Getting on track

Well folks, I'm happy to say that I'm still on track with my "get 'er finished" frame of mind. I have around 28 projects on my poor needles, and I am picking through a few of them (my "Frozen River" hat, my "Rippled Reading Afghan," a striped shawl and a mohair shawl-still nameless, to say). Despite the enormity of the afghan project, I do have fond memories of knitting almost all of it while getting hooked on the show Lost (while it was STILL good), and I'm in love with the rippling texture and changing colorway. The yarn used isn't anything too special, it's really just 100% wool, but it reminds me of handspun yarn, and the colorway will give a great effect with no effort on my part just by knitting it up in different stitch amount intervals.

I also plan on doing more stashbusting in the near future. My spare room is much too crowded with yarn (not all woolies, don't feel like you need to drool). I should get props this week for not buying any more yarn. My husband bought me a giftcard to a knitting shop, and I not only resisted the urge to go off and spend it guiltlessly...but to throw fuel into the fire, he offered this last weekend to go with me. And boys and girls, I said no. N-O. I've told myself that I need to eat up my stash a bit, and by golly that's what I am doing.

Remember this post? Yeah, it was from the beginning of '08. I've now made it my goal to get this baby done as soon as I can. I've been knitting at least 4 rounds a day. Sometimes 5-6 rounds if I'm watching something good (like Tin Man). Doesn't sound like a lot though, right? Actually, it takes a while for me to knit each round because this bad-boy grew to nearly 600 stitches. That's like doing 10 sock rounds to 1 afghan round, and let's face it, the needle isn't getting any lighter or able to hold any more increases.

Anywho, I've done another revamp of my blog's template; I hope you all enjoy it. I like the simplicity of it. On the left is from my beautiful spinning wheel, and the lavender object is a LT sweater that isn't too far in the "game." I've also included in my sidebar some "progress bars" to show you what I'm working on, and how far along they are even inbetween blog postings.

I've been experimenting with Matzo Balls for some time now. For some reason, I really enjoy the taste and texture of them and I have been working on improving the simple recipe because the texture/density of the balls will vary depending on how you prepare it and how it is cooked. I think I have finally gotten the recipe down, although it might look a little "rustic." I care less about the appearance and care more about how dense the middle is. This particular batch was very light in the middle, and almost tasted buttery.

I put a little blurb on the top of my blog already announcing this, but I want to congratulate Rebecca on winning the New Years contest. A big thanks goes out to all who participated. Check in with me soon for some more posts about old projects that are getting some more attention. Check out that blog KAL I started on dehibranating projects and the growing Ravelry group that goes with it.