It has been a bit of a journey to get here, but the time for dancing around the elephant in the room is done.
I am going to bring some baggage with me though, which I am hoping will make this journey a bit easier…yay for all I learned from my previous words!
I started a journey with a word back in 2017… I picked joy and had no idea what I was doing. At all. It was a true bust of a word and so I did not pick a word at all in 2018. But I spent time in 2018 researching One Little Word… specifically the whyof choosing a word. And so with several pages of notes in my journal, I decided to try again in 2019.
And so I began my year of Focus. I did not understand the power of that a quote could have over the course of the year, but I started off with Eckhart Tolle, Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life. It was a good year, and I began to “get” the value that a word could bring to your life.
I moved into 2020 expanding focus a bit more and: the Year of Intentional Living was born. This time I focused entirely on a single quote by the wise Mary Anne Radmacher, Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen Hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is. And over the course of the year, I contemplated all the delicious bits of her quote. I kept my focus, and yes, I absolutely began the process of Intentional Living. And from there, I wanted my journey to go where I will this year… but it did not feel right. I had a good amount of unfinished business to sort out.
I knew that I could not have one scintilla of authenticity until I could release so much. Hello, 2021… the Dreaded Year of Release. It was a year of hard work… and I was so happy to be done. Although, I am far from done… I made a very good start!
2022 was a much better year… and after letting so much stuff go, I spent the year learning about being Full… with the delightful help of Mary Oliver’s poem, The Summer Day. It was such a good word… and it was a wonderful year. I learned so much. And still… Focus, Intentional Living, and Release were very much still a part of my journey. You see, I realized early on that words could be building blocks, each word providing a base for the next word to grow from.
And as 2022 began to draw to a close, authenticity began to reappear on my radar… regularly. And so, with great trepidation… I will embrace authenticity in 2023. I have a good foundation, I think I am ready for this exciting word!
Welcome to my Year of Authenticity! And January is always so much fun as I dig in and see what authenticity has to reveal!
I will be back on Wednesday with some Unraveling… a New Year of Making Intentions post!
P.S. That photo above is my bright, shining, sans makeup, freshly 63 err…62-year-old face! (I do know how old I am…most days! LOL) Grey hair? Yep! A wrinkle to two? Absolutely!! Yes, my first step into authenticity will be getting comfortable with images of myself!
What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though. ― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
This year, I set my “reading goal” at 60 books and while I have read many more than 60 books… the number is not a thing for me at all. Rather, I am looking to spend a year with books that “knock me out” as it were… thank you Mr. Salinger for that. And yes, books that make me wish the author was a friend… oh gosh, I wish this so often. I had a year of those kinds of books… knock out books that left me wishing that the authors were all my friends!
The other “big thing” for me this year was the fact that there were so few 5-star books. I tried to set myself on a better path for book ratings… and this year most of the books I deeply loved, the “knock outs” were 4-star books. I think this is a very good thing… because it elevated those 5-star books a bit higher… which a 5-star book should be!
And so let’s begin with some of the best of the best, shall we?
Knock Out’s, most certainly (and I absolutely do wish I was friends with every.single.author listed!!)
I am currently reading an ARC of Maggie Smith’s memoir that will be out early next year. It is incredible and, if I finish it this week… it will be the best book memoir I read all year. It is so insanely good… I don’t want it to end, so I am rationing the reading to make it last! Do yourself a favor… pre-order it ASAP!
There you have my 2022 reading… it was such a very good year!
Now, a tiny post script for the Year of Gnomes. Gnoelle has made it very clear that she is but one of three siblings. Yes, triplets. And I need to get knitting PRONTO to bring her siblings to life. I am on it, Gnoelle! I am not sure I can get them done before the New Year…it would be something to Knit Three Gnomes in December! All I can do is try, hahaha!
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
I think I will be back on Friday…but if I am not, it simply means that the knitting has overtaken the blogging! Haha!
Filling what’s empty and emptying what’s full.
― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky
I have spent a year contemplating full and it has been a wise use of my time! I used Mary Oliver’s Summer Day as my starting point, and particularly these lines:
Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
And so I began… thinking about how to fill my days and, more specifically, what to fill them with!
It soon became apparent to me that being full was a thing in flux…full, filling, empty. Full is not a “one and done” concept and that in order to appreciate full – I needed emptiness as well.
And, likewise, I quickly learned that there was little to appreciate in being “overly full.” Leaving space for more enhanced full…tremendously.
And so the sweet spot of filling became a thing I thought about every day… not just the filling, but the things I filled my day with!
But this does not end my journey with full… I will continue on and I am so excited about how full will fit with my new word for 2023!
I want to thank Carolyn for her continued inspiration in the power that a word can do for your days, weeks, months, and yes… years!
See you back here on Wednesday as I unravel my year of reading!
Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmastime. ― Laura Ingalls Wilder
Today, I hope to do a bit of what Halfpint so nobly encourages us to do… but perhaps a bit less reverently, ha! So let’s get RIFFing!
