New Year 2013

Let's forget about 2012.  Not that it was a bad year.  Far from it.  However, I lost some of my mojo.  Knitting and blogging and gardening (too hot this summer) went by the wayside and time went by too fast with not much to show for it.

So going forward into the new year, I am going to try and get my mojo back.  My knitting has already started to increase.  I'm enjoying it again. I really kept to the resolve of not taking any classes and not buying yarn for anything but items I needed to start right then and there.  No patterns or pattern clubs, no KAL's or mystery KAL's (total disasters each and every time!) and knitting up the stash.

I really blitzed my yarn and got rid of two garbage bags full of yarn, some semi-new and some dating back to the days of my working at the Needlebasket (which was over 20 years ago).  I made a sweater for DD#1  Metro out of Cascade which turned out beautifully.  I made the same sweater for me out of some of that old yarn and I was far from happy with it.  It is okay, but nothing more.  When I started another sweater with a different yarn from that era and it was turning out like a brillo pad, I realized it was a waste of my time to continue.  So out it went along with most of the rest of the hangers-on from ancient times.  Yarn is so much nicer now and my time and effort is much better spent using the good stuff.  Lesson rather painfully learned!

This year I am going to continue knitting from the stash and I want to keep better track of my projects and knitting yardage.  I finished 27 items last year (which included Christmas knitting of dishtowels and slippers) as this included the epic bedspread, it's more than I thought it would be.

I'm in the "13 in 2013" group on Ravelry and I want the 13 to be items from my queue.  I have them in project bags, patterns and yarn together.  I would also like to make 12 pairs of socks; 6 simple pairs and 6 pair using some of the hand-painted yarn and special patterns I've been collecting. 

I have four sweaters and one shawl on the needles right now: Frost Flowers , Tempest, Dahlia, Pat's cardigan, and I just started Bel Air. I am going to concentrate on finishing these four and maybe start a pair of socks in January.  The year I made monthly goals worked well for me, so I think I will continue that.

I read 54 books last year and I would like to double that amount.  Two books a week seems possible, one audio book and one print book.

And I would like to do some sewing.  Nothing much.  Maybe project bags and simple curtains.  I would like to brush up on my sewing skills

I want this to be the year of the great clearing-out.  Getting rid of all the unnecessary junk in the house.  Because we haven't moved in over 30 years, we never seem to have a real reason to get rid of stuff.

And I am going to make sure I keep blogging.  At least once a week.  Keeps me aware of what I have accomplished and is a nice way to look back.

It's been snowy since Christmas with light dusting's every day or so.  You may be able to make out the beginnings of the snow fort the kids started building out of garbage cans full of snow.  Great idea!