How about some resolutions?

January = resolution time!

I know a lot of people who hate resolutions, mainly because they never keep them. But I like them... even though I fail 99 % of the time. I think I have vowed to lose weight for the past 15 years or so and it never happened. But that doesn't mean I'll stop trying. My mother in law was a smoker for over 40 years. She tried stopping countless times and it never worked. But last October, she celebrated her first anniversary as a non-smoker. And that proves that just because you've failed again and again and again, it doesn't mean you won't succeed one day.

I like resolutions because I like having goals. So I set myself goals, in January of course, but also throughout the year.

I still have my goal of losing weight. I have a lot to lose, since I haven't lost all that much of the baby weight and I was already overweight to begin with. My mom is getting married in June and I'll be the Maid of Honor. I want to lose 30-40 pounds before that, which is a lot but I think it's doable.

I also have knitting resolutions. Or I should say shopping resolutions. I have too much yarn for the little space that I have. And because of that, everytime I do buy yarn I feel super guilty even if it's yarn I'm going to use right away. So I need to knit from stash as much as possible. My goal is to do just that at least until Fall.

I especially want to knit my sock yarn because I have A LOT. And I just so happen to need socks right now so it all works out. I'm shooting for six pairs this year, we'll see how that goes. I already have two on the needles:


Norfolk Ramblers



That second pair is a pair of plain vanilla socks. I was happy to see that I can still knit socks without a pattern, I hadn't made a plain pair in a long time.

Another resolution: to use my sock books! I want to keep knitting socks from Sock Innovation, as well as my many other sock books.

Finally, I also vow to blog more this year. I miss my blog and I miss reading comments. Hardly anyone reads this blog anymore and I understand why. My goal is at least two posts a week, so expect a new one soon! And I can already say that there will be yarn porn (because I did get new yarn before the start of the yarn diet).

Yarnlust

If you are going to Rhinebeck this weekend, I AM JEALOUS OF YOU! I've never been and it had never bothered me before, but this year, maybe because I've been spending a lot of time at home, I am itching to go! A road trip sounds so good right now, especially a road trip that involves yarn! Note to my friends: if anyone plans on going again next year and if you have an extra space in your car, think of me! I can't help with the driving, but I can help with the gas paying, that's something!

But this year, I shall be living vicariously through all of you and I can't wait to read your blogs to see what you all got. In the meantime, I am window shopping on various online yarn sites. I'm currently lusting after a skein of Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Strawberry Lemonade. Doesn't it look yummy? But I'm trying to be a good girl and not order. According to Ravelry, I currently have enough sock yarn to make at least 25 pairs. Most knitters would say it's not that much, but it feels like a lot to me. At my current rate of about 5 pairs a year, it would take me... let me count... five years to knit it all! It's crazy when you think about it. So right now, I need to knit more and buy less. At least until Knit Picks' CyberMonday sale (if they have one again this year). I can't promise anything if the Stroll Tonals go on sale.

Speaking of socks and of Stroll Tonal... I finished a pair!


Pattern: Sunshine, by Cookie A
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Tonal in Springtime (LOVE!!!)
Needles: 2.75 mm for the leg, 2.25 for the foot
Notes: I must have been drunk when I started the toe decreases on these because I made the foot a bit too short. I can still make them fit, but not as well as my other socks. Oh well.



One of the October Sockdown challenges is the knit a holiday stocking and since I wanted to make one for Julien, I didn't hesitate to participate. I'm making A NEW baby's Christmas Stocking in Knit Picks Telemark. I hadn't realized the pattern was toe-up when I bought it, but I've been able to figure it all out so far. Here's what it looks like now:

Finish one, start three

I made another Wayna Picchu hat. That one will go to my godson Cristobal. He wasn't available for a picture, so I used my favourite little model.


