Thank you all so much for the blog birthday wishes! All your kind words and compliments and encouragement warmed this little ole blogger’s heart. And my Better Pal says she got those light up ducks at World Market, for those of you who asked.

Now, down to business.

Last week or so, Julia tagged me with this automeme. I’m supposed to show you what makes my car distinctly mine. Probably just the fact that I drive a Jeep Wrangler, in the winter, with canvas doors, makes it distinctly mine. Or maybe that just makes me distinctly crazy.

In any case, here’s my Jeep and the two things that I think make it distinctly mine.

The spare tire cover was a Christmas present from Dale. I’m a librarian, of course my spare tire cover should say “Read” and not “Jeep,” don’t you think?

And the magnet is all Scout’s fault. She showed hers and of course I had to have one, too. You know you want one! Dale isn’t thrilled about driving around in a Jeep with a pink ball of yarn magnet on it, but he’ll just have to get over it.

The Jeep is mine, after all.

Yesterday was my blog’s birthday and it is now one year old! The first year for any baby can be difficult and growing pains are typical. However, I’m here to tell you that it has been a wonderful year for the blog and I!

When I started blogging, I had been reading other knitting blogs for a few months. I never felt comfortable leaving comments because I didn’t have my own blog so I mostly just lurked. But one Saturday morning in late January I was home alone and I started fooling around on blogger. Next thing I knew, Carole Knits was born. It wasn’t long before I wanted something more uniquely my own than blogger could provide, and that’s when I contacted Missa. She created the “look” for Carole Knits and set me up with knitblog and Movable Type.

I always hoped for regular readers and commenters but really didn’t know how I’d get them. I just figured I’d start leaving comments on blogs with the link to my blog and eventually people started commenting. It took a while but now I have regular readers and commenters and you like me! You really like me! For the bean counters out there, this is my 167th post and the blog has received 1676 comments. Pretty slick, eh?

The thing I didn’t anticipate and could no way have predicted was that I would make real friends through this endeavor. Talk about the icing on the proverbial cake! The sharing of knitting stories lead to the sharing of life stories and that in turn lead to the forming of lasting friendships. It’s really been a gift and I feel incredibly lucky to have made a whole bunch of new friends this past year!

Speaking of new friends, the January gift from my Better Pal arrived.

What a hoot! There was this fantastic kitty wresting card, along with the cutest light up floating ducks, and some chocolate dipped biscuits, and a lunch box full of Boston Baked Beans, and the most gorgeous roving from Lorna’s Laces. I’m counting this as the blog’s birthday present. Thank you, Better Pal! I can’t wait to find out who you really are!

So, without getting any sappier than I already have, thank you all for coming back and reading what I have to say. Thank you for all the comments. Thank you for inspiring me to knit more, knit harder, knit cooler. Thank you for being my friends. Happy Birthday to my blog! Here’s to the year ahead!

I promised more knitting, didn’t I? I always keep my promises!

First, allow me to show you some finished Feather & Fan Socks. These socks are for Cecily, my spoiler from Secret Pal 6. She was so good to me and her favorite color is purple and I promised her some socks. Like I said, I always keep my promises.

Here we have the full frontal pose:

And here we have the “dressed” pose:

My thanks to Grumperina for teaching me how to make a sock label. I just love the way it looks!

Of course, you know as soon as I finish a pair of socks I’m ready to start my next pair. See these?

Yup – my third pair of Jaywalkers! However, they are my first pair knit with Socks That Rock. They are for my Bloomin’ Feet pal. Now, there are lots of fancy sock patterns out there but I think my pal deserves the latest fad sweeping blog land, don’t you? Sure hope she likes ‘em.

Here’s some exciting news, even if it’s not about knitting. My friends Betty and Jim got engaged! Go tell Betty “best wishes,” would ya? Thanks!

I had someone tell me recently that I didn’t include enough knitting content in my knitting blog. Hunh. You guys know I knit every day, right? It would be news if I didn’t knit, so please go ahead and assume that I’m knitting, even if I’m not saying.

What? You want proof? Alright, then.

Here we have a finished red scarf for the Red Scarf Project. I used the pattern from Odd Ball Knitting and all my red leftovers. Red’s my favorite color, so just happened to have some red yarn lying around.

You want more? Alright, then.

Here we have two progress shots on the Diamond Fantasy Shawl. Looking good, no?

There will be more knitting shots tomorrow. Sheesh.

Good: Having 32 people sign up for the Buy More Yarn program! I thought I might have 10!
Good: Supporting yarn shops through this endeavor.
Bad: Competing against the likes of Risa, Dave and Aunty Nin.
Ugly: Writing all that freakin’ html!

Good: Receiving a sheep ornament from Margene for hanging on Lucy. Lucy loves jewelry!
Bad: Having Mason notice the spinning wheel for the first time!

Good: Winning Mim’s mannequin naming contest and having her send me one of her home made books! It’s so pretty.
Bad: Forgetting to take a picture of the book so I can show you. But you can see it here, on Mim’s blog.

Good: Stephanie’s Olympic Knitting program. I think almost every blogger in the universe has signed up for this one.
Bad: Committing to knitting Lisa Lloyd’s Cable Moss Vest as my Olympic Knitting Project. I read the charts and instructions last night. Yikes.
Ugly: I’ll be lucky if I get a tin medal, never mind the gold.

Good: Listening to Sirius EZ on the way to work and hearing Barry Manilow, which made me think of Cara and Vicki and Ann.
Bad: Hearing Pomp and Circumstance on Sirius Pops. I love the piece but it always makes me cry.
Ugly: Remembering just exactly how long it’s been since I marched through a football field to that music.

Good: The ladies at Dunkin’ Donuts have my medium black coffee ready for me every morning.
Bad: Dropping my medium black coffee in the parking lot at work.

Good: Playing Dance Dance Revolution with Hannah, Jessica, Patrick and Dale.
Bad: Having to wait my turn.

Ugly: Dale’s attempts at playing this game. The man dances to his own drummer, if you know what I mean.

Good: Homemade cookies from the Superintendent of Schools
Bad: Earning the homemade cookies by recommending her for a new job.
Ugly: Eating the cookies for breakfast.

Good: Meeting a bunch of new bloggers at Claudia’s last Sunday.
Ugly: Keeping up with my bloglines subscriptions now!

I’ll bet you all thought my “B” entry in the ABC-Along would be books, didn’t you? It was going to be . . . until yesterday. Yesterday was a knit blogger’s nirvana. You see, Claudia hosted a gathering of knitters, spinners and bloggers at her home. You know what I’m going to say, right?

It was the best time ever! Ever. Ever. Ever.

Blogless Sharon and I went together and right there you know the day is going to be good. When we turned onto Claudia’s street, I told Sharon what the directions said about house color, number, etc. Then I looked up and saw the cars. Oh my. Let’s just say we didn’t have any trouble figuring out which house was Claudia’s.

I met up again with dear friends and made new ones as well. It was fabulous to see Norma again! That girl lights up a room just by being in it, even if she can’t cook a steak. And my Magic Loop buddies, Julia and Cate, were there! And Sandy, who made really great Swedish meatballs for everyone. And Kathy, who made low fat macaroni and cheese that was really very good. Of course, Stitchy and Kellee and Wendy were all there. And I got to meet Maryse! And Beth and Cindy and Judy and Lauren. It was fun to see Teresa again, too. She, of course, was swatching for Crossed in Translation. I talked to Marcy, who is sadly blogless, and she showed me a great trick for plying on Lucy. Also in attendance was the Queen of the Jaywalkers (no, not Cara) but the pattern designer, Miss Grumperina herself. What fun to meet her and model my Jaywalkers for her!

