Time flies I guess. So since the last post things have been busy in my world, but sadly lacking in the knitting department. Last weekend we went up to UNH for the annual Double Reed Day festivities. We were greeted by unusually warm temperatures when we arrived late Friday night and by some old and new friends on Saturday. The guest artist this year was actually my dear teacher from my days at Yale, Frank Morelli.

If you’ve any interest in the bassoon you really must check out some of his recordings. Amazing stuff. He joked with me that I’d be getting everything I learned in 2 years at Yale in 90 min. but there were no refunds. He always has a singular wit and definitely knows his way around a bassoon. It was good to catch up and get a refresher course, that’s for sure.

After bassoon day we were lucky enough to be invited to dinner at one of the professor’s houses where we had an amazing meal and more good conversation with friends. When we finally tore ourselves away we headed for our favorite city, Portland Maine to spend the rest of the weekend. Sunday morning I took a great yoga class at the Portland Yoga Studio. It was a great space and while the style of yoga that was taught in the class (Iyengar) is much different than what I usually practice (Vinyasa), I really enjoyed the class. I also got to have a nice chat with the owner about the yoga scene in the area and opportunities for teaching. We met up with HWJF’s parents for lunch in the afternoon in Freeport and I got my LLBean fix. After a lovely day with them we returned to Portland for an amazing sushi dinner at our favorite sushi place. And then it started to snow.

By Monday morning there was a foot on the ground. We felt much more like we were in Maine after the mild temps and lack of snow! We went back downtown to do a couple of things after we got checked out and saw the MLK day parade go by.

Yep. That’s the parade. About 75 people walking behind 1 police car. If I’d had a wider lens I probably could have gotten the whole parade in one shot. Still, good of them to come out in the snow and do their thing while chanting “We shall overcome”. The crowd wasn’t exactly ethnically diverse either. I think I love Portland even more just for this.

On the way home we stopped to visit friends who have 8 month old triplets (that’s a lot of babies!) and another friend who has a new love in his life. I seriously feel like we did almost nothing but eat on this trip! I tried to finish the vespergyle mittens in the car.

Didn’t quite make it though. Still have one thumb left to go but it’s so fidely that I just can’t face it right now.

In the meantime I’ve been working on these:

For HWJF of course. Plain stockinette socks are good for my soul right now because I’m going through a major change. Yesterday was my last day of work in my Manhattan office. The move to Long Island City Queens has finally gone through and we will all report to the new building on Tuesday. We are working at other sites in the meantime (because god forbid they should send us home on paid leave [yes I am bitter]). Cleaning out my desk yesterday it suddenly struck me that I never expected to be doing that to move to a new building. I thought it would happen because of a new job. Sadly, that is not the case right now.

I know that in the current world I should just be grateful to have a job and I am. But the new situation will increase my travel by 30 min. each way (and I’ll have to take 4 different trains. yes 4. that’s not a typo) and will more than likely make getting to some of the yoga classes I need to complete my training requirements difficult. I’m also spending another $89/mo. on commuting expenses because I now need a monthly subway pass. Obviously, these are certainly 1st world problems and nothing compared to what is going on in Haiti right now (by the way, I’m donating 50% of the proceeds of sales of my Piscean Socks pattern to Haiti relief right now) but they do make life as I know it less pleasant. If I loved my job it would be one thing, but I don’t.

For right now, we need to get through October 3rd (the wedding). After that, all bets are off. I’m ready for more changes when the time comes.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures I’ve taken since the last time I posted.

Have a wonderful weekend!

So as usual lately my good intentions to get to the blog have not been fulfilled. I hope those of you that celebrated Thanksgiving last week had a great holiday. Ours was particularly special this year because HWJF and I went to Maine and my parents went along with us so they could meet his parents for the first time! We were a bit nervous about how things would go (I think we all were!) but we ended up all having a fantastic holiday! We made sure to make the requisite stop at LLBean on the way up.

I wish the picture quality was better on that but it was kind of raining and gross out so I’m glad we got anything at all. Mom wanted to get a sweater for Sandy so we snuck her in the store to try things on. We were asked to take her out but they let us try on sweaters real quick. Just as we were getting ready to take her out but still be discreet, she started barking at one of the fake dogs in the area! Hilarious!! So much for keeping our cover!

Thanksgiving itself was definitely a feast to behold. HWJF’s parents are used to having a big crowd and they always do an amazing job of things. There were 18 people at dinner! The center piece of the meal is always my future father-in-law’s hand raised turkey.