Pattern: Wayna Picchu Earflap Hat, by Nichole Reese
Size: M (1-3 years old)
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Sport in Mink Heather (MC) and Winter Night (CC)
Needles: US 5 - 3.75 mm circular needles
Mods: I knitted a seed stitch border.

I love that pattern so much. I rarely knit a pattern more than once, but I can see myself making more of these.

I've also been bit by the startitis bug. When the schedule for Sockdown 5 was posted on Ravelry, I knew I would have to participate this year, after a yearlong hiatus. I miss knitting socks when I go too long without one on the needles.

As usual, the first month's challenge is "knit all in one colour" and this year's colour is Chartreuse. So I went through my stash and found what looked the most like the colour sample that was posted:


KP Stroll Tonal in Springtime. I'm making Sunshine, by Cookie A, which also helps fulfilling my quest of knitting as many patterns as possible from her book Sock Innovation (this will be #4!).

Also, Cailyn Meyer is one of the featured designers for the month and I've wanted to knit her Java Socks since I first saw them on Knitty. So I'll be casting on soon, using Lulu Yarn's Supersock Merino in Fall Fire. I don't have a pic but you can see some here.

Finally, and because I didn't want to knit socks only, I also cast on for a little sweater, Waffles, using the Reynolds Soft Sea Wool I recently bought.

That's it. Hopefully I'll have new FOs to show soon-ish! Happy knitting people!

Stupid nupps

Hello world!

I hope everything is well in the wonderful world of knitting. I am happy to report that 3.5 months after giving birth, knitting is finally back into my life (and by that, I mean I can do more than 1-2 rows a week). Yay!

For a while, I was happily working on my Eunice socks. I don't have much longer to go and I LOVE the way they are turning out.

But sock knitting came to a halt when I bought this dress. See, I have a baptism to go to soon (my friend's baby, I'm the godmother) and then I have two weddings later this summer. So I got this simple dress but it's sleeveless. Sooooo I decided I needed a shawl. I decided that last week and the baptism is on July 3rd. No problem. I chose a simple small shawl (Swallowtail) and chose a skein of Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in peppermint and happily cast on.

Things were going wonderfully. I was totally going to finish on time. I did the 14 repeats of the second chart and started the third...

It has nupps. Stupid little nupps. The p5tog on the wrong side are taking forever AND I made a mistake in the last row I knit yesterday and will most likely have to frog to the lifeline (only 5 rows, but still).

Now I'm not so sure I can finish for the baptism. Oh well. I know I can still finish for the first wedding at the end of July so that will be my new goal.

In Julien news, I am happy to report that he now sleeps through the night. He actually started doing it on and off at 10 weeks (he's 15 weeks now). But for a little over a week, he has slept through the night every night (I'm talking from 7-8 pm to 6 am). Let me tell you, it's nice.

He has rolled over (tummy to back and back to tummy) a couple of times, he holds his head up really well and he loves to "stand" (we hold him of course). In the past couple of weeks, he has found his thumb (and seems to think it's the best thing ever) and his toes. He smiles a lot (and cries a lot too, still) and I love him to pieces. Being a mommy is awesome!

Half FO

Well I did find time to knit after all. I finished one sock, only one to go for the pair! This is Eunice in all its unblocked glory. Better pictures will come when the pair is finished:

Almost finished blob

Pregnancy status: I will be 39 weeks tomorrow! I've had bad cramps/contractions but nothing regular or anything. I'm feeling good today and don't think today will be his birthday, though you never know. My suitcase is ready, laundry is done, the house is as clean as it'll be, so now I can relax and knit, knit, knit.



I'm happy to report that I finished knitting the blob! I only need to weave in two ends and to block it. I don't have blocking wires though, but I'll see what I can do. If I can't do it without, I'll order some and block it later. I think it already looks fabulous though, don't you think?

Thanks again Tara for saving my life with that extra ball of yarn!

Next on the list: weaving all the ends of my Peapod sweater and finishing the This end up baby vest. I'm on a roll! After that, I think I hear some sock patterns calling my name, but if baby gets here, I may not have much time for them!

Box of love

I promised yarn porn in my last post, and I deliver.

I got this big box by mail on Friday...



Hmmmm. Box o' yarn from Knit Picks...

Now I want to apologize to my Montreal knitter friends for not offering to combine orders and share shipping. But when I saw that there was a cyber Monday sale AND that one of the books I had on my wishlist had become a "last chance" item, I went a little bit crazy and I had to order.right.away. It's a good thing I did too, because I ordered in the morning and when I got home that night, this particular yarn in this particular colourway (the one I wanted the most) wasn't listed on Knit Picks anymore:



Swish DK in Asparagus. I don't know if Knit Picks will restock it at some point, but I'm glad I got it when I did because I love love love the colour and it's perfect for a baby sweater I wanted to make (see end of this post). I got five skeins of it, which should be enough for my project (I'd hate to run out of yarn again).

I also got:



Stroll Sport in Tidepool Heather. It's also super soft. I got six skeins and it also should become a baby sweater (I have a pattern in mind, we'll see if I get to it or change my mind).



Stroll Tonal in Deep Waters. I love love love that yarn. I think I want one of each colourway. Actually, the one I wanted the most was "Foliage", but it was the only colourway that wasn't on sale. Poo. But I don't regret Deep Waters, it's beautiful. I'm not sure if I'll use it for socks or for this super cute baby sweater, we'll see.



Felici sock yarn in Abracadabra. I bought it just because. I kept hearing about how soft this yarn is on the Knit Picks group and I gotta say I wasn't disappointed. It's one of the softest sock yarn I've ever touched. I don't usually buy much self-striping yarn anymore, but it's fun to have once in a while. It makes for mindless knitting and the socks always turn out cute.



I got two skeins of Capra in Fairy Tale. It's the only yarn I got that wasn't on sale, but I had wanted to try it since it first came out. It's a cashmere/merino blend (only 15% cashmere though) and it's quite soft. I really like it. The colour, however, wasn't exactly what I expected. I thought it would be more purple but it's more raspberry-like. I still like it though.

The book I got is Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road. I love her patterns and that book has a lot of nice ones. And it was super cheap on KP and a "last chance" item so I couldn't resist.

I also got (not on sale) two needle cables and some 4,5 mm tips.

With all this new yarn, I just had to cast on for a new project.



I'm using my Swish DK in Asparagus to make Kate Gilbert's Pea Pod baby set. Well just the sweater actually. I fell in love with that pattern when I first saw it in IK a long time ago and I had promised myself I would knit it for my baby someday. So here we go! I'm making the 6 months size, as that should bring us to September. Hopefully it'll fit then (or later), not during the summer. I only have a few rows done, but I'm enjoying working with Swish so far.

Blob in waiting

Hello everyone,

You all remember me? I'm Caroline, the once-a-month blogger!

I am happy to announce that I got my knitting mojo back. More specifically, I decided a few weeks ago that I would finish my Icarus shawl no matter what. So I put my other projects aside and started knitting. And I knit and knit and knit, those rows that wouldn't end (seriously, I must have a million stitches on my needles right now). I think I have about 6 rows left and then I stopped knitting. Yep, I ran out of yarn! AND the colourway I'm using is discontinued. Oh joy. So that leaves me with three choices.

1. Find someone who has some leftovers or a whole skein to sell (Knit Picks Shimmer in Maple Leaf, dye lot 1982)

2. Frog to the lifeline I (thankfully) added before the last repeat of the main body chart and reknit the border chart without that last repeat.

3. Hide the shawl under my bed and forget it ever existed.

I'm currently working on #1 and crossing my fingers hoping I'll find the yarn, because I don't think I have the courage for #2 and would most likely skip directly to choice #3.

