Another wtf moment of, why I haven't posted any of the FOs?! Here are they are, four FOs, lined up.

• Lonicera, which I started to keep me warm during the horrendous A/C blast.
Funny, I have since moved on to a New Job
• Headband, for MiL's visit. Unsure of her preference, J suggested this headband. Go J!
• Hat, for FiL. He wears and appreciates hats.
• Shiny, Aislin pattern by Kim Hargreaves.

Last year, with the time on my hands, I spent it on doing craft and learning new cooking technique and recipes. I stuck to my 'one for me, one for prez' on crafty projects. Each one of the prez will, eventually, find their way to their recipient. I started a project last week, using yarn I bought at Skeins Ltd closing sale - June 2005. This sparkley mohair, along with Garnstudio Drops Bomull/Lin, (along with some Rowan Calmer) may be my oldest stash yet. Too bad (or maybe it is good), that I can not sort by acquired date on Ravelry stash page. As for the food, well, I am still carrying that around!

So, I give myself a "B minus", for learning new techniques, crafting with existing stash, and not acquiring new.

Half way through last year, my crafty and cookery time returned to work time. The anxiety was replaced by general contentment of being employed. So the brain power has gone back to work and on getting my career back on track, I miss the crafty time a lot.

So, I give myself a "B", for staying focused, being efficient, and not squander my 'free' time.

Here to the New Year - continue to balance my time between crafting & relaxing, contemplating cute patterns Draped Cardigan from Vogue Knitting Winter 2010/11 & trying not to acquire stash, getting more chores done & staying sane.

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This roller coaster year is over and I welcome the next. Best wishes to everyone! More later.

Earlier this year, Mom sent me the leftover yarn from knitting my dad a sweater. Perfect for another vest for him. He wears the other one I made a lot. This is the same yarn, same style. When her and I first talked about this vest, it was a "take your time... no hurry.". Then fall came and he wanted to know if it is done yet. "Er. I have not started yet!". So I cramped, finished just in time, and managed a quick phoneto before it was sent away.

Cross fingers that no alternation will be necessary.

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... a cute crochet vest. I had hope to finish it when it is warm, not after the freakish snow storm in November. It sat around a lot. Work got in the way. (Wow, I don't really mind typing that. Just very glad to be working ..)

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Damson is good match to this yarn - shows off the almost solid color, the sparkles are irresistible. It is just lovely. It is too bad the camera can not capture the true color of this yarn. (it has trouble with the red hue) I hope the recipient will like it ...

.... I called the sleeves "flap flap" in conversation with J when I was working on them. It is a fun pattern and needed no 'help' from me, except to re-enforced the bottom of the armhole. The tee is very cute, drapes nicely in linen/cotton, and fits well!

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I made plans with Joanne (and Will), lucky me she had a holiday on Friday, so she and Will were in town. I talked them into going to Santa Cruz ( pics on flickr of food with parents & aunts & uncle and Santa Cruz). She is the recipient of all my tawashis, she has the genetic disposition to like cute.

me: (hands Jo the elephant)
Jo: Oh! an elephant. I haven't used the others. I did not want to dunk them.
me: Oh yea. I wouldn't want to dunk them either. (hands her the simple flower one) You want this one too? You should feel ok dunking this one.

Heh. We don't have any issues.

Saturday morning came too quickly, I sat down at the table after I finished packing. I asked Mom about the table cloth (prompted by J's comment on the tawashi pic)

me: where did this come from?
mom: oh, this? heh. I've got a story ... I got this in Hong Kong**, many years ago... finding a table cloth for an oval table is [more] difficult [than a rectangular table]. It was slightly bigger than the table so I trimmed it (I had noticed the edge is 'odd'). Then it shrunk and now it is too small. Oh and I was cutting cloth [for sewing] and accidentally cut the table cloth too. I've been wanting to replace it. Do you want it?
me: nah, not now, maybe after you found a replacement. You did not wash it before you trimmed it?

Mom is a very good seamstress and made many clothes for me when I was younger. She also wanted to try on the sweater I was knitting for her, to make adjustments, before wash. Sometimes, she really surprises me.

Then... she went OH! and proceeded to pull out ... a pile from the linen closet.

mom: I didn't know whether you like these [ol school crochet table cloth]. You never said anything.
me: well. I had no appreciation for them until I learned how to knit and crochet.
mom: These have been hoarding space in the closet. I had no use for them, and couldn't bare to throw them away. Here. Take them.

So while I dutifully stuffed the pile into my already packed-with-more-food-than-clothes suitcase, I reminded myself to be careful what I say to mom, and contemplated what I will do with this pile - see pic on flickr.

