So here are 2011′s knitting plans:

1. Finish the following projects:
1. Bedroom Blanket:  I cast on for that on April 3, 2010!  Time to finish up.  Besides, it is currently longer than I am tall.  Then I need to determine if I’m going to keep it or gift it to someone.
2. Henley Perfected:  I really wanted to knit this.  I was perfect for my sensibilities and I knit it in a linen/cotton blend perfect for South Florida.  Now I’m worried if it will turn out OK because I’m pretty sure I goofed up the armholes.
3. Convertible Mittens:  I’m finishing these before I fly into Wisconsin next week.  I’m rather fond of my fingers.
4. Felt Beret for Mom:  This is actually a never ending project, since she wants one in every color under the sun.
5. Print O’ the Wave Stole:  I wanted to knit this so much.  It’s a beautiful project.  But I despise the yarn.  Cobweight and I will never be friends but the colorway is so pretty I’m determined to finish.
2. Begin (and End) the following socks (Ravelry Links):
1. Firestarter in Inca Sportlace Hand-Painted
2. Baroque in Cherry Tree Hills Supersock Blossom
3. Rhombus in KnitPicks Stroll Tonal in Blue Violet (although this may change)
4. Sunrise Chevron Socks but the yarn is undecided
5. Bifrost in Noro Kureyon Sock Mt. Fuji Paths
6. Bex in Cherry Tree Hills Supersock Loden
7. Naive Socks but the Yarn is undecided
8. Mermaidia in Cherry Tree Hills Supersock
9. Twinkleberry
10. Oak Leaf Socks
11. Spring Forward
12. Elfine’s Socks
13. Farfalle Sock (This is the backup Pattern)
3. Knit three Sweaters
1. Sweater Girl Pullover:  The Yarn has been wound, the pattern copied and sizing notes made, everything is ready to go.
2. Hey Teach!:  Again, the yarn has already been purchased and the pattern has been printed.  Just waiting to get started.
3. Deep V Sweater:  Yup, the yarn has already been purchased and the pattern has been printed.  Just waiting to get started.
4. The February Lady Sweater:  This was supposed to be the backup pattern, but I get the feeling I might make this first because I’ll get more use out of this.

I’m sorry.  You deserve much better.  I haven’t been blogging as I’ve meant to, to the extent that I thought about changing the entire format over to Tumblr . . .as much as I tweet, you would get more frequent updates.  But I’m loathe to move from Blogger.  I just have to try harder.  For me, blogging takes effort, because I really hate releasing a blog without a picture to go with it.  So, I’m going to start taking my camera with me more often so I can blog my mobile life and update you more.  Yes, I’m still knitting (more on that below) and sewing, so maybe I can get more info released.

Two weeks ago was the last week I would spend as a consultant to a certain NYC based school.  It was a bittersweet week for me.  If asked a year ago if I would miss the school, I would have looked at you sideways and said, “HELL NO!” (Then I would have continued booking my table at one of NYC’s finer restaurants).  Now, a year later, I find myself really missing the people that I met there.  I miss the individuals I had to work with and the teammates I could lean on for support.  I miss NYC in the winter, the sights, the sounds, the fact that there was always something to do.  Man, how times have changed.  I’m actually regretting the fact that I’m not booking my normal flight into LaGuardia and am, instead, booking myself to Newark.

Yes, Newark.  I know it’s only across the river, but that’s a long distance in NYC.  Then, once I land, I’m probably going to spend the next hour driving to my destination.  However, I took this job as a consultant because I wanted constant travel and change and, by George, be careful what you wish for because I’m certainly getting it.  So here I am, on New Year’s Day, packing for my 6:20 AM flight tomorrow morning.  I certainly didn’t want to fly that early, but that’s all that was available.

