UFO’s make me not want to knit. It has ruined knitting for me. I finally figured it out the other day and confessed to Margene how much it keeps me from knitting. Seriously. All of my life I’ve never had a stash because I only bought yarn with a project in mind. After working at Village Wools for a year and being smack dab in the middle of the whole online yarn world, the UFO’s piled up for the first time in my life. It wasn’t until recently, I realized how much they hung over my head. Everyone out there is writing about what they knit this year and I’m not going to do that. Not because I didn’t knit a lot this past year but I just don’t really care enough to go back and figure it all out. Instead, I want to look forward. So today I decided something big. Huge people! I don’t want UFO’s anymore. Now this may not look like a lot but to me? These little projects have been driving me crazy. I know. Four projects. What can I say? I’m totaly OCD and can’t handle it.

You see two socks, my Shadow Shawl and my Ruffles from Scarf style. I started Ruffles a year ago! What the hell!? Why do we keep UFO’s? Have you ever really wondered about all of the things you have on your needles? Do they bother you? So why not do something about it? I did. Look.

I frogged everything except the Shadow Shawl. It felt so good. It now looks like this and the biggest weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. Major Zen moment. Immediate relief. I’m going to make Wendy’s Dream Swatch Head Wrap next with the purple Debbie Bliss. I’m going to knit something for myself that I will wear that’s practical. Such a concept!

I have decided to go back to how I used to knit. I want to be inspired, get the materials and knit it. Knit it until it’s DONE. I will keep the Shadow Shawl and work on it when I feel the urge. Otherwise, I will work on other things and not let this one UFO bother me and look at it more as ongoing project to have by my side and not as some sort of failure. To me, a UFO = failure and I don’t want to feel that anymore. (Notice how I said “To ME” it feels like that. I’m not implying I judge anyone else for their UFO’s. Just me peeps!)

If you’re feeling burdened by your UFO’s why not join me? It’s okay to rip out a project that’s been sitting around forever. Why keep it and make yourself feel badly for not working on it? If you want to join me in my new found freedom I made a button. It’s not an along, or anything like that. I just want to give you the permission to rip the crap out of an old project if you just know you will never finish it. Or hell, what about if you just don’t want to!? Why torment yourself when you can JUST FROGGIT!? Try it. I dare you.

Who’s on board? I wanna see some frogged yarn if you do it. I promise, you will feel so much better. Also, in looking through my stash I realized I have quite a few of these girls and thought you might need a little eye candy for the last day of 2006.

Ten skeins of Socks That Rock? Huh. Maybe I’ll just frame them? We all know I won’t be knitting 10 pairs of socks any time soon. I guess I do have a little bit of yarn. These are what stay by my knitting chair so I can just stare at it all day long.

Finally, let me wish you all a Happy New Year. May 2007 bring you love, happiness, good health and many, many beautifully knit items. Collectively, you have made this year such an amazing year for me. Your continued love, support and cheerleading has made my little old shop a true success in my eyes. Really, without each and every one of you, I wouldn’t be where I am. Thank you. I kiss you all! Stay safe tonight and have a Scout, kick-ass martini and think of me.

Tomorrow I will show you my last FO of 2006. The scarf is almost done. I decided to measure my favorite scarf from the GAP and it’s 83″ long. Leave it to me to like the longest length scarf in the world. I’m out. Catch you on the flip side!

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**Bloglines can bite me. It is refusing to update this post so who knows when some of you will even see it.  Maybe we’ll get another foot of snow by then** 

It’s still snowing and we have been outside all day. The kids decided they liked the snow today and I actually got some snowshoeing in so I guess I didn’t mind it so much either. For a little bit at least….. After two days of no naps, Supergirl is exhausted and taking a nap. Time for me to finish up this scarf. The middle picture is what I’ll be doing for the rest of the afternoon unless I go back out to snowshoe again. Click to see the pictures up close. T. made the kids the coolest snow fort with three different ways to get in.

My handknit hat kept me so warm. The hat I have on is an example of what I grew up knitting my whole life as a ski racer. Lopi, Lopi, Lopi. I’ve said before that I didn’t realize that colorwork and dpn’s were hard to do because that was all I knew how to do. I mean, I don’t think I even knit anything else other than ski hats until I was in college. I also didn’t know until I was in my 20’s that there was a whole world of yarn other than Lopi! Here’s a close-up of the hat. Did anyone also notice my warm and toasty toes? These are the beautiful socks I received in Sockapaloooza from Lucia. They fit me perfectly and I love them so much.

