Starting The New Year ...Tired

Well, I hadn't intended to stay up until midnight.  I figured the new year would get here just fine without my help, but once I got to bed, I couldn't get to sleep.  Even after I took some melatonin, I still tossed and turned until nearly 1:00. The abundance of fireworks going off in the neighborhood didn't help.  Surprisingly, the dogs didn't seem to be bothered by them. 

The good news is, Rylea let me sleep until-- oh wow, 6:45.

Yeah...

Now, I've never been one to make New Year's Resolutions, but I do set goals for myself for the year.  I've only come up with two goals for this year, so far.

First goal is to work on WIPs.  I've got so many UFOs sitting around the house, and I've got to get them under control.  Sometime in the next few days, I'm going to round them all up and make a list.  Then I'll work on getting them back down to a manageable number.  And yes, I'll share my progress with you all.  Aren't you excited?

Second goal for the year is to knit primarily from stash.  This isn't because the stash is taking over the house.  It isn't.  Well, it is, but mostly I need to try to get some of my bills paid down.  In order to help with that, I'm going to try to use yarn I already have, instead of buying more.  Not just "I like this pattern, let me see if I have some yarn to make it with", but also, "I have this yarn in my stash, let me see what I can make with it."  In that way, I hope to not only save money, but also to reclaim some space in my house.

Speaking of space, anyone remember when you could just toss your junk mail in the trash?  Boy, I miss those days.  Nowadays, you have to shred everything.  I have a shredder, but I need to upgrade to a heavy duty one.  I just can't keep up with all the junk mail.  It's starting to take over the snake room/office.  Hmmm, maybe I just need to find an empty 55 gallon drum and burn it all.

And now, I present to you, the final FO of 2011.

It is a hat of my own design, and good news. I've had some people test knitting the pattern for me. It's almost ready to release.  See, I'm including instructions for all weights of yarn from fingering to bulky.   I've had it test knit in worsted and DK weights.  I knit one myself in fingering, but I still need to figure out sport and bulky-- you know, things like what needle size to use and how many to cast on and stuff like that.  I do have some sport weight somewhere around here, but I don't have any bulky.  That means, unless I find a volunteer to test knit the bulky size, I'm going to have to buy some yarn.

That's really going to break my heart. 

I had to go to Wal-mart to pick up my prescription, and while I was there, I decided to check out the Christmas stuff they had on clearance. By this time, most of it was gone, but I did find these rope toys for 70% off.

Jesse and Jake love these things, so I got all they had left.

And still paid less than a dollar--for all four.

I love clearance sales.