In the meanwhile, it had been 2 or so weeks since I'd knit since I was busy with other activities. Although my job is good and stable right now, I feel like I'm in flux in the rest of my life, and it's definitely a transition period. It's 2 weeks in on the Year of the Horse, and it shows. I'm going through my stuff and getting rid of stuff to my friend Kim for her fundraising efforts ($3K they are trying to raise this year for chicken farming in Cote d'Ivoire)...and still outstanding for me to work through some old grief work, and get rid of emotional and physical baggage. It's been really freeing.
At Christmas time, I let go of some older hobbies - silk painting, some scrapbooking, rubber stamping, confetti I'd collected over the years; also, pared down collectibles, even some old LYS yarn. I'm no longer keeping tins. I also took my tree down which freed up some space.
I also reduced my addi needle collection by destashing to one of the gals in my group. I had collected a lot of odd sizes of needles and shorter ones before using the Magic Loop Method.
February's work is about clearing paper clutter. in a big way. I have moved so many times, and just shoved paper in boxes. It's probably the most expensive paper collection on the planet - old bills, old reference sheets, printed patterns etc. It will have to be sorted, recycled, shredded. My eyes are open now...and I'm loving the space created from being freed up. Mostly what's driving it is that I can't find things when I do need them; so, that makes it easier to let go of them.
I also expect I'll be getting rid of books for the T-C book sale when that rolls around as I am just moving like a lot of people towards e-books. I'm currently reading "Compelling People" which is a very interesting read, and I'm loving getting the latest news and tech. news through Flipboard. It has changed the way I approach and read news. I'm also thinking of finally cancelling my newspaper (I know, it's so old school). In my previous job, I was forced to be extroverted for 90% of my day, and I had no control over my time at work, so I found it was soothing to read at lunch and restore my energies. Now, I'm in a position where I'm using my skills to work more cross-organizationally which suits my abilities and needs, and I have more control over my time. Way fewer and more productive meetings. I'm much happier in it. It's the one thing I hope will stay constant in the next few months.
People comment to me at the office about how they can hear me laughing, it's pretty amazing.
I also have started wearing more of my sweaters - Larch which was made from SG Bugga Blue Stink Bug. It's pilling a lot, and I've been using the Gleener to reduce the pills (essentially fine sand paper on a handle),
and Audrey which has turned out to be a very flattering sweater. I'm not sure I'm too keen on the arms not being set-in sleeves, but they seem to be ok. Ironically, of the 2 sleeves, the left one is kind of tight which was the instructions I followed from the designer (who probably has different arms than me), and my right arm seems ok (which I adapted from instructions on the web for a top-down sleeve cap). On wednesday, I wore Audrey buttoned up and I had a lot of compliments about it. A friend mentioned that it looks "store bought", so perhaps I've arrived. I joked about it being a luxury cardi though...no cheap chinese labour, since I spent probably 6 weeks knitting it.
The something new is that I decided because I was getting so antsy from only bare minimum knitting at knit night to swatch and cast-on a new project..while I was waiting for Rapunzel to dry and to be motivated to count the stitches etc. I broked into a stashed Sweater Quantity (SQ) of SG Milkweed Beetle. Here is a pic that shows the skeins in natural light (looking very variegated):
Inside, the yarn is very much a teal colorway and so beautiful.
So, progress on that is that I've swatched, and knit the first twisted rib rows. I'm ready to bind-off and pick up for the bottom of the cardi and I'm re-looking at the mods I made the last time. I think I didn't do a lot of decreasing at the waist last time but it's a very comfortable sweater, so I'll have to do a try on and see what's going on. I'd weighed myself in January, and the last time I think had been summer..seems I dropped 10 lbs..but I think it was a bit of stress and running around.
I feel more energetic these days and I'm generally sleeping better.
The milkweed beetle skeins are all over the map in terms of weight. One skein is 150g, one is 125g, and the other is 130g, so I hope I'll have enough yardage amongst the 3 skeins to do the larch. I do have a fourth skein but it is more green. So, I'll have that as stand-by. Last time, I had to break into the fourth skein for seaming.
I'm also under no illusions this year for any competitive or KAL knitting. The olympics is on right now, but I'm just too busy to try to control that aspect of my life or put myself under more pressure to get things done. It'll happen as it happens, and I'm enjoying the fruits of my labour in a lot of ways these days. I have a lot of SQs and I'll start them as I'm inspired to do so.
Add-in Victoria Film Festival is on right now...so I watched Linsanity last Monday, and caught up on loony tunes at the Jammies and Toons show. Both feel good films.