Alrighty. Time to knit. Will y’all do me a favor? Answer this for me please? What is your personal, preferred length for scarves? (In inches please) I am at 50″ on this scarf and don’t know how long I want to make it. I already had to get two more skeins of the Silk Garden, so I could make it pretty long if I want to. I still have a lot left. I’ll go with an average from your comments. I usually like long, skinny scarves but with a handknit like this I think I want it shorter. Let me know what you think.

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This is really crazy. Seriously. Am I living in Bizarro World? We have now gotten at least a foot and a half in the last 24 hours. This is what I saw when I woke up. I think we’re stuck here for the day. It’s still snowing pretty hard too.

T. is outside trying to get his car out because there is a crisis at the hospital where he works. There are only two nurses and one has already done a double shift and people can’t get there to relieve them. I don’t think he will even be able to get out of our neighborhood but he is one of the closest people to work so he really needs to try and get there. I don’t even want him driving out there but they need help. The biggest problem is that we don’t even own a shovel and somehow I don’t think a CD case will do the job. **He can’t move his car so I guess he’s stuck here too.**

I am determined to finish my Noro Scarf today. Since my dye table looks like this, I guess I won’t be able to dye any yarn today. I don’t think the New Mexico sun could even melt 1.5 feet of snow in one day.

Stay tuned for knitting content. Yes. Really. If that’s not leaving you on the edge of your seats then I don’t know what will.

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Some of you know that T. is a bike racer. What’s the saying? “Like father like son”? It’s dark, freezing and snowing outside and this is what Superboy is doing. Do you think he likes his bike?

T. is out there laughing hysterically and Gus is chasing the boy on the bike trying to knock him down. Click the picture to see the expression on the boy’s face. If that’s not a blissed out look I don’t know what is. Then there’s my little Flashdance Supergirl who is crazier than all of us.  She’s a maniac, maniac on the floor….

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This arrived yesterday. The most beautiful eye candy ever.

Need I say more? I finally opened an account with Louet so I can sell the Gems. I’ve been unhappy with some of the other yarns I’ve been using over the past year so I decided it was time to bite the bullet and get some of the best. I ordered fingering, sport, worsted AND bulky which is 100% superwash merino. Anything in the gallery can be done with the Louet but it will be a little bit more expensive. If you have ever knit with it, you just know why it’s more expensive. You know the drill. Just let me know if there is something you would like.

However, I’m back to probably needing two weeks to dye custom orders because look.

Not only is it snowing, it’s snowing HARD. Did I tell you that after one day of snow the kids were totally over it? Superboy said, “Okay. I’m ready for the snow to go away.” Me too baby. Me too.

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Yep. We have a storm moving in again. Why can’t Mother Nature remember I moved to New Mexico to get away from snow? Good thing I got two full days of dyeing in and I’m almost completely caught up. That means, if you want yarn? Let me know. It’s the first time I’ve been caught up in a few months. As long as the snow is only here for a day or two I can get all custom orders out within about a week. Two weeks tops if the weather doesn’t cooperate. I just dyed a cool colorway for Lori inspired by this Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy poster. I think it came out really well. I also dyed seven skeins of this colorway called Silver Streak for Chappy who makes the awesome sock blockers.

She and her husband have a martini sock blocker in the works for me to sell in the shop. They are totally kick-ass. I can’t wait to get them!

I have decided to run the Holiday Sale through January 2nd!!I will be having a sale on all patterns, kits, Haiku Bags and Modern Yarn t-shirts! They will be 20% off until January 2nd . There are only 5 Haiku Bags left.

Do you know how happy I am that Christmas and Hanukkah are over? I mailed out my last presents today and I’m done. Luckily my dad’s wife and I agreed it wasn’t a big deal to send out New Year’s gifts. (otherwise known as-late Christmas gifts) The only shopping I have to do now is for Superboy for his birthday next week. My dad and his wife are getting him a new ipod so he can load more than 12 songs on an mp3 player. My old one will then go to Supergirl. He got his big present from us yesterday - a new big kid bike with gears. He and T. go mountain bike riding on the trails and he’s needed a new bike for a while and is beyond happy to finally have it. It’s totally freezing out right now but he’s out riding his bike. Kids. Actually T. is probably even more excited than the boy.

Speaking of kids. Am I the only one who finds it completely impossible to get kids to smile at the camera at the same time as everyone else? I don’t know when the last picture was taken of all four of us together so I thought it would be nice, while we were all spiffy for Christmas, to try and get one. One picture. That’s all I wanted. I took at least ten and this is the best one I got. Who knows what the hell face Superboy is making.

