Oh, hey, that's right! I have a blog, don't I?

Hi everyone! Long time no see, eh? Well, I'm back, and as would be expected after not blogging in so long, I have a LOT of information to share! In no particular order, here's what I've been up to since the end of August:

1) Learning to spin. I've finally managed to gather the courage to try spinning up the roving that my good friend Knitwit got me for my birthday back in July. Not so great at it yet, but even in the little bit I've done I've noticed a marked improvement. I just have to remember that I'm not going to be able to spin sock yarn right away - since I realized that, I've been doing much better. She gave me a few lessons at our weekly Knit Night, and I figured out what I've been doing wrong now. :)

2) For the past month or so, I've been teaching a Beginning Sock Knitting class at Stitch, the yarn store in Grimsby, ON that I mentioned before. I think it's going pretty good - we're following a pattern called "Odd Socks", and it's a fairly basic top-down two-colour stripe sock, and we've done two of three classes so far. The first one was the casting on and the cuff, the second was the heel flap and turn, and the third (next week) is the foot and toe. The pattern itself has a 'star toe', and it isn't Kitchenered together, so that's a lot simpler there as well - and very pretty. :)

3) I have done what feels like a boatload of knitting! I've not been feeling particularly healthy as of late, so I spend a lot of time curled up on my couch, needles in hand. According to my Ravelry projects, since my last post on August 31st, I've finished four pairs of socks (including the pink Jaywalkers from my last post, another pair of Monkeys, Embossed Leaves from the Interweave Favourite Socks book, and a pair of Nine to Five socks), a pair of Bella's Fingerless Gloves (yes, I read Twilight, so sue me), the Calorimetry I mentioned in my last post (and it's HUGE), yet another Anthropologie-inspired Capelet for Sister #2 (she wanted one in black to compliment the blue one I had previously made), and I've frogged two socks, a hat, and a scarf, mostly languishing projects that I have no desire to ever finish. Right now, I'm working on another pair of socks, dubbed the Vanilla Viking socks because they are a) for Viking, b) a vanilla-y brown colour, and c) kinda plain (1x1 garter rib), and STILL my Albatross, the Snapping Turtle Skirt. HOWEVER, I am now only three hexagons away from the END, and I cast on the first of those three last night. After them, I need to buy a zipper for the skirt so I can so the waistband, put in the zipper, and do the bottom edging (if necessary), and then I will be DONE with the darn thing. There is a light at the end of the tunnel! The end is near! Hopefully I'll have enough yarn!

4) I'm packing again - I know, not very yarn-related, but I mention it here to partially explain my recent absence. The people who owned my apartment building (really two apartments over a store) sold it, and the new owners want the apartments of less than liveable quality for themselves, so Viking, the Photographer, and I are all being evicted. Most of the apartments we've been looking at have turned up either unacceptable or already rented, but we have an appointment for tomorrow (Hallowe'en! Woo!) to go see one that's farther away from work, and more money, but much larger, and hopefully somewhere we can stay for a while - we've not even been in the current place a year yet.

5) Working. I'm working 10-hour days in my call center job now, so when I'm not at work (which is rare), I'm either asleep or knitting - which means that I don't have any pictures to compliment this post, as it's still kinda dark when I leave in the morning, and completely dark when I get home at night. There are a few pictures on My Ravelry Project Page, but I haven't finished taking up-to-date pics of my now-completed projects. Hopefully that will come soon, if I am home during daylight hours!

That's what's been going on around here for the past two months - I'm going to be doing National Novel Writer's Month (NaNoWriMo) starting Saturday, so I will be in the writing mode for most of November - expect to hear from me again soon (hopefully with a finished skirt!)