List.

I love to make lists. I love writing them on random scraps of paper or old junk mail envelopes. I usually make at least 3 lists before I go out of town, and the addition of pets and/or Bird adds additional subcategories and levels. I relish in them. I love getting things done, crossing items off. I love to get all of the things to do out of my brain, onto paper, and creating concrete evidence of their completion. I never save my lists.

Here, for you, is a List. (In no particular order)

1. I am obsessed with fonts. To my delight, I noticed Anthropologie is using one of my most favoritest fonts ever on their splash page. I first discovered it almost a year ago while creating my textile design website, and also include it in much of the text on Kelbourne Woolens. It is so perfect and neat and sans serif and modern. I also used it on our wedding site. Really, I love it that much. (And no, I don't think its overkill to use it on three websites in one year). Don't ask about my least favorite font. I don't want to offend anyone and it is so prevalent I now spot it -- and unfortunately for those around me most, which happens to be the same 6 people over and over -- point it out all the time.

2. Wedding planning is...intermittent. I am not a reluctant bride, just a reluctant wedding planner. Odd for a control freak such as myself, but it all seems so....unnecessary. One thing I am really excited about is our "registry". Bird and I have pretty much everything we "need" home related except for a new kitchen, and registering for a contractor and brand new subflooring seemed a bit much, so we want to be able to use the wedding as an opportunity to help those in greater need. (And when I threw around the "no gifts please" idea, people freaked out). The bulk of our registry will be charity related, focusing on a few things we support and organizations we believe in. Nothing says "Congrats on your wedding day!" like sponsoring a litters worth of spaying at a local no kill shelter!

3. I am psyched about this. I felt silly doing another cross post, so go read it on the Kelbourne Blog.

4. We just got back from TNNA. It was my first time in the "seller" capacity, and it was really interesting, exhausting, inspiring and fun. Being in sunny warm, avocado filled San Diego on the coldest day Philadelphia experienced in decades was an added bonus.

5. I have 3 or 4 sweater designs I am desperate to knit right now, so I am excited to focus on some larger projects. One on the needles and getting most focus is one of those boring non-bloggable projects, but I do sincerely believe you will be happy when the time comes to share. Hopefully the others will get finished and start their lives as free Fibre Co. patterns. I'll keep you posted.

6. I uploaded a few more free patterns yesterday: Lychee Mittens, Queenie Bee and Tree of Life Wristlets. There are a few more that need editing. pdf-ing, photographing -- a cute scarf/cowly thing, a baby blanket, and that dreaded Tartufo Sweater. (I thought the Knitscene article would give me a workable deadline. Then came TNNA). Those should be up in a week or so, too.

7. I knit this hat in Nature's Palette Fingering over two nights last week for Bird's boss' brand spankin' new baby girl:

It is a mix of a few elements from some vintage patterns, my highly inexperienced idea of what size a baby's head is and a blurry cell phone photo from a cousin's toddler wearing an elf hat her Grandmother knit over 40 years ago. I plan on working up another version (and getting rid of a few more kinks) and writing it up in the next week or so. Because, really, Infants + Elf Inspired Knitwear = Priceless.

8. WOOT!!

2008

This year, Bird, Rollie, Opus and Desmondo the Roadtrip Wonder Kitty and I continued our Holiday tradition of trying to hit every New England state (damn you, Rhode Island! So small, yet so far away) in as little time as possible. We managed to spend a part of Christmas day in Western Mass, south eastern CT and Boston, then we went up to VT and crossed over to then to Saratoga on our way back home to relive the debauchery of college for a few days.

After a long history of particularly bad New Year's*, I am not a huge fan of the holiday, so initially I wasn't supremely motivated by resolutions or looking back. Now recuperating from our trek (and 6 too many glasses of wine on the 31st) and inspired by a lot of the little mosaics in blogland, I decided to put together one of my own to commemorate 2008.

L to R, Top to Bottom: Opus Spicatum, Wesley, Something Resembling Knitting, A Lesson in Predictability, Laminaria/Adamas, Impulsion, Selbu Modern, Booties!, Classic Knightsbridge, Hat for my Nana, Something that I Knit, Springtime in Philadelphia 2.0, Edelweiss Mitts, Tartufo Cardigan, Springtime in Philadelphia 1.0, Socks, Other Socks, Herringbone Mitts, Cold Hands/Warm Heart, Rosemary, St. Petersburg, Silk Kerchief, Striped Yak, Alpaca Me Sweater, Yarn

All in all, 2008 was a pretty great year. Between the election, Kelbourne Woolens, adopting Opus (love love love), finding peace with my grad school program, planning the majority of the wedding in a way that wasn't stressful or awful and publishing some patterns that people seem to really like, I am quite happy. I also have some more design stuff in the works that I am really excited about, am looking forward to our wedding and the continued growth of Kelbourne as well as finally going back and finishing grad school in the fall.

I don't really have any resolutions (why set oneself up for failure?), but I am determined to get started early on our garden this year and expand it to include more veggies as it will be the first spring since moving to Philly that I won't be in school.

Happy New Year everyone!
Thanks for your support and kind words -- knitting and otherwise -- this past year.

*I have had two separate boyfriends break up with me on New Year's Eve. Apparently their Resolutions included not having me in their lives any longer. The last two years, Bird and I have managed to spend New Year's apart -- he in Troy and I in Saratoga. I like it that way.