I haven't knit a stitch since I ran out of yarn last weekend. I have two baby projects that I could work on (and I should... I feel March is going to be here soon). I don't feel like knitting them though. I want to make hats and mittens and socks. So we'll see. I really wanted to finish a project before casting on for a new one, and I totally would have had I not ran out of stupid yarn.

Ok, I know I said stupid yarn but I didn't really mean it. I'm sorry, yarn, I love you.

And because I've never posted one, here's a pic of me in my pregnant state (sorry it's blurry but it's all I have).



I don't have many pics of me right now because I'm struggling a bit with body image. I was 22 weeks on that pic, I'm now almost 25 weeks. I'll try to take a new picture sometime soon.

The blob

Judging by the comments on my last post, you all seem to want to see the blob, even if it looks identical to the last blob pic.

Well I live to serve. So here you go, taken this morning:



Icarus-in-progress. It's funny how, at the beginning, the project was knitting up so quickly I thought I'd be done in no time. Yeah right. Now that the rows have billions of stitches, I can't ever knit more than one or two a night. I finally started the second chart two nights ago. My goals is to finish the whole thing before the move (though I may have to wait until I'm in the new house to block it). I think I can do that.

And now my question to you, dear blog readers: How do you block your shawls? Do you use blocking wires?

Speaking of which, does anyone know where (if) you can buy blocking wires in Montreal?

Wip it good

I haven't been posting much lately. I'm currently on a yarn diet so I don't have any goodies to post. And I'm working on bigger projects, so I don't have any FO either. Life has been pretty ordinary. Work, work, pack and work. I am incredibly excited about our move in July, but damn I hate the whole packing thing. I can't wait until we're there!

I've been mostly working on the Icarus shawl and I now only have one of the center repeats left. Unfortunately, a shawl-in-progress isn't an wasy object to photograph. It'll looks good when it's done, but now it doesn't look like much.





Hopefully I'll have an FO to share soon.

In other news, after not knitting socks for a few weeks, I find I'm itching to knit them again. I may do the summer of socks thing. I also need to start a baby blanket for a friend.

Ok, back to the shawl and hockey watching. I'm hoping it won't be the last game of the season.

Busy Bee

My man is currently out of town for the week-end and I purposefully didn't make any plans (other than a dinner with friends Friday night). I wanted a quiet week-end, filled with knitting and that's what I got! I was busy!

I am still working on the Honeybee cardigan and I realized I'll probably be spending the next few months working on it. It's going slowly, but I can see progress.





I have 5 inches done. I need 15 before I start the sleeves. Yeah, it'll take a while ;) But I'm loving working with the yarn (Knit Picks Gloss), so that's ok.

Yesterday, I finished my Kai-Mei socks.





Pattern: Kai-Mei, by Cookie A., from her book Sock Innovation.
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rocks, Lightweight in 24 Karat
Needles: 2.25 mm DPNs
Mods: I was scared I'd run out of yarn so I made the leg one inch shorter.

Oddly enough, I don't feel like making socks right now (shocking, I know) so I didn't rush and cast on another pair as soon as I finished these. Instead, I cast on for the Icarus shawl, using this yarn:



(Knit Picks Shimmer in Maple Leaf)

I'm hoping my shawl will be as beautiful as this one. Yeah, call me copycat, I don't care. I saw it and now I want it. ;)

Oh and I went to Effiloché earlier today to get needles for the shawl and I did.not.buy.any.yarn. Willpower. I have some. I did go and fondle the Tanis Fiber Art sock yarn though.

Bits of softness

This post is brought to you by the word SOFT!

It's been 11 days since my last post (sorry!) and I got a lot to talk about. I've kind of gone crazy with my credit card (well crazy for me, I know some people are a lot worst). But before I get to the yarn porn, let me show you the current WIPs.

First, a sock of course. Cookie A. is the designer of the month for the Sock Knitters Anonymous challenge, so I figured it would be a good time to knit something from her fabulous book, Sock Innovation. I chose Kai-Mei because it's the one that had first caught my eye when I got the book. Here's the first sock in all it's unblocked glory:



Let me tell you, this picture definitely doesn't show the beauty of the sock. But I like to save the sock blocker pics for the finished pair.