31 pounds (yes that’s 31 pounds!) this year and absolutely delicious as always. My Dad definitely went in for seconds, maybe thirds on that bird.

I wish I had thought to take more pictures during our visit but that’s about all I have. We ended things up with a lobster dinner for the 6 of us Friday night that was also amazing. I remember getting a little misty eyed at one point because I was just so happy to see his parents and mine getting along so well. We both mentioned to each other that it was very nice to have a holiday where neither of us had to miss our parents. After this trip we’re definitely looking forward to our wedding next year even more than we were before. I am constantly overwhelmed by how much we have to be thankful for this year.

Speaking of that, a quick story about an amazing experience I had last night. My surgeon’s office called me last night to ask me a favor. Apparently they had another young woman that needed to have the same procedure that I had in their care and she had asked if she could talk to someone that had gone through the same procedure. I had told them before I left my last appointment that if anyone ever asked to talk to someone, I’d be more than happy to share my experience. I quickly told the nurse that I’d still be happy to talk to this person. I received a text message a short time later asking me to call and telling me that her surgery was December 21st. I immediately called her back and we had a nice chat. I could totally hear in her voice the same fear and anxiety that I had just over 6 months ago. We talked about the procedure and pain management and recovery and those crazy release forms that make you think you are totally not going to come out of this thing alive, etc. etc. By the end of our conversation I think she was feeling better about her chances and the skill of the team that would be getting her through this. At least I hope so. I’m just so happy that I had the opportunity to “pay it forward” so to speak and do the same thing for someone else that someone had been kind enough to do for me. I’m grateful to be on the other side of the phone this time and I hope that she will be able to do the same sometime in the future too. Please keep Josephine in your thoughts on Dec. 21st. She’s going through a very hard thing right now but I know she’ll be ok on the other side, just like me.

In other news, I’ve been knitting, but most of it I can’t show you (Hi Mom! ). I can show you this pair of socks I’m making for my Grandpa:

Lorna’s Laces in Black Watch. Fairly boring 3×1 rib that I stole from Annie when she was at my house last and I saw her knitting some socks (Hai Annie! ). My Christmas knitting list is “down” to 2 cowls, a hat, and another pair of socks.

And there’s a certain fluffy bunny that needs a haircut.

Anyone know how I can find a few more hours in the day?!?

I am sorry I have been neglecting you but time just seems to be slipping away from me these days. There’s Reiki to be done and yoga books to study and all manner of other things.

Like trying to eat a giant lobster on our trip to Maine this past weekend.

But settling for the real thing. Three of the real thing at once no less!

(Lemme tell ya, best meal of my LIFE!)

We also got acquainted for the 1st time with some of my future family members.

And HWJF got his own version of lobster.

And when I wasn’t stuffing my face I managed to enjoy the amazing weather and NOT get my scar burned.

So you see? Totally too busy dear blog. And now I’m off to WOOL tomorrow! There just aren’t enough hours in the day! But don’t worry, I am knitting…

And making sure a certain fluffy princess stays cool….

I promise I’ll be back next week. Really!

… how’s about I tell y’all about Maine!

It was awesome!

No wait! There’s more!

Despite leaving after work on Wednesday we didn’t actually get into Maine until Thursday morning. It seems that we must have officially reached “old” or something because the prospect of getting in at 1am or later did not appeal to us this year. We stayed with friends near Boston Wednesday night and were on our way Thursday morning.

First stop was Portland. There’s something so very charming to me about this city. Perhaps it’s the smallness compared to my daily fight with NYC, perhaps it’s the smell of salt on the air that instantly makes me crave steamed clams and lobster, or maybe it’s the people who totally dress like I would want to dress on a daily basis and don’t seem to notice that they’re special. Either way, I just love Portland. And this time around I finally got to go to Tess’ Designer Yarns! Every time we’ve tried before it hasn’t been open but this time we were lucky. I was so excited I didn’t even get a picture, but you better believe I got yarn!

It wasn’t an easy decision, but I ended up with these two skeins of their Superwash Merino. It’s so silky and the colors just imidiately grabbed me when I walked in the door. There is a touch of buyer’s remorse with these only because I probably should have gotten a third skein. Now that I’m back to Ravelry access, I find that the sweaters I had in mind need a touch more yardage. I may just call them to see if I can get more though. I also bought sock yarn for HWJF which has become the yarn of choice for his Ravelympic socks.

