Triumvirate of New

Triumvirate of New

  • New Year Ö
  • New Project Ö
  • New Book Ö

Knitting progresses on Rob Roy. It is slow going right now, as I have not found a flow to the cables yet – nor have I memorised the symbols! Plus I ran into a bit of a conundrum with the chart on round three but Mary came to the rescue and it has flowed smoothly since.

I love the texture these cowls have!

I ended 2016 with 2 additional projects completed – Project Peace and Singing Beach. And, 2017 has it’s first item in the completion column – my first PussyHat is complete. I will be casting on another to share and I think I am going to give Laura Nelkin’s mods a go!

New book underway – Moonglow A Novel by Michael Chabon.

And, in its first few days the New Year is perking along nicely!

What are you reading and knitting in the New Year?

Joining Ginny and her Yarn Along.

Flowers in January

Flowers in January

Tuesday…

Can you hear me drumming my fingers on the desk? Yes…it is annoying!

How about a bit of a rambling post today?

We only have 399 hours remaining of intelligence, grace, and dignity in the White House before the circus comes to town.

I am in the Resistance Camp and I have been girding my loins, as it were. Kym has been sharing weekly ideas that are awesome! The Wall of Us had some great ideas this week. Easy things. Really. Go sign up!

In the same resistance vein, I cannot stress how vital supporting news media has become. I signed up for a digital subscription of the Washington Post and it made me insanely happy to read that they had recently hired more than five dozen journalists. I have been struggling to find a news balance in the sea of media that seems to be okay with giving time to person who believes lies are the truth. It makes me feel like my little support is helping in the fight!

How many of you know about Give Your Amazon Box New Life? Me either, but this could come in very handy for my organization resolution! (Additional partners can be found here)

Finally, and on a brighter note – my Paperwhites have started blooming! Just one slender stalk, but there are buds of promise on the fellow bulbs!

Happy Re-entry Tuesday, everyone!

Doing Something!

Doing Something!

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something. – Neil Gaiman

When I look back on my goals for 2016, I had some winners and I also had some losers:

My goal to stitch daily fell by the wayside and a large part of why it did was because I did not give myself permission to make mistakes. I wanted my stitching to be perfect without acknowledging that this is a new craft and as with all new things – there is a learning curve, and making mistakes is part of that process. It is certainly true that I am my own worst enemy with my inner drive for perfection – and if it can’t be perfect, then I won’t do it. But, this year I am going to work on that and give myself permission to make mistakes, to learn, to make new things, to push myself, and GROW! I will also move beyond my desire to only present what is perfect and share the process – mistakes and all.

Thanks to Honoré, I spent some time at the end of 2016 rethinking my daily schedule/routine. I have reworked it allowing for a few moments each day to learn something new about stitching and to implement what I have learned. As the year progresses, I will have a collage of stitches that will reflect a daily snapshot similar to Bonnie Sennott’s journey and by this time next year, I will have completed a grand stitching journey where, I am hoping, there is visible growth and immense pride in my mistakes and accomplishments!

Organization also got left behind in the dust of “doing other things” – I blocked out Marie Kondo’s calls to focus and I am paying for that in spades as 2017 starts. Again, Neil Gaiman gives a gentle invitation to live, to push myself, and to change myself – and this is an invite I am going to embrace wholeheartedly!

2017 will be my year for being more organized in so many things. But, one main organization task will be to give some semblance of order to my digital and physical photos. This is something I have procrastinated about far too long and I am ready to get to work on this!

I want to continue in my desire to weigh less and to move more! I did well in 2016, but I still have a long journey to go – and after basking in Holiday Cheer for a good portion of December – this month I will focus on getting back on track.

I also want to use more of my handspun yarn, so this will mean doing more intentional spinning. I look forward to spending time sampling and planning for projects rather than just spinning with no plan in mind!

Finally, I set a challenging reading goal for this year and I look forward to working through my “want to read list” as I hope to exceed my goal!

Here is to a year of pushing myself, changing myself, changing my world, and doing things!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Joy in the Journey

Joy in the Journey

 “It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.” – David Steindl-Rast, Benedictine Monk

I worked through 2016 with a focus on gratitude – and though it took some effort, I really feel like I am ending the year with a better understanding of gratitude. This includes gratitude in my everyday life. From the simplest things to the most complex – I feel like gratitude is part of my being now.

Which brings me to 2017 – where do I go from here. I have been contemplating several words to focus on in 2017 and my mind kept circling around joy and then when I got an email on Saturday from Churchmouse Yarn and Tea with the above quote – the word seemed to leap out of the email.

It is so true, gratitude does make me joyful.

It is not complicated, nor does it indicate that I am adopting a Pollyanna-like view of life – but really, a simple joy stemming from gratitude in all things – even the difficult things.

In 2017, I hope you will come along with me as I celebrate finding joy in the journey.

Happy New Year to all of you!

What are you doing New Year’s Eve

What are you doing New Year’s Eve

This week’s prompt for Think Write Thursday is to talk about New Year’s Eve. Do you love it or hate it? Do you yearn to go out on the town or would you rather stay home for a cozy night in? Big party? Small gathering of friends? Tell us how you want to spend New Year’s Eve and remember, it’s just words and you aren’t actually committing to anything so the sky is the limit!

Queue the music…

So many questions in here!! Do I love it or hate it? Well, I think the answer is this:

The younger me loved the party aspect of the event, and the now me appreciates the review of the year and anticipation of the year to come. The younger me loved to get dressed up and head out for a night of party, party, party! The now me appreciates staying home in quiet reflection for the evening. And, honestly – staying up until midnight? That hasn’t happened in years.

Somehow the wild days of my youth have been replaced with – well, an old person! LOL

But, if I could have any New Year’s Eve I want – this would be it:

The company will be stellar and the conversation stimulating if all of you are here! There will be games and so much laughter! There might even be some tears as we remember what 2016 was.

And, as we look forward to what 2017 might bring, we can raise our glasses in hopefulness and good cheer.

That would be how I would like to spend New Year’s Eve – with all of you! And, in the perfect world – the transporter would be a thing and I would have one! However, please know that on New Year’s Eve I will be raising my glass to all of you in friendship, love, and good cheer.

Happy New Year my friends – may this coming year bring peace and prosperity to all of us!

If you would like to join Carole and I on this writing journey, we would love to have you! You can sign up here!

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