and a happy new year

Well, well, well. When I went to mail a gift at FedEx Kinko's last night, right before I ran screaming from the building when I found out how much it costs to two-day a box that weighs just over a pound, the woman working behind the counter three hours past the end of her shift declared that 2007 isn't going very well, so far.

For me it is, because I refuse to have it any other way. I see the good moon rising, dammit. I say more warm vibes, makey makey stuff, and sunny times in the mind for everyone this year. By year's end I'll be able to say exactly what's so bad about feeling good, and I got a notion the answer is NOTHING.

One thing that's putting pep in my step is my decision to take part in Knit From Your Stash 2007. The hours I'll save from not combing the Internet for that magical yarn I saw on someone's blog or in someone's knitting bag at SnB -- you know the one, it'll make me endlessly desirable and ever young, it'll turn my gray hairs back to black, it'll slim my fanny and square my shoulders, it'll make everyone... well... like me -- could be used to actually knit. Or read. Or blog. Or play footsies with The Bubba. Or work on the book or the play or the screenplay that nips at my heels every single moment of every single day.

I am going to have to bolster my self-esteem elsewhere. Maybe I'll discover the Endless Well of Authenticity.

Plus, I've already got more yarn than God and three more White men.

I've kicked off the year in grand style, having completed my first UFO, the Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting.


Specs:
Lion Cotton - natural, about 3/4 ball & a bit of navy for trim and crochet tie
Size 8 Denise needles

I started it several months ago but put it down when I had to figure out the pattern. That, and some other sassy project strolled by, demanding my flowers and chocolates. Once I picked up the kimono again, it could've been a relatively quick knit, but there's a typo in my book that's apparently not in anyone else's, which lead to considerable ripping. And the seams. Oy. But it's done. And cute. And on its way to a preggers friend in Austin in a FedEx box via the US Postal Service.

Because it wasn't soooo long ago that I had a baby (okay, maybe it was), I realized that the right side of the kimono, crossed under the left, would be flopping out from underneath and messing up some of the heartbreaking cuteness every time someone lifted the little bundle of joy. So I sewed a button inside.

The teeny-tiny wrist openings made me nervous. It frightened me too much to think that Schmin's wrists were ever really that small, so I left little slits in the sleeves. Couldn't hurt.

It feels so good to be using what I already have, finishing the things I started. There's a Buddhist saying, "That which you are seeking is causing you to seek," and that's surely been the case with me and stash acquisition. Sometimes I'd click the order button on Knitpicks or eBay and know it wasn't really the yarn or the needles or the pattern books or the fabric I was looking for, but something else. What I intend for this year isn't necessarily to find out what I was looking for, but to stop looking altogether.

Next post I'll list my personal rules for KFYS '07, which are a bit different from the KAL originators'.

Happy New Year. May the enthusiasm and hope that holds you at this lovely time of year sustain you all year long.