There are no losers here, only winners and heroes

Can we have a HOLLER for J., Metta and Catknip!! They did it - 24 pairs in 2008. Nice work ladies. Any of you sick of socks yet???

My final tally is 19.75. Maybe a little holler for me??

I was a winner in other ways, like knitting related Christmas goodies.


That's a Dumpling bag for me made by J, along with some knitting tags, and a knitting print from Ms. Poot and Cubby. I'm a lucky girl; not because of the gifts. It's the girls that gave me the gifts that are truly special. There's not a lot of people who get me. These girls get me.

And there are heroes in my life too. Guitar Heroes that is.



I can see some precious knitting time eaten up by this.

Here's to a winning 2009 to you all.

In Which Resolutions Are Made

2008 was a busy year in my house. I knit socks, sweaters, hats, shawls and a baby. Even with many finished projects to show off, I find myself swamped with stash. I also find myself feeling overwhelmed at times and with no time to look after myself.

Therefore, in the spirit of starting anew, I am going to try to make a dent in my stash this year and you are, too. If you want. Not forcing you or anything. Just thought it might be a good idea. So here's how it will work. Once I finish a project this year, I will total up the yards of yarn used up and tally it on the sidebar. If I receive or purchase yarn, I will tally it on the sidebar. The plan is to have used up more than I bring in. What seems like a reasonable figure? 1000 yards? 5000 yards? Perhaps it would be unwise to set a goal since this is my first attempt at stash busting. Let us just hope that I will be successful or I'll be doing this again next year.

I'll also be starting to run again. A treadmill in my basement and a supportive husband will hopefully help me to get my body back in shape. I hope to run a 10 km race by spring and perhaps go on to train for a half marathon. I'll be relying on you, Dear Reader, to keep me accountable for this one.

So there you have it. 2009 will be a year for stash busting and ass busting. Care to join me? (In either / or endeavor. And only if you want. We're all about individuality here at Baadmedicine Enterprises.) Send me a message on Ravelry or leave a comment here if you're feeling brave.

Sleep In Heavenly Peace

Happy Holidays from My (Gingerbread) House to Yours.

The Final Tally

My Christmas knitting includes

- 7 hats
- 1 toy (to be revealed in due time)
- 1 shawl
- 2 cowls (one which needs to be redone...that story and pictures forth-coming)
- 1 major endeavour (it's now blocked - it's awesome)
- 3 pairs of socks
- 1 scarf

I think that's it. I'll have final pics of all these at the other end of the holiday.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Last minute preps

Whew. As of last night at 9pm, my big projects are DONE. Done I say. Well, there may be some minor blocking required, but the knitting is all finished.

So any guesses what I did at 9:01pm? Oh, I cast on for new Christmas projects. Because I'm mental. Clearly.

There are few things I can show, but I'll give you a glimpse at my favorite Christmas knit ever.


The Meathead. As of today I've made 4.5 of these for Christmas. I hope to get another 1.5 done.
Best hat ever.

I can't wait till I can actually show you some of the finished Christmas knits....how many more sleeps?

SM

That's Stash Management. (This is a family show.)

T. and I have been mulling this whole stash business. In short, we think that keeping a running tally of yards into your stash versus yards out would be a good way to show our progress in terms of using up the stash. We've decided that part balls don't count. That's all we've got thus far. Any ideas? I think we need to devise a reward system since I happen to find that getting something is powerful motivation. Any ideas?

To enable us all to use up stash, I thought we could keep a list of projects that are quick and use up yarn that is laying around. A couple of my favorites are the Turn a Square hat by Brooklyn Tweed. (You know I have a crush on him, right?)

T. and I also like the Meathead hat. The nice thing about this one is that you can use a bunch of yarns together to get the 9 stitches/ 4 inches required for gauge.

We're going to use up that stash in the New Year! GO Team!

A little time away

Last week, the family and I made our way to the Rocky Mountains to spend a couple of days in a winter wonderland.

Ahhhhh. It was wonderful.

We went on "adventures" in the snow, swam in the outdoor pool (sounds crazy but was awesome to swim outside while it snowed), warmed up in the hot tub, played with new toys and relaxed.

A little Christmas break before the insanity of the season sets in. Just what we needed.

A Year in Socks

Here they are, the entire year of socks from Blue Moon Fibre Arts.

And yes, they DO rock.

An Inspiration, A Confession or Two and A Challenge

I've been a busy Elf this year.

These ladies keep me on my toes.

Princess the First has started crafting. It started innocently with some Christmassy sprinkles and some sugar cookies

and progressed to stickers and glue.

She completed these in one day, with some help from her Mama. It almost makes me think I should get cracking, too.

However, in one of my saner moments, I have decided to NOT do any baking this holiday season. Most years, I drag out large mixing bowls and roll cookies for hours on end. I fill my freezer with tasty morsels and give them to friends and family. Not this year. I have decided that I don't need the stress of it or the added calories.

Then I got this in the mail.

I may have accidently joined the Sundara Sock Yarn club. This is the first shipment of the Cool colours.

So now I'm not baking but I am swimming in sock yarn and yarn for several lace and sweater projects. This is beginning to weigh on me and so, dear Reader, I ask you to help me work through the stash. Let us come up with some clever and easy to stick to program that allows us all to use up our stashes and feel good about our fibre spending in this time of financial contraint.

I don't actually have a plan. I was hoping you could help me with it. We can call it our New Year's Resolution and form a support group. Can't wait to see what we come up with...

Emergency!

There are really few knitting emergencies. I don't mean knitting emergencies like a dropped stitch in a 300 st, 54 line repeat lace pattern. I mean emergencies when you have to knit things STAT.

However, this weekend brought one of those situations. My oldest boy seemed to have his hat go missing. So on Friday when my love picked him up from school they stopped by the office to check out the lost and found. I was sure it would be there waiting for him.

Gasp. They had JUST the day before cleaned out the lost and found. They had taken the items away (for a good cause...) and had nothing in the box. His handknit hat was gone.

Issue #1: How do you put your kid's name in a handknit hat so that if it does go missing in the school yard it can possibly find it's way back to your kid? I have no idea.

Issue #2: Punky had a field trip on Monday that was going to be outside. Hats and mitts required. Now, I could have just picked up a $3 hat at Old Navy when I was there, but as a knitter, I feel compelled to put my kids in handknit hats. I am embarrassed to have them in anything else. Knitting emergency. Produce a hat, whilst doing all your Christmas knitting (some of which has to get mailed....) during the weekend. Normally this wouldn't be a problem - when it's not the Christmas season of course.

Mission Accomplished.


And along with it, a couple of other hats for some cousins.