Read (poetry) —
I heard this poem this week and have not stopped thinking about it. A good poem will do that… linger, niggle, inch into your thoughts. Kay Ryan is one of those poets… her work lingers…wonderfully.
Crib
by Kay Ryan
From the Greek for woven or plaited,
which quickly translated
to basket. Whence the verb crib, which meant “to filch”
under cover of wicker
anything–some liquor,
a cutlet.
For we want to make off
with things that are not
our own. There is a pleasure
theft brings, a vitality
to the home.
Cribbed objects or answers
keep their guilty shimmer
forever, have you noticed?
Yet religions downplay this.
Note, for instance, in our
annual rehearsals of innocence,
the substitution of manger for crib—
as if we ever deserved that baby,
or thought we did.
Michelle Obama knit us all together with the image that she posted on IG this week of a sweater she knit for a baby. This wondrous thing we do, that causes us to oooh and aaah over the things other makers knit. We understand… knitting is not quick and so we lift each other up. It is one of the best parts of this community.
For those of you who enjoyed Knives Out (I did for a variety of reasons!) there is a new mystery dropping today on Netflix… Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. More Daniel Craig over the holiday weekend? Yes, please! Hahaha
Festivus —
That’s right… today is Festivus! What is that you might ask? Perhaps this can explain it all better…
And with that… Happy Festivus for the Rest of Us! I will see you back here on Monday!
I hope your holidays, however you celebrate them, are overflowing with every good thing!
After the longest night, tomorrow we sing up the dawn. There is a rejoicing that, even in the darkest time, the sun is not vanquished. As of tomorrow, the days begin to get longer as the light of day grows. While the gentle winter sun slowly opens its eyes, let us all bring more light and compassion into the world. ― Dacha Avelin
Greetings, Gentle Unravelers! Happy Winter Solstice! Welcome to the return of the light!
My plan with this post is to do a bit of a Making Review for 2022. I am likely to finish just one more project this year… Gnoelle is inching ever closer to finish and by the time Saturday arrives, I think she will be close to completion! (I think the last clue will arrive that day!) Let’s begin my Twelve Months of Making shall we?
In the first month of ’22 I knit a cowl for me and a Gnome who is named Nutmeg.
The second month of ’22 was lacking any finishes but, yes there was a Gnome! Whoa Gnellie!
In the third month of ’22 I knit a pair of socks, a test knit for the awesome Ms. Mucklestone, a Handspun Hitchhiker, and Gneville the Gnome! I also turned a set of sheets into some very retro pjs for me!
In the fourth month of ’22 my Gnome Family grew to FOUR with the addition of sweet Gnocchi!
In the fifth month of ’22 I knit a slightly too large Tegna for me and wee Gnorwen for my mantle!
In the sixth month of ’22 I knit some Socks for Sam… and Gnombleberry and his wee brother, Gnewt, joined the Gnome Gang!
The seventh month of ’22 I knit another Gnome… dear Gnigel who has knitted carrots!
In the eighth month of ’22 I reached Knitting Knirvana with my Calamus Pullover. The.Best.Sweater.Ever!! And Gnarly Marly rounded out the making month!
In the ninth month of ’22 I dusted my sewing machine off and cranked out two sweatshirts and a pair of denim pants. And Gnorton Smokes a Pipe joined the Gnome Gang!
The tenth month of ’22 saw the completion of an eons old project… Ye Olde Pheasant Pullover. (The Pheasant Sweater reminds me that I really want to make this lovely sweater so perhaps I need to add it to my 2023 knitting plans!) And the most adorable Gnutkin came to be! AND… one too big, but wearable muslin jumper/tunic.
The eleventh month of ’22 and the making is slowing down, but Gnaomi joined the Gnome Gang!
The twelfth month of ’22 still has some days to go, but I have two knitted trees, one stack of packages, and a soon-to-be-finished Gnoelle!
Whew! That’s how you make not a lot of making look like way more than it is! Hahaha!
I also perfected my bread baking skills… I baked lots of bread in ’22. I also perfected poofy pitas!
My most inspiring making is all the watercolor painting I have done this year. I started in earnest in July with a beginning watercolor class and I have not looked back. I took 3 classes this year and have no plans to stop… my next class begins in January and it has rapidly moved into the favored making category.
Rocks and “moving water” was a true challenge and the perfect way to end this class on making the ordinary extraordinary!
Although Gnome Knitting will forever hold a special place in my making… I do so love those little Gnomes! My Year of Gnomes was simply.the.best! Steve thinks I need to make all the gnomes for his mom in ’23.
Maybe.
But I also think my Gnome Gang needs some more trees and a house or two. However, I am certain that I will continue to knit Gnomes as new patterns are released. There is Gno Making Like Gnome Making! Haha!
Next week I will Unravel my reading for you all and share my Most Loved Books of the Year!
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