I didn’t start them until Saturday because I wanted to work on the Morning Surf Scarf first (more on that another day) and I wasn’t too sure how they were going to work out, but they’re starting to grow on me. I decided to go with this instead of the handspun that I had originally planned when I discovered the gauge was going to be way off otherwise. HWJF seems to like them so far and that’s all that matters to me.

We almost literally tripped over another yarn store while we wandered the city, Central Yarn Shop. This was a really cute store with a wide variety of yarns and some really interesting samples, not the least of which were some with a serious lobster theme that we saw in the window.

We picked up another skein of sock yarn there. This time Berroco Sox.

HWJF says that I “hog all the blues” so this one is for him too.

We made several other stops including a couple of record stores, an asian grocery (hello Pocky!), L.L.Bean outlet and a Stonewall Kitchen to stock up on our favorite Sunday breakfast, but I think HWJF was most happy when we found out we could take a tour here:

While the video was interesting the “tour” was less than stellar. They basically took us into the packaging room to show us all of this:

Which was kind of cool to see all the bottles going around but less than what we were expecting. But hey, it was free and there was a tasting afterward. I’m not a beer girl so I gave the boy my samples. Obviously, we went home with a couple of beverages.

Then it was on to Freeport for lunch at Gritty’s which was Oh.My.God. amazing. Try the lobster bisque if you’re ever there and the pulled pork over sweet potato fries with cheese and maple sour cream. Sounds gross but was amazingly delish! The food was so amazing but we ended up scarfing it down because it was 3pm and we found a brochure for an Alpaca farm nearby that closed at 5pm! Meet the alpacas of Winters Gone Farm!

We only had 30 min. before they closed by the time we made it there (who knew there was traffic in Maine?!?) so I didn’t want to keep the owners, but I did manage to score 8 oz. of the softest spinning fiber ever! Expect to see that spun up sometime soon!

Our day ended by going back for the mandatory stop at L.L.Bean (it’s a state law according to my Dad ) and then heading home.

On another day we also made it to another yarn shop that I hadn’t been able to get into before, Pins and Needles. It was a really lovely little shop with a great selection of different types of yarn, most of it from Cascade. We picked out this skein of Cascade’s new sock yarn, Heritage.

Since this was sort of HWJF’s birthday trip, most of the sock yarns ended up being for him. But one ended up coming home for me:

This time it’s J. Knits which is another yarn I’ve not yet knitted with. We picked this one up at our favorite stop in Waterville, Yardgoods. We also had to visit our favorite lunch place in Waterville, Big G’s. The sandwhiches? Insanely huge!

And totally yummy. Of course no trip to Maine would be complete without a stop at Gifford’s either, especially when our favorite flavor (Pumpkin!) was available.

Yeah. Totally raining and cold. Did we care? No way.

We also managed to take in a concert at the New England Music Camp in between the raindrops.

Note the handknit socks and the new shoes.

There was also a visit with HWJF’s father’s turkeys.

And the hilarity of HWJF trying to find eggs for us for breakfast one morning.

Before we knew it, it was time to head home. Only we decided to make a little detour. HWJF’s parents were nice enough to give us two bikes to bring back to NJ, so we decided to stop and try them out.

I’d never been to Kennebunkport and I must say it is a very cute town with a lovely beach.

Of course, I can only look at the water from a distance, so I made HWJF go find me some sea shells.

Unfortunately it was 5pm before we knew it and we were still in Maine! We didn’t get home until 11pm and well… you know the rest.

Someday I hope we can live in Maine. It just seems like it would be a good fit for us in so many ways. In the meantime, I’ve definitely added to my list of places I want more time to explore!

Did I mention we’re driving up there for Christmas?!

Tags: alpacas, fiber, Maine, Travel, yarn

I had all good intentions of putting up another post before we left for Maine and our Thanksgiving holiday, but it just didn’t happen. I hope all of you who celebrated had a wonderful holiday. We certainly did! Our travel plans had nary a hitch (which is saying a lot considering we flew out of Newark!) in both directions. In fact, we got back to Newark about 30 min. early which I do believe is a bonafide holiday miracle! We stuffed ourselves with so much food it darn near hurt. Sadly, camnesia struck me pretty badly while we were there, but let me just tell you that a 24 pound home raised turkey is a sight to behold. And 15 people around a dinner table in one house is certainly not typical for holidays in my world, but I was continually told how “small” the gathering was by HWJF and his relatives. Considering I’m used to 4 people tops, I thought it was pretty “big”. We did manage to get one picture before we headed to the airport:

It had gotten up to about 18 degrees at that point. Excuse me if I’m shivering.

