2009 knitting goals

I'm not a big one for making New Year's Resolutions. I am also not particularly goal-oriented. It seems to me that often life gets in the way of our goals. "The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry," adaptation of a saying by Robert Burns. However, when it comes to knitting, there are some things that I would like to learn, and maybe I'll even learn them this year. So here are three of my knitting goals:

1. Learn to knit socks on circular needles.
2. Learn to spin yarn from roving.
3. Learn to knit cables.

I hope, but I don't know if it's true or not, that knitting socks on circulars will be faster than knitting them on double points. I'm currently knitting a pair of socks from Sandy's Palette merino sock yarn. This is super-soft luxurious sock yarn, but it's taking me simply forever to finish these socks. I started them during our vacation in November.

I suspect that my sweater-knitting has cut into my sock-knitting though. Since November, I have knit two sweaters, and I'm currently working on a third that I just started last week. What I love about knitting is that it finally gives me a good reason to appreciate winter. I can fight back against the cold and knit sweaters! My current sweater is a Neckdown Pullover for Women by Knitting Pure & Simple. It's a raglan. I'm knitting it from Cestari Cranberry Tweed 100% wool.

Do tarantulas spin webs?

I took this picture of this cute little fella at the Desert Springs Preserve when we were in Las Vegas this November. I know most people don't think tarantulas are cute, but they are fuzzy which makes them cute in my opinion.

So I got to wondering if tarantulas spin webs like other spiders do. It turns out, they do, sort of but not for the same purpose as other spiders. They do make silk, but rather than using it to catch bugs, tarantulas use the silk to line their dens. It helps them to detect intruders.

Here is a site with good info on tarantulas.

2008 the bad and the good

I'll readily admit that 2008 was a pretty lousy year. Beyond the national and international economy stuff which admittedly is pretty big and important, my personal life was particularly challenging in 2008. Two really awful things happened. First, my husband's brother, who we all knew wasn't quite right in the head, completely lost it and physically assaulted me Memorial Day weekend. I spent the entire summer recovering from my injuries and undergoing Physical Therapy.

Then in early June, our basement flooded. It really could not have happened at a worse time as I was in no condition to deal with it. How do you pull down drywall, when it's too hard to pull on your own socks? It could have been worse though. Our house did not wash away like some did in Lake Delton. We decided to have a sump pump installed to prevent future floods. I have to wonder just who thought it was a good idea to build a house in southern Wisconsin without a sump pump? This area floods and not infrequently. Having a sump pump installed after the fact is expensive, but it seemed to be worth it. We also hired a construction company to come in and gut the basement. There was mold everywhere and mushrooms growing on the walls. Ick!

So that was the worst of 2008 for me. I am thankful that it was not worse. Although our house flooded, we still have a house. We both still have our jobs as well. Certainly not everybody fared so well in 2008.

All of the negative aside, there were some good things that happened in 2008:

• Barak Obama won the presidential election!!!
• We had a great vacation in November to Las Vegas and the Mojave Desert.
• My parents are in good health.
• My husband and I are both in relatively good health.
  
• Our cat Doc recovered from his enucleation surgery and is doing quite well.
• Sid and Falcoon, our other cats, are happy and healthy.
• I reconnected with an old friend who I sorely missed and got to spend her 30th birthday with her this summer.
• My grandfather had his 90th birthday party in January.
• I had a great time at the Chicago and Milwaukee cat shows hanging out with my sister and other cat folks.
• My sister hosted an awesome Thanksgiving party.
• We hosted an awesome Halloween party (power tools + pumpkins = lots of fun).
• I learned how to knit socks, and I also knit my first sweater.
• I enjoyed working with my church's prayer shawl ministry to knit and crochet shawls for people in our community needing comfort.

Let's just hope that for all the good of 2008, 2009 is a much better year for all of us. I hope that a new administration can be the wind of change that we need to turn some of our problems around.

A New Use for a Seed Spreader

This tip came from my sister who lives in the greater Chicago area. They get a lot of freezing rain down there. You can use a seed spreader to spread salt on your driveway and walkways! All you have to do is dump salt in the main compartment, open it wide up, and start walking. I have to admit that I've never actually used my seed spreader for spreading seeds, but it works like a charm for spreading salt! We had freezing rain last night and into this morning, so there's a good layer of ice on everything.