Drawing to a Close: Goodbye 2007!

Wow! Wasn't it October just last week? Like many bloggers, I feel a bit compelled to write about nostalgia for 2007, though I'm not sure why. Next week will really just be another week, and I'll have to start putting 2008 on the few checks I still write. But we make New Year's Resolutions, most of which are broken in January - there are the always-popular diet and exercise plans; we knitters vow to cut back or stop yarn buying, as Ravelry has made us aware of our yarn stash, whether we've photo'd and posted it or not; and we also promise ourselves to try new techniques and projects, to knit more and blog/surf/Rav it less. Yep, those are all vaguely in the works here Chez CBM.

Personally, I have enough yarn to stock a small store, 150 miles of it, not counting what I'd like to sell. Last night I brought home what I intend to be the last purchase of 2007, 2 big skeins of some heavenly alpaca, 1330 yards of DK softness. Stephanie at Unwind Yarns found a small producer in Granby, Colorado, called Lonesome Stone, and their colors are wonderful. When I saw the sample skeins a few weeks ago, I started obsessing about this green, called Forever Evergreen, and after 5 days of trying to talk myself out of it, I ordered 2 skeins. I'm thinking big, warm, use-daily sort of shawl here, maybe Cheryl Oberle's Wool Peddler's Shawl, from her Folk Shawls book, something that will show off the gorgeous colors and yet be a fairly quick knit. The shawl link is to a nice photo of one knitter's project.

At the moment I have several projects going - no surprise to you, of course. I have about a foot of a wider version of Jo Sharp's Misty Garden scarf from Scarf Style; I'm using a 480 skein of Cherry Tree Hill's Sockittome yarn, in a melange of pale greens, blues and lavenders, sort of a mother-of-pearl colorway, a lucky accident from their 'Lottery' line of left-over dye experiments. There are a couple of hats, baby and otherwise, and a couple of baby sweaters on the list for charity projects, and I have to finish swatching for an entrelac vest for DH, using Patons SWS soy-silk/wool yarn in Natural Slate. So the needles are busy here. All this knitting has been making my wrists ache, but I tend to sleep with them curled up, so I've dug out my heavy-duty braces and sleeping with them on for the last few nights has really helped.

My three SnB groups have all had lots of holiday fun. My seniors group was a source of hundreds and hundreds of calories, with all the fudge, cookies and other treats. I gave all of them little tape measures from Unwind; an inexpensive but so-useful gift. My Monday group doesn't exchange prezzies, but we got together 7 of us for lunch last week, and there'll be another fun meet-up on Monday, a very quiet but enjoyable way to see in the New Year (well, the noon-time version, anyway!). And my Friday night group had a potluck at one of our members' home, a lovely time, with several kinds of wine, HoneyBaked ham, shrimp cocktail and so forth. We had our first yarn swap, and I *think* I got rid of more than they talked me into bringing home, several coordinating skeins of KnitPicks Elegance alpaca/silk blend yarn, enough to make a small striped shoulder shawl. Sorry, no photos of the frivolity.

Santa, aka DH, was good to me: I got a bunch of knitting books, among them Jean Frost's Jackets book, the Best of Knitters' Jackets and Clara Parkes' new book, The Knitter's Book of Yarn. Plus a new small camera, a Sony T200; the baby thing is about the size of a business card case. I'm hoping that the smaller size will make it easy for me to carry around and to take more blog pictures.

I will leave you with the same wishes I had last year, since I find that knitting in 2007 has brought more of the same wonderful things. To all my knitting friends, I thank you for your friendship, your morale support, your posts and comments, and all the other things you bring to my life. You do so much for others, with gifts and charity knitting and monetary contributions to those who need your help. Be safe, be warm and be as happy as you can. And tonight or tomorrow or when you can, whether you have already done so or not, listen to the Toast for a New Year; I hope it will provide thoughts, comfort, inspiration and resolve for you as it does for me.