in which I am tired of winter

Dear Winter:
Things just haven't been the same between us. When you first arrived, everything was exciting and new. We did so many fun things together. Remember cuddling in front of the fire and knitting warm socks, making soup, and snuggling under the blankets at night? You even pulled out all the stops and gave me that big exciting snowfall last month. But things have changed. We're on different paths. We want different things, and I'm tired of being cold. I made this supercute cropped sweater, and I want to wear it without my bellybutton icing over, but you won't let me.



I've tried to make things work between us, but I'm just not feeling it anymore. We need to go our separate ways. It's not you, it's me.

Sincerely,
Kim

PS: I lied. It's you. It's all you.

the wagon and I have parted company

This year, I had a very determined goal to reduce my stash. I've had some of my yarn for a few years, and I was getting frustrated by always getting sidetracked. I like to be able to realize the possibilities of my yarn, and having too much makes me feel overwhelmed. I was doing so well, too. All of the knitting I've done for myself has been from stash, for like (. . . leafing through the archives . . .) the past year. Wow. That's crazy. I'm so impressed with myself. That's so much better than I would have thought. (None of the gifts have been, but gift yarn doesn't count, right? Right?) Then, well, I wandered into Knitch a few days ago, and it was my birthday, and, well . . .

Numma Numma Saucy, in Going Green

Numma Numma Saucy in Squeeze Cheese

and Lotus Aura, in Rumplestiltskin.

Then, because Cast-on Cottage sent me a coupon, seeing it was my birthday and all, I headed up there for a little day trip. This came home with me.

Louisa Harding Grace Hand-dyed, which will be perfect for this sweater, which I've been dying to make. And then, cuz it was my birthday (are you sensing a theme here?), my mom gave me this Blue-faced Bliss in New Spruce 2, by Impulse of Delight
I didn't so much fall off the wagon as wildly fling myself from it.

wheeeeee!

My birthday is tomorrow and I am so ridiculously giddy I feel carbonated. I was going to do a proper blog post, but instead I'm just going to put us a teaser of all the beautiful new birthday yarn I've been buying myself lately. More later when I'm more coherent!

because she's my sister, and I love her

I swore that after I finished the great Christmas Obligation Knitting (and subsequent Felted Clog Obligation Knitting), that I was going to be a big selfish jerk and knit only for myself until I didn't want to anymore, dangit! Then I asked my sister what she wanted for her birthday. She had only one wish: a cute green hat just like the one I made her for Christmas. Crap.


Happy birthday, little sis.

let me give you the tour . . .

Welcome to my humble abode. I've been meaning to do a big blog tour of my house since, well, since I bought it, but the crazed fixings-up have kept me busy, and the house kind of scary and unpresentable for a long time. (Case in point.) So this little tour will be taking us through the parts of the house that do not look frightening.

First we have the "formal entryway." That was how it was described in the ad, and it cracks me up endlessly because it is tiny. Wee. Both itsy and bitsy. The picture above is all there is to it. I have had closets bigger than this. "Formal entryway" makes it sound enormous and grand, like we should put in marble and a sweeping spiral staircase and a chandelier.

Then we have the living room, now a lovely apple/mossy green color. This is where the Best Roommate Ever and I hang out in the evenings, engaging in our grueling Spinster Training Sessions by watching Jeopardy and hours of Murder She Wrote on DVD.

Here is the kitchen:
The walls are the exact color of tumeric. I've always wanted an orange kitchen, and now I have it. I rule! The cabinets are all IKEA, and I put every single one together myself. So worth it in the end, but the screwdriver blisters were brutal, let me tell you. The kitchen gets the best light in the late afternoon, and it's so warm and orangy-golden. I love it.

BRE painted the bathroom this beautiful blue all by herself on her day off. She went over to the house, put up one coat of paint, went back to the apartment, spent four hours packing and moving boxes to the house, and then put up a second coat of paint. There are no words.

I'm still undecided about the mirror situation. The bathroom came with a medicine cabinet, which I am loathe to part with, but we got a bigger sink, so the placement is very weird. Mom found these great little mirrors for me with leaves and shells and things on them, and words like "believe", "create" and "inspire". I like this placement and I hope it looks more organic and natural than weird.

I hope you enjoyed the partial tour of my little house! More pics to come as I enforce civilization and order throughout the place.

finished objects everywhere!

Well, it's definitely been one thing after another here in the Land of Wading Lightly. Between the Best Roommate Ever's mom (who is doing great!), an old friend succumbing to cancer, nuclear-meltdown-level work drama for me and BRE, and Jaymie licking a cut on his foot until it became a big nasty infection requiring antibiotics and e-collars, we've been run ragged. Fortunately, all the fretting, worrying and carrying on has been fantastic for my productivity, both knitting- and painting-wise.

The living room and the entryway both got their second coats while BRE's mom was having surgery, and then touch-ups over the weekend.

I finished these warm and snuggly beauties, and I am done, done I tell you, with Felted Clog knitting for this winter. The pattern is awesome and I would wholeheartedly recommend it. I really like the marble-ized effect you can get knitting with two different colors.

I also finished (woo-hoo!) my Brookside sweater, at long last. It is every bit as warm and cozy and pretty as I was hoping it would be.


For now, BRE and I are recovering our strength, hoping for more boring times to come. All this excitement has worn us out.

Satellite Kitten says: I'm on ur TV, boosting ur signal.

Smooth is my middle name.

Of course, my first name is Not At All and my last is In Any Way. I was at my local hippy grocery store last week, when I saw the hottest guy. He looked just like Seth Green, only taller and hotter, if you can believe it. We made eye contact . . . and I turned and fled. Sigh. Smooth like a really bumpy thing.