I'm slowly making progress on Madli:

That is six repeats completed on the center panel of the body; the pattern recommends 31, but the plan is to just keep going for as long as the yarn will allow. I promise that there really are beads on it, but they get lost in the mess of the unblocked lace. And to be honest, that is the point. I don't want the beads to overpower the lace. My goal here was to add just a touch of sparkle to the already lovely yarn, and they do that rather well.

Don't adjust your eyes – it is a bit blurry. But you can see the beads a little bit better, no? And that's not all that has been getting a little bit of work around here:

In order, that's my crazy-ass socks, which I plan to finish off with a plain red toe just for fun; my master bathroom, which needed a serious makeover and now matches the bedroom; and the pictures that now reside in my master bedroom that I have been asking to be put up for months. This moving thing has so far included cleaning, decorating, putting things in storage and preparing to live in as sterile an environment as possible. See that silver speaker in the last picture? Going to storage. The candles? Storage. The weather alarm? The blue plate with change in it? STORAGE. Clutter is the bain of the For Sale home, and I am determined to boot it out of my home.

However, it is eating into my knitting time. I am not sure this is acceptable.

I have a friend that is getting married in May, and while Texas isn't what you'd call "cool" during that time, she is getting married near the lake. Which means that it is going to be breezy. To combat this, I wanted to knit something for my shoulders; something I could throw over a little black dress and feel comfortable. The silky lace I picked up at SAFF jumped out at me, so I wound 'er up and contemplated a pattern. 900 yards is a lot of lace yarn, but you'd be surprised at how many shawl patterns either call for 400 yards (generally a triangle, and I wanted a stole), or 1200 yards. Finding something that I liked for the yardage was a challenge.

Luckily, I remembered that I have a copy of Knitted Lace of Estonia. I pulled it out of the knitting library and I knew that Madli's Shawl was the one. It requires more yarn than I have, but it also has a wealth of The Dreaded Nupp, which I will just replace with beads to add a little more shimmer. Matter of fact, I've already completed one end of the shawl:

The construction requires you to knit an end and then the center, and then to knit the other end and kitchner it in. To get the most out of the yarn, I am instead knitting one end, leaving it on the cord (Knitpicks Options are perfect for this!), and then knitting the other end and the center. I am loving the beads instead of the nupps. I don't exactly love putting them on the stitches, but the effect is gorgeous and I think will be appropriate for a late afternoon wedding. Now to just make this project stretch out a while longer so that I don't run out of things to knit!

The yarn, that is.

We have decided that it is high time that we bought a new house, which means that we need to sell our current house. The things that you have to do to get your house ready to sell include decluttering, cleaning, repairing, painting, and landscaping.  Apparently, yarn is classified as "clutter", and my stash is being moved to a cold, lonely storage unit, along with my sewing table. (The sewing machine will be taken out of this house over my dead body.) I am being allowed to keep a few small projects in a basket that will reside in the top of our master bedroom closet.

How sad is it for a knitter to be ripped away from her stash like that? I've already had daydreams of sweaters I know I won't knit in the next few months, outlandish shawls that I don't have the yarn for, and I have an insane need to stash more yarn before it all goes away for a (hopefully) short while. It's not like I was going to knit it ALL in the next few months – I can definitely be without it for a while. But still, it's a little sad to see it boxed up and ready to be sent to THE STORAGE UNIT this weekend. 

What I'm keeping: the beautiful skein of silvery-grey silk that I bought at SAFF and that was hand-dyed for me; the Baruffa Cashwool for my Forest Path Stole, and two lots of yarn for socks, which I haven't even decided upon yet. It's like choosing among your children, I swear. Okay, maybe not THAT dramatic, but still…it's hard to choose. 

What would you keep, if you had to make that decision?

I started these socks last…April? According to Rav, it was April. I started them while I was in the middle of my physical therapy sessions for my busted ankle; for some reason, I stuck them in a basket and forgot about them for six months. I came across them over the break and realized that i was only half a sock away from being done with them, so I sucked it up and finished them off. They don't even look like they are from the same skein. The dyeing was very uneven, apparently, but you know what? I don't care. I like them this way. The heels and toes are yarn that I dyed myself in an attempt to match the yarn – it's not even close, but I think it works anyway. I am just glad that they are done and ready to be worn.

