New Year, New ...

Tarot of Vampyres

 Nope, it is the old me, but lazier- can you imagine that ? Yes, a challenge, I know.

Today's accompaniment is the following mellifluous version of a country classic:




I have been absent owing to my own ennui,Weltschmerz and angst, as neither did I want to bore you, my Dear Reader, with it nor send you running for the bunker loaded with ammunition and canned goods ...

challenge: name this classic movie

Instead because we are foolhardy brave, we will commit to writing a couple of goals for the coming year:

*   to blog at least weekly, without empathy or compassion for my readers as regards the topics - I will share the ennui/Weltschmerz/angst, with occasional dollops of other stuff

*  to overhaul my website

*  to go 'Cold Sheep' - no buying of yarn this year, knit/crochet only from stash. This has 2 provisos: (1) if any baby knitting becomes necessary, I can buy yarn for those specific projects (2) I have a threshold/big birthday, and if anyone gives me yarn vouchers I can spend them. Except please not vouchers for McADirect - long story for another post.

*  to streamline/downsize/declutter and simplify. Except for yarn and tarot decks, naturellement.

Have you committed publicly to any goals this year ?

Lack of Resolution

Well, I ended 2010 with a completed project - the Sweater of Doom Mark 2 for DH was done in almost plenty of time for Christmas - in fact, it was sewed up, washed and dried by the 22nd. There wasn't even a sniff of deadline panic in the air. He said he loved it, and wore it often throughout the holidays - whether as proof/evidence, or penance for not getting me gifts from the children, I'm not sure.

As you can see below, the shawl neck, even when on a hanger, doesn't hang/fall quite right, and I haven't worked out why; in comparison to the picture on the front of the pattern, the neck starts earlier and is therefore longer/larger: perhaps that has something to do with it. Still, that is one big tick ticked, and now I shouldn't hear any nags about knitting him something for a while, I guess.




My first Finished Object (FO) for 2011 was a return to normal-sized things, a pretty little frilled shrug that is destined for my youngest niece as her birthday present later this month; my sister Auntie Fashion had gifted me 3 balls of Rainbow Glitz yarn






















which, although the colors look quite subtle in the ball, has a sparkly silver thread intertwined throughout, and I thought it would go admirably with the Sirdar Denim Tweed DK 2210 pattern that I'd picked up last year sometime. However, I added a ruffle/frill to the sleeves also, because they looked odd without, and also because without some kind of edging, the knitting rolled ...

















As you can see, the yarn is self-patterning (and see how clever I was matching not just the sides, but the sleeves as well ?) and the almost fluorescent pink doesn't show it's true jarring nature until the yarn is knitted up.

I am now working on a little cabled sweater for my baby nephew, whose 1st birthday is next month.

So having made such a promising start to the New Year, I wonder how long I shall be able to maintain it for ? I haven't made any New Year's resolutions for some years now - I prefer the relative informality and reduced expectations/pressure of setting goals instead. I achieved 2 out of 2 last year - and quitting smoking wasn't one of them, oddly enough; so I am casting around for a couple or three goals for this year: things that I want to do, that are achieveable, that are not a total drag or completely miserable in their worthiness, yet are realistic: so no suggestions for becoming a nicer/better person, please.