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!)

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i hope that everyone has been enjoying the holiday season whatever holiday you happen to celebrate! christmas is over and i'm back at work through thursday when i get off again for the new year. i'm sure many of you are on vacation or just have the time off. just think how lucky you are not to be sitting in your office right now.

i managed to get some great christmas knitting booty this year! look what i got!

mmmm, lace

i only hope that i can actually make something from them in 2007! time is swiftly winging away from me and before i know it i'm going to have a baby and no time for knitting for a while. i'm trying to get in some things for her first before she's born and then have some mindless knitting standing by for when she appears in our home. regardless, i'm happy to have these books in my collection. they're gorgeous and full of beautiful patterns.

well, my christmas knitting went off without a hitch. i finished all three hats i wanted to make and gifted them to my family members on the 23rd.

i used up most of the disney wool/acrylic blend that i bought in japan last year for these hats. yes, there is a disney brand yarn! and it comes with little tags that you can sew into your garments with pooh or mickey on them. very cute. the hat for my FIL was made with knitpicks swish i had leftover from the first pair of glittens i made and then the pair of glittens i am making for myself right now. i made up the pattern for my BIL's hat, the hat for linda is just a generic baby cable hat, and the FIL's hat was made with this pattern from fig and plum.

now, i'm still working on the noro 3-hole shawl. a row here and there adds up to a repeat here and there and now i'm more than half way between the 1st and 2nd hole. it's pretty mindless knitting so i work on it whenever i want to just watch TV and not do much thinking.

i made some stash enhancements recently which i have to take pictures of and add to the stash page. i bought 4 balls of dale of norway falk (2 black, 2 white) for the pirate hat and mittens for my father and 3 hanks of noro cashmere islands (yum!) for the hat and mittens for my mom. i'm loving this yarn! the noro is just gorgeous and i'm looking forward to doing my first fair isle with the falk. i'm going to practice with the last of my disney yarn (which is roughly the same weight and gauge as the falk) as soon as i've freed up the appropriate needles.

these appropriate needles are currently engaged in make some glittens for myself! i figure it's gotta get cold around here soon and i'll need some gloves/mittens when it does. i think that i made them a little too big but i have a feeling they might shrink up a bit when i wash and dry them.

swish glittens galore

this time around i've devised a new system of knitting them where i pick up stitches between the fingers and then decrease them away on the next round to close up holes. it works really well and the joins feel a lot more substantial. i'm sure i'll be done with these before the weekend. they're so easy! then i'll get started on the hats and mittens for my parents and some baby knitting.

can you believe that i'm actually thinking about buying another set of denise needles? gosh, i love them. i have a set of the new ones and a set of the old ones, but the old needles don't connect well with the new cables and i've not always been able use them for projects because of this. i could really use another newer set. have you seen the pink version? $5 goes to breast cancer research. sounds like a good plan to me!

some blog news: i've decided to discontinue doing book reviews on the reading blog. i know it doesn't get much traffic and i was doing it mainly to remind myself of the books i've read but i just can't keep up with it. i've got to let something go because i've taken on a rather large and consuming project outside of work and home life (and this blog) that requires more of my attention. i'll still keep you updated as to what i'm reading on the sidebar but that'll be it after the last two reviews of 2006.

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