My 6 Knit Year Resolutions

It's the end of the year. Time to look back and forward. At work, we talk about leading and lagging indicators - If you want to make a change, it's better to use leading indicators that will motivate you to do that change. An example of this is setting a goal of going to the gym 3x a week vs. setting a goal of losing 10 lbs.

I don't really goal set a lot of knitting - I have things that I tell myself I want to do, but I don't actually PLAN to do them. I want 2016 to be different, though. So I have 6 things I'm going to do next year.

1. Knit for an hour a day. It doesn't have to be continuous. It just has to be 60 minutes. This time can include: the 2 hours I spend every day sitting in the car while Dan and I carpool; the 2-3 hours we spend each night watching TVon Netflix... etc. During NaNoWriMo I realized how easy it was to add writing to your day. Well, I want to add knitting!
2. Have no more than 3 WIPs going at a time. I used to be really good at this. I used to have ONE PROJECT that I worked on at a time. I was so confