2009 look back

Hey look... 11 hours left of 2009 here on the east coast.

There was a ton of beach trips at the beginning of the year -- which here means almost an hour drive each way... funny how when I lived back home it was 10 minutes to the beach and I never went.

I think I slept more this year than I ever have in my life.

I got this god awful haircut. Hair that one day wakes up curly and the next wakes up wavy... does not belong short. Ever.

I fell in love with the two most amazing boys of my life... Alex and Hiroki. Unfortunately being with them meant Alex being disowned by his family and them moving half way across the country and never speaking to him again. I'm not sure how to capture that in a photograph...

I started getting creative with baking and trying things that weren't just straight out of a box. Most of the evidence was eaten before it could be photographed.

My mother and I went on a roadtrip to Canada and Niagara Falls and I took a shitload of pictures.

Alex and I moved into our own place -- no more student living for me!

I went to Cancun, Mexico with my best friend and for once WE WERE LEGAL. Yeah... we had a total of one drink a piece.

We got Sakura.

I brought Alex home and he actually participated in... Christmas! Oh my! Unfortunately there is no photographic evidence of that, you'll just have to take my word on it.

What can I say... my life is average, but I'm alright with that.

Sock addiction and baby hats...

I made a few baby hats for a neighbor when I went home for Christmas.



Basic grey hat that should be stretchy enough to fit newborn to 18 months.

Pattern: Little Boy Blue Ribbed Baby Hat by Tonya Wagner.
Yarn: Red Heart Ltd. Soft Yarn Solids




Same pattern except I added a pom pom.
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft Brites

I definitely prefer the Red Heart to the Caron... but the mother wanted bright blue and this is all I had.



Went to the yarn store today to use a bit of my Christmas money. I'm going to have to avoid buying more yarn for a few months. I've become semi-addicted to making socks. I'm not a huge fan of hugely decorated and patterned socks, I made two pair of basic socks for Alex and I and am working on a third pair for Alex that are ribbed on top of the foot to fit better.



Yarn: Froehlich Wolle Maxi Ringel

I made Alex's first socks out of a different colorway of the same yarn. Unfortunately... the factory that makes this yarn has shut down, so what's left in the stores is all that will ever exist. I fricken love this stuff.

Bought two more skeins of sock yarn today.


Berrocco Comfort Sock that feels absolutely fantastic compared to every other sock yarn and,


ONline Supersocke 100 Florida-Color

The Berrocco is definitely for my feet (I'm a selfish-knitter... Alex is the only person who gets anything more complicated than a hat). I've decided that I'm actually going to find a decent pattern for these socks, no more plain ones. I just wish more free sock patterns were toe-up. I can't stand cuff-down socks, though I may venture out on that plane just for this.

The ONline... dunno yet if it's for Alex or me. Probably will end up for him, as I only wear hand-knitted socks in the house and he'll wear them with shoes. One can only have so many pair of slipper socks.


At my last trip to the same LYS, I purchased two skeins of Fantasy Dark Horse Yarns.



They only had two skeins then, and I looked today and they only have solid colors now. I love this colorway... but what am I going to make with only 2 skeins? I don't really wear hats, I make but never wear scarves, and it's too girly of a color mix to make a hat for Alex.

Ideas?

I moved... and yes I have been knitting!

So after a month of living with three guys (Alex and I shared a bedroom in a three bedroom apartment) I decided that was all I could take.

Alex and I found a cozy little apartment complex where I'm pretty sure we are the only students. I get a small space to plant, hurrah.



I've knitted a few things...

Socks for him are done but I haven't managed to get a FO picture.


Socks for me, done. Improvised.



Hat that was mostly to try out the pattern because I don't wear hats like this... done.

Pattern: Fake Isle Hat by Amy King




First hat for Alex.

Pattern: The Boy Hat by Elizabeth Heath-Heckman

Second hat for Alex that may already be lost. Improvised.

First baby hat at the request of a neighbor of mine back home who just had her first baby.

Pattern: Greenleaf Baby Hat by Evelyn Uyemura

Strawberry pouch to put a gift card for my mother's Christmas.

Pattern: Fruit Pouch by Kate Buchanan



And I've been diligently working on the Decimal Cardigan. About two weeks ago I ran out of yarn (I was using yarn from the frogged nightmare of my first sweater project, Giselle) and just got two new skeins in the mail yesterday.

I'm working on the yoke, so after that there's just the button band to go! And I can actually wear this one in Florida.

Oh... and we've adopted a kitten from the Humane Society since I posted last. Hiroki was scared shitless of her at first, but now they'll occasionally play together and sometimes he won't notice if she snuggles up to his butt (that dog has one toasty ass). He is not overly fond of the butt snuggling. This is Sakura, she's almost four months old now: