Free Wollmeise!!!

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To follow the fate of the Wollmeise!

Will it be Free'd?

April Fools!

Wouldn't it be nice though? I think I'll save my pennies and try and actually do this before too long! It really made people happy. :)

2010 New Year's Resolutions

Happy Happy New Years to Everyone!

I am ready for an awesome year! So, resolutions? Well, nothing too shocking, several are recycled just packaged differently, but they have all been given considerable thought.

1. Lose Weight!! Must lose weight. Not talking about dieting, it has to be the whole package, because this is aweful. I have the time and opportunity, so I am committed to this. I have identified my motivation for this, I'll list them at the end of this list. If you want to join me in any of the ventures, please, let me know! I'd love to have company!!
2. Exercise daily, everyday. I'm getting older, and I don't want to start feeling it. I need to make a point to get regular exercise daily, I won't commit to daily time, because I want to take various opportunities throughout the day to get my blood flowing. So many way: wii sports and games, walking with the baby, walking with the handsome hubby, free weights, I need to take several breaks during my day and be active!!!
3. No more Red Bulls. OUCH. Okay, don't tell DH, but I was up to 3 a day before Thanksgiving (for about a year) and managed to bring that number down to 2 a day since then, but now it's down to ZERO.
4. No more Soda. Period. Water, and only filtered water from the tap, will be all I drink from now on.
5. Spiritual/Intellectual growth daily. I will spend time, everyday, to reading something that will help me to grow, on the inside. I have plenty of books around here. I will be starting with "The Purpose Driven Life."
6. Everyday I will make a point to notice, identify and acknowledge something that someone else has done or contributed to make life better/happier/more pleasant, and let them know. It has to be sincere, I know that I will be able to find something everyday. It can also be a memory of something that I recall from years ago, but only today have come to realize.
7. Knit more, buy less yarn!
8. Learn to speak with a Scottish Accent
9. I will write in my blog at least once every 7 days. There it is. You knew it was coming...

So, these are my completely attainable, highly achievable goals for this year. I'll work on a template, so on my weekly posts I can post my progress/status on these.

Means and Motivation for Goal #1

"Yarn Diet-Diet"

It's a "Yarn Diet" Diet....How is that for a catchy name? Basically, I need to control the new yarn coming in, as well as lose weight (I've gained 25 pounds since I quite working in August!!!!). Obviously, my big resolution is to lose weight, but you could modify and use something like this to acheive whatever your New Years Resolution is!!!

I am a firm believer of success through rewards, smaller, more frequent rewards. So I thought I'd combine the two ideas...this one sounds good to me, lots of incentive and I get yarn if I'm good, lose yarn if I back pedal. I bet there are others out there too, who could use something similar to control the stash growth and weight all at once. Maybe we could collect ideas here!!

January 1 a.m. is my start weight.

Rules:

1. Weigh-in is each Friday. There is a
48 hour re-weigh that can be called
by either party, to allow for things
like water retention or just to be
sure it's an actual stable weight.

2. For every 10 pounds of weight I lose,
DH buys me a sweaters worth of yarn
of my choice. Ceiling price is $60
(if I choose a more expensive yarn, I
must pay the difference).

3. For every 5 pounds I gain (from the
latest weigh-in weight) I have to
forfeit a sweaters worth of yarn to
my DH. I can't destash or use that
yarn as long as it's in the forfeit
state (can't even pet it).

4. If there is any yarn in forfeiture,
DH does not buy me new yarn, I must
select a sweaters worth of "forfeited
yarn." No new yarn will be bought by
DH until all forfeited yarn has been
earned back (making the incentive
that if I backpedal and put on 5
pounds, I must again lose 10 pounds
to get it back....kewl, huh?)

Motivation for Resolutions #1-4

Body For Life

While the prize is no longer $1 Million, $25K isn't something to laugh at, and again, I have no excuses not to commit to this completely. I have the time, need and commitment (yes, I know, I need to be committed).

If you want to join me in the Yarn Diet-Diet or the Body For Life, let me know, just give me the signal!

2009 - A Knit Odyssey

Wow!!! What a great year! I'm amazed how each year gets better and better. They're all good years, but somehow each new one tops the last! I owe this to Chris, he's taught me so much, and made me so very very happy (now I'm talking like I'm in a fairy tale, and who knows...maybe I am?)

My last official post of the year 2009 will be a year in review, an odyssey of sorts. So, in no particular order, the high (and low) lights of 2009:

Things Heard Around the House this Year
Pamela: "Chris do you want me to make dinner tonight, or do you want something good?"

Pamela: "Does water go bad?"

John: "Robert, what did you get the speeding ticket for?" (duh, illegal parking maybe?)

John: "I don't need to take sex ed in school, I already know all about General Herpes and the clapper!"

Wonderful Additions to Our Family
(in order of their arrival to us!)
Fleece - the best puppy in the world...so loving and tolerant, we are so glad she picked us!

William - What a joy! I'm not biased at all, but truely suspect he is the worlds most charming baby, and also the most intelligent, and the cutest and....LOL

John A - What a wonderful surprise! I'm so proud of this young man and how much he cares for and loves his son!

Things that I've Learned
Never drink and knit

Winning an online argument is like outsmarting the dog, no real pride in it

We can live quite well on one income, the second is gravy (and yarn!)

You can never have too much yarn

I learned to knit!!!!

Ravelry is awesome!

Ravelry is a time suck!!!!! (how many exclamation points can fit on one line???)

2009 Finished Objects
(excludes any WIPs, they will have to count in the year completed)

I wonder how many miles of yarn this is? (and I should mention, this isn't ALL of the FOs, just the ones I have pics of...)

Speaking of miles of yarn....these are the yarns I've managed to collect and hoard for 2009 (and I've only been knitting since April!!)!



Happy New Year!!!! On to 2010!
Tomorrow: New Year's Resolutions....do you suspect one of them might be about the blog??? LOL

Hi, my name is Debbie...

and I'm a wip-aholic...

It started off innocent enough. First I only had two wips (works-in-progress) going at a time, but I handled it so well. What could one more hurt?

Then I got a new yarn and pattern I just couldn't wait to try. I had it under control, and I knew what I was doing. I wasn't just recklessly slipping another project into the wip category. I'd have projects, spaced apart so that they were all in different stages of completion, and it wouldn't be long before one of them was finished, so this last one wouldn't really count...

The plan was great. No one could really tell. My "working basket" next to my bed was over-flowing, but it was hidden from sight, no one would see it unless they went looking.

But, then, before I could get one of the now 4 wips completed, I found myself actively seeking another project to start. This time, I didn't add it to my project lists on Ravelry (I'm TinkingDeb there) right away. I kept it hidden away to myself. Sneaking time to work on it. Stealing time from the other projects ahead of it.

I'm not hurting anyone, I like the variety. I am a social knitter. I don't have a problem. I choose to have more than one wip at a time. I know what I'm doing! I do not have a problem! I simply enjoy being able to switch yarns and stitch patterns frequently. Keeps me from getting bored.

Then a friend looked at my projects page. She about fell out. I really believed that I had things under control, and then she went and commented on my 6 wips. Six???!!! How did it get to be six? After all, I wasn't adding all the new ones to the wips page. How could I have lost count?? How many wips do I have? I have so many that now I don't even know for sure...

Maybe this is something that might, someday, become a problem. Surely, now that I'm aware of it, I'll be able to get a handle on it. I'm stronger than my need to constantly start new projects. When the voices tell me, "Must try new yarn.....need to make this pattern now!....The size 4 needles are lonely, pick them up and start something..." I will be rational. I will not surrender to these urgings, these cravings. It's mind over matter.

I don't intend to wait so long before my next blog post. I've started catching up on things around the house, and writing in the blog will keep me busy, away from the you-know-whats.

Have to run now. I got this really soft mohair today, I'm going to cast on for a cute little tunic top for Pam now. I know it will knit up like a charm....

What Have I Been Doing?

I really planned to be good with maintaining my blog, but I got side-tracked. I finally got around to checking out my Ravelry site...

Wow!!! All the things I was working on putting together myself, for my own personal use, is already there, and a million times more!! It's wonderful. So, I had to get records of all my yarn, and pictures, then there are the projects (notice that my works in progress {wip} are on the right side of my page!!!), and my library...all that money I wasted getting John to scan some of my favorite patterns...They're already there!!! Yippeee!

So, now that I'm about caught up on my rav site (I'm TinkingDeb BTW) it's time to come back here!

I'll be posting more at length tomorrow, but wanted to explain where I'd disappeared to.