Also, I'm someone who's usually late to the party and if there's a trend, I'll probably end up following it... two years after it went out of style. I find the same thing happens with knitting. In fact, I'm currently thinking that maybe I should make a Clapotis. ;) I'm saying that because my Kai-Mei are made with Socks that rock, and yes, it's my first time using it. And I LOVE it. I just love the fabric it makes, it feels sooooo good on my foot. *sigh* I'm sure that in 5 years, I'll tell you all about my love of Wollmeise... ;)

Ok, WIP #2. Believe it or not, I'm making a cardigan! I haven't made a garment in a long time and I hope that I'll finally make one that I actually want to wear. The fact that it's seamless will help. It's made of laceweight so it's not a quick knit, but here's the little bit I had done a few days ago:



It's the Honeybee cardigan and I'm using Knit Picks Gloss in Bordeaux. The yarn is very very soft and I love the colour. Funny thing: the Honeybee stitch pattern is very similar to the pattern on the foot of my Kai-Mei socks.

Ok, now I give you YARN PORN!

After looking many many times at SlackFord Studio's web page and hearing good thing about the yarn, I decided (after yet another bad day) that I needed yarn. So I present you:



Stalwart Sock in "From Dusk Till Dawn".



Stalwart Sock in "Steelyard Blues".

The yarn is really, seriously beautiful AND soft. And from what I've seen on Ravelry, they make beautiful socks. Looking at those skein makes me happy. But not as happy as when I feel this:



Nimbus Lace in "True Blood".

OMG! So soft! Of course, the fact that it's 70% baby alpaca, 20% silk, and 10% cashmere definitely helps making it soft. I love love love love it. I have 650 yards of it and I need the perfect project (a scarf, I'm pretty sure).

I've been obsessed with laceweight lately for some reason, but I've been adding the yarn to my stash without actually starting lace projects. That needs to change.

Oh and if you thought that wasn't enough yarn porn, it's not over. I got a big box from Knit Picks waiting for me at the post office (I had a 10% off coupon, I couldn't resist). Expect more laceweight. :)

Making Cookie...

Today I took this:



And I cast on for Kai-Mei, by Cookie A.

I think... I know... I have a sock addiction. I want to work on something else but I keep seeing sock patterns I want to make and I can't resist.

Speaking of socks, I also finished a pair, but they're lace and blocking right now so you'll have to wait for pics.

Oh and did you guys see the new Twist Collective? I'm usually not much into Spring/Summer patterns but I gotta say the newest issue is just lovely. I have queued Poplar & Elm, Azami and Tanis because they're just so full of deliciousness. Whether or not I'll ever get to knit them is another story. The queue is, after all, 468 patterns long, as of right now.

WIPs and Wants

Apparently, I only blogged ONCE in the whole month of March! Cray-zee. I know I've been out of the country for half of the month, but I could have still posted a bit in the two other weeks! I'll try to do better in April, promise!

Thanks to those of you who congratulated me on the new house! We're very happy, excited and scared (because of the OMG25yearsmortgage!) and we can't wait to move in in July. The "house" is actually a condo. We have the first floor of a duplex + basement. The frontyard and (tiny) backyard are also ours. And it's in the Notre-Dame the Grâce neighbourhood, which is a beautiful place, even though we are not *that* familiar with it. We can't wait to discover it though. It feels like we're moving in a whole other city and it's very exciting! But I'm going to miss being close to the Marché Jean-Talon and Effiloché!

But enough about the house, as this is a knitting blog, right? And I've been knitting a little. I'm almost done with a pair of socks:



The pattern is "Ice Cream Cone socks» by Veronik Avery, from the Steppin' Out Too booklet. I'm pretty sure they're going to be a gift for my sister, but I may wait till Christmas to give it to her.

