happy new year. i know—i’m just a little late to the party. i have no idea what happened to yesterday—good thing i didn’t make any vows to blog every day this year (though i enjoy immensely that other people manage it with such panache). heh. maybe next year.
i do very much want to express my deep gratitude for your enthusiasm and generosity as readers of my blog and users of my patterns in 2008. you have captured my imagination and followed up by urging and cheering me along through dozens of projects. we have picked names for knits together, traveled through the design process together, and celebrated many, many finishing lines as a group. the collaborations that have materialized through this blog with dyers, test knitters, metalsmiths, and many more artisans along with other bloggers and readers are some of the most amazing of my life, with astounding results.
i hope everyone is looking forward to a year of possibility. i know we all expect changes that may seem like obstacles, but you never know—changes that are forced upon us sometimes germinate into positive growth of unexpected proportions if we keep an open mind about them. that has been my experience, anyway—it was during a four-month drought of work in 2006 that i cheered myself up by starting my blog and nothing has been the same since . . .
i’m setting just a few important goals for this year, mostly around streamlining things so i can optimize my time. my one huge design goal is to start getting those sweater patterns out. it didn’t happen last year, but i’m determined to get it going this year. as always, the biggest obstacle for me is getting started, but i’m challenging myself to just do it.
so yeah, let’s get started on 2009.
first off, i have a couple of announcements from collaborators i want to pass along.
the fiber baristas have opened their 2009 postcards from home yarn club for signups. this sounds like an interesting club—and something different. instead of yarn from one source, the club will send installments from different dyers throughout the year. there’s a ravelry group too, where you can find out lots more.
signups for the taste of shivaya club will open tomorrow at shivaya naturals—you can read a few details about the club at heather’s blog today. this promises to be a lovely offering with gorgeous picks from heather’s luxurious line of naturally-dyed yarns.
now lets talk about knitting
it’s been an incredibly productive week here. i’ve been devoting most of my time to my secret project so that i can finish it quickly. fortunately, that’s working well for me. and equally fortunate is the fact that i love the yarn. the color couldn’t be more perfect for this time of year—i feel like i have a little spring shrub growing right before my eyes in here.
something about it being the holidays made the whole place seem quieter and less focused on “work”, which gave me time to actually work. normally i hit my desk first thing in the morning and stay pretty close to it all day, because we’re supposed to be available to the office (that would be my day job) from 9 to 6, even if we don’t know that work will be coming in. it makes it hard to feel ok with knitting in the middle of the day, so i fill the time with email, patten writing, etc, then end up working on all of that far later than i should. i often leave my desk too jazzed up to settle properly into my knitting when the time comes.
things are extremely slow at the office though, and we’re not expecting work to come in for a while (and maybe never; they’re not saying yet), so we’re now more free to be off getting other stuff done, finances allowing. and i’m discovering that freedom to organize my day differently opens up my brain immensely—how about that. i’m really grateful to immerse myself in it again like this.
i’ve been writing patterns and knitting a lot, which is really calming. sometimes, when things are hectic, i start feeling really disconnected from knitting, so having this time to focus on it is very therapeutic.
i finished my brother’s birthday socks
and wrote the pattern; it should be ready to release some time next week. yesterday we did a little modeling session and got some great photos
more of those when the time comes . . .
i’m getting back to a couple of small projects i started around thanksgiving and put aside to do christmas knitting. the first is something for me, which i really want to finish because it’s going to look great with my new jacket. i dusted off my wiggle scarf last night and put a few rows on it just to get reacquainted.
the yarn is bunny patch, a merino/angora blend from cheryl at new hue handspuns. the scarf is a wide, cozy one that i’m anxious to be using—i love my old scarf but it’s time for a change and the right weather is upon us.
the yummy and cozy theme is extended in another project that’s been patiently waiting for me to take up once more
i got back to work the poppy socks the other night and just couldn’t put them down—i found myself shaking awake with the needles still in my hands during the wee hours of new year’s morning. mmm, squishy. i’m past the heel now and rollicking down the foot to the toe (these are much smaller than those man socks i just finished).
the yarn is the delicious serenity from roxanne at zen yarn garden, which combines the luxury of cashmere and the softest merino with some nylon for durability. not to mention how nice it is to knit with—it is as soothing as a balm and totally lives up to its name. the colorway, paprika, has a warm, bright fullness that expresses this pattern just right for me. i think roxanne is planning to offer a kit for this sock when the pattern is ready—we’ll definitely keep you updated on that.
with no incoming work from the office, david is on a real tear through the house. he took down all the christmas decorations yesterday, boxed them up, and stowed ’em away. he’s also been cleaning and organizing the basement so that i barely recognize it
(beckie and kim will appreciate how different it looks down there; it was a mess before and i’m embarrassed to say that i showed it to them in that state)
we have a huge basement—it’s the size of the entire footprint of the house and has seven rooms. for most of the first year it was completely empty, then as the renovations on the house revved up, it began to fill with debris and detritus, tools and materials, and all manner of yard equipment (our garage didn’t have doors til last year). in fact, it looked a lot more like this
especially in david’s “shop”. but it looks like he’s tackling that area now . . . i’m seeing a semblance of order where mayhem has reigned for most of the last year (all i can say is, discourage your husband from getting a table saw unless you can handle—or hide—the fallout).
trust me, this is immaculate compared to what it looked like last week.
he’s also preparing the back room on the second floor for renovation, now that the third floor is done (and i do need to show you that soon). the back room has been a storing vault and staging area during the third floor renovation, so it was crammed with all sorts of tools, materials, and crap
it used to be a kitchen when this house was split into apartments. it has a door to the porch deck outside, a nice big window that looks onto the back garden, and a tiny walk-in closet under the stairs. it also has a very badly-done stucco-y wall treatment complemented by painted trim the color of . . . well . . . baby poop. it has an impressive layering of multiple vinyl and linoleum coverings glued securely to the old oak flooring—with the exception of the stove-sized area that got burned in a fire at some point. oh, and it has acoustic tile on the ceilings, yay.
this room is slated to become an extension of my adjacent workroom, where we will put the more utilitarian equipment such as the sewing machine, pressing bench, and work table. david will add a wall of cedar-lined cabinets for storing all that yarn and fiber i boxed up last week. we would like to add a utility sink, but i’m not sure i want to give up the cabinet space; we’re still deciding. eventually we’ll add a screened airing/sleeping porch to the deck outside the door.
fortunately we have a lot of the required materials on hand already—the biggest ingredient will be labor on david’s part. basically, we just want a nice clean box when it’s done. he would love to reclaim the old floor; i suspect we’ll need to put in a new one—he still needs to assess the damage.
he says it’s possible he’ll finish it within a month—i’ll be ecstatic if it’s done before we need to start work on the yard and garden in spring.
so we’ve got a lot going on. we’re hoping that all this energy and work is a good portent for the coming year. we can’t control all the various aspects of our life that keep us afloat, but we can do the best with what we have, so that’s what we’re going for. cheers!
38 thoughts on “hello, 2009”
Happy New Year! The new socks look great. It’s been great reading your blog this year and I look forward to reading about your garden this spring:
Happy New Year, Anne! I’ve been enjoying your patterns so much and I love reading your blog; it really is a highlight of my day. Looking forward to seeing some your sweater patterns (how’s that for some motivation!). Have fun, if that’s the right word, with the renovation process, that room will be wonderful.
Wishing you much success, health and happiness for the coming year.
I really enjoy reading your blog. I have tried several of your patterns, and have been pleased with the end result.
I think that I read that you live in Ohio. We live in OHio part of the year in a little town near Dayton.
Looking forward to many new projects in the new year. Also looking forward to spring and more pictures of your garden.
Happy New Year. I so enjoy your blog and your descriptions of your designing process (not to mention the garden and cooking). I know I’ll enjoy reading about your sweaters–the glimpses you’ve shown so far have been fabulous.
Happy new Year again! Looking forward your sweater patterns! Glad to read that you are knitting something for you! The scarf & socks look stellar…love the colors. And thanks for the hints about the clubs! Will definitely be clicking over in a sec!
That’s some serious cleaning up progress! Can I borrow David when he’s done there??? lol
Your knits are gorgeous. I can’t wait for sweaters too. Wishing you and yours a fabulous 2009!
Your home is coming along so well! For years I thought I was the only one who started cleaning and sorting again after Christmas but before the Christmas decorations were down. Now I see, with David, at least three others who are now re-energized and in the same cleaning and sorting bug! That paprika is one beautiful color. Oh, what’s next?!
Wow! I can commiserate – our whole house was painted the color of baby poop when we bought it – we had to paint before we moved in, since I couldn’t stand it! Can’t wait to see your “new” room!
Wow — that’s a whole lot going on, but it’s already looking like it’s going somewhere, which is always such a good feeling. I love both of those socks! And the scarf looks like a good warm one, which is perfect right now…
I would love to see some pics of the outside of your house…3 stories. Wow! Sounds like you have great plans – and enough to last through 2009 and beyond! The socks look fantastic, too.
Happy New Year to you and David. Thank you for an inspirational post. You helped me to see that anything can be achieved and change is a good thing. Thank you.
