Three years gone...

How did I not notice that I passed my three-year blogging anniversary? In January. Apparently I don't pay attention to these things.

This makes me happy, because looking back at my (much older and less frequent) posts, I am struck by how much has changed. I finish things more quickly now, when I decide to actually work on them. I don't think I still have anything on the needles from back then, except for a crocheted tablecloth I'm not sure I'll ever finish. I guess now that I've stolen my parents' round table, I have more reason to work on it. Most striking, however, is how much my skillset has grown in the intervening years. I learned to knit continental, and realized that I still knit faster and tidier English, but I can use both hands for fair isle. People who tell you continental is faster may be true for themselves, but I think I'm sticking with my right hand, thank you very much. I have done lots of interesting colorwork, finished some really wearable stuff, and made probably too many knitted gifts. I've learned about errors in sizing and gauge, and continued to blissfully ignore the gauge swatch 90 percent of the time. I've knit a ginormous sweater for a coworker (no boyfriend curse there!), and I've knit a medium-sized sweater for a former boy (in that case, the curse did apply). I am a confident cabler, willing to take on the most intricate aran. Burridge, I'm looking at you. I hope to buy the yarn for that sucker after I pay off my new sofa. Oh, and I also became obsessed with lace. Expect more of that to come.

Did I mention I bought a sofa? Knitters need some serious equipment to be good at our craft- the right needles, the right yarn, decent lighting, and a comfortable but supportive seat. My old sofa wasn't doing so much for me on that last account. It was a La-Z-Boy convertible sofa, and although it was fairly comfortable, it just couldn't stand up to marathon knitting sessions anymore. I bought it for seventy-five dollars in grad school, from a girl who quit the program a year before I did, and it was a very happy couch for about four years. My (now former) roommate has it, and I'm sure it will serve her well. The bed is surprisingly cushy, in fact. But I figured with my new apartment, a real city-style efficiency, it is time to get rid of the inherited furniture and grow up a bit. I may still have an Ikea bedroom set- which I LOVE, by the way, thank you very much. And I may have crappy-as-heck bookshelves which I'd love to replace but can't afford to. But I can make an enormous change in the look of my apartment with a new sofa. It is the perfect sofa. Apparently furniture stores of a certain class don't say "couch" anymore... I find this funny. After checking out a few places, and debating the merits of leather over microfiber, I went with the most inexpensive expensive sofa I could find. West Elm was too cushy and too wide, Sam's Club too old-fashioned (though good on prices), but BoConcept in Georgetown had exactly the right mix of funky modern and not being $3000-5000 (I'm looking at you, Restoration Hardware and Crate & Barrel). I paid the price of perfection by going over budget, having to select microfiber, and waiting 12 weeks. But my sofa? Perfect. Comfortable to sit on, but firm enough to stand up to knitting for 14 hours in a day (did I say 14? I meant... some number that doesn't make me sound like a lazy slug). I hope to keep it for 5-10 years or more, and I just couldn't justify getting something that I wasn't completely in love with. I am disappointed to have to wait until frikkin JUNE... but this gives me an excellent excuse to enjoy my new efficiency, and watch TV from bed. Snuggling under the covers to watch movies for three months probably won't kill me.

I pick up my keys Friday afternoon. I am ridiculously excited. Life is good! Now to bed, so I can get up and pack my little heart out. And freecycle my life away.

That's my only other little tidbit- I'm apparently going to be interviewed about freecycling. They're even sending a real photographer. This should be entertaining- I've been interviewed for various things before, and generally come across as vapid. I don't know if I am actually that inane in real life, or if there is a law that editing newspaper and tv news requires taking out all pertinent details so the interviewee looks like a silly person... it's a toss-up.