Sigh

So I have failed at keeping up with this for a while. I will try to do better.

I have knitted Melia from Little Red in the City by Ysolda Teague (photos to follow when I have some I like).

I'm also knitting a sock for Him Indoors - and I've been taking pictures of it all over the place, including at LARP. Sock is toe up, short row toe, short row heel. Yarn is crazy zauberball.

Ben wants boot socks, and so they are quite large (2.75mm needles, 80sts) to fit over other pairs of socks, and I'm making them quite tall.

I want to recommend very highly Susan at fat free vegan. I made her Burritos with Spanish Rice and Black Beans tonight (link) and they were as good as the rest of the things I have cooked from her website. I added leeks because I had some laying around, and shop bought salsa. The event has left me feeling tired and quite lazy, so I was proud that I managed to cook at all.

Tomorrow we are planning to havecurried chick pea soup with cauliflower again from Susan, and I can't wait. The weather was cold enough at the event that I am craving soups and stews. Having made this before, it is a perfect recipe for the weather.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year all.

I did finish the 11 shawls in 2011, the 11th being Lazy Katy by Birgit Freyer. I'll have pictures of that at some point.
I also completed a Dwarven Battle Bonnet for Ben.

This is it modelled by me. I have now got at least 3 requests for more battle bonnets. Silly nerds :)

I don't really make new years resolutions as such. Last year I wanted to complete my 11 shawls, but that is the closest I've come in a while. This year may be slightly different. Not a resolution per se but just a goal to eat better and be nicer to myself.

I know what I'm like, though. I work well with challenges and with deadlines. So starting today I am going to be eating as close to a vegan diet as I can for a month. What I mean by "as close as I can" is that I'm not going to throw out my utterly butterly, but when it runs out I'll be picking something dairy free.
Ben is joining me for the most part, but I can understand his lack of desire to switch the milk in his tea for non dairy.
The aim is that after a month I sit down and see how a month eating this way has made me feel. I may decide to continue, I may not.
The exception this month is going to be my birthday - if I decide to have cake, then cake I shall have. If I bake my own cake, I'll do something vegan, if I buy one then the chances of it being vegan are significantly reduced.
I'm not doing this for the love of animals (they're all right I suppose :p) but essentially out of sheer vanity. When I ate mostly vegan food a couple of years ago, I was thinner, and I would like to be healthier.

And no, I am not giving up wool :)

I shall be blogging my progress, recipes and the like, along with the usual yarn related blatherings.