Yay! I have not one but two, yes two parcels full of yarny goodness!

From DropKickStich :

Uber Sock Superwash Sock Yarn in ‘Bleeding Heart’ and ‘Rigor Mortis’

and from squish :

Yoga Toes Sock Yarn in ‘Sprite’ and Cuddle Toes Sock Yarn in ‘Autumn’

You can see how easily I’m influenced by the name of a yarn, can’t you? How wonderful to have a yarn named Rigor Mortis! I can’t wait to knit loads of socks with these, and yet, they all look so pretty as they are, it’s almost a shame to disturb their skeiny beauty.

For someone who is supposed to be not spending any money on things I don’t absolutely need at the moment, I’ve been spending far too much time on Etsy!

Here are just a few of the treasures I would absolutely love for someone to buy me…

Gingersnap Cookies by SweetPleasures, Sock garters by SWANclothing, Plumavera by zelaya

…anyone?

Hedgehog Mittens by funfinn, 2010 Calendar Pillow by Le Papier Studio, Anatomical Heart Locket by heronadornment

…no?

Oh well – I’ll just drool over the pictures then!

Ghost is ten weeks old today! She’s grown a lot in the 4 weeks I’ve had her, and is now a healthy 176g. She’s a pain to try and photograph though, her favourite past-time is to burrow somewhere dark and go to sleep, and when she’s not sleeping she’s sprinting, and exploring, and sniffing everyone and everything!

In another couple of weeks she’ll be old enough to start playing on her new wheel so I hope to get a bit of video footage of that, and yesterday she had a little explore of her new playground. She’s still very shy and doesn’t like being out in the open much, but she’s getting better at meeting new people.

In other news, I've been inspired by Sarah (The Plucky Knitter) and cast on a Sockhead (Ravelry link) hat with the second ball of limited edition Harry Potter Opal sock yarn I bought in my very first yarn shopping spree in Get Knitted. There’s something quite pleasant in knowing one can wear a hat to match one’s socks. Or maybe I’m just odd. Anyways, it’s a lovely little project that can fit nicely into my bag and the genius of using circular needles is that I can take it on the busy train with me without worrying about the inevitable consequences of repeatedly jabbing my fellow commuters with wooden sticks.

Ok, time to look back at last year. This was my first year of knitting, and what do you know, it wasn’t just a phase! I thought I’d have a round up of just a few of my finished knitting projects from the past year:

I’m really pleased with the Ishbel I made for Nana. It was definitely the hardest thing I’ve knitted, because of all that fancy lacy edging – I’ve never had to undo the same few rows anywhere near as much as I did doing this! And yet… I find myself wanting to knit another one for me! It’s such a beautiful pattern and the Fyberspates Scrumptious is a delight to knit with. Yes, I may be a masochist, but I’ll be the nicest- shawl wearing masochist ever!

I ended up frogging the green-blue shawl I was knitting, deciding that the 100% silk made it far too easy to pull out of shape with even the slightest catch to one of the decorative ladders. Talking to Mum, the not-so-mysterious-anymore mystery recipient, we’ve come up with another idea for the yarn (as it really is gorgeous – Handmaiden Lace Silk btw). This. Yeah, another scary looking lacy thing. I’m both excited and very, very scared at the prospect of knitting so much lace!

So, aside from the Scary, Scary Lace Project (as it’s already become known as in my household), what else knitterly have I got planned for 2010? Looking at my Ravelry queue (which is growing far faster than I can cast on) here are a few of the many I have to look forward to:

(Get off my) Cloud - Kate Davies, Slither - Veronica O'Neil, Featherlight Lingerie Dress
by Mari Lynn Patrick, Little Birds by Ysolda Teague (this version knit by dianelynn on Ravelry), Camden by Ashley Adams Moncrief and Owls - Kate Davies

On a similar thread, I have the urge to knit many pairs of socks. I’ve only done one pair, and it did take a while to get over my SSS (Second Sock Syndrome to non-knitterly types), but I figure that if I take two pairs of socks I can knit the 1st of one, then the 1st of the other, and then the 2nd of the 1st and the 2nd of the 2nd (still with me?) and hopefully bypass SSS and end up with not one, but two lovely pairs of handknitted socks! Fingers crossed it works and I don’t just end up with a double dose of SSS!

There has been great excitement in the last few weeks in my house. We have a new addition to our family! Her name is Ghost, she’s albino, she’s 7 weeks old on Thursday and she weighs just 74g! She’s my baby African Pygmy Hedgehog, and she’s so utterly, unbelievably gorgeous! See…?

Isn’t she adorable? On Sunday we had tea by the fire, toasted crumpets, Lark Rise to Candleford on the television, I was knitting myself a cardigan and Ghost was sleeping on my lap, half burrowed in the folds of my jumper, lovely!

I suppose this would be a good time to declare my New Year resolutions. I’m hoping that writing them down here will help me keep them! In past years I’ve tried to keep impossible resolutions like joining a gym (we all knew that wasn’t going to stick!) and eating better (*scoff*), so this year I’ve made resolutions that are fairly simple, and more about improving skills than abstinence (I have only a fleeting acquaintance with the concept!).

- Knitting. I managed to dabble a little in cable knitting at the end of last year but, inspired my Kate Davies’s article in The Knitter on the history of Aran knitting, I should like to really improve my skills in this area. Other areas of knitting I’d like to gain more experience in are working with DPNs, sock knitting and colour work. Current skill level C. Working towards B+.

- Reading. I need to read some of the books I own before I buy loads more. I have a nasty habit of buying books at a faster rate than I manage to read them! Must improve. Current skill level C -. Working towards A-.

- Clothing. I intend to make far more of my own clothes this year, and severely cut down the amount I spend in chain stores. Instead I will depend upon independent shops and my own dress-making skills for clothes. Current level D. Working towards B.

So there we are. We'll see how I get on as the months (or weeks) pass!

Well happy 2010 to everyone! Another year has flown by so quickly! This is the first time I've spent any real time on the computer for weeks now, it's been nice actually, but I'm glad to be back. I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Years?

Ok, so it didn't take long to determine that writing 50,000 words, in three weeks, with no pre-planning, no plot, and no time was never really going to work. And it's not like I don't have enough excuses, I started a week late, I have a humoungous knitting project to finish for christmas (more of this later), which isn't getting done by itself much to my disapointment, to make matters worse the boiler broke down a week and a bit ago, so sitting still at a laptop really hasn't felt very appealing! It's actually colder inside my house at the moment than outside!

Aside from having a chance to wear lovely thick jumpers and an excuse to wear scarves and mittens inside, having a duff boiler also means we get to have gorgeous coal fires in the fireplace, toast crumpets, and read ghost stories curled up on the sofa with a roaring fire in the grate.

Did I hear someone say marshmallows?

But I haven't been slacking I assure you! I've been sneakily working away at a couple of secret mystery projects. Now as much as I want to show them off like the proud parent of some magnificently gifted child, I can't. Else they wouldn't be secret mystery projects! But I can't resist giving you a little sneak peak of them.

I've also decided I need way more practise using double pointed needles. Damn ladders everywhere! I think we'll all agree knitting is a kind of magic, making something pretty and warm, or practical, or cute out of a ball of fancy string and two sticks has got to be magic. But knitting with DNPS must require some super-magic or ubermagic to get it to work properly. So many of the gorgeous hats and gloves and mittens and things I'm looking to knit are made using DPNs, so I'll need to get some practise in. That'll be my post-christmas task I think - learn to knit properly with DPNs.