So right now, I’m looking at all my clothes (I’ve just done a month’s worth of laundry…I live alone.  How does that happen?!?!?) and trying to decide what to pack.  My new favorite books are packed (yup, in love with the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich), I’ve queued up Doc Martin on Hulu (I watched all four season in 2.5 days via NetFlix!  I hope Season 5 shows on Hulu), and I’m trying to decide what to knit…

Happy New Year to everyone!  I hope 2011 is the year things happen for YOU!  Wish me luck.

• I’m so tired these days I missed the 1-year anniversary of this job.
• I sleep in my bed at my own home (the one I pay taxes on) 3 nights a week.
• I consider the hotel (any hotel) my home.
• I’ve developed gastritis and duodenitis. Trying saying that five times fast.
• My yard is a disaster-zone
• Spiders are running my house
• I visit family twice a year and they’re only 5 hours away.
• I have 300K frequent flier miles.  I am now Platinum Medallion on Delta.  I’m aiming for Diamond by the end of the year (My coworkers have been doing this so long that they think my mini-celebrations when I hit a new level are mildly amusing.  They’re so jaded).
• I have 200K+ points with both the Marriott and Hilton chains. I like both, but I think Hilton sometimes edges Marriott out.
• I constantly feel stupid.
• I’m back to working 10+ hours a day just to keep up.
• I’ve developed the ability to fall asleep anywhere.

However, it is making me look around my house and wonder what I would get rid of if Niecy and company blasted their way into my house.  Thankfully my house isn’t very cluttered, just slightly messy.  So I started thinking, what would Niecy and Company want me to get rid of the most, my Tigger?

Eh.  That might not hurt.

What would hurt?

The Yarn.  Yeah.  I would put up a fight over the yarn.  So, just out of curiosity, I pulled a spreadsheet from Ravelry and did some quick math to determine how much yarn I have.

$1,140.33

That was the total for the yarn, in stash, that I had prices attached to.  71 yarns didn’t even have a price attached.  So, that means that I probably have over $2000 of yarn…

Whoa….

I have ~$2000 of yarn in my house.  That means that the stash is easily the most expensive collection of anything in my house.  The stash is worth more than the TV, the computers, any other single item.  I have in yarn what I am trying to save for wood floors.

Whoa…Clearly, I need to rethink some priorities. Perhaps I won’t put so much in the yarn budget each month…

I’m glad I have alarm system on the house.

However I do have some knitting related items to share with you.
The Cambridge Jacket is 99% finished!

I still need to modify the zipper (the instruction called for a 26in zipper, I bought a 24in zipper, and it’s still too big) but do you remember what I said about the size issue?

Yeah . . .It fits me.  This will definitely swamp my dad.  I’m a little worried about this.
(momentary pause to acknowledge that it is currently 89 degrees outside and I’m standing here in a wool sweater)

I have a few things I need to finish on the jacket (weaving in ends mostly), but the jacket is largely done.  I feel pretty good about it because it is my first completed sweater, it looks pretty decent and I learned a lot.  The Rubicon has been crossed.

I’ve also done some sewing this week.  I finished this in two hours last night.

The back of the DPN Case

DPN Case Interior

M’Gonigle Hat

I loved the pattern when I saw it on Ravelry and I thought it would be a breeze, since the cable pattern has the look of the Bayerische socks I knit two years ago (wow, has it been that long?).

This jacket is turning out really well.  I can see myself doing another sweater from my queue, but I need to find a better way to manage shoulder seams.  I have the side and sleeve seams down pat, but seaming in set-in shoulders is getting the best of me.

I am worried about the size, though.  I’m probably twice the size of my dad and I made this jacket in the 39″ size.  Soo…..

Why do I fit in this jacket?  With room to spare?  This is very scary.  It will SWAMP my father.

Sunday (7/25/2010) was supposed to be an easy day.  I would sleep in, then drive to the airport to catch my flight to LaGuardia, drive up to Westchester, have dinner and enjoy the season’s premiere of Mad Men.  Well, that didn’t happen….Enjoy!

11:15 AM:  Wake up to the sound of the cell phone.  Delta is calling me to tell me that my “3:15 pm flight to New York–LaGuardia has been delayed to 4:30PM.  We regret any inconvenience this may cause . . .”  I smile and roll over to continue my nap.

2:15 PM:  Leave the house to head to Tampa.  I need to return some items to IKEA and this is the most time-efficient way to do it without using extra gas.

2:40 PM:  Phone rings.  Delta is calling me to tell me that my “4:30 PM flight to New York–LaGuardia has been cancelled.  We regret any inconvenience this may cause . . .”  SERIOUSLY!!!  You mean I just wasted my gas on a cancelled flight?  Nah, dude, you are getting me to NYC today.

I think now would be a good time to explain why (1) I’m traveling on a Sunday and (2) I’m ticked about the flight being cancelled.

1. I’m always irritated when my flight is delayed.  Even when it is delayed for a good reason, I’m irritated.
2. Being delayed in Tampa is wonderful.  Since the airport is new, they built all kinds of workstations and power strips into the design and the airport has free Wi-Fi.  This can make all the difference in the world.  When I’m stuck at LaGuardia, I’m usually praying that someone buys me a Delta SkyClub membership for Christmas.  Seriously.  The airport is THAT bad.
3. If I’m stuck in Tampa, home is 45 minutes away  If I get stuck in NYC I have to find a hotel room.
4.  The last time I went to this particular client, it was a disaster (partially chronicled in blog posts Weekday Vignette and This SHIT would happen to me), partially attributed to the fact that I arrived at 2PM on a Monday (not my fault.  Thanks Delta!).  This time I wasn’t taking any chances; I was arriving with plenty of time to spare.

So now I’m about 5 minutes away from IKEA and I’m on the phone with World Travel, trying to get another flight.  All the flights leave at 5:30 PM or 7PM and they all have a connection, so now matter what, I’m not getting to NYC until late.  I finally decide to take the 6:59 to NYC-JFK on JetBlue, so the agent books the ticket and reroutes my car pickup so I can relax.

2:15 PM – 4:00 PM:  Killing time in the Tampa IKEA

5:00 PM.  Well, obviously since I’m not leaving until 7PM, I can get something to eat while in Tampa, but I’m not hungry.  I grab a slice of pizza at Whole Foods and try to decide what else I can do to kill time.  I finally decide not to push my luck and head to the airport.

5:30 PM:  I’ve dropped off my bags and now I’m headed to …OMG!!!  How many people are in the security lines?  It’s Sunday???  Where are you people going?

6:00 PM:  I’m now through security and I walk over to the departures screen to figure out which gate we are leaving from and . . .My flight has been delayed to 7:59 PM.  Tonight is the Mad Men Season 4 premiere episode.  Obviously, I’m going to miss that and True Blood.  This sucks.

7:20 PM:  Hmm . . . we aren’t boarding the plane.

7:30 PM:  We still aren’t boarding the plane.

7:45 PM:  We will begin boarding in 10 minutes.

8:15 PM:  We’re on the plane but we’re 21st in line for takeoff.  We aren’t going anywhere any time soon.  On a positive note, JetBlue planes have TVs in the headrest.  On the other hand, no HBO, no AMC, no Comedy Central.  In other words, really nothing I want to watch.  I guess I’m watching Family Guy reruns until I fall asleep.

11:30 PM:  We land at JFK.  I’ve never been at JFK, so now I need to figure out where ground transportation is.

12:00 AM (Monday):  I found National Car Rental and I’m trying to decide on a car.  I need to make a choice fast; it’s pitch black out here.

1:00 AM:  I realize I haven’t eaten since that one slice of pizza 8 hours ago.  No wonder my stomach is talking to me.  I stop at McDonald’s for a quick meal.

1:45 AM:  I’m at the hotel.  I can’t sleep.  This isn’t fair.