hooked on the needle: La Maison d'IamKnitGuy

Almost a year! In my last entry, Fall had just begun and I had just returned from an amazing trip to Tuscany and Paris. I haven't done much knitting since then. Florida isn't really conducive to knitting, it's too hot and it's hot all year long.

I really hate when people insert colored paper inside their Christmas cards and type an 'update' about what's been going on in their lives. "Suzie laughed at her first fart and Dave laughed and then I laughed and before we knew it, it was Spring!" Yes, I hate that catch-up/catch-all but here's my Christmas card insert in one paragraph….

I turned 50 this year. It's kind of big but comes with surprisingly, little, midlife fanfare. I was in Paris at the stroke of 50 (yes, yet again), having cake at Cafe Carette on Place de Vosges in the Marais. It's my favorite place in Paris. I'm determined that while I live, breath and have access to a Visa card, I will go there every year. I've been studying French as well. I hired a tutor from France and I'm taking an online class from the local college, first college class in 30 years! I'm not sure I understand how you can get a degree online (there's so many easy ways to cheat) but it's working for me and my motto of "Fluent in '15", so we persevere on! I will return to Europe this Winter with destinations in Amsterdam, Dusseldorf/Cologne and Paris. My fantasy of seeing Paris under a veil of snow and me bundled up to walk her streets with Mother Nature has been foretold in my mind's eye so I'm setting off to make it so.

And with that, my Christmas card is completed and I set off with a renewed vengeance back to my blog … my knitting blog! We're going to Europe in Winter and that my friends will require hats, gloves, scarfs maybe a cowl or even fingerless mitts with pop over little mittens in one! There are so many patterns stuffed in my knitting queue, I don't know where to start! With all this swirling around in my head, I decided there's no better place to keep track of what I'm doing than back here at La Maison d'IamKnitGuy!

First project up is a blast from the past … the Henry Scarf that I started years ago and have knit over the years in spurts of 5-10 rows every 4-6 months! Needless to say, it's gotten a bit longer over time and about 5 rows to the last ball of yarn. I discovered a mistake about 30 rows back and actually, successfully pulled the needle, ripped back and got the needle back in! Yes, I had to use the 10X magnifying lamp fully equipped with the "I could land a plane in the African jungle" light but we ripped and we got the needle back into 49 beautifully, righted stitches. Big deal in these parts!

Expect to see a mix of project progress and pointless chatter about fountain pens & French!

I'll leave you with a few shots from my birthday trip … and photos don't count as additional paragraphs, I don't care what you say!