He really can smile. Why couldn’t he be doing this in the picture above?

Oh well. Good thing he’s cute. I guess I’ll keep him. I can not believe he turns eight next week. I know I say this every year, but how the heck did I get such a big kid? Did any of you get a good family picture over the past week? Let me see! I want to see if anyone else has to deal with problem children like me. Oh wait. Courtney had a good idea. How about this?

Haaaaa!!! I’m totally laughing at my horrible photoshop job. I don’t care. It’s so funny!  He looks like a bobble-head Superboy.

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Well the Christmas presents were a hit. See the picture in the middle of the collage?

Best.

Present.

Ever.

My kids have been playing a similar version at our friend’s house for a while and when they saw this they freaked out.

I had tried to look for it and couldn’t find it until Carole told me that Target, did in fact have it. Er….I mean Santa had it. Yeah. That’s the ticket. Superboy has probably already played it for at least 2-3 hours today. Before and after they went out and played tennis with their new rackets. He is going to be one tired puppy since they woke up at 5:00am. Yes. Isn’t that a great time to wake up? They got a bunch of other really great stuff and lots of new clothes. Have you ever seen these NCAA Crocs you can buy? They totally rock. They have both grown so much they really needed clothes. I can’t wait for Supergirl to put on the outfit I got for her today. She refuses to wear dresses or skirts so it’s always interesting picking things out for her when she’s not there. But she loved what I got for her. We are going to our good friend’s house for the afternoon and then our friend’s across the street for dessert. I will be making my new favorite martini. Pomegranate Martinis. YUM! I took a ton of pictures today if you want to see them. More here.

Also, I put the Modern Yarn t-shirts on sale for today and tomorrow. They are 20% off along with the Haiku Bags and all patterns & kits. Did you know they are the hottest knitting tees out there right now? Knit.1 says so!

I hope you are all having a great day whether you celebrate Christmas or not. I now need to try and convince the boy he needs a dancing break. You know what though? He’s really good. He can already do the 4-step songs and barely miss a step. He’s got mad dancing skillz. It’s so funny to watch. I wonder if I could sneak a video of him. Shhhh. Let’s see what I can manage.

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The Scout Family wishes you all, much love and happiness in 2007.

For the next three days I will be having a little Holiday Sale. I will be having a sale on all patterns, kits and Haiku Bags. They will be 20% off through December 26th. The Midnight Blue & Pink Haiku bags are discontinued colors so grab them while I still have them in stock because once they are gone I can’t get them again. Just a little present from me to you.

In Chez Scout we’re going on day seven of T. working. I’m ready for him to be home for the next few days. I think most of our shopping is done. I need to grab a few other things later today when he gets back from work. We don’t normally do anything for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day but this year we have been invited to a few different friends’ houses so that should be fun. See, after already celebrating Hanukkah I’m celebrated out. Did you know that January 6th is Superboy’s birthday too? Every year we feel like we celebrate and give presents for six weeks straight. I’m so happy once we are through December and January. This year we aren’t doing a party for him because he and his daddy are going to go up and ski for a day with some friends. T. and I used to ski race so it will be really cool for him to teach his own son how to ski. It’s weird to think we both were already racing when we were six years old and we have an almost eight year old who has never done any skiing other than cross-country. (When we lived in NH we skied on our own property!)

For those of you who celebrate - Merry Christmas! I can’t believe it’s finally here. Big kisses to everyone.

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T. is working this weekend which means I’ll be home with the kids by myself. Want to see how smart I am? This is what they are doing at the moment. Do you know how nice it is to have two kids sitting quietly? This rarely happens.

T. and I are kind of old school and these are about as close as our kids will ever get to having video games in our house. We’re the mean parents. You know the ones who tell their kids, “You can go play X-box at your friend’s house!” (and eat their sugar cereal while you’re there too!) They rarely play them but I knew that this new Cars game would keep them busy if I needed a break over the weekend. Do you think it will keep them busy until January 4th? Sometimes you just need something like this. On the 7th night of Hanukkah, they were blessed with a new Gameboy game. Oh wait. T. is now playing it.

I think it’s time for a beer. I’m so bummed Survivor is done. What the heck do I watch on TV tonight? Supergirl is chanting “DINNER!! DINNER!!”. Let’s see if I can tear T. away from the game. Wow. Thrilling post. Sorry y’all. It’s all I got.

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