2007 Review

First, I hope you all had a nice holiday season!

(and p.s. this might be a long post)

What a year! I've done a lot of knitting, a ton of dyeing, and a ridiculous amount of life changing. Last December we bought a house, in April I quit my job which was a terrible move financially but the best choice for my sanity, I did a little job hopping over the summer, then landed an awesome job at the University and I'm still loving it (thanks Carrie!!!).

Last year I made some resolutions, and for the most part I've kept up with them.

They facts were these (I love it when Jim Dale says that on Pushing Daisies!!):

1. Stop letting my fear of failure hold me back.

I'm still working on this one, and I think it's a lifelong goal. This year I'm signing up for a photography class and voice lessons (egad!!).

2. This year I’m going to work toward making changes I’ll appreciate in the next 30 years. That includes: losing 15-20 lbs, making exercise a daily habit, eating healthier, drinking more water (and less diet soda), meditating, keeping an eye on my posture, and generally taking better care of myself. I’d like to run a few 5ks this year too.

I'm uh...still working on this one too. I had made some great exercise and weight loss progress before my unfortunate tangle with the evil stairs, and I'm not able to exercise much now, but I'm working back toward it when I'm not in pain. See below for more details on this.*

3. My goal is to read as many of my technique books as possible and incorporate more mastery into my knitting. I’m going to start with EZ’s Knitting without Tears, and Nancy Bush’s Knitting Vintage Socks. I’d like to get better at making socks, venture into fair isle, work on developing prettier cast on and bind off methods, learn to like seaming, and maybe try my hand at a lace shawl.

I've done quite well with this one. My socks now rock with little effort, I cast on a fair isle hat this week in prep for the Fearless Knitting KAL that started today, and I've learned a few new cast ons! I tried lace and it didn't like me much, but I have the Hanami Shawl all queued up in my head and just need to dye some yarn for it. Did I actually "read" my books? No. But I did glance through them. Once.


This year my goals are remarkably similar.

1. I want to keep getting better with my knitting and keep working hard on the dyeing business. I'm adding fair isle, intarsia, and entrelac to my skill set, and I might completely jump off the knitting ship with some steeking. Be prepared for lots of hair pulling and freaking the fuck out. Taking scissors to my knitting makes me a little weak kneed. I've no idea how the dyeing will go, but I'm hoping for the best.

2. *The most important thing I'm going to do though is to become very serious about taking care of my health. This year has been especially difficult health-wise, as I've literally been sick almost the entire time. My plan involves a strict diet, lots of vitamins, exercise and yoga. I have no choice. I want to be well. So I'm basically going to be treating myself like I have an autoimmune disorder since I can't stay well for long. I'm cutting out fast food, soda (omg), coffee, and white sugar while treating myself to yummy greens, good food and lots of water. I did this sort of thing when I went vegan for a few years in college and I think it might be the best thing for my body right now. I just have to start over and help my system heal.

Next week I'm going to an eye doctor to get prescriptions for a condition I've been ignoring (yeah I know, that's totally not helping), and I'm going to get myself back on track. If I have to take 15 pills a day to stay healthy, then fine. If it costs me $100 a month, ok. Whatever. It's the most important thing right now. And for some reason, I'm terrified. What if my grand plan doesn't work? The implications are that there's something bigger and uglier under the surface of all my symptoms and I just don't know that I'm prepared to face that. Ok, enough panicking and being irrational.

I'm also going to be re-strengthening myself with cardio and lifting weights. I have to start slow and with teeny weights, which is humbling since I used to be able to lift a pretty decent amount, but it only increases my resolve to get back what I had.

Moving on....I've been occupying my time this week with dyeing for as long as I can stand up and trying to find something to knit. Funny how when I'm faced with gift knitting I can think of eleventy billion things I'd rather be doing, but when I actually have an entire week off, I can't come up with ONE thing. Not one. I did cast on the Red Light Special hat and the Hourglass Sweater in a fit of "omg i must knit something or my brain might rot". Pictures to come! (p.s. I'm lame for not taking more pics, but hey, I'm on vacation!)

I'm not really pleased with the Noro sock yarn, so I've finished one sock but I'm totally unmotivated to start the second one. I don't dig the thick and thin parts, it's scratchy, and I have serious doubts as to how it's going to hold up through wear and tear. But the colors are fun.

So to distract me from my knitting frustration, I've been playing Rock Band. OMG. I've never had so much fun in all my life!! Nate plays the guitar and I sing and drum. I'm a fair singer (in privacy), so I can do most songs I know on hard, but the drumming is a BITCH. I'm having fun learning, and all the reviews basically say "woe to the drummer in this game" so I have to play on easy, but I can do fairly well at the medium setting on the easier songs. (p.s. I totally rock out Wave of Mutilation and Blitzkrieg Bop)

Ok, that post only took about a week to finish. Hope you're having a great New Years Day! Wish my mom happy birthday and junk! Probably shouldn't tell you how old she is, lest I want my own death on my head.

Also, just cause I had to share:



My dog doesn't like the holidays much. Hehehehehehe.