We also saw an amazing sight on the way to the airport and had to pull off for a picture:

A MOOSE!!! I can’t tell you how happy I was to see this little big dude. I have lamented many a time to anyone who would listen that I had been to places far north many times and had never seen a moose. Elk – yes. Deer – yes. Other critters – yes. But never a moose. I can no longer say that. He was gorgeous! I think he may have been looking for a lady friend moose and we were totally cramping his style, but he sure was a sight to behold!

However this is a knitting blog, not a wildlife blog. There was some definite knitting progress along the way. There was also a couple of yarn store hits. The first was an old favorite at this point, Yardgoods in Waterville. In a desperate attempt not to purchase sock yarn I came home with these:

Yes. That would be sock yarn. But one in a solid color and one that I did not purchase! HWJF bought the second skein (Classic Elite Alpaca Sox) so that totally doesn’t count. I also picked up a book which you’ll see in a second.

From there HWJF decided that it was time to bring me to his old hometown of Orono. He also happened to scope out a yarn shop in advance and although we didn’t have much time there because we were trying to have a look around town before it got dark (rather unsuccessfully I’m afraid) we definitely made some good purchases. HWJF decided that he needed yarn for another sweater and picked out 8 skeins of this:

That would be Peace Fleece and yes, it is blue and I had nothing to do with it! The boy has good taste, what can I say?! He picked it out while I was looking at books:

The sock book was from Yardgoods. The cabled sweat socks pattern in there sold it to me. I’ve seen it around and really like it. The other books will satisfy my extreme jonesing for colorwork for a while until I can actually get around to doing some. And the EZ book is something that I figured would be a good addition to the bookshelf, especially considering that the Toney Road fiber is almost spun up and ready to go into a sweater that I plan on sort of making up as I go along. I’m sure EZ will have something to teach me before I embark on the knitting portion of that endeavor.

All in all, a wonderful trip and a wonderful holiday which yielded a completed sweater. You’ll have to come back to see that though.

Tags: Maine, Thanksgiving, yarn shopping

Oh yeah! Maine! I had almost forgotten. We really did have a nice trip. The traffic wasn’t kind on Friday and it took about 7 hours from the time HWJF left work until we arrived in West Hartford, CT. We stopped to have dinner with one of HWJF’s college friends and his new fiance, and then headed north. When it became obvious that it was going to be *very* late before we arrived, we looked for hotels with no luck and ended up stopping at the L.L. Bean parking lot for a nap before finishing off the trip and getting in at 2am. Not to worry though because the next day HWJF’s Mom needed some help shopping for a new computer and didn’t mind making a couple of stops, so we headed off to Portland.

We tried to visit the new Tess Yarns shop there, but they were closed. I have a feeling that may have had something to do with Stitches Midwest being the same weekend. So off to a great lunch we went and then did our computer shopping. HWJF’s Mom ended up with a beautiful new laptop (which really makes me want to turn in my giant 17″ one, but that just isn’t going to happen right now) and we made a stop at L.L.Bean on the way back north, because, well, you just can’t be in Maine and not get to shop at L.L.Bean!

HWJF found a backpack big enough to hold a thing or two.

I ended up with this pair of shoes and we got some Ben and Jerry’s before we went home.

Sunday was all about HWJF reconnecting with old friends while we went to the final concert at NEMC. When we first started dating, he was working there for the summer and I went to visit a couple of times. It’s a beautiful place and it really amazes me what they are able to get out of these kids musically, in the midst of also having all sorts of more “summer camp” type activities besides rehearsals and practicing. We definitely enjoyed the concert and also got to see one of HWJF’s current students play, which made for a great afternoon. The evening wound up with blueberry picking (we came home with about 14 pounds, yes pounds, this year) and HWJF’s parents were nice enough to make me a lobster dinner! Yum!!!

Monday we decided to strike out on our own and hit some favorite local places. The new yarn store in town was closed, but one in another area that we had been to previously was open and I managed some damage:

Details on my Ravelry account if you want them.

I really didn’t need more variegated sock yarn, but I just couldn’t resist the colors on some of these. The Aussie Sock yarn is actually for gift socks and there are two skeins.

After yarn shopping it was off to another good lunch and then we went to the fair!

