New efforts

I don't make resolutions. I think the only New Year's resolution I've ever made is to quit smoking, but that never generally even gets out of the gate. I might have once resolved to stop gossiping; unfortunately, progress on that one has been slow as well.

But I think I still manage to challenge myself in a lot of ways. I always joke at work that science was my worst subject in school, but it's actually true. I'm not really of fan of academic pursuit, yet continue in that path because I feel the training is necessary. I bought a house that has turned out to be a constant challenge (administrative and constructive), and it is probably beyond my actual abilities to renovate (but we'll get there anyway, it'll just cost more than we were prepared for in the beginning). I've studied two foreign languages (and am trying to pick up my third), moved to new and completely unfamiliar places, and pretty consistently picked the hardest options I could find, school/career-wise. There are times when I really wonder what is wrong with me when I look back upon the choices that have led me to where I am in life, but secretly, I am pretty pleased with things. I obviously don't make horrible life choices, but the benefits from them can be difficult to point out.

My newest venture has been a return to knitting. I received some bamboo needles as a gift a few months ago, and I dropped into Michael's** on a whim a couple of weeks back. I picked up a book of sweater patterns, and some yarn, plus some extra yarn that I liked & that had a hat pattern on the back of the label. All the patterns seemed pretty simple, and since I've only ever previously knitted rectangular things, I figured they would be a good next step.

I started a simple sweater last week, and immediately discovered that my casting-on technique is not actually right. Also, I didn't remember how to purl correctly. And I never learned how to read knitting patterns. Thankfully, the internet is here. So, I've had remedial knitting learning, and learned to increase stitches across a row. Here's what I have so far:



It's the back section, and once it's 15.5" long, I have to start doing something else, "binding off" maybe? In the end, it should look like this:



At the very least, I should have a new sweater in about two years :)



**Incidentally, that place has now been added to my mental list of dangerous stores (e.g. Target, Ikea) that always end up costing multiples of the amount you thought you were going to spend. On the plus side, I picked up some Nephew gifts that I think are pretty cool, and my "Christmas box" now is packed full of stuff that can be given when I can't think of anything in December.