Guess What Came in the Mail

yesterday? Hmm, a Bachelor of Arts diploma from my alma mater in International Relations. Whee-hee! I'm a happy girl!







Ok, back to my little hole. Gotta run off to work now, but more really soon!

Thanks guys for all your support, it was and is still very much appreciated.

February Goals

Now you might be thinking, what is Wanda thinking? Posting her goals when more than half the month has already passed?

Well, I'm definitely a bit behind with keeping up with blogs and my own blogging. I still wanted to post my goals because it helps me to keep with them and what I wanted to focus on. Going back to school has definitely cut into my knitting time (even though many of you seem to think I get a lot of knitting done), so some of my knitting projects just won't be that complex right now.



1. Finish the Jaybird hoodie. Shouldn't be too difficult as I'm very close now.




2. Finish the second Mary Kay sock.




3. Working on the pair of Wool in the Woods Cherub Thujas for me. Yes, another pair of Thujas. But sometimes a pattern is just right and why mess with perfection?!





4. Finish the sleeves on Everyday Tweed. This pattern is another top-down raglan (you know, my fave) and one sleeve is done, now on to the second. Should be doable by the end of the month, I hope.


By the end of March, I want to have the sleeves done on Ribby Pulli too. It may take me forever to get that one done, but at least if I get over my sleeve phobia, I'll have all the sleeves that I was avoiding done on my sweaters, yay! I'm halfway through them now.






I also wanted to thank everyone for their comments on my last post. Please don't worry that I won't keep knitting socks with Opal. I love Opal sock yarn and this one example of aberrant behavior will not keep from it. Opal has been very good to my handknit socks and I'm not sure what happened with that yarn, but honestly I had so many feelings of self-doubt and wondering if I would finish the paper and get it done, that I'm ok letting all those old, negative feelings disappear into the trash and move on. Out of all of the socks that I've knit, this is the first pair I've ever had that happen and you know, I'm always knitting socks for myself, so I figure one pair of socks that I didn't particularly like can bite the dust. I just knit them partly because I felt I should, since the yarn had been sitting in my stash for so long. Perhaps i shouldn't force myself to knit things I don't like? Just food for thought.

That's all for this time . . .

Throwback Tuesday (or whatever-Day-This-Post-Lands)

Just under the radar for Tuesday. This is a segment that I've wanted to do for quite some time. I didn't really feel like talking about my current knitting. Nothing wrong with it, although my time is a bit limited. I'm just not really inspired by my own knitting, so instead I've been trolling the blogs in the evening.

Some bloggers have discussed their older knitting projects and how they've held up over time. I've always found this refreshing and while this is something I'd like to do occasionally. It's a feature that won't be every week or on any regular schedule.

Today's segment will feature a couple pair of socks. Socks, you might ask? Not really very exciting and yet it is relevant. A pair of Opal socks I finished in July of last year have already bit the dust. And no, this was not some 100% merino yarn that bit the dust, but Opal. Opal is my steadfast, go-to yarn. It still is, but these socks did not hold up.

I got the yarn many years ago. This was when Opal was very hard to get and a couple of friends and I all chipped in and bought a "surprise" box of Opal sock yarn on eBay. A German seller sold nine skeins of Opal sock yarn in various colors and we paid about $20 a piece and each got 3 skeins. I think this yarn was in my stash for about 5 years. Perhaps it "aged" a bit too much.

However, after the socks were finished, I noticed a hole in one sock. It looked like a dropped stitch. I was a bit mortified, but I finally sucked it up (like 2 months later) and grabbed some of the leftover sock yarn and attempted to mend the hole. I put away the socks and happened to pull them out over the holidays. Now the second sock has a hole, but it isn't a dropped stitch. It's as if the yarn had a blowout and the stitch "burst" or it was ripped. If you look in the picture below, you can see what I mean.



Now, I'm just over the pair of socks. I had a lot of problems with the socks to begin with and frankly, I'm always knitting socks. Losing one pair of socks isn't a huge deal. I think I have about 16-18 pairs of hand knit socks in my sock drawer and none of them had worn out yet, considering that I've been knitting socks for over 6 years.




Also dusted from the archives are a pair of socks knitted by Sockapalooza pal in 2005. The socks are absolutely beautiful. However, they were always a bit tight through the heel. I've really never worn them out. I have worn them once or twice around the house, but never out. I never wear the socks, so these are going to my mom. Pink is her favorite color and they should fit her just fine.

And I've been the lucky recipient of one of the latest awards going through the blogosphere, a Make My Day award:



Kat,Amanda and Sarah all nominated me. I was really touched by it.

There are so many bloggers that make my day. I know I'm behind as usual with this {meme}, so I'm not tagging anyone, nor am I listing any blogs. Really everyone makes my day!I love reading knitting blogs.

Ok, now, I'm off to bed. I mean, really, does anyone want an even longer post than what's already posted for today.

Happy Knitting all until next time.