I'm really torn over what I want to do knitting wise this year. Socks, of course, are always on my list, and I want to finish the Forest Path Stole, but other than that…hrmph. Stranded knitting? Sweaters? More lace? My stash is fleshed out well enough that I can pretty much knit whatever I would like and not set foot in a yarn store for the entire year, if I so chose. I'm hoping that I gain more inspiration in the weeks to come, because right now, not much is tugging at me. I think we all go through phases like that, though. Phases where something you love dearly just isn't twanging your strings.

Lucky for me, I have other things to keep me busy!

Or at least, I WOULD if my sewing machine wasn't acting up. I need to drop it off for a tune up (and possibly a time out), but I think that once we have that straightened out, I'll be doing a lot more sewing.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? I flew, on an airplane, by myself. I cannot tell you exactly how exciting this was for me – I don't think I had flown anywhere in over four years.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't really make resolutions, because I always end up snapping them in half and then mourning the fact that I can't stick to them. I like to have goals instead: be healthier, save more money, spend more time with my kids.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope, although everyone seems to be getting ready to pop some kids out.

4. Did anyone close to you die?  No, thank God.

5. What countries did you visit? I don't think I have ever been out of the US. So that would be a giant negatory on the countries.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? Patience. And more patience. With two kids in the house, both under the age of 5, I struggle in that department.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?  Obama's election is huge, HUGE in my mind, but other days that stand out are my 30th birthday,  my daughter's 1st birthday, and my son's 4th birthday. It's funny how my memories are tied up more in things that are important to my kids than in things that are important to me personally.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Starting back to school, and getting that path set out so that I will actually finish my degree instead of draaaaaaaging it on and on.

9. What was your biggest failure? I think that I need to work on being a better parent. Scratch that. I KNOW I need to work on being a better parent.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?  I had to undergo physical therapy for an ankle that I sprained, but it's not like that was life threatening or serious.

11. What was the best thing you bought? iPhone. Hands down, the best gadget ever created. How I managed without one is a mystery.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?  My son's, as his potty training skills were cemented and perfected. I cannot describe the joy over not having to change someone's butt any longer. One down, and one to go!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Family stuff, and that is all I can say about that. Oh, and SARAH PALIN.

14. Where did most of your money go? Daycare and mortgage.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? My trip to SAFF. I was so excited about it, I'm STILL excited about it.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008? Kiss Kiss, by Chris Brown. My son learned the words to it, and sings it randomly. I don't know whether or not to be horrified by this, or to laugh hysterically. I do a little bit of both.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier; post-partum depression is a bitch to recover from.
b) thinner or fatter? Exactly the same, strangely.
c) richer or poorer? Richer. We put ourselves on a saving plan, and hoo-boy, does that really look to come out well.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? I wish I had spent more time with friends and family. We have turned ourselves into housebound hermits, and I'm ready to get out and be social again.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Procrastinating, lazing, and basically just being a slug. Nothing will get done if I don't get up and do it.

20. How did you spend Christmas? The same way we always do – in our pajamas, at my in-law's house. I look forward to that every year.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008? Yes. With a phone.

22. What was your favorite TV program? Grey's Anatomy

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?  I can't think of anyone new to my list – although I'm sure there are folks on it.

24. What was the best book you read? Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Paramore. I KNOW, you all knew about them FOREVER ago, but it took Rock Band to introduce them to me.

26. What did you want and get? Wii Fit. Now I just have to USE IT.

27. What did you want and not get? A raise. Seriously. This has gone on long enough.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? Wall-E has to be THE FILM for me, but then again, I don't see many new movies. Marley and Me did make me cry like a baby, though.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? On my birthday, I don't remember doing anything memorable (hah!), and this was the BIG 30. Hopefully, 31 will be a little easier on the emotions.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? I wish that I had worked out more, and dropped some weight. I need to force myself into it.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? Ann Taylor for Work, Things That can Withstand Spaghetti Handprints at home.

32. What kept you sane?  AudioBooks and knitting.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Michael Buble. Mmmmm…..

34. What political issue stirred you the most? The entire election was huge; all of the issues combined into one giant pot of POLICITALSTUFF that I had to wade through to decide on who I wanted to vote for.

35. Who did you miss? My sister. She moved away from me earlier in the year, and I'm still trying to convince her that she needs to come back to me.

36. Who was the best new person you met? Well, all of my friends on Ravelry. It's amazing to me that people that I have never physically seen can mean as much to me as they do, but they are really and truly friends. I think that a few of them know where to hide bodies.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. Moderation in all things. Food, drink, emotional reactions…all things are better if you step back and ask yourself if you really, REALLY need to handle it in that way. Do you need that last drink? Does that Big Box Store employee really rate the amount of wrath that you are about to heap on his head?