Happy New Year!!!

Here it is, the last day of 2006 already. This has been quite the year! Last new year's, I was waiting anxiously for my first publication (Ziggy, in Mag Knits) to come out and submitting like crazy, hoping for a few acceptances. Now, I've got more design work than I can handle! I put up my website, started working with three great fiber artists on handpainted yarn for sock kits, and got elected (well, volunteered and got elected since nobody was running against me) newsletter editor of the Tigard Knitting Guild. At the beginning of the year, I was so out of shape I got winded carrying the laundry up the stairs. Today, I'm planning to run 5.5 miles in preparation for my first 10k next weekend! I still run at a snail's pace, but I'm on my way.

This year also brought about MomMA, and my first appearance on the evening news and in The Oregonian in August, followed by footage of me and Owen participating in a nurse-in at PDX on all the Portland news stations in November. I am now a volunteer phone counselor for the Nursing Mother's Counsel of Oregon and am well into my third year of breastfeeding (when added up across both kids).

At the beginning of the year, I had this crazy little idea to host a Sock-A-Month knitalong. Little did I know it would cover the entire year, be participated in by 150+ people each time whose participants would knit hundreds and hundreds of socks of all different shapes, sizes, colors and fiber contents. I didn't realize the extent to which SAM and SAM2 would take over my life, but I'm still trying to figure out a way to continue which will work for everyone involved. Are y'all up for SAM3? Are you happy with the Flickr group or would you prefer a group blog?

In conclusion, I've accomplished more than I ever thought possible this year. I want to thank all of you who've read the blog and commented over the past year - I treasure each and every comment I get. I never imagined when I started this blog in August '05 that it would turn into such an important part of my life. I don't get to update as often as I'd like these days, but I hope to get back to my old prolific self once Owen gets over his anti-mommy-on-the-computer phase that he's in right now...

Here's to big ambitions and dreams for 2007. My advice to all of you - take a deep breath and just go for it! My crowning glory for this past year - I finally knitted Bill a pair of socks.



They are truly the world's longest socks (at least it seems like that to me), but I made them in worsted-weight yarn so they came off the needles pretty quickly. No more excuses that I can't knit him socks because his feet are too big! The pattern is called "Hubby's First Socks" and will be available on the website by the end of January at the latest.

Have a safe, happy and fun end to '06, and I'll see you in the '07!