First Blogiversary

It's my first blogiversary today. I can't believe it, how time flies, yadda yadda yadda. Let's run the numbers, shall we?

Since November 17th, 2006, I've posted 93 times (not including this one), for an average of one post every 3.92 days. I've had 264 comments, for an average of 2.83 comments per post (although some of these were mine). My record number of comments (9) was for my April Fool's post about knitted loquat cozies. I had only 9 posts without any comments. So much for the quantitative part.

Qualitatively, I've gotten a big kick out of doing this. I started this blog mostly as a more techie-fun way of keeping track of my knitting, and not primarily as a way of sharing my angst/progress/successes with other knitters. But I've found that I really like this aspect. Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting.

I've thought about whether I'll continue doing this after Ravelry is opened up to the great unwashed, and I still haven't made up my mind. I'm leaning toward keeping this up -- but we'll see.

In the meantime, I've been working on my TOFUtsies 732 socks, which languished while I worked on my Branching Aran Guernsey. I've one complaint with this ball of sock yarn, though. So far I've had eight (8!) knots -- and I can already see another coming down the pike. What's up with that? Did they take all the scrap pieces from the factory floor and wad them together to make this thing? I've half a mind to write a letter to SWTC and give them a piece of the aforementioned mind. But then I'm afraid their business would go into a tailspin from all the bad publicity and they'd have to fire Vicki Howell, and I don't want that to happen. So I'll keep my temper in check for now.

In other news, Jeff and I went grocery shopping today and I saw that the Clementine oranges were in. Can you smell them? One of my friends Sharon and Janelle's son Eli's first words was "ka-tine." He loves him the ka-tines. Me too, Eli. My fingers smell all orangey. If you expect this orange to sprout daisy-petal-shaped eyelashes and launch into The Habanera from Carmen, I know about how old you are.

I took the picture of this ka-tine with a new homemade lightbox that I devised with some online instructions sent to me by my buddy Martin at work. It's basically a cut-out cardboard box (mine is 12"x12") with white paper taped around it. Then I got a couple of cheap ($5) clip-on shop lights and some 100 watt fluorescent bulbs from the local home/building supply store (the blue one, not the orange one), and I was in business. I'm not quite sure I have everything down correctly. I think the results are too dull -- the background is more brown than white. I need to learn more about how to monkey with my digital camera's settings to get better results.

Also, be still my heart, I'm going to be starting a new sweater soon. In the past, I've felt like I've forced knitwear on my significant other. Living in Texas, we don't get to wear that woolly stuff all that often and Jeff is one of those practical people who likes to be comfortable, temperature-wise. Just last week we were still wearing shorts. But a few days ago, Jeff was leafing through The Knitting Man(ual) which he gave me for my birthday, pointed to a pattern, and said, "I think I might like that." I was online shopping for yarn faster than you can say "Peter Piper purled a pile of pink alpaca."

So, in a few days, I'm going to start making this. It's going to present some challenges, including a body made completely of stranded knitting, and sleeves picked up and knitted downward from the shoulders, which I've never done. The raspberry part is going to be more ginger-orangey (but not quite ka-tine orange). I'll put pictures up when the yarn arrives.

Here's to a new year.