Begin at the Beginning

Hello 2013! This new year was welcomed in quietly - we're finally recovering from a month's worth of germs.

For me, 2012 on the whole was a good year, but not an easy one. So much has changed with my children and I started working from home (in the yarn industry - I'm still pinching myself on that one). I'm quite pleased with my knitting and crochet projects this year. Even with the shift (and struggles) for available time for projects, in 2012 I finished 76 items. That includes 14 hats, 3 cowls, 1 pair of socks, 1 single sock, a snowman, a pair of baby booties, 1 shawl, 1 sweater for me, 1 sweater for Nate, 2 monsters, a Holy Handgrenade, 4 mermaids, 3 pandas, 2 zombie eyes, 1 cuff, 20 hexiflats and 17 samples! 76 is certainly a respectable number of items - not my best, not my worst. A personal resolution I made last year was to challenge myself to have a paid knitting job (preferably paid in money, but yarn is ok too!) each month - I met that goal in October!

I am unsettled and undecided yet as to what I really want to focus on in 2013. I had big plans to make it a very selfish knitting year as I really want new socks, a sweater, hat, and armwarmers, but life sometimes has other plans. I've already got a pile of UFOs to take care of and new items to plan for. The usual "knit the stash / work the queue" are in there as well. I also have several other intentions for the year. I know that I rarely stick to resolutions, so I'm choosing intentions - I mean well!

1.1.11

Hello 2011. 2010 was a pretty good year on the whole - we weren't thrown too many loops and there were a lot of good times and laughter. I am easing into 2011 and my thoughts for the new year are a bit scattered - there is so much that I hope to do (and I hope works out) and probably just not enough time. Nevertheless, knitting and crochet-wise, I did complete quite a lot in 2010 - 84 things That breaks down to: 6 socks, 1 pencil, 2 pair of mittens, 1 lump of coal, 3 neckwarmers, 1 Puppy sweater, 3 sweaters for me, 2 scarves, 2 sweaters for Jackson, 16 hats, 2 sweaters for Lorelai, 1 lace blanket, 2 capelets, 1 bird in a nest, 1 owl hair clip, 1 butterfly ring, 1 caution cone, 1 kerchief, 2 dishcloths, 1 shawl, 3 baby sweaters, 1 mini mountain, 1 headband, 1 afghan, 1 pigeon, 1 potholder, 2 pairs baby shoes, 1 seahorse, 2 shrugs, 2 hearts, 2 sample sweaters, 4 blanket squares, 9 acorns) Phew!!

And certainly I am not stopping anytime soon. As I thought about what I would like to accomplish in the next 12 months I was inspired by words written by other knit bloggers: LazyKnitsAndPurls and WifeMomKnitter...
Things that May (or May Not) happen in 2011 -
**Knit socks. I'm still trying to figure out my own personal sock club. I have 6 socks that only one of the pair is done. So this year I really am aiming to knit up those other 6 socks. I haven't been wearing my handknit socks this winter as I am scared about wearing them out as I know I have so few left in the sock drawer!! I also want to knit Dan a new pair of socks. And I would like to alternate the knitting of a mate with knitting a complete new pair - so I am trying to decide if I will follow along with one of the sock groups on ravelry or just work from the sock pattern books that I have. I'm still trying to figure out if I am better off just group the projects / yarns together in one spot or if I should package them up for a surprise each month or so.

**Knit from my pattern books! I have a pretty good library now and if the whole reason I bought the book was for the patterns, I should make use of that!

**Knit from the stash. Goes without saying I think - I have a lovely stash and need to get it on the needles. Between my library and my queue, certainly I can find *something* I would like to knit with yarn I already have! Once I finish up 2 samples that I am working on first up is likely to be any of the following:
Scrappy Doll for Lorelai, Granny Stripes blanket for me, baby gifts, and assorted little things: Sheldon turtle, snowflakes, hearts...

**Sewing. I got a little more comfortable with my sewing machine this year - I look forward to doing more with it.

**Creative stuff with Lorelai - I want to do more with her preschool-wise. I think she could benefit by some school-type activities - so much of our time is go with the flow (and that is important) but she is such a smart little girl, I think she could handle some activities I have seen on different homeschool sites. I am not planning on homeschooling at all, but she's not in day care or preschool (gotta be potty trained!) where she would get some of that exposure. I am hoping that a lead on a job comes through and if it does, I'll be able to afford sending her to "school" for a few half days each week. We'll see. It would also give us something else to do! I feel like we're in a rut!

**Continue to de-clutter and organize. Ever present need for me.

**Relax. Be flexible. Get the garden in on time.

Cheers!