It's January! It's 2009! and we have a new president! hooray.

My office sponsored several showings of the Inauguration coverage yesterday, so I got to watch it on a big old projector screen with a crowd of people. I was happy to watch it with other people - lots of cheering and clapping and yelling. It was just an all around good time. And the speech! Oh, the speech. and Rev. Lowery's closing prayer, which I totally loved.

Anyways, good times. Yay for us electing someone awesome.

Let's see. What else is new? Well, I graduated - hooray! - so this marks my first semester in a LONG time without classes. It's a really great feeling. I don't have all the free time I was dreaming about (ha), but I do have MORE time on my hands, which is nice. I'm teaching a sock class at my local yarn store, and knitting a lot, and spending some quality time with my schmoos.

I'm also taking (gulp) a BodyPump class at my gym. (why does it have to have such a silly name? BODYPUMP) Here's the deal: I am lazy. I know this. I've had brief bouts of insanity before (mostly induced by my twin sis) where I ran half-marathons, but generally speaking, I'm not a huge fan of exercise. The couch is sooooo comfy, and my knitting is there, and also the TV...and maybe some dark chocolate....

SO. I've signed up for an entire semester of BodyPump, three days a week. It's already paid for. I'm doing it with AM, in the hopes that we will motivate each other when we don't feel like doing it. We shall see how long it lasts, but so far, so good. It's really hard for me to get up in the morning, and I'm hoping that incorporating some regular exercise into my routine will help with that. and just make me feel good in general. BODYPUMP.

har.

I have actually been knitting lots! I knit a few Christmas presents:

A Dollar and A Half Cardigan for my sis!

Toasty Mitts and a Darkside Cowl for my sister in law Alison!

A Fourteen cowl for Jenny!

They were all fun projects, although I was down to the wire on the cardigan (hello, picking up, knitting, and finishing buttonband on Christmas morning). Obviously my sister wouldn't have minded if I'd given it to her partially finished but I was SO. CLOSE. so I finished. and she loves it! yay!

Then, right after Christmas, I had another deadline: baby shower knitting. I didn't make the deadline because I was knitting for twins and WAY underestimated how long it would take me to finish two baby sweaters. D'oh. However, I did finish!

Twin Sweaters!

The pattern is SuperNatural Stripes, a great free pattern that I found via NotScarlett's Flickr photos. I haven't given them to the parents yet, but hopefully they'll love them.

And! I have a crocheted finished object to show you. I know! Crazy!

This is Herbert. This is my first attempt at amigurumi, and dude, I am hooked. Pun intended. It's easy, it's fast, and it's SO. DAMN. CUTE. srsly. (Pattern is Too Cute Crochet Dolls, by the fabulous Kim Werker.)This little guy is on his way to a new home as I type this - along with Frank, who you may remember from a previous post. ya know, one of my five posts from last year. ha.

I'm also working on finishing a baby quilt, and have plans to start another small quilting project v. soon. I got a ReproDepot gift certificate for Christmas, and I just got my order....so many pretttttty fabrics. ohboy. and someone awesome sent me some fabulous new quilting books, so I have all kinds of crazy ideas.

So, now? Well, I'm working on a stripey Noro scarf - after admiring two in person, I pretty much needed to make one. And, I'm working on a not-so-sekrit and belated Christmas present for someone...

Haha, black and white! at least the colors will be a surprise.

If you can't tell from the pic, this is Minty's Tapestry Cowl. This is my first time doing double knitting, and I'm actually really enjoying myself. The pattern takes focus - I think right now it's taking me about 30-40 minutes to do one round - and I have to LOOK at the chart. but the colorwork is interesting, and I'm enjoying watching the pattern appear as I knit.

o hai, longest post ever! I hope you're having a great week and hope to revamp this here blog one of these days. maybe.

Posted by Carrieoke at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (31)