Intentions

The last week of 2005 was spent in NJ - we went ice skating, traveled into NY to see Peter Pan and the big tree, exchanged gifts, ate cookies (this is the one time of the year that I really go overboard with baking), drank wine and martinis and had a good time with friends and family. Now the new year is here and I have been thinking of intentions. I borrow the word from Cate since I like it much more than resolutions. Resolutions are usually too cut and dry and get broken way to easily. For me, intentions imply more of a frame of mind - a general state of affairs. Anyway, I will start 2006 with a few intentions. I enjoyed doing the charity knitting last year and intend to continue with that this year. I've learned that I should never say that I'll give up buying yarn, but I will try to use more of the stash (probably for the charity knitting). And I do need to control the stuff that has been collecting in my house. A lot of it does bring me pleasure, but there are times when it feels out of control and ends up bringing me more stress than happiness. I definitely have had a lot of stress in my life lately - some of it is not in my control, but I need to determine which of it I can do something about and do it! And lastly, there are a few relationships that I need to try and work on. These will be my intentions for 2006.

On a knitting note, I wanted to share some of the gifts I made for the holidays. Earrings for a few sock knitting friends:

and the girlfriend sweaters.
I was also able to start my Jaywalker socks and I really love this pattern. It's only a two pattern repeat so it's easy to remember and it's fun to do. Here is the sock on the train going into NY - the sock enjoyed seeing Peter Pan. And did anyone hear that bump last week - that was me falling off the yarn wagon as I couldn't wait till the new year to buy some sock yarn. See I told you I should never make an intention to not buy yarn. Anyway, here are my 3 skeins of Socks That Rock, 2 skeins of Trekking and 1 skein of Cherry Tree Hill. This year I received a great gift - a yarn meter. This will make it so easy to divide those single sock skeins in half. Even though the STR now have more yardage, I'm still thinking I may not have enough for my rather large feet. I don't really know how much yarn I use for my socks. So, after I finish the Lorna's Laces Jaywalker socks, I plan to use the yarn meter to see how much yarn I have left over to determine how much yarn I need for socks. Then I'll know if I need to have another color for toes when I start using the STR.

If you've made it this far, Cara has created a site for the Crossed in Translation KAL. And since I just finished Persuasion, please send any suggestions for a good book. Thanks! Wishing everyone a wonderful and creative 2006!