2006 Blog Recap

I don't remember whose blog I saw this on but it's an easy way of recapping for the year. You just take the first sentence of the first post of each month. So enjoy the recap and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

January

Title of First Post: Forgiveness, Letting Go, and Moving On with Life
First Line of Post: Today church was amazing.....very hard....but amazing.

February

Title of First Post: Secret Pal
First Line of Post: Okay first of I must say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to my secret pal.

March

Title of First Post: KTC Mystery Swap Questions Answered :)
First Line of Post: My Mystery Swap partner for Knit the Classics asked me to post the answer to these questions, so this if for her. :)

April

Title of First Post: Sock Yarn Stash
First Line of Post: For the Sock Yarn Addicts Club we are supposed to post a picture of our Sock Yarn Stash today....this is not to be confused with Flash Your Stash.

I don't want to think about how much this has grown this year. :)

May

Title of First Post: It's Coming Off
First Line of Post: So the pounds keep coming off which is good.

June

Title of First Post: I Did It
First Line of Post: I did it!

(I thought that was kinda funny....doesn't really tell you much does it! And I had no pictures posted in the month of June....CRAZY!!!)

July

Title of First Post: Update
First Line of Post: Okay so a lot of people have been anxiously awaiting an update on my life (okay so maybe only one person I know of has been bugging me about it but I like to think there are lots of you out there who can't wait until I post again) so here it goes. :)

August

Title of First Post: Support the Troops and FO's
First Line of Post: I meant to post about this last Friday but life got away from me. :)

September

Title of First Post: School, Yarn, and Secret Pals
First Line of Post: Well yesterday was offically my first day of school.

October

Title of First Post: SP9 Questionaire
First Line of Post: Okay so I noticed today that we are supposed to post this by the 15th.

November

Title of First Post: Chocolate Swap Thank You
First Line of Post: I have been so bad about thanking people in a timely fashion but since we have two weeks off from school I thought I'd catch up on my swapping thank yous.

December

Title of First Post: What's Better Than One Sock?
First Line of Post: A pair of socks!!

That was fun for me but a lot more work than I expected. I was adding pictures a long the way which is what took so long but the formatting got all screwed up so instead of taking even longer to fix it you get a post without pictures. :) I hope it's not too boring. :) HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Sign Me Up!!

I read about this yesterday and I dreamed about it all night (I know crazy). So I guess that I really must do it! It is the 2007 UFO Resurrection challenge!! I don't have enough UFO's to do all 12 months (at least I don't think I do...I know it's a little sick...I actually usually finish projects). But I do have a few and then I figure I will work on all the ones that I specifically bought yarn for a specific pattern and never have started it. In my book those are also UFO's. So the yarn will either be added back to my stash or the project actually started. I'm so excited!!! This means that projects that I actually was super excited about doing at one point can be finished or if I'm not so excited the yarn can be put back in the "personal store" (otherwise known as stash). Go visit the page and join in on the fun.

I Love Gift Certificates!!!

Christmas was kind of rough but I did get a very substantial gift certficate to the local yarn shop!! I was able to buy what I have been dreaming about but thought there was no way I would ever be able to do it. I got this.

The Debbie Bliss pure silk book and 10 skeins of pure silk in pink!!! It's enough to make this.

I love this pattern! I love this yarn! I've been drooling over it ever since she got it in. Every time I would go to the yarn store I would sit and hold a hank. :) And now it is mine!! All mine!! I actually bought all the pink she had. I had to pay a little bit but with the gift certificate and the 15% off coupon I only had to pay $21!!! For this...

(I just had to show it again! I love this stuff!!!)

And I also bought some more Artyarns Handpainted Strips to make more Cabled Footsies for my Sockret Pal!!

I love this color! It has green, gray, gray blue, light pink. They are all very subtle and beautiful!! I am just in love with this yarn!! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!! My sister and family got here today so we are doing Christmas with them and my other sister tomorrow. This will also be when I get to do Christmas with Ben. I'm excited to watch him open his presents. Good night all!!

Spoiled

I got my final 2006 Rockin Sock Club package today. I found out that they had sent them out a little while ago so I emailed them to make sure they had changed my address because when I updated it with them about four months ago they didn't change it. So they said that if I didn't get it by Friday to email them and the would send me out another one. Then I got an email a little while later to say they looked in to it and saw that they had the emails but through a comedy of errors hadn't updated it either time. :) So they immediately sent out another one to me, which I got today, and said that when I get the other one I can just gift it to a friend. So I'm planning on putting together a little Socks that Rock gift package for my Secret Pal. It will be the next and last package so it will be fun!!

So in the package we got, of course, the normal key chain (I have three of them on my keys at the moment), a certificate of something or other to say we were in the club, the normal letter, a wonderful pattern, and TWO skeins of BEAUTIFUL yarn!!! I just love this stuff. I'm addicted!!! Of course I haven't knit any of it up yet. :) According to the back of the certificate that makes me a sock poser...but I don't like labels so who cares! :) I will leave you with a close up of the yarn. The top picture is truer to the color but oh well.

Fourth Day in a Row

Can you believe it? This will be the fourth day that I have posted in a row!!! Of course, no one has commented. Who knows if anyone is reading this? But four days in a row is a bit of an accomplishment for me. So I said that yesterday I needed to read for school but...I actually did this!!

