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?
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!
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!
“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.
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!
First up – an update on my Christmas Bulb-a-thon: Paperwhites are going gangbusters while the Amaryllis is going nowhere? The bloom and two leaves shriveled up and fell off. The remaining leaves have greened up some, but there is no new growth at all. I am not hopeful that this will be successful, but it has been a learning experience. Now, I am cheering on those Paperwhites, despite the smell that I have been warned about! LOL
Now, on to the reading of the post!! 2016 was a fantastic year for reading at Casa del KatKnits!
I finished 54 books this year and thanks to Summer Book Bingo, I stepped out of my “reading comfort zone” and read some books I would have not normally picked up – but did and I loved them! I might be able to get one more book read this year, rounding out the number at 55. I just got The Nix from the library, but it is unlikely that I can finish it before the New Year – we shall see!
I read books that made me yearn to visit other places – The Year of Living Danishly, and James Rebanks tales of his sheep and his land in England were excellent books to give you a different perspective on life on this planet.
I became enamored with Inspector Gamache and Three Pines as I worked through mysteries with him. And, Inspector Gamache is the perfect companion for my love of Nordic Noir novels – I filled my shelf with a good number of Scandinavian mysteries.
All this reading has inspired me to really step up my goal for 2017 and I have a well-stocked reading list to get me started!
The knitting this week saw the finish of gift socks, and the start of the first of two Rob Roy hats. My swatching has begun – in the form of the band of the hat. My gauge varies dramatically from flat knitting to in the round knitting, so this is the best way for me to swatch!
I also have almost finished my Peace Cowl.
2017 will be the year of the sweater – I have a couple in process that will be back in active knitting rotation now that the Christmas knitting is over!! And, there are plans for a couple more to be cast on in soon! I will be swatching this gorgeous Sheepspot CVM as soon as I get it wound into a ball! Yes, lots of knitting to usher in the New Year!
How did your year of reading and knitting end?
As always, I am linking up with Ginny’s Yarn Along, where you can find knitting and reading inspiration!
That would be what I am today – starting my 56th journey around the sun.
…Age is just a state of mind, and you are as old as you think you are. You have to count your blessings and be happy. ~ Abhishek Bachchan
And, I thought a little montage of the much, much, much younger me would be nice way to reminisce about this monumental event.
We start with this little girl in a laundry basket on my Nana’s porch – I think I was about 6 months old. And, although I do not remember this at all, my Nana’s house was a place that I spent a great deal of my life. My Aunt Jacque was in high school here.
My Nana always loved to tell the story of me sitting in the laundry basket. The best part of memories is hearing others tell them and even though you can’t remember – but somehow you feel like you remember it because you have heard it so many times. I still have the basket in this picture.
This family fills my mind with the best of memories. My Nana was my favorite person in all the world. And, seeing this photo with my grandpa (and his two sisters – Aunt Sylvia and Aunt Marion) from the days when he could still get outside on his own is the best. He had MS, but he taught me how to swing and so much more!
This was one of very few vacations we ever took as a family – Here are my sister and I going through the Soo Locks. I remember this photo being taken and really – could any girl be more stylish? Looking at it today, I think my mom must have had a Sophia Loren obsession!
Here are my sister and I at the house my dad and his dad built and this is the house we lived in the longest.
One good thing about having had so many birthday’s is that you have so many memories! And, that makes me feel happy and so blessed!
I hope not. I have a few more inches of Christmas Knitting to complete, but the end is in sight and it will be done later today.
That is a good thing because I am ready to do some deadline free knitting.
Well, sort of…
There are some KAL’s coming in January and February that could be fun:
Last year I did 12 Days of Casting on with the now closed Natural Stitches, but I am not aware of any group doing this during the 12 Days of Christmas (there is a group that started before Christmas which was bad planning IMO) But, if you are interested in 12 Days of Casting on – rules are simple, cast on one new project every day from Boxing Day to Epiphany. End result – 12 items for your knitter’s gift basket… Or perhaps 12 items to jump-start your 2017 FO list… The goal is not in the completion, but rather the casting on. Last year, I cast on multiple mitts and a cowl or two and had things to gift most of the year. If you need some ideas – Gale’s Trip Mitts are super fun and a fast knit!
2 – MKAL – On January 1st Kirsten Kapur will announce her winter MKAL Sock knit along. Knitting will begin February 1st – you can sign up for her newsletter here.
Need to ramp up your shawl wardrobe? Winter’s Whisper might be what you are looking for and this is free until the MKAL begins on February 1st.
And, last – although this is not an official KAL – I would like to invite you to join Juliann and me as we knit Thea Coleman’s Rob Roy together in a mini-KAL. Who does not need another hat? And, if you don’t – you could always add it to your gift knitting for next year!
And, finally – I would like to wish all of you a most blessed holiday weekend. See you back here on Monday!
P.S. A huge thanks to my friend Karen for her assistance with some of this linky goodness!
The Think Write Thursday prompt for this week is to write about the ways I stay positive when it feels like everything is going wrong. What do I do to get through those times and stay focused on the good?
For me the answer is not to make lemonade out of the crisis/issue/problem. Some problems cannot be sweetened or made better no matter how hard you try.
My solution when there is an issue/crisis/problem is to focus on something else entirely. And, not in an ignore the issue/crisis/problem kind of way, but instead it is a way for me to not get mired down in the issue/crisis/problem.
I want to stay “out of the pit” and approach it with a better view. I won’t solve anything if I am drowning with the problem.
Now, that does not always equate to staying positive, but it does help me keep my focus.
The other thing that I find extremely helpful is that I do not believe that every problem needs to be solved or has a solution. Sometimes it can’t be – and maybe the solution is to have a different focus.
I try to focus inward (perhaps you might even call it internalizing!!) Or, I might journal about the problem or I might meditate about it or I might even laugh about it. But, what I don’t like to do is to talk about the problem or solicit advice regarding the problem. This is in part because I have a huge aversion to being told what to do nor do I want you to “solve it for me”. I really do want to muddle through it on my own and in my own time.
So, when the life gives you lemons, my advice is to take a deep breath and eat a Clementine or two!
If you would like to join Carole and I in our Think Write Thursday adventures, we would love to have you – it is easy, just sign up here!
