Monday, January 12, 2009

Hallo! I'm back!

It's been two month since my last post, and now is as good a time to come out of hibernation as any, and resume blogging. Wonder if there still is somebody left interested in my ramblings? At first, after announcing the break, my head kept going, fabricating blog posts, looking for blog worthy information, only to slowly realize, it doesn't have to. Then it got quite easy, and the thought of never blogging again wasn't as horrible as it seemed at first. I've still been busy, knitting, and crocheting, not much spinning, and I will show you what I've accomplished over the last months.


It's always tempting to make changes, especially after a break, combined with the beginning of a new year (hope it will be a healthy, happy one for all of us), but I find, I'm a girl who needs her routine, and change, while sometimes necessary, is not always digested easily or welcome. So, my blog will stay the same, no new template, or change to a different provider etc. It will continue to be mostly about my knitting, spinning, crocheting, the dogs, sometimes about food, and what not. But before we start off with a parade of FO's, this post will be about an idea I had.


I found this book under the Christmas tree: Knitting for Good! by Betsy Greer. I've seen, and read about it on Li's blog.



I think, some books are not meant to be squeezed into a bookshelf, after we read them, and this is one of them. What I would like to do, and this is meant for people, who have and maintain a blog, is to pick randomly one person from the comments to send this book too, for reading and passing it on, in the same manner. I wonder how far and to what countries this book will go? If you are interested to play this little game, please leave a comment (even if you don't want to play, you can leave a comment ;o) ) We will need to link from where to book has come, and where it will go, so we all can follow it around.



I thought I'll insert a sheet of paper, with name and blog address on it, so people who'll get the book, can add their name and blog address. I'm also knitting Li's scarf for charity, the pattern is in this book, or you can get it from her, by asking for it in a comment.

It's not obligatory to knit something from the book (there are nine patterns in there), but if you want to, it would be nice. I'm knitting this scarf with Cherry Tree Hill Super Glitz. It's merino wool, with a strand of glitter, DK weight, and I'm using 4mm needles. I've cast on 42 stitches, because the yarn is thinner as recommended in the pattern. It will need blocking to open up the ribbing a bit, it's reversible, a fun stitch pattern. You can't really see it from the short piece on the picture, but the pink is doing a zig-zag in an orderly fashion, not just boring pooling, which I really hate. Still it's slow going. I think the herringbone ribbing draws it together, and I think I could have even used 4.5mm, but I'm NOT frogging it for that. Who will this scarf be knit for? I don't know yet. I hope I'll find someone in need of a warm scarf. It sure is cold enough right now around here. I hope I'll be done with it, at the end of the week.

So, I think this was a long enough post for getting back into the groove. I'll be back with FO's pictures. It's good to be back, and I hope I'll hear from you. By the way, if you have suggestions on how to make the "book forwarding" more interesting, or easier to follow, lets hear it too! :o)

60 comments:

  1. Welcome back! It's good to have you around again!

    Knitting for Good looks like a great book. Your idea to pass it along is perfect for the theme of the book. I'd love to participate.

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  2. Welcome back, Monika!

    That break went by quickly for me (I'm glad).

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  3. So very wonderful to see you are back. I think your idea about passing the book along sounds like good fun! count me in!

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  4. yea! i've been waiting for you to show up in my google reader!

    sign me up. ;)

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  5. Willkommen zurück - ich freu mich, dass du wieder blogst.

    Grüßle, die Bea

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  6. Welcome back, Monika! So glad you are blogging again.

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  7. Juchhu!! Da biste ja wieder!! Obwohl ich natürlich über ravelry immer geschaut habe, was Du so machst!

    LG Heike

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  8. I'm glad you are back - as I get older I find I too don't welcome change as much as I did, so I'm glad you decided to keep blogging. You're part of my routine! The book is a great idea.

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  9. Ahhhh All is now right in the world, Monika is back. :o)

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  10. Welcome back! Love your idea about passing the book around and would like to participate.

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  11. Lovely to have you back! I think the book idea is wonderful and will be like a message in a bottle bobbing all over the world!

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  12. Yaaaay! Glad you are back! I also stoped hibernating ;)
    Arlene

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  13. Welcome back and a big HELLO to Sam and Biko too! I hope your holidays were fun and well rested.

    Note: I purchased the Knitting for Good book too!

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  14. Welcome back! Really neat idea with the book! Very cool! as for keeping track of the book.... linking... or a blog... You know like the knit-a-longs and exchange things you see out there? Just a thought... Will be neat to see the books travels... I love the scarf! Very fun colours!

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  15. Schau - da sind schon 16 Willkommensgrüsse vor mir! Unser aller Freude ist groß.
    Grüßle Sabine

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  16. I guess we all need a break once in a while. It's nice to see what you are up to. The book idea is great and I love the colors of the scarf - go figure. :)

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  17. Welcome back to the Blogosphere! Glad to have you back with us Fiberista Bloggers. ;-)

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  18. Oh I am so glad you are back!!

    I hope the break was satisfying and gave you what you needed and wanted.

    I do not have a blog, therfore I cannot participate in your excellent book-a-long idea. I am commenting merely to say I'm glad you are blogging again. I missd reading your posts.

    dmj in kc, mo

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  19. Glad you're back. I'd love to pass the book around! What a great idea!

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  20. A break is so nice for many reasons - puts it all into perspective! I'm so glad you are back :-)

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  21. So Glad your back , I have missed you . I checked every week 2 or 3 times , YES you were missed. Thank 's , Judy from Alaska ~~~

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  22. Thanks for the nod and the wonderful idea. I've already been doing some passing around of the book ;-)

    The scarf looks great, but I'm biased.