This is the first time I have done cables and it is way easier than I imagined. A whole new world of knitting possiblities has opened to me now!! I love this pattern. It is super easy and quick. I accidnetly did 3.5 inches on the cuff though instead of 2. I really can't bear to rip it out so it will just have a little longer cuff. These are a gift for someone but I can't say who since I'm not sure if they read my blog or not. Here is a close up of the sock.

I'm really loving this. I think may start working on a pairs for Christmas next year. It's so easy and looks great. What a great gift idea. Oh, by the way, it is Cable Footies from the One Skien book. The yarn is Artyarns Handpaint Stripes. It is super soft 100% merino wool. I really love the yarn. I found it at my lys. Well it's off to finish laundry and all that good stuff.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

So as promised here is the Christmas Tree. I have another close up shot of the front of it but that will have to wait for another post in which I have no photo to show. I'm sure there will be one soon. :) Today is a day for....studying...ugghhh. I have to read a little. Although I have to make a crab dip for a Christmas party tonight and since I have to shop for the ingredients as well I kinda doubt I will get much reading done. :) I got my Christmas package from my secret pal a couple days ago. I can't open the gifts until Christmas so there will be pictures of the gifts then and a thank you...well I can say thank you now and then thank you later so she can be doubly (not sure if that is a word) thanked. So THANK YOU SECRET PAL!!! I can't wait to see what is inside all those packages. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good....well it's not night time so....day! :)

Merry Meme

I got this from Domestic Bliss. I thought it would be fun and help you all get to know me a little better.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I enjoying opening wrapping paper but I normally wrap with gift bags because I am an awful wrapper.

2. Real tree or artificial? Real tree!!! My parents own a fake tree and for the last few years I have convinced them to get a real one! Dad got a beautiful one this year and we just decorated it tonight. I will try to get a good picture of it tomorrow. Hopefully it will even have some presents under it.

3. When do you put up the tree? The first week of December normally.

4. When do you take the tree down? After New Years

5. Do you like eggnog? No way!!! I can't stand that stuff.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I'm not sure. I can't remember anything specifically.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, we have a Veggietales Nativity Scene so that Ben can play with it and not break anything.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My dad, he never wants anything. Actually my mom is the same way as well.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Ben, of course. :)

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, but this year I didn't get any done.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Most gifts that came from my ex-husband's Grandma. In particular she got me and my sister-in-law those little saran wrap things that have elastic in them to cover bowls. We just looked at them and wondered what they were. We thought maybe they were shower caps in various sizes. Then we figured it out later.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I love them all!!

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Christmas Eve....I still have plenty of time :)

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yup...I'm careful to always give them to people who don't know the original person. :)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, I love it all!!!

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear

17. Favorite Christmas song? Mary Did You Know?

17b. Christmas Song That, When You Hear It, Makes Your Eyes Bleed And Your Brains Start To Leak Out Your Ears, Because That Is Less Painful Than Having To Listen To That *&%^&$# Song One More Time! Those stupid dogs that bark Jingle Bells that I keep hearing on the radio!

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? It depends on where I am living, but I have mainly just gone to my parents who usually have lived in the same town as me.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? No

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? I like both, but I prefer a star usually because it is easier to find a nice star than a non tacky looking angel.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? That now everyone says "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". We have forgotten that the whole reason for Christmas is Christ. That He came to this earth to die for our sins. What a joyous thing to celebrate. God becoming flesh to save us!!! That is good news and something to celebrate! SO MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

23. Favorite Christmas Tradition? Stockings

24. Outdoor decorations? I have never had a house to do it to myself but I love them!! My dad keeps telling me he will do it if I go get the lights so I need to go and get them. :)

Pictureless Posts

I HATE pictureless posts. Which is why I don't post as much as I could. I think of something to post but don't have a picture and so I just don't post. I know it's silly of me. And then even as I am writing this and planned not to put a picture I was thinking "well I could at least put a picture of Ben or something." I know, I know...it's crazy! I haven't been keeping up with my posts as well as I am supposed to for the swaps I am in so I thought I'd better write up something. :) I just got mostly moved in to my parents house. It's a long story that I don't really want to get into. This will be the first Christmas that I don't have Ben which is pretty sad. I will make it through though with God's help. I'll be spending most of the day cooking Christmas dinner since mom has to work. I'm making prime rib with all the fixings!! Hmmm...that makes me hungry. :) We are making crab melt sandwiches tonight with tomato soup.

Anyway, in knitting news..last week while I was sick (on top of moving and finals) I tried to get something ready to knit because I felt guilty just sitting in bed even though I was sick and couldn't do much else. Anyway, I got some yarn out and start to wind it and well....let's just say it was a huge mess. A few days later though a friend came over and I untangled it all by myself while she talked to me. Now those of you who know me realize that this is a HUGE accomplishment. I HATE to untangle things. But I did it. I haven't cast on with the yarn yet...but it is ready. :)

Okay...I'm off to cook dinner for the family. And I am going to resist the urge and post without pictures!

What's Better Than One Sock?

A pair of socks!! I finished them....very late...but they are done. It's good I had no real deadline for them. It was great because I was able to give them to her on our last day of school!! That's right today was the last day of finals!! I'm so excited...I made it!!! God is good. I have changed so much in these last few months. It can only be that God has done amazing things in me. We had a great Christmas party tonight. I was the organizer of most of it. We had 16 college age people. It was so great!! Well I'm exhausted. It's time for bed. (I can actually sleep and relax now without feeling guilty...well for a few days since I have a 15 page paper to write and three big books to read for an intensive right after school starts again.) I will leave you with a picture of some good looking girl who showed up at the party. ;)