Happy New Year to you! I love those Poppy socks. Just flat out love them. I am partial to red, so that helps.
And that green mysterious object really does look astonishingly moss-like.
Your knitting is beautiful and the green”shrub” is very enticing. Cleaning up the basement and all the yucky refurbishing work proves just how much David loves you. I wish you a happy new yearand many more years of love and joy together!
Wow, those mansocks have a wonderful texture! But those new socks – perfect!
Sure do envy you all that space! You two have paid the full price for it, of course, with all the fixing up that David has done. David is a marvel! And so are you, the genius lace designer!
Happy New Year! I am enjoying those photos of the “green shrub” even without knowing what it is becoming; love the color – you’re right; it’s the perfect antidote for this time of year, along with the poppy socks.
Seeing the progress on your house renovations is encouraging to me since we recently moved into a home that needs some TLC, definitely minor-league stuff to yours though!
May you and David have a wonderful year in every way.
The secret project really does look like a spring shrub! And the poppy sock is very cheerful too!
I wish you and David all the best for the coming year: wonderful surprises, new challenges, and the energy to make the most out of it all!
Your secret project looks like fun…and it reminds me of broccoli. LOL 🙂
I’m looking forward to a new year with your posts, designs, patterns, knitting intellect. Happy new year to you and David!
I eagerly await sweater patterns! I signed up for the club and I’m wondering what the pattern is for your brothers socks. I likey…
Oooh I am wondering what that top light blue swatch is… 😉
I guess I haven’t been paying attention because I thought designing patterns was your job! How in the world do you get everything done that you do?!
Cheers Anne!
Inspiring as always, thank you for spreading the good energy and thank you for the lovely lace!
Love the poppy sock! I’m going to have to get me some of that ‘serenity’ yarn!
Gelukkig Nieuwjaar , Anne en David !
What a wonderful color the secret project has ! I am eagerly awaiting your sweater patterns, just like a lot of other people who read your blog 🙂
I hope David can manage to finish your room soon,it’s such an optimistic start of the new year !
Um… if David still has boundless energy – can you send him over here? I’ve got tons of work to do too. : )
Happy New Year and Happy Knitting!
Happy New Year, Anne!
Love the Poppy Socks. Can’t wait to see them modeled.
Funny, the New Year also brought out my organizing/cleaning instincts. Much must still be done this week-end.
Wow!!! David has been working really hard!!! Amazing basement!! And it’s so huge, too!!! What an ambitious project that was! Okay, tell him to bring his organizational skills out to my house now. . . .
Happy New Year, Anne! 🙂 I can’t wait to see what amazing things you come up with in 2009. Maybe I will even knit some of them. Gee, I wonder if I remember how… 😉
p.s. Your basement is neater than my living room. Isn’t that tragic? 😉
My goodness! The basement looks great! I am so excited to see what is in store for the work room. David always does such a nice job.
I love the poppy socks!
I love green, too. If it would be before Christmas i would ask how many nights do i have to sleep until….
A wall of cedar-lined cabinets! That’s my fantasy! Lucky you. I love the energy of the new year’s beginning. You’re so right that we have to make the best of what we have and can do.
happy (belated) new year! i’m feeling behind myself…
it sounds like you’re busy. but in a good way – the expansion of your workroom space will be nice when it’s done. (and trust me, i know how these projects go…on and on and on and on and…i think the addition’s finally finished. almost a year later.)
i can’t wait to see what lovely patterns this coming year brings…now if only i had more time….!
Thanks for all of your work on your blog in 2008, I always enjoy reading it.
Best wishes for a very happy new year in 2009.
Thank you, Anne (with an e) for your wisdom and your generosity. While I love knitting your designs, I am so grateful for your reminder of renewal and hope at the start of a new year. A beautiful and fruitful year to you and all of us who are in your life circle.
Anne – Happy New Year.
Thank you for all your inspiration over the last year. I have made qite a few of your projects and have managed to contribute to the living of Wooly Wonka, Briar Rose and many others.
Boy, would I like to have cedar lined cabinets. I am going to attack my clothes closets this year, and I think I have some little friends eating some fibre.
I have the Robusta yarn and would like to use the stitch you have used for David’s sweater in a feminized style of his jacket, perhaps with a stand-up collar. I think your grey socks for your brother are made with the same stitch pattern, are they not? I am looking forward to both patterns.
Thanks again Anne for your grace – in every form.
Eleanor
I am GIDDY to find out what that green yarn is on your secret project. Green is one of my all time favorite colors and that looks stunning. Can’t wait for you to reveal the source! 🙂
And happy new year to you as well!
Comments are closed.