    Missed you - glad you're back

    Li

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  23. Welcome back! You've been missed, but I'm glad you enjoyed the break!

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  24. This sounds like a great idea. Some ideas for organizing it:
    use Mr. Linky to get people to sign up and keep track of where the book is; after reading the book and passing it on knit something from the book to send to the person who sent the book to you.

    I would totally be interested if you are still looking for participants.

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  25. Welcome back, Monika! I love your book-passing idea, I'm in :)

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  26. yay! I'm glad you, your knitting and the pups are back again :)

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  27. So nice to "see" you again, Monika! Taking a break is vital to reassessing and re-energizing sometimes.

    I do understand how easy it becomes to not blog though. I haven't made an entry since November even though I'm still knitting.

    Glad to know you're back with purpose. Happy New Year!

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  28. You were missed! Hugs to Sam and Biko from Samson, Sasha and Sweetie! Hope you are all staying warm!

    Love the idea of sharing the book thru blogs.

    Welcome back!

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  29. Glad to see you're back. I kept you on Bloglines and apparently it was worth it. Knitting for Good would be interesting, but I have no idea who I could pass it on to.
    Gillian

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  30. I missed you too Monika!

    I'm IN! I love the idea of this :)

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  31. Welcome back! I have been checking in periodically to see if your hiatus was over.

    Please put my name in the hat.

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  32. Yay! You're back! I was so excited to see you in my Google Reader!!

    That's a great idea for the book. And, just what project is that book sitting on? It's GORGEOUS!

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  33. Happy New Year!

    I'm so glad you're back! I missed your blog terribly and it was hard not knowing when you would be back.

    You're here now and for that I'm thankful.

    About the book, sure thing. Pass it on and put me on the list.

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  34. Ich freue mich riesig, dass Du wieder blogst.
    Deine Seite ist einfach genial.
    Liebe Grüße aus Kärnten
    Elke

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  35. Welcome back dear Monika!!

    What a great idea about the book (wouldn't it be lovely if the book also comes to the Netherlands for a while.......?)

    The scarf looks great. Lovely colours!!

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  36. Welcome back!
    The book idea is great!

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  37. It is great seeing you post again! The scarf is beautiful. I love how the colors come out with the pattern.

    What a great book idea. It will be interesting to see all the places it will go.

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  38. Well it looks like I'm a little late to the welcoming committee!But a big welcome back!

    IO love the book idea. It will be interesting to follow it around as it makes it's journey. Add me to the list.

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  39. So nice to see you back! The yarn is gorgoeous and the book looks great. Happy New Year!

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  40. Wie schön, Monika, ich freu mich!!

    Liebe Grüße
    Tanja

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  41. Hello Monika, how lovely to have you back and with such alovely blog post too. The book idea is great and I would love to participate.

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  42. Welcome back! So glad to have you back! And what a great idea of passing on a book that is worth reading.

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  43. Welcome back!

    I love the idea of knitting for good. :)

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  44. Welcome back to the world of blogging. I think your idea for passing around the book is great and would love to participate!

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  45. I'm so glad to see you back :) I'm sort of back after being a negligent blogger. Things are getting a bit better, but I still have lots of catching up to do.

    Love the scarf you are knitting...very pretty and unusual pattern. Love what you are doing with the book...sounds like fun :)

    happy and healthy new year :)

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  46. That's a fabulous idea, passing the book hand to hand.

    The scarf is pretty!

    I'm glad to see you're back online.

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  47. Based on the number of comments in just a day I think it's safe to say that you were missed. Glad to see you back and with all the knitting you've been doing you'll have lots to blog about. I'm surprised to see me typing this, but I suppose I'd be interested in checking out the book. And give the doggies and hug from me! :-)

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  48. Hey! just a thought. You could pass it from follower to follower.
    the book and the patterns sound interesting.

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  49. Welcome back!!
    Schön, dass du wieder "da" bist! Manchmal ist so eine Pause(egal wovon) doch ganz gut - du scheinst nun richtig gerne zurück zu sein auf deinem Blog!
    Ich würde übrigens gerne bei der Buch-Aktion mitmachen.
    Liebe Grüsse
    Esther

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  50. Nice to see you back. Give the new 'routines' some more time; it can take 3 weeks to change a habit :)
    I LOVE the globe on the book! Is the pattern in the book? I'd love to take part in the passing around (even though I'm not all that far from you!).
    What about starting a blog just for the book's travels? Maybe highlighting some local charities or local work of big charities too?

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  51. Ich freue ich, dass du zurück bist.
    LG Silvia

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  52. Great to see your back. Good idea for passing the book around, not so sure I can handle reading or passing it though. My husband had thrown around the idea of a traveling Christmas card. Guess that is not such a good idea!

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  53. Welcome back! I was happy to see you appear in my blog reader. It will be good to hear from you again.

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  54. Hello and welcome back!
    It's good to read from you again.
    :o))

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  55. schoen dass du wieder da bist. freue mich auch in diesem jahr wieder auf deine kreativitaeten.

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  56. What a great idéa!
    I'd love to join in, and if we can all see where the book is going, we can all contintue to hope to get it: )
    Eventually, I might get lucky, right?

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  57. Welcome back! And add me to the list - sounds like fun!

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  58. Oh, wuerde bei der Buchaktion auch gerne mitmachen! Das Buch hoert sich super interessant an.

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