I've also been working on a scarf:



The pattern is the One Row Handspun Scarf by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and I've used almost a whole ball of Cascade 220. I'm not sure how long I'll make it (I have another ball of the same colour). We'll see. I'm not too motivated to work on it right now since the weather is so nice.

I have, however, been hit by a bad case of startitis! As soon as I finish the Ice cream come socks, I'll cast on for a Cookie A. sock from Sock Innovation. I'm not sure which one... possibily Kai-mei.

I also really want to make me the Honeybee cardigan... Oh and a shawl! A little while ago, I was able to get two skeins of laceweight from Tara:



(Knit Picks Shimmer in Maple Leaf)

I wasn't sure what to make with it, so I browsed projects in Ravelry and I saw a beautiful, beautiful shawl made with this exact same colourway. And I already have the pattern. Soooo... I'll probably cast-on for it soon and tell you which one it is.

Speaking of Knit Picks, did you guys see their new Tonal sock and lace yarns? OMG! Semi-solid! Beautiful! Want!

Ravelympics - Day 7

We have reached the halfpoint on the Olympics and I'm happy to say...





...that I'm right on track! I still need to weave in ends (and sew the picot edge on the mitten), but I'm not too worried about that. I'm keeping that task for when I don't feel like knitting.

I expect that the second sock will be easier than the first since I won't be making stupid mistakes. But I still expect a difficult week, seeing as today is my only day off before the first of seven consecutive work days. Eeep!

(Oh and congrats to Canada's new golden boy: Jon Montgomery got us the gold in skeleton! What a crazy sport!)

Ravelympics - Days 4-6

Things are still going well in the Ravelympics. Medals are won (not by me, yet!), athletes are watched and applauded and projects are knit. Fun!

Canada added a few medals to its total. Gold for Maëlle Ricker in Snowboard cross (crazy sport, but so much fun to watch!). And last night, Marianne St-Gelais got silver in short-track (500m). I was so happy for her. It was her 20th birthday too! Canada now has 6 medals. The US have 14! They have fantastic athletes. I never tire of watching Lindsey Vonn skiing and Shaun White doing... whatever magic he does with his snowboard.

As for my knitting, I'm pretty much on schedule, despite a few setbacks. In my last post, I mentionned I was ready to turn the heel... well just as I was about to start, I realised I had messed up all my increases for the gusset and had to frog quite a bit! Eeeps. I'm caught up now though, and only have a few repeats left to do for the leg + cuff.

The mittens are also coming along. I actually finished the hand part a few minutes ago. I'll try to knit the thumb tonight after work.

My goal was to finish sock #1 and mitten #1 by Saturday. I think I can do it AND sock #2 should go much quicker as I won't make the same mistake!

Ravelympics - Day 3

Are you guys counting today (Monday) as day 3 or 4 of the Ravelympics? Since cast-on was so late on Friday, I decided not to count it and I consider Saturday as day 1. Therefore, today is day 3. Not that it's important.

Things are a bit crazy at work but so much fun with all the Olympic excitement. My boss asked me to work a 6th day for the next two weeks though, so that means I'll have less time to knit. Eeek. The knitting is going well so far, so I'm still hopeful I'll be able to win my medals.

Today I mostly worked on my Olympic mittens.



I like 'em. And you can see Canada's new hero Alexandre Bilodeau skiing on my TV! ;)

Now I'll try to knit on the socks a little bit before going to bed. I'm at the heel!

Ravelympics - Days 1-2

I just finished watching the men's moguls competition and saw Quebec's own Alexandre Bilodeau win Canada's first gold medal of the 2010 Games. Even better, he won the first gold medal ever won by a Canadian on Canadian soil. It was a great race and all four Canadians/Quebecois in the finals did wonderfully.

I've been doing good with my Ravelympics knitting. I think if I can keep this speed up, I'll make it. And I worked all day yesterday, so I'm happy with my progress.



