with only a few more hours to go in 2006, i'm here to reflect on all that's happened this year. it was quite a roller coaster ride!

early in 2006, my work life was turned upside down when my boss decided to quit so that he could travel the world (can't really blame him) and then one of my coworkers in my small department left to move to seattle. bummer. that left only me and one other coworker to do the work of four people (really five, we were always short staffed). working for the man is tough enough but doing work for others for the man is even worse. i had to cut back on all of my vacation time and burn myself to the quick in order to make things passable at my job. that was probably one of the toughest things i have ever done, and it went on for over four months while management tried to find replacements.

while dealing with work issues, i also helped put on two plays this year with madair. they were both a lot of fun to work on but very time consuming. it was a good thing that i refused to do freelance web work this year! i'm not really sure where i would have found the time. i did do a few jobs here and there for friends, but in the end, it was nothing compared with having a paying client who demands fast work for almost nothing.

then came the pregnancy, right at the tail end of summer. i'm glad that i got a chance to live it up a bit before heading into the first trimester of hell. i was so sick and i thought, "what happens if i'm like this the entire time?!" thankfully, around 15 weeks i stopped feeling ill, and around 20 weeks i got my regular appetite back. i've been able to go to the gym 2 or 3 times per week since the end of my first trimester and that's helped a lot. the gym is my saviour. i couldn't live without it.

speaking of which, my hubby, KP and i, also have had a chance to learn from each other and support each other this year. he is my rock and my love, and i couldn't live without him. kisses!

in non-personal matters, 2006 was not so bad! i got to spend lots of good times with the spiders. the spiders grew considerably this year and each week at the point got a little more busy and crowded. we supported each other through crises and laughed at each other's jokes. i could not do without those girls. i love them all!

they also helped me through plenty of knitting projects! let's take a look back at my goals for 2006. (i promise there will be pictures in this post.. hang with me!)

• make a sweater (or two). seaming is my weak point and i have avoided it like the plague. but now that i have a few essential books and some spiders to help me, i think that i'm ready
• make more shawls and wraps because i am really lacking in this area of my wardrobe
• make more bags (basically, sew more)
• develop more of my own patterns
• put on another show with madair (theater!!!)
• launch more websites (sorry this is so secretive.. they are in the planning stages)
• use mint to track gleek.net usage
• travel to europe
• keep working out at the gym (this one won't be hard as i'm majorly addicted to my gym.. it's at work and to prove how addicted i am i actually went into the office DURING MY VACATION just to go to the gym. i was told to go home but i can't help it!)
• keep up with my japanese
• maybe learn another language too!

well, i did make three sweaters: the somewhat cowl, green gable, and kyoto and kyoto did involve a lot of seaming, so i guess that i did pretty well there. i made the garter stitch wrap, the flower basket shawl, and the clapotis, so that pretty much covers my second goal!

unfortunately i didn't sew much this year. to be honest, i just don't enjoy it as much as knitting. it's not portable and involves me having to get the sewing machine out and clean off the kitchen table every time i want to use it since i don't have a crafting area of my own. i did manage to make a few skirts from recycled pants, though, which was fun. too bad i became pregnant and then couldn't wear them. i only developed one pattern, the vino arm warmers, but that's only because i've had so much other stuff going on! take a look back at my completed projects of 2006 on my backpack page.

i put on the shows with madair as i mentioned above but my goal of launching websites fell by the wayside when i got pregnant and decided not to take on any more freelance clients. that's ok, though, because i now have a really cool project i'm working on for 2007!

i installed mint on the website and have been tracking usage since march. it's been very easy to maintain and i haven't had any problems with it. i even updated the gallery look and feel!

i did not travel to europe (see above about having to work excessively and being preggers). i kept up my workouts at the gym even while pregnant! everyone at the gym is very surprised to see me there with my huge belly keeping fit. heck, it makes me feel good and i've heard it will help me through labor and make it easier for me to get back in shape once the peanut is born.

unfortunately, japanese had to fall by the wayside as well. i took the summer off from class as usual, then became pregnant and wasn't able to get the energy together to go to class in the evenings. this also squashed my idea of learning a new language. oh well. i'm not superwoman (i don't really care for capes) and i actually think that i did pretty well despite all of the obstacles this year.

so what are my goals for 2007? they're pretty simple.

• have a baby, take care of her, and get back into shape afterward.
• go back to work in the fall (this should be easy as i don't really have much of a choice!)
• launch my super secret website by july. i'm sure you'll hear more about this soon!
• watch more movies (basically use my netflix membership more.)
• knit from my stash for most of the year.
• do more colorwork.
• learn to steek something.
• make KP a sweater.
• sew more (we'll see if i can do that this year since i couldn't accomplish it in 2006.)

i don't think that i'll be able accomplish all of my knitting goals, but i like to aim high!

to finish off the year, let's look at the last FO of 2006!

swish glittens #2

yarn: knitpicks swish in coastal grey (2 skeins)
needles: US6 denise needles (2 circs)
pattern: urban necessity gloves at magknits by colleen meagher

these were a lot of fun to make even the second time around! this pair is a little more tailored to my own hands. the only mods to the pattern i made were to pick up stitches between the fingers and then decrease them away in the next round. i also made the mitten tops a little smaller and plain instead of using the pattern colleen provided.

toasty mitten tops

when the weather gets colder, i'm sure they'll be mighty toasty!

and what am i working on right now? well, i'm still slaving away at the noro 3-hole shawl.

getting close to hole #2

i'm less than 2 repeats away from the second hole so i'm making progress slowly but surely! it's still fun to knit on. no complaints.

i'm also working on some stupid sock creatures for the peanut.

orphaned socks all cut up

KP recently went through his sock drawer and gave me his orphaned socks so i'm attempting some crafty fun for peanut. i'll sub in some embroidered eyes instead of the buttons to reduce any choking hazard. i plan on sewing up some of the parts tonight but i can't do it all until i receive the stuffing from joann.com. should be here by the end of the week.

i also practiced some fair isle last night and it was not as hard as i thought it would be. i would show you my practice swatch but the yarns i chose were not the best for fair isle. not enough contrast. that's ok because i'm going to start on the pirates hat tomorrow! more progress pics to come.

finally, i would like to say thanks to all of my wonderful readers. you have come here, given me support, commented, and generally been the coolest blog people on the planet. i couldn't keep this up without you! bring on 2007!

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