Wednesday, January 27, 2010

A new year's resolution

Or not.

January is almost over and I have yet to come up with a new year's resolution or two.

But then again, why bother?

This year I am going to take a new approach. I read earlier that for the first time in a long time the number one new year resolution for Americans for this year is not to lose weight but to save money. Well, I am doing okay in the weight department and I am financially responsible, I believe.

My Achilles' heels, as we well know, is yarn.

My name is Aporanee and I am a yarnaholic.


There. I said it.

I have more yarn than I can knit in my lifetime. Worse, I cannot stop buying more.

However, this year I am determined to do something about it. No I am not going to stop buying yarn. That is a hopeless cause. It will never happen.

Since I joined the "stashdown" effort in the Yarn Snob group on Ravelry last year I have been looking at my stash differently. It is not that I have way too much yarn. I have way too much yarn that I will never knit. It just sits there. It doesn't call out to me. It doesn't inspire me. It just sits.

Those yarns need to go. And they have been going. I have been selling them on Ravelry at cut rate prices. I couldn't care less. Somebody else wants them. Somebody will enjoy them all the more because they are getting a good deal and I am getting rid of them.


I am stashing down. And it is working. I have been sorting out yarn and setting aside those I will keep. A lot I will try to sell. A lot I will give away. Like this:

And this:


They are going to Interim House knitting group in Philadelphia. A short-term facility that treat women with drug and alcohol problems. They have a great knitting program. Read about their knitting program here. Boxes of yarns are going their way.

Now that's the yarn. Then there is a second problem

I keep casting on a new project. A bad case of startitis shall we say.

Here is the solution. I have been looking at my work in progress (WIPs) and sorting them. Those that are more than half done are set aside for serious consideration. Do I still want this? I look at them again and again. If for two weeks they still don't inspir me they will be set aside for the frog pond and the yarns reclaimed. I have no problem frogging at all. Rip, rip, rip. Those that I still like will get knitted. One by one. As I cast on a new project I will work on a WIP at the same time.

So far so good. I finished a blanket for my stepdaughter that was meant to be her Christmas present.


And I have not even cast on a new project, as I have two pairs of socks I need to finish within the next two weeks. I am swatching though.

Next to finish up is my Cassidy cardigan. This also was meant to be a Christmas cardigan. It will now be a Valentine cardigan. It will be done. I have the back, fronts and the sleeves done and blocked. I will now put the pieces together and do the band and collar. I don't have enough yarn for the hood so it will have a collar instead.

Then I will cast on.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Looking forward

Oh what a year it was.


I think it is fair to say that 2009 was one of the most interesting years of my life. It was a very sad year but it was also a very happy year.
In May I said a final goodbye to my late husband Bill. He is now a part of the Eternal Reef.


The concrete ball containing his ashes and those of his mother was placed in the Chesapeake Bay as a part of an artificial reef. It is a man-made habitat of all sorts of ocean life out there.


Bill was an avid diver. He will be happy there.


A final resting place. At last. Goodbye, Bill.

There is no more sadness. There is no more pain and misery. Whenever I think of him now I remember the happy times we had together.


For the whole year I felt a chapter of my life was drawing to a close. The final curtain was drawn November 30th when we said goodbye to Runty.

Runty was diagnosed with stomach cancer earlier this year. He was responding so well to chemotherapy until November when the disease took over his body and there was nothing more we could do for him. It was a very sad goodbye but I felt I was doing right by him. After all, we had 17 years together and he had brought nothing but pure joy into my life.

And now Runty has crossed the Rainbow Bridge. He and Bill are together now.

That chapter of my life has finally drawn to a close.

I have no regrets. I wouldn't have asked for anything else. It was worth the ride.

And it was also in 2009 when I entered a new chapter of my life. A new beginning brought on by a man named Carl Vercio.

I am so happy. I learned the hard way that there was happiness to be had, that you could love, and be loved again if you would open your heart to it. I am glad I did. A happiness named Carl.


I am looking forward to our future together. I am ready!