I know I’m leaving out tons of people and I’m sorry. Go ahead and leave me a comment and chew me out. I can handle it.

Claudia’s living room was overflowing with knitters, spinners, yarn and fiber. There were people on couches, people sitting in chairs and covering every available inch of floor space.

It seemed like everyone brought multiple projects and bags were spilling over with charts and needles and yarn. Claudia arranged a yarn/fiber swap in her fiber room and there was stuff all over the floor. I brought a big ole bag of yarn and I know Laura was pleased with at least a couple of my discards. I only brought home a small ball of fiber and some Sugar ‘n Cream cotton for dishcloths. You know how I like to keep my stash small and manageable.

So we ate and we drank (great Sangria, Stitchy) and knitted and ate some more and talked and talked and talked. And boy did we laugh! And we shared stories of knitting disasters and triumphs. There were Rogues and Everyday Cardigans and Jaywalkers galore! Several of us were knitting for the Red Scarf Project and we just had to take a picture of our scarves together.

Sadly by the time we organized this Norma had already headed for home. Sorry Norma, but you were with us in spirit then.

If you weren’t there, you were missed and I guarantee we talked about you. In a good way, of course. I hope you can tell by my enthusiasm just how much fun it all was. I feel so blessed to have made some true friends through my blog and there’s something magical that happens when we get together. Thank you, Claudia, from the bottom of my heart, for organizing this day, for opening your home, for being an inspiration. Can’t wait ’til next time!

I’m really glad that you all like the newly organized computer/fiber/book space. It feels great to have it done, I can tell you that.

I’ve noticed a theme that keeps coming up in the comments for this post, however. I keep hearing that I don’t have much of a stash. In my defense, I have to say that I have a difficult time buying yarn for which I have no plan. This is probably why I have so much sock yarn – you don’t need a plan for sock yarn. So, I am soliciting advice on how to buy yarn when you don’t know what you’re going to do with it. Those of you with big ole stashes, how did you accomplish this? And how do you decide how much to buy of a particular yarn when you don’t know what it’s going to become? Hmmmm?

In the meantime, however, I’ve been called an amateur! My stash has been labeled anemic! I’ve been ridiculed about the size of both my yarn and fiber stashes! I have been challenged to increase the size of the stash! Well, I’ve never been one to ignore an outcry of this magnitude. You all have thrown down the proverbial gauntlet and I’m grabbing it. I am therefore announcing a new program over here at Carole Knits, at the suggestion of Chris. It’s the Increase-Your-Stash-Along! My buddy Dave is joining me and he even created this nifty button:

(you know the drill, please save to your own server, yada yada yada)

There’s only one rule and it’s pretty simple. You must buy yarn.
Want to join us?

Edited to add: I’ve created a new blog page. Go check out Buy More Yarn for a list of rules and participants.

As I have mentioned in some comments around blogland, Dale and I spent the weekend reorganizing the computer/yarn/fiber/book room. I don’t have before pictures because I was just too embarassed to show you. Believe me when I say it was a disorganized mess of fiber, yarn, papers and junk.

First, a bit of background. This little project was inspired by the purchase of a new computer. Now, I have had a home computer since 1992 and back then it just sort of got stuck in a corner of our guest room. The only reason I got it was because I was in graduate school and also the mother of a one year old. This meant I couldn’t trek to the library to study and do research whenever I wanted, hence a computer at home became a necessity. But, remember, there was no World Wide Web in those days, people. There were no search engines. There were gophers and Archie and Veronica and that was about it. Really, it was just this big black hole called the Internet. Therefore, a home computer just wasn’t part of our daily lives, it was just something I used to get through school.

Well, I don’t know about you all and your computer use, but things sure have changed at our house since 1992. For one thing, it’s a different house these days. For another, everyone in the family now has an email account and everyone uses the computer every day, including some family members who don’t even live with us. Therefore, we decided that since the computer is part of our daily lives, it should be situated in a clean, organized and comfortable environment. Our goal was to create more of a den and less of a junk room so that it would be a space everyone could enjoy.