Btw, I was feeling both old and nostalgic when I saw black skinny jeans + doc marten + black flag t-shirt in Santa Cruz.

*why yes. I do have a Daiso antibacterial (ahem, plus other yarn) stash in my parents' closet.
** Hi! I can't wait to go back to Hong Kong, with empty suitcases for all sorts of goodies.

The next day ... I was reading the hippo pattern and fighting off the sleepys again. But wait, I should be making the Sleepy Puppy.

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DH thinks the color says it is a Fox, "it is a Red Fox". Clearly, not what I intended, a Girl Sleepy Puppy.

my foot, iced, on the ottoman

The doctor called to follow up a few hours later.

doc: .... ... ... I sent it off to pathology...
me: oh good. maybe they can determine whether it is alien
doc: (cackle laughter) yea. they will know whether you belong on Earth
me: ut. I hope they dont send me home

I had anticipated a similar experience, like the last two times at outpatient surgery (stop it recurring issue on foot!) - check in, wait, go there, check in, and wait ... stickers, iv, nurse, different nurse, etcetc ... This time, it was a lot smoother and a lot less answering the same questions. And coincidentally, I am just at the beginning of the front and back (the ztzt part) of Camellia.

nurse: (reads my blood pressure) are you alive there?
me: er. what? (looks up at 100 / 58) oh, that's lower than normal
nurse: yea. what's your normal?
me: last week was 110 / 68
nurse: you are alright. blood pressure is lowest in the morning (it was .. just after 5:30am). It is the highest in the afternoon.

So after I situated in room, I pulled out Camellia. My primary nurse came in and we started chatting .. she is a ballroom dancer and a crocheter. Although she has not found time to crochet, 3-4 times / week ballroom and competition dancing will do that. Then my doctor walked in ...

doc: "are you knitting in the round?"
me: "no, I am knitting front and back at the same time, separately, then seam. I need the structure for this"
doc: "how do you do that?"

Seriously. No "Hi, How are you?". She has been my podiatrist for over four years and I've seen her many times. The conversation went on to more crafty. "I saw this cute crochet hat with flowers at Salmon Days, and I copied it for my daughter." "oh, you! reverse engineered a hat!". We had quite an extended conversation about crochet and knitting. Not only did she reverse engr a crochet hat, she also is on her way of steeking a baby sweater. She said knitting is harder, to which, I replied, crocheter thinks knitting is more difficult, and knitters thinks crochet is more difficult.

Heh. It was all good today. Ice is on my elevated foot. Knitting is nearby. Although, I feel an impulse 1-yr-old-girl project coming on.

Two hats to sisters. When I knitted the watermelon hat, I was doing some wishful thinking that my friend would have a girl. (previously blogged). And she did! The Shores hat is for her sister, who is also the recipient of a cow :)

Super quick, super cute projects. Both knitted with destash & gift yarn from J and GD. Thanks for all the colourful yarn :)

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I brought this clover scarf and mom's cardi with me on our Memorial Day trip to see Brothers in law and their families (and bonus Bobby Bear!). I didn't really get a chance to work on them much. Kooler had a lower urinary tract infection. (Bladder infection. We were up all night and the couple nights before. No sleep for the weary. I found a vet open on $unday and couple of trips later, she got some meds and we were on our way to be better.)

I laid out the post-wash clover scarf and spotted my mistakes - in the little squares and an extra clover at the end. DH gave it a courtesy glance and did not spot the mishaps. I always miss some when I inspect my work in progress. For example, I found a dropped stitch in Mom's cardi way back there after I bind off. This must say something about my brain-dead state of mind. Maybe next time, I will let the work in progress rest overnight and do the inspection in the morning, when my mind is fresh(er).

Mom: "why don't you like brown?". I like brown. As a matter of fact, I have some Silk Garden stash in Taupes & Black that I will knit up, once I find a pattern to match.

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The destash yarn is from GD, I bought additional two from webs and they happen to be the same dyelot (!). The button is from J. The yarn very nice and very squishy and it made a very nice and very squishy cardigan for mom. It is generously sized. We say Thank You!

My SiL told her we were visiting, and added that I was the one who made / gave her the Bear. She brought it to show me, unprompted, when we were there. It makes me very happy to see well loved gifts. :D

I made Bobby Bear almost a year ago. A few months later, we visited them and Bobby Bear was slightly pilly. I am happy to say that Bobby Bear looks almost exactly as he did. His nose was a little loose but after some gentle inspecting, I decided not to mess with it.