I love 2006! I have finished something already, and am generally recharged and ready to take on whatever is in store for me. Some Noro Silver Thaw mysteriously showed up at my door on New Year's Day, and I then knit up these babies, diagonal rib wristwarmers from Last-Minute Knitted gifts, while I was with family (Japanese family, that is) for the holidays. They can joke and tease just like anyone at home, and they were more than sufficiently horrified when I told them of the recent drama with my one friend from work who has been giving me grief. They also reassured me that it is not "Japanese people" who are the problem but just an individual. I am much less jaded about the whole thing after hearing it from them. All three daughters and the parents were hanging on my every word (being very patient as I was stumbling to explain in Japanese..) and they really tried hard to think of a solution. No resolution, but it was nice that they cared.

Everyone was also very accepting of my knit hobby, and oohed and aahed at everything I pulled out of my Hello Kitty project bag. I'm not sure if it was my tension or due to all the attention and fondling that it received, but the size of the first wristwarmer I made was noticably larger than the second. Look! I can't figure out why, but since that part is generally stuffed under a sleeve and they both fit fine, there is no reason to be a total perfectionist about it.

So after three lovely days of eating home cooked food, sleeping late and laying around playing with little kids all day, it was time to come back the old homestead. I have been busy at work getting ready for classes and a big conference next week, but it's generally a good feeling to get things done rather than just sit around and wait for something to happen at school.

And finally, although I'm not a huge resolution-maker, I have been trying to improve the way I live my life over the past month or two. One thing that I so far have been totally unable to do is get up early. So my goal for this year is to wake up just 20 or 30 minutes early every day (or at least once in a while) and have time to sit and drink some coffee, watch the morning news shows and knit a few rows before heading to work. It beats getting up 15 minutes before leaving, taking a crazed shower, running around like a maniac and then racing to school to get there on time. Not that I do that on a regular basis or anything, though.

Oh yeah, and when I thought of the title? I was giddy for my snowboarding trip that I'll be leaving for in the wee hours of Friday morning. There will be lots of travel time by bus, boat and plane, which means knitting time, of course, and lots of snow!