I think the second biggest secret to being an adult is that time moves faster and faster the older you get. (The first is that you will never feel like an “adult” the way you expected to as a kid.)

Aside from the fact that we have had piles and piles of snow dumped upon us this winter, things have been good here. I have been keeping busy with a lot of good things, some of it knitting and fiber related.

Knitting has moved from must-do-every-time-I-sit to a relaxing in bed hobby. I’m fine with this right now, because I’m sure it will cycle around again soon. I’ve also been itching to spin lately, so I’ll probably to that soon. And sew. I’ve got a pile of sewing projects built up since I hate to drag out my machine and set it up for one little thing.

I’ve also been trying to read, exercise, and sleep more. See? Plenty busy.

One of my goals for the year (some may call it a New Year’s Resolution; I don’t) is to enjoy each day and not spend so much time dwelling on the future or the past. It’s working. I’m in a good place in my head and things are going well.

I’ve redone my craft room and added some new (IKEA) furniture. Once I get things picked up and organized a little more, I’ll share photos or a video.

I haven’t dumped photos from my camera’s memory card since Christmas, but I hope to upload them to Flickr soon and start post here more regularly again. I am starting to miss the knitting community and Ravelry – if you can believe it, there have been entire weeks where I haven’t logged in!

See you again soon.

Blocking is the key here. I’ll explain my favorite way of blocking below, but your preferred method should work just as well.

To block, I use the “steam shot” button on my iron. Find a long heat and water resistant surface, like your bathroom floor covered in towels. Lay the scarf out and flatten as much as possible by hand. If you like, pin the edges out flat. Pass the iron slowing over the surface, hitting the steam shot button repeatedly as you go. Do not touch the iron directly to the scarf. I typically don’t pin the scarf down, but use my hand to flatten and smooth as I go. Be careful not to pull it so straight that you lose the waffle texture.
Allow the scarf to dry and cool before moving.

While it is impossible to completely prevent curling, this tames the curl to a manageable (and for me, comfortable) level while wearing.

I hope everyone who celebrates had a wonderful Christmas with their families. We had our last family party today, and I am a little sad that it’s over. The house always looks so empty when all of the decorations are pack up until next year.

Good news! I finished all (both) of my gift projects on time. The big one that I have been keeping secret since September is a Cobblestone Pullover for my Dad. For the record, finished on time means that I was sewing in the ends and steam blocking on my old bedroom floor at my parents house at 11pm Christmas eve, cursing how loud the steam shot was on my Mom’s iron and waiting for my Dad to knock on the door and ask what that weird noise was.

I forgot to take photos, but will definitely get some when I see them for New Year’s Eve.

I’m looking forward to my knitting routine returning to normal, and hope to have more to post again soon. I have been thinking a lot about this blog lately and the purpose of it. Really, I do it for myself. I must – I’m not sure anyone ever reads this anymore. I realized I started my first “Yarn Dreams” blog in 2003. Almost 7 years ago!! Is that possible?

(If you are reading this – leave a comment? Or send me a quick email? I’m such a terrible lurker myself, but I would love to know if anyone is still out there.)

Anyway, until next year, here is a scan of the front of the Christmas cards I made:

Card front

Take care, and see you in 2010.

That pretty much sums up how I’ve been feeling the last few weeks. It doesn’t help that just about everything I’m working on right now (knitting and other things) has to stay under wraps and is unbloggable.

I don’t even have any cute cat photos to distract you with since my camera battery is dead and I haven’t bothered to charge it.

If I get my act together I’ll have one finished object post, an in progress post (the one thing I can share), and hopefully a few recipes and other holiday goodness later this week.

I hope all of your holiday preparations are going well!

Oh, and napping. Serious insomnia has struck leaving me wide awake most nights and napping after work. It’s a vicious cycle I would really like to get out of.

I ordered a box of goodies from Knit Picks about a month ago now, maybe longer. The idea was that I’d have plenty of time to knit up some small Christmas goodies like Alan Dart’s Gnomes and Snowmes or a felted slipper or two.

Of course, I haven’t touched a thing in this box since I took the photo except to move it off the dining room table. I still believe that I have plenty of time to do everything that I want done before the holidays but I might just be deluding myself at this point.

As I mentioned, I’ve been spending a lot of time working on paper crafts lately and I’ve decided to make my own Christmas cards for the first time. I’m sure you won’t be surprised when I tell you this has become much more time consuming and costly than I originally anticipated. But, I’m very excited to see how they turn out.

And because I take more cat photos than anything these days, here is a little montage of Reggie ‘helping’ me test some new stamps: