With an explosion, the yarniverse begins.....

Speaking of, there has been a bit of an explosion in my project queue over the last month or so. I made the mistake of visiting a new city. Well, not really new as in brand new in existence -- rather a city that has been around a while that I don't happen to live in full-time. While I was there, I visited a few yarn shops and ended up with some practical souvenirs for my stash. (I guess I fell off the yarn diet.) The new projects popped up as a justification for the purchases in large part. A few of these are on the needles and in process. Progress pictures of these will show up shortly.

Spring break!

The weather is finally lightening up a little here. Actual sunshine and temperatures above freezing. Unfortunately, this is not helping further my progress on the KIP. Add to that a new project with a deadline in two weeks and you can see how not a lot of knitting has gotten done. For now, this is just a placemarker post. More knitting to come.

Noodling along...

Winter seemed to loosen its icy grip a bit today in our corner of the universe. Although the cold weather has helped my knitting production, I was happy to see the sun for a little while today. We are also supposed to have a better-than-average weekend as well.

I just looked over the resolutions. One month out and I have already fallen off the yarn diet somewhat. Last weekend, I visited a LYS and came out with some new stash fodder. Almost all of it was for gifts to be. I have managed to finish a gift in plenty of time to take pictures (although I haven't yet -- that would be too easy!) and start a new project. But the year is still young and I have time for improvement.

On a separate note, I do feel like I have improved in using Ravelry. It is very useful for keeping track of the patterns I like and intend to knit. Keeping the yarn and the pattern together is also helpful. And it is encouraging to see that I do finish some things (even if it is not as much as I would like.)

A clean slate

A new year, new projects, new yarn and a new purpose. All good aspirations and all seem attainable at the start of January with the whole of a new year laying before us. For me, I think I will stick to a few new craft resolutions:

1. Learn to spin. I have a good start on this because I bought a beautiful ceramic drop spindle at SAFF. A friend was kind enough to give me a lesson in the mechanics, so now it is a matter of practice. The initial foray from the practice bump of roving is still in progress, so we will see what happens.
2. Finish some projects. This one has been in process for a little while now. There has been a good bit of progress in reducing both the "frog pond" and the WIPs, but there is still improvement that can be made.
3. Reduce the stash. Yes, this one will probably prove to be the most challenging. I have a stash that threatens to grow whenever the new e-mails or catalogs from my fiber friends come knocking. It will be an effort to restrict new projects to using the stash supplies on hand instead of hitting up the LYS on a whim.
4. Take pictures. I am often running on the last few stitches just before a project needs to be delivered. So, I think I need a little more time built in for finishing and pictures. I've enjoyed being able to have a visual record of the things I have worked on. I just need to be more diligent about it.
5. Limit the queue. Probably the least likely resolution to succeed, just because the queue is sort of like the "what if?" or the "wishlist" if you will. The queue helps you to remember why you knit in the first place. But a list of five resolutions is a little more rounded than four, don't you think? Ok. It stays.

That's it for now, faithful readers. I will also try to post on a more regular basis. Happy New Year and happy knitting to all!