A New Hampshire Knitter

I know two little girls who are going to find surprises in the mail at some point soon... I have two cousins (actually, I have more than two cousins, but for the sake of this post, I have two cousins), Michelle and Jen. Each have one daughter. I knit each daughter a sock monkey in their favorite color. The pink one is going to Texas, while the purple one is staying here in New Hampshire. I just have to get their addresses from my aunt (their grandmother) and these two babies will be on their way!

I had hoped to be writing to announce that I had completed my mitred square afghan, or my slipper socks, or any of my pairs of mittens, but alas, I am writing not of knitting, but of a book I'm reading. A lot of us listen to audiobooks while knitting, and household chores,  and I am no different. (In fact, I fully admit to listening to audiobooks while at work.) Currently, I am reading Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America , which is actually quite good. I bought it using a credit from Audible , and I had thought it would be mostly of President Nixon and his presidency, and Vietnam. However, it's quite the opposite. The book starts off with Nixon's background, and rise to the White house, and then shifts to focus mostly of the chaos in American society. I am not quite done yet, I still have approximately 12 hours left, and I believe I will enjoy every minute of those 12 hours.

I'm not much into New Years Resolutions, but I saw a link on facebook which made me laugh out loud. (Which probably wouldn't have been so bad, if I wasn't at work at the time.)   20 New Years Resolutions for 20 somethings. Number 19 was particularly resonant with me. "Crap or get off the pot." It's something we say in my family a lot (although our version isn't quite so family friendly.) I finally scored a "grown up" job last September. It's only part time, but between my two jobs I have a full time job. I decided on March, because it would give me time to save up a bit. Well... March is coming up fast. And I'm a procrastinator.  But I'm not going to become the woman I want to be if I allow fear to take over. I can't grow, and convince myself, never mind anyone else that I'm an adult if I allow the unknown to paralyze me. Becoming more adult-like is one of my goals for 2012. So is losing 40 pounds... and having chocola...

... for he brings me goodies. I just want to start this off by saying- I had the cash in my hand, I was upset, and I had a little alcohol in me. What's a girl to do in that situation? Why, go yarn shopping, of course. I placed two orders, one for the Loopy Ewe, and one with Knitpicks. I got several yummies from the Loopy Ewe- most notably my first ever skein of Madelintosh and an absolutely scrumptious skein of Alpaca with a Twist Baby Twist. My Knitpicks order contained more "toys" than yarn- although I did throw in yarn for two shawls and a cowl. One of those toys was... A key chain sock blocker sock! I had received the yarn in a mini skein yarn swap, and I cast on only a few hours ago- definitely the quickest sock I've ever knit! Although I have some problems with the way the pattern is written, I am definitely happy with it- and can't wait to make some more.

Today is January First. New Years Day. A few days ago, I had a conversation with a coworker (confession time: she talked, I thought about how to get off the phone as I was busy as heck but didn't want to be rude) and she was waxing nostalgic about the romanticism of fresh starts. (I'm the one applying the fancy words. She just went on and on about how she liked new beginnings.) But she did have a point... sort of. I'm not sure if I subscribe to the idea that if the calender changes, then the slate is wiped clean. Your history comes with you. You're still the same person. The mistakes you've made, the triumphs you've accomplished... they don't go away just because you're changing which calendar you're using. If you want to change something, change it. It doesn't matter if it's June 15th, or January 1st. Every day is a new chance to get it right. That being said... I am launching this blog today because it is the New Year. I didn'...