After 2 trips to IKEA, lots of anxiety, some cussing, and maybe a few tears (mine) this is what we’ve accomplished.

See that nifty new desk? And comfortable office chair? Woo and also hoo. And the bench under the window holds all my fiber.

The green thing (as we so lovingly call it) holds all Dale’s junk crap important stuff, the rolling cart has all my quilting and sewing supplies and the POANG chair from IKEA is for sitting, reading and knitting.

Ahhh. Here you see books of all sorts but mostly on the subjects of the Civil War, quilting and knitting. And there’s some yarn. That’s pretty much all of it, too. Well, except for that Lantern Moon basket hiding under the green thing. Clearly, I need a bigger stash.

We still need to get a rug for the floor and rearrange the stuff on the walls. We’ll probably wallpaper, too. In the meantime, though, I think we’ve succeeded in creating a nice place to hang out.

Betty tagged me with the latest meme that’s been working it’s way around. Like most of the memes I like, this one gives a hint into my personal life. I hope all you voyeurs out there enjoy it!

4 jobs you have had in your life
• Library page
• Secretary
• Switchboard Operator
• Library Director

4 movies you could watch over & over
• Gone with the Wind
• When Harry Met Sally
• Gettysburg
• Casablanca

4 places you have lived (I’ve only lived in 3 places!)
• Brockton, MA
• Norton, MA
• East Bridgewater, MA

4 TV shows you love to watch
• Oprah
• As the World Turns
• Desperate Housewives
• Gilmore Girls

4 places you have been on vacation
• The Bahamas
• Florida
• Gettysburg, PA
• Maine

4 websites you visit daily
• Carver Public Library
• Bloglines
• The Boston Channel
• SAILS Library Network

4 of your favorite foods
• Lobster
• King Crab Legs
• Mashed potatoes and gravy
• Banana Cream Pie

4 places you would rather be right now
• Visiting blog friends
• Yarn shopping
• A beach
• Touring the country in an RV with Dale

4 bloggers you are tagging
• Amanda
• Becky
• Leslie
• Margene

Finally, because I feel terrible that I haven’t posted any knitting or spinning pictures, here is my first yarn spun and plied on Lucy. She and I are very pleased!

Here it is, the moment you have all been waiting for. What? You haven’t been pacing the floor for a week? Wondering if it’s you? C’mon, you know you have. So, without further ado, it gives me great pleasure to announce the winner of the movie recommendation contest is:

Ms. Too Much Wool herself, our dear Cassie!

Yippee for Cassie and have fun spending that money over at kpixie! And, hey, let’s hear it for all the losers, too.

You guys came up with some great movies for Dale and I to watch. And, ya’all know my ulterior motive here, right? No, not to get more comments, although that is an added bonus. My ulterior motive is more knitting time because movie watching = knitting. This, my friends, is a very good thing.

So, you want a recap? The most recommended movie was An Affair to Remember with 5 votes, followed closely by The Phildelphia Story with 4 votes. Lots of movies were recommended by 3 people. We’ll be planning on watching Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Bringing up Baby, The King & I, The Bells of Saint Mary’s, Singin in the Rain, The Sound of Music, Roman Holiday and West Side Story. And, those mentioned by 2 of you include A Streetcar Named Desire, Little Women, The African Queen, It’s A Wonderful Life, Arsenic and Old Lace, North by Northwest, Sunset Boulevard, White Christmas, Sabrina, Oklahoma, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Meet me in St. Louis, Billy Elliot, Pat and Mike, Desk Set, Babette’s Feast, Key Largo, Harvey, The Lion in Winter, Going My Way, The Thin Man and Sabrina.

Woo! That’s quite a list and we’ll be busy, busy, busy. Thanks everyone for playing along and sharing your favorite movies with me! I’ve got to go make some popcorn now!