by Kat | Jan 2, 2017 | General, In This Moment
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!
by Kat | Dec 27, 2016 | General, Words
plus 51…
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!
by Kat | Dec 20, 2016 | General, In This Moment, Making, Words
Borrowing an idea from Vicki to wind down these last days of December, here is my Blog Year in Review!
January opened the door for a Year of Gratitude.
February 1st started the Bang out a Stopover phenomenon – 35 hours later, a sweater was born.
March started with a fun 10 on Tuesday!
April was all springtime and flowers. Boy, does that look good this morning!
Started with a what am I doing right now post and the iced coffee is a pleasant reminder of warmer days!
June began with a mystery – Kirsten Kapur’s Mystery Knit Along that is!
July kicked off the Tour de Fleece and I had a plan. Bonus because some of this frenzied spinning is bringing peaceful knitting!
I think the best thing all year happened in August! We went to see Hillary when she came to Pittsburgh to campaign.
September started off with a bit of sweater surgery to make a no longer fitting sweater fit.
October started with the end of our vacation in Michigan, which provided a good number of photos for the remainder of the month!
Sigla
November ushered my second successful participation in NaBloPoMo2016 and my 30 days of posting began with an almost completed Sigla!
Think Write Thursday’s was born in 2016 and the December first TWT post was a welcome letter to the month.
Happy Tuesday everyone!
by Kat | Dec 19, 2016 | General, In This Moment
It’s Day 19 of Sprite Write’s Virtual Advent Tour and today I am thinking about light! Especially as we are drawing near to Winter Solstice which will usher in the gradual return of light!
There is no shortage of light at my house – the tree has a myriad of lights, the little houses on the mantle cast a warm glow as well.
Candles flicker all over and there are even lights outside that add our bit of cheer to the neighborhood!
However, some days even all that does not seem enough. They cobbled our furnace together with the promise of a return date of Saturday to finish the work (apparently installing a new furnace is not an easy thing to do…) when the weather vetoed that idea.
Ice Storm + power outage = no heat and no furnace crew. However, the ice did provide a lovely, if albeit dangerous view. Everything seemed to be encased in light!
I am thankful for a battery-operated light and a very good book to while away the 6 plus hours of no power.
Yesterday, they were here most of the day working and of course they are not done and won’t be until tomorrow – but at least we have heat in the interim!
Today the Electoral College votes and I wish I could say this would be an enlightening process. But, I did manage to find some enlightenment in history today:
Today in 1776 Thomas Paine published his 1st “American Crisis” essay, which included these much-needed words: “These are the times that try men’s souls” – yes, indeed they are!
In 1932 the British Broadcasting Corp began transmitting overseas. I am sure this was as significant then as it is today. I appreciate the BBC and their unflagging determination to report the news without bias every single day.
And, in 1958 the 1st radio broadcast from outer space transmitted to Earth via a short-wave frequency President Eisenhower said, “This is the President of the United States speaking. Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you from a satellite circling in outer space. Through this unique means I convey to you and to all mankind, America’s wish for Peace on Earth and Good Will to Men Everywhere.” While the satellite was short-lived, the message certainly is not. Those words give me hope as Christmas draws near and I will be doing my part today as I knit my Peace Cowl and I send you all good will from my little corner of the world where the lights shine brightly and the door is open!
Happy Monday everyone!
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