Out With The Old, In With The New...4 Days Late

2011 has come and gone. It went by in a flash for me. It's probably because I spent the first seven months working three nights a week and sleeping the remaining four days. So while the beginning of 2011 was very hard for me, the last half definitely was better. With each passing month of working on days, I slowly regained my life...my identity....my interests. I can honestly say that I have welcomed 2012 with a passion because I am myself once again.

Many people have reflected on what they accomplished with their knitting for the past year. I even read today on a blog that said, "look back at what you did and be amazed." My response was, "Will I still be amazed if I only finished ONE knitted item for the year?" When I think about that, I realized that maybe I can be amazed because with that one item I tackled Fair Isle Knitting. That was a big accomplishment for me since I feared it so much. So as I look forward into 2012, I know that my love has been renewed towards knitting. With my head out of the fog, I know I will accomplish many more finished objects than in 2011.

I've put some plans into place to help keep the motivation going. Over Christmas, Mary Beth and I started our own little Effortless Cardigan KAL. Over two days we both swatched, casted on and started knitting away on it. It will be fun to keep tabs on each other to see where we are. She and I always believe in a little healthy sibling competition. Now it's on to see who will get that FO first.

Something else I am doing is participating in Michelle's Stash Down 2012. While some think my stash is modest, and in comparison to some stashes out there I know it is, I have been wanting to knit through my stash more. Since I didn't really knit much last year, I know there are lots of yummy yarns in my stash that are waiting to be made into something special. Michelle and I agreed that while we may purchase an item here or there, we are both trying to work through what we got and then will treat ourselves a little bit as a reward at Rhinebeck this year.

So to get myself officially started with Stash Down 2012, here is my stash totals for the beginning of January (note the total yardage does not include the yarn of my UFO's from 2011):

Month	Yards of Yarn In Stash	Monthly Δ Yards	Monthly Δ %	Total Δ Yards	Total Δ %
1-Jan-12	33,611	0	0.0%	0	0.0%

I also want to try splitting my time better over my other favorite hobbies, scrapbooking and sewing, this year. I ended 2011 very strong with my sewing. Taking the seven week quilting class over the fall really got my desires going for sewing again. I did start the quilting of my throw before the holidays. Right now I have put it to the side because I am working on a paid quilting job. I am hoping to have that done soon so I can return my attention to finishing my own quilt. As to future sewing projects, Mary Beth and I have created our own little challenge with each other to keep each other motivated throughout the year. Once I begin my project, I will share it in greater detail.

To accomplish more in scrapbooking this year, I have made plans with a fellow scrapbooker to get together once a month for a day of scrapping. I am currently packing up my apartment with the help of a very dear girlfriend of mine. The other day we were looking through my completed pages throughout the past years and it reignited the fire within us to create more. She and I use to scrapbook regularly together before things got complicated with my getting laid off and then working nights for a year and a half. So we came up with a great idea to get us scrapping again. We are both trying to lose weight and just plain get healthier. It really has been a struggle for the both of us for various reasons. So we decided to scrapbook our journey to getting healthy. I think this is a great starting point for us in getting our scrapping mojo back to where it once was. In addition to this motivator, Mary Beth and I also have our own challenge. Before we said goodbye at Christmas, we agreed to scrapbook two spreads a month. That's only four pages a month and I think totally doable.

So as you can see, I have some great plans set ahead for myself. I look forward to seeing all the wonderful things I can accomplish throughout 2012. I will be blogging more regularly this year and can't wait to share everything with you! Here's to a Happy, Healthy and Production New Year!!!