2014 came and went

and in the mean time I was very busy, so busy that I did not get a word on this blog. Last year was a nightmare, this one was mostly good. The only big hurdle was a flood in my house due to a a roof failure that caused damage in the basement, and required a new roof. The nightmare lasted a good two months, but at the end all was fixed, the insurance helped, and I survived.

I wove very little,  just the shawl for the Friends of Colombian Orphans fundraiser in June, but I knit a lot! Last count was somewhere around 15,000 yards! If you are curious and mathematically inclined  head on over to Raverly and add up my projects.  I actually did more than what the board shows but some was ripped, wrong choices of pattern and yarn lead to knitting disasters....lets not call them disasters maybe hard learned lessons is more like it.

I love everything I made, including my Viajante on its third try. I ripped the whole thing once and half of it the second time. Third is a charm and it was, I changed the rate of increases so it would be shorter and wider, it worked just fine. Lovely Mountain Colors lace yarn. Most of the things I knit do not live with me any longer, mostly all went to far away lands to keep my sisters warm. That's OK, I have more yarn, there is always patterns and I can knit more.

I fiddled a lot with vintage sewing machines, scored a very nice collection, learned a lot on sewing machine cleaning, lubing and repair. All the machines in my collection are special to my heart, I feel I saved them from being dumped in the landfill, and they all work. Every single one of my machines works like a champ!

Lately I have been exploring the knitting machine again, I knit a huge blanket on it,  the end result is less than beautiful but the blanket is warm and served the purpose of using up a bunch of yarn that I did not care for and did not want to weave with either. I also knit an all over stockinette pullover in less than a week, it came out exactly as I wanted it, and was lots of fun to knit.

And now, I have found again yoke sweaters, beautiful yokes with Fair Isle and lace and cables and lots of fun stuff. I can make the bodies on the machine and join to knit the yokes by hand. That should keep me busy for a while. 

As for the new year the looms need new warps, the dog cages need new covers, lots to be done. As long as I can do i t, it is all fun, and I keep plugging along in life.

I am planning a wonderful trip to far away lands. The trip is almost a year away but I am so looking forward to it! My first real vacation in over 15 years! It will be a dream come true. I am  reading and learning all I can about my destination so I can verify the facts I learn when I get there. I am not telling where I am going, all I will say is that is it magical lands and a long long time dream come true.

Hopefully I will be good again and start blogging on a regular basis, maybe there is still someone out there that will listen. If people don't comment , it feels like talking to myself and it is not fun! 

For now Happy New Year! See you in 2015!