This is the beginning of my Firestarter socks. My first toe-up socks. Let me tell you, that pattern kicked my ass. I had trouble figuring out the toe and then had trouble with the instep. But I seem to be doing well now. I'm at the gusset and have good hope of getting to the heel before bed tonight.

The Potpourri mittens are also going well. I still need to knit one and a half pattern repeats before decreasing. Ideally, I'd knit one repeat before going to bed tonight, but that may not happen. We'll see.

It's a good thing I'm working evenings all week. I can stay up late!

I ♥ socks

I love socks. I don't think that comes as a surprise to anyone who reads my blog. I always feel that I should really try and knit something else (and I do. sometimes.), but whenever I go through a little while without having knit a sock, I feel like a smoker without her nicotine.

I like the small needles and the tiny stitches. And there are so many nice sock patterns out there. My advent sock pattern calendar included only a small part of my sock queue.

When the "groups" feature was created on Ravelry, it didn't take long for me to join the Sock Knitters Anonymous group, but it took me a while to get involved in the challenges there. Last September, I joined my first Sockdown! challenge and I've been hooked ever since. I had to skip the December challenge because of Christmas knitting obligations, but other than that, I've enjoyed every month.

And this month, I'm knitting two pairs (we actually have until the end of the following month to finish, so that's two months for each challenge if you cast on at the beginning of the month). Since I'm a slow knitter, it means that those socks are all I've done this month. And they're still far from being finished. But since there hasn't been much knitting pics posted on here lately, I figured I'd share my in-progress pics:



The one on the right is the January mystery sock (Technique is texture! There was also a bead option but I didn't have them so I didn't use them). You see only one of the socks, but I'm knitting both at the same time. I'm currently waiting for the last clue (tomorrow!) to finish them. Unfortunately, I didn't choose the best yarn for it so the pattern doesn't show that much. Oh well.

The sock on the left is a Nancy Bush (designer of the month) pattern (Rib and Cable socks from IK Fall 2005). I looooove it. But I'm only knitting one sock at a time so I'm far from finished.

I had more to write (re: Ravelympics), but I gotta go to work. Toodles!

SIP

I'm trying to post more, can you tell? I'm not sure what I'm writing is all that interesting, but at least I'm trying.

The whole trying new food and new recipe thing is a lot of fun. I'm going to try to keep up with my food Friday posts because I think I'll enjoy writing them. But even though we're not Friday, I gotta tell you that I tried something brand new on Saturday: I ate kangaroo! We had a friend over and made chinese fondue. We had beef and chicken and we wanted to try something different and the grocery store had kangaroo so I figured, why not? It really tastes similar to beef, nothing special. But it was twice as expensive. I don't think I'll eat it again.

Also, speaking of food, I have a question for those of you who work outside of your home: What do you bring in your lunchbox?.

I like to eat leftovers the most, but I don't always have them. I get bored with sandwiches, but that's probably because I don't know how to make good ones, because most of the time when I don't pack my lunch, I go out and buy myself... a sandwich. :) But I need ideas! Especially vegetarian ideas for Mondays!

In knitting news, I've been knitting away on the January mystery socks. I started Clue #2 today and OMG! I never thought a textures socks (just knits and purls, really) could be so complicated! Well, not complicated per se, but the pattern is not easy to follow. There are many charts who don't have the same amount of rows. So two charts have 12 rows, one has 16 and two have 18. So when I'm done with the 12-row charts, I start row 1 again on them, but keep going on the 16-row one for two rows (and then I start that one on row 1) and on the 18-row ones. Follow me? I don't think I follow myself! But I managed to do two repeats of the 12-row charts so far and the pattern is very pretty so I'll keep going.

I also have another Sock In Progress: a Nancy Bush pattern named Rib and Cable. It's pretty and exactly the kind of socks I like to make. And they're BLUE!