Inaugural Vacation

I am thoroughly enjoying my four day weekend thus far. I watched the HBO streaming video of the inaugural concert yesterday- from the comfort of a cozy couch, as opposed to the sub-freezing temps on the Mall. Gym buddy and knitting friend Manda was going to head out there- wonder if she did, and if it was wonderful in person! I teared up a bit at a few points. I am not as patriotic as my kid sister, currently deployed with the Air Force, but I am certainly a patriotic girl.

I spent my viewing time knitting productively, too. I finished the first Endpaper Mitt for my coworker. Disregard the ends which I haven't woven in, yet- the concert ended on time:


I also have been moving along with the cashmere lace stole. I still haven't added the third ball of yarn, but that should be soon. It's getting so long it's hard to photograph! Here it is with my foot for reference:


And with a slipper instead:

New beginnings

So I haven't been upkeeping the blog very well the last few weeks. In part, it's because I had a pretty exciting end to 2008. I've been dating this really cute and super nice guy for a while now, and on New Year's Eve he asked me to marry him. I think I can get a pass on the knit blogging because I've been too giddy with laughing and drinking champagne and generally doing nothing but work and kissing ever since.

A week later, I'm only just coming back down to reality. I don't think I've knit a stitch since December. So it's definitely time to get back to work. I have a date with a friend of mine to quilt on Sunday (which means I need to find my Storm at Sea quilt and get it ready). And I am definitely ready to get back to some knitting. I have a belated holiday/birthday gift to work on, I signed up for the crazy 12-sweater challenge... and of course I need to fit in wedding planning and moving and all the incredibly exciting couple stuff, too, in between craft projects. Heck, I'm hoping to DIY a fair bit of this wedding- which is still crafty, but in a whole new way for me.

G started a blog for us on New Year's Day, so we can kick 2009 off right and document this whole crazy wedding experience. You're welcome to check it out- I figure maybe this way I can keep the strictly wedding stuff off of Handknit by Mikaiya, and reserve this blog for my knitting and craft obsession. But I bet they both bleed into each other a fair bit. How could they not- one of the first discussions regarding living together was how I'm going to fit all of my yarn and sewing machines and craft supplies into our home! At least I found the right man. He doesn't mind the fact that I'm going to have yarn in the coffee table for the rest of our lives, and potentially dangerous knitting needles all around the house. What a darling.

Reading 2008 Recap

I knit pretty voraciously. All the time. But I am still a reader first and foremost. 2008 was not a particularly strong year for my reading habit- in the end I only finished 56 books. And a fair number of them (as usual) were comics and graphic novels. But I also tried to explore new genres this year. I was introduced to some new sci fi authors (Richard K. Morgan and Cory Doctorow). I finally read The Moonstone, which has been on my shelf since middle school at the latest. I finally plogged through Middlesex, which gets so very much better in the second half.I discovered a love for China, a thing for bad addictive vampire fiction, and generally this was a great year for entertaining and thoughtful reads. I also vowed to get a bit more nonfiction on the list... which was successful only in comparison to last year. Maybe 2009 will bring me more nonfiction joys.

I'm not sure which were my favorite books of the year. Good Omens was probably the funniest. The Stephanie Meyer books were the most addictive. World War Z and my first Anita Blake novels kept me up the latest on work nights. Promethea was the most mind-numbingly brilliant comic I read, but I have a special place in my heart for Scott Pilgrim and the Fables. There's only one book I actually detested - Bullies, Tyrants, and Impossible People. So there you go.

Full list appears below!

2008 Full Reading List

1. Bryan Lee O'Malley - Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 2: Scott Pilgrim Versus the World (1/2/2008)
2. Bryan Lee O'Malley - Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 3: Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness (1/3/2008)
3. Bryan Lee O'Malley - Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together (January 2008)
4. Jim Collins - Good to Great (1/30/2008)
5. L. M. Montgomery - Rilla of Ingleside (1/31/2008)
6. Linda Medley - Castle Waiting (2/4/2008)
7. Brian K. Vaughan - Y: The Last Man Vol 1: Unmanned (2/2008)
8. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - Good Omens (3/2008)
9. John Berendt - The City of Falling Angels (3/2008)
10. Jeffrey Eugenides - Middlesex (4/2008)
11. Sara Gruen - Water for Elephants (4/2008)
12. Patrick M. Lencioni - The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (4/2008)
13. Isa Chandra Moskowitz - Veganomicon (5/2008)
14. Wilkie Collins - The Moonstone (5/2008)
15. Ronald M. Shapiro and Mark A. Jankowski - Bullies, Tyrants, and Impossible People (5/2008)
16. Lisa See - Peony in Love (6/2008)
17. Richard K. Morgan - Altered Carbon (6/2008)
18. Marjane Satrapi - Persepolis - The Story of a Childhood (6/15/2008)
19. Cynthia Ozick - The Shawl (6/15/2008)
20. Charles Stross - Singularity Sky (6/15/2008)
21. Brian K. Vaughan - Y: The Last Man Vol 2: Cycles (6/2008)
22. David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day (6/22/2008)
23. Lisa See - Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (6/23/2008)
24. Pearl Buck - The Good Earth (6/27/2008)
25. Marjane Satrapi - Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return (6/29/2008)
26. Mark Dunn - Ella Minnow Pea (6/29/2008)
27. Bill Willingham - Fables Vol 10 - The Good Prince (7/2/2008)
28. Brian K. Vaughan - Y: The Last Man Vol 3: One Small Step (7/7/2008)
29. Brian K. Vaughan - Y: The Last Man Vol 4: Safeword (7/13/2008)
30. Michael Chabon - The Yiddish Policemen's Union (7/13/2008)
31. Gilbert Hernandez - Heartbreak Soup (7/14/2008)
32. Deborah Madison - Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmer's Markets (7/19/2008)
33. Max Brooks - World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (7/19/2008)
34. Brian K. Vaughan - Y: The Last Man Vol 5: Ring of Truth (7/21/2008)
35. Brian K. Vaughan - Runaways, Vol. 1 (7/26/2008)
36. Laurell K. Hamilton - Guilty Pleasures (8/6/2008)
37. Stephanie Meyer - Twilight (8/9/2008)
38. Stephanie Meyer - New Moon (8/10/2008)
39. Scott Westerfield - Uglies (8/12/2008)
40. Cory Doctorow - Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (8/15/2008)
41. Laurell K. Hamilton - The Laughing Corpse (8/2008)
42. Markus Zusak - The Book Thief (8/26/2008)
43. Scott Westerfield - Pretties (9/1/2008)
44. Laurie Perry - Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair: The True-Life Misadventures of a 30-Something Who Learned to Knit After He Split (9/1/2008)
45. Rebecca Alpert - Whose Torah?: A Concise Guide to Progressive Judaism (9/2008)
46. Angie Sage - Magyk - Septimus Heap, Book 1 (9/23/2008)
47. Scott Westerfield - Specials (10/2008)
48. Eion Colfer - Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox (10/8/2008)
49. Zadie Smith - On Beauty (11/2/2008)
50. Alan Moore - Promethea: Book One (11/7/2008)
51. Alan Moore - Promethea: Book Two (11/17/2008)
52. Alan Moore - Promethea: Book Three (11/19/2008)
53. Mike Mignola - Hellboy Vol. 1: Seed of Destruction (11/29/2008)
54. Brian K. Vaughan - Y: The Last Man Vol 6. Girl on Girl (11/29/2008)
55. Stephanie Meyer - Eclipse (12/4/2008)
56. Christopher Buckley - Boomsday (12/7/2008)