sunrisesister

Happy new year to you! I hope 2010 brings you happiness, love, joy, fun, and success

A new year is always exciting.. so many prospects ahead, so much possibility. A whole set of seasons to work thru and enjoy, and of course, lots of creativity to plan for!

But first, it’s important to look back and reflect.. so here’s my contribution: A year of WIPs and FOs!

And of course, a few frogged items, a few non-starters, and things I just fell out of love with. But still, not a bad year! I also did some sewing, hand-dyeing, and some other new crafty things. Yes, a Flickr mosaic, not exactly original, and I am sure other blogging knitters’ efforts put mine to shame, but hey, I tried!

What are my creative goals for 2010?

* Cook something I’ve never cooked before, once a month. I have so many AMAZING cookbooks, why am I so scared to try things? It’s not like we are fussy eaters! For Christmas N gave me a copy of Food Safari (sbs series book) which really, I have been lusting after even before the thing was written. 180 recipes just waiting for me!

* Expand my sewing horizons. I’m going to be kidnapping my friend Shan for this – she’s a whizz even though she wont admit it.

* Magic loop socks. Why, why why does this intimidate me so? It would increase my sock knitting productivity two-fold!

I could add something sensible like ’spend more time knitting, less time stashing’ but really.. let’s be realistic!

The granny squares are done, and are lovely and squishy, but I CANNOT seem to join them without them looking fugtastic.

Whats the best method?

Granny squares have always intrigued me.. They are functional, chunky, colourful, creative, symmetrical, fun… but sometimes they can turn out um.. hideous!

But crochet is so fast, and fun, and mindless. A tick in every box for me, in my current state!

This Pear Tree 12ply that i scored in bags from the Bendigo Show earlier this year have been singing out to me, in their muted soft squishy tones..

A 6.5 hook, a link from Christina, and away I go!

Squishy, kinda ugly, but I’m persevering to make a pram/bassinette/cradle/lap size blanket for baby..

Not neat, but I like it!

Every now and again, a bargain comes along that you cant say no to. And it sends you into a little.. well.. frenzy.

I was alerted to the Spotlight sale, where bags of 10 balls of Anchor Magicline were going for just $10. Yup. And this yarn is one of my top three faves of all time. Yup, a simple worsted weight cotton pleases me more than I can say. So off we went, first thing Monday on our way to work.

And we filled the vehicle we were in (a Kluger) full of this. 17 packs.

Now before you get all huffy and get all OMG WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH THAT MUCH YARN YOU SILLY WOMAN, you can just STOP. 5 packs have already left my hands, to go to other people. And the 12 packs left will be shared. Yes. Shared. But it’s cotton. We live in a part of the world where the summer temp reaches Ridiculous Degrees Celsius, so just chill out, ok? It’s more like.. and investment.. Besides, there are actual garment quantities here, not just Dishcloth Amounts.

Ironically, there hasnt been much knitting happening. I have been working pretty much full time, as well as juggling the kids busy lives, as well as trying to schedule as much STUFF to get done within the next few weeks. We are running out of time, and the car needs to be modified, serviced, as well as stuff around the house prepared for it’s new inhabitant!

I think I will cast something on that I can knit when tired (NOT 2ply lace) – perhaps a nice cotton number. Wonder if I have anything that would suit…. ahem

Today, our SnB group met to work on seaming/connecting squares donated to the Bushfire Blankets of Friendship appeal launched after Black Saturday. To say that the response for donated knitted/crocheted items was overwhelming would be an understatement! Dawn was inundated with squares, as you can see from her blog here..

So we all agreed to take some squares. Thinking there’d be a few. Whoah mama. Were there a few.

But Lucy was clever enough to have a bag specially aside for Viv, our resident dead muppet/feathers/hawaiian alpaca delight fanatic. Here’s the evidence of her sheer delight.

I just hope she doesnt let it ‘breed’ in that bag. *shudder*

So we got to work!

I could only stay for a wee while (kids at home wreaking havoc) but the last pic shows my effort so far – 15 squares joined! Woohoo!