now (said with that Veruca Salt whine). The mittens, the beautiful Druid, found on the cover of the fall issue of Vogue. I dug around in the stash, and found what I thought would be the perfect yarn, some Rowan Felted Tweed in a rusty orange color. Yes! Casted on, and I was off.

Loving every minute of it until….

I had a couple of inches of the actual cabling done. I couldn’t see my lovely cables at all. Now I loved the yarn, and I loved the pattern, but this just wasn’t working for me. Who wants to do all that work and not even be able to see it? Why not just knit plain ol mittens? I know! More swatchinig was done.

You see that one on top? That’s some handspun that I did up during the Tour de Fleece (we’ll catch up there later), that I totally fell in love with during the swatching process. Now it wasn’t right at all for the mittens, it was striping a bit too much for my taste, but I had to turn it into something now! (again said in the wonderful Veruca Salt whine). And so it was.

Pattern: Beech Wood by Ilga Leja
Yarn: Emerald Island from Spunky Eclectic 20% Alpaca/Corriedale Blend - 3 ply at 295 yards 3 7/8oz (113g)
Ravelry details found here

The mittens, they are coming along quite nicely :)

The one good thing about not blogging for so long is I actually have a back log of things to post…lol so you all come back now ya here :)