I hadn’t been to one in ages and it was fun to look at the animals and play some games. Little did I know, HWJF is a bingo WIZ and won himself some new travel mugs and won me a fluffy cow:

I won the puppy in a water shooting game. Look like anyone you remember?

On the way home, we saw an awesome rainbow.

A beautiful end to a beautiful day.

We left for home on Tuesday and made a couple of stops along the way. Another stop in Freeport had me going home with this:

The new Kaffe Fasset sock yarn. Two balls and totally for me. I just love the colors. I also picked up the new IK (can you say drool?!).

We had to make a quick run into this place:

Because I remember hearing my Dad talk about it. It’s like L.L.Bean south. Wish we’d had more time to look around. We had lunch with some other college friends of HWJF’s in Boston and had plans to meet up with Stacey, but unfortunately they didn’t work out. Hopefully next time! In the end, it was probably just as well, since, well, you know what happened that day.

So a trip framed by not so good things, but a great trip nonetheless. I did manage to knit in between all that shopping and have two finished objects to show you next time.

[Thanks for the comments on the mitten problem! I have no idea what happened. I took it out of my pocket and I found it like that. Expect there to be a surgical intervention which I will certainly share with you all sometime soon.]

Hi! Remember me? You’d probably think I’d dropped off the face of this blog by now if it weren’t for the occasional quick post from my Treo to let you know I’m alive. Just remember, I warned you that Jan. was going to be a crazy month! Take exhibit A:

This is a map showing you what HWJF and I did on our four day weekend. That map represents over 1200 miles of driving. And I wonder why I can’t get my act together to post anything decent to this here blog? Sheesh. Add to that a serious snow/ice storm between Maine and Vermont and although we had a glorious time, you can understand why I needed a little time to recover.

I have to tell you, I was not a good blogger on the trip. I took the camera, but it rarely left the bag. I guess I just needed some time to get away from it all and do some things without worrying about blogging them. Hence, there is a severe lack of photographic evidence that I did anything at all. Rather than bore you to death with all the miniscule details of the trip, I want to highlight some things and talk about one really interesting experience.

Where we stayed

On the first night we stayed in NH at The Hickory Pond Inn. It was recommended to us by a friend who also stayed there before bassoon day and we had a very nice, although very short stay. It’s a beautiful place and has plenty of different rooms and a very cozy living room area. If you are looking for a B&B around the UNH area, definitely give it a look.

On the last night we stayed with our friend Gail at The Old Homestead in Barnet, VT. She also has a beautiful place with a great view off the back of the house.

(Although my photography leaves much to be desired!)

The food was amazing too! I got to do quite a bit of spinning while I was there and it was great to catch up with Gail. Definitely go there if you need a place in northern VT.

The yarn shops

We had many great plans to stop at many great places. That didn’t quite work out they way we had hoped due to the weather and some general stupidity on our part (let’s just say, well, we forgot the bassoons and had to go back and get them on the last day. We shall not speak of it again). We managed to hit three places on our last day.

Northern Lights Yarn Shop – Norwich, VT

A nice clean, open store with a great selection of higher end yarns. A whole lot of Rowan and some “bargan priced” items. They had several nice samples (I was particularly draw to a cabled sweater by Kathy Zimmerman who I seem to be gravatating to lately) and lots of patterns and books. My one complaint – the salesperson was a bit pushy.

Knit New London – New London, NH

A really cute store. It was housed in what almost looked like one of those outbuildings that people have in their back yards, but it was two stories. Quite small, but they had many lovely yarns including Lobster Pot, a healthy selection of Cascade 220 and sock yarn galore. I think I might have bought more here but I was a little distracted at the time (as we arrived we realized the horns were still in VT).

Green Mountain Spinnery – Putney, VT

Now this was cool. I’ve seen Green Mountain yarns at many a fiber festival so when I saw we were driving right by we had to stop. If you decide to go, realize that you shouldn’t be looking at the retail side because that was obviously not what this place was primarily there for. The store is a tiny part of a large building which actually houses the spinning machines! HWJF and I got a private tour of the facility where we saw the machines and our tour guide talked us through the process. It was quite facinating. Each machine stood much taller than me (and I’m nearly 6 feet tall) and probably twice as long. The wood bobbins that held the yarn were probably as long as my arm and about 4 inches in diameter. I really wish I had brought my camera in for this one because no description could do it justice. The most amazing part to me was the carding machine. The wool left the machine in a whisper thin layer that I just couldn’t believe was done with a machine that big. It seemed like the gigantic machine would just eat it up but that wasn’t the case. If you are ever passing that way, definitely stop in. It’s well worth it!

