Old Year, New Year

Well Happy New Year to everyone!

I don't make resolutions, but I do make goals. My big goal in 2009 is to clear the debt off our power line of credit. In 2008 we paid for braces for Luke and in November my car was paid off. The cash freed from completing those payments is now going towards the debt. I'm very excited to see a light at the end of this tunnel. Yippee!

We kept a pretty quiet Christmas when it comes to gifts. My favourite gift came from Jim and was a set of Rosewood double pointed needles. He had noticed me admiring them in the store, and was thoughtful enough to get them for me, knowing I'd not likely get them for myself.

All this week I've been off work and yet still very busy enjoying myself. My mother gifted the whole family with Animal Crossing City Folk, so we've all been playing that. It's been fun sending each other gifts and notes in the virtual mail. The family has also been enjoying playing Mario Kart and Munchkin. It's hard to find fun games for teenage boys to share with their family, but these fit the bill.

As for the knitting, 2008 saw a slowdown in my production, which is kind of hard to believe when you look at what I did complete. I don't think the slow down is a bad thing since it comes from walking the dog regularly and more responsibilities at work. I also slowed down on the blogging. Part of the problem with that is the kids are hogging the machine! Next year, all I want for Christmas is a laptop. Once the debt is gone, I think it's a reasonable request.

Post-Christmas, as predicted, I came to my senses and I abandoned the Cabled Yoke Jacket. Here's as far as I got:

I was breaking every design rule possible in one sweater for a plus-sized woman. All those puffy cables and the light color offset with a brown yoke. Not smart. But it was like a boxing match. My process knitter knocked out my product knitter in the first round. Thankfully, the product knitter made a late comeback and triumphed over the process knitter.

Now the process knitter and the product knitter have called a truce and all this week I've been happily plugging away at this ray of sunshine:


It's the Bee Fields shawl by Anne Hanson. I started this back in April and was halfway through the second section when I screwed up and ripped back to the first section. This was so disheartening that it languished in the stash cupboard till last week. The holidays have given me a well rested head to tackle it with and I'm hopeful that it will be mostly done before going back to work. I'm enjoying the lace and the color. Every time I pick it up I'm reminded of green grass and sunny skies.

I've needed the reminding too. We've had snow, rain, wind, cloud, fog, snow, and a bit of sun. The rain and wind conspired to knock down several pine trees, including one that fell over a driveway containing four cars. It crushed the hoods of the last two cars, trapping the whole bunch in. I can just imagine the consternation in that household when they realized their Christmas guests would be staying a few days more!