So I suppose I should show you the haul. It was small compared with what we had originally planned:

Two skeins of Regia silk, 5 skeins of Green Mountain Double Twist in Indigo (for a sweater of some sort), some carded wool also from Green Mountain, a bag from the required stop at LLBean and some Soak woolwash (I figured I’d give it a try after the blog buzz I’ve been reading). Since sock yarn doesn’t count as stash, I figure I did pretty well.

I think this is plenty long enough for now (I can hear the snoring in the back row). Next time I’ll show you what I’ve actually gotten done recently.

But it seems that it was finally delivered as of yesterday! As you can see, we had a real interesting drive from Maine to Vermont. We’ve already left it behind though and are almost home. Details to come soon!

Obviously I’ve got some catch up to do, so this is going to be a long one folks!

First, we had a wonderful time in Maine at Christmas. HWJF’s folks spoiled us both rotten and it was just the time for relaxation and fun that we needed. And the food! Oh my god. I don’t think we ever stopped eating the whole time we were there. And the lobster dinner, just amazing! Here’s a shot of us at the family party:

Oh yeah. Antlers just make it all the more festive.

While our trip up was the easiest travel I’ve ever experienced, karma kicked us in the ass on the way back with a two hour delay leaving Portland and just missing the train on the other end. But a real Christmas miracle happened in the airport:

Dude! He’s knitting! I was almost giddy with glee. I think we made a bit of a scene in the waiting area, but I didn’t care! There may be hope for him yet.
So you might notice in the antler pic that he is wearing *the* sweater! Here’s the official finished object pic:

The Boyfriend Sweater

Pattern: Made up with the help of this calculator

Yarn: Cascade 220. Six skeins with plenty left over

Needles: Size 7 addi turbos

Knit: 9/24-12/20 2006

I really didn’t think I was going to get this done by the deadline but I managed! And I’ve actually seen him wear it so, mission accomplished!
I was afraid I had made the raglan increases too deep, but it actually worked out perfectly so that he can comfortably wear a dress shirt and tie underneath if he wants to. The ribbing pulls in just the right amount at the hem and the end of the cuffs and I managed to use a traditional cast off without making it too tight. The sleeves were very simple once I figured out that decreasing every 5th row really was going to work out just fine. Overall, we are both happy, but I don’t plan on making him another sweater any time soon (even if we already have a pattern picked out).

I can also finally post a finished object pic for the mystery socks I was knitting back here:

Mom’s Broadripple Socks

Pattern: Broadripple from Knitty

Yarn: Cascade Fixation, 2 balls

Needles: Size 3 addi turbos

Knit: 11/4-11/11 2006

These socks couldn’t have worked out better. She likes them and even wore them already! My Mom is alergic to wool so fixation was definitely the way to go for her. This is such a simple pattern to memorize and adjust for size that it made it really simple to turn out another pair this year. This makes my final total for socks knit this year 15 pairs!!! I’m really proud of that accomplishment considering my goal was 12.

Remember the hat I made for my grandpa? Well he had to put it on as soon as he unwrapped it!

Gotta love that! I made one for HWJF’s Mom too and she had the same reaction. I really think I’m going to have to make myself one of these next year.

So as 2006 comes to an end I had to take a quick look back at my Finished Objects 2006 page and I’m definitely happy with what I managed to turn out this year. In addition to 15 pairs of socks that were finished I also made 2 scarves, 1 fair isle headband, 1 fair isle bag, 1 vest, 1 baby blanket, 2 potholders, 1 mailbox, 2 pairs of fingerless gloves, 1 shawl, 2 hats and 7(!) sweaters (some of them have short sleeves, but still!). Wow. On top of all that I hosted a sockalong, switched blogs, moved to NJ, bought a spinning wheel, worked full time and tried to have a life.

2006 was a good year for me. I’m very thankful for the health of my family, a loving partner, a fuzzy kitty, and a job that pays the bills and lets me enjoy this hobby of mine to such a great degree. I’m also thankful for the many of you that have become my friends through this blog. A Happy, Healthy and Safe New Year to all of you who read my drivel thoughts here. May 2007 be a great year for all!

After a much more difficult return trip, we are back from Maine (and back to work). We had an amazing time and I hope to post something with the highlights by the weekend. In the meantime I hope everyone had a great holiday and will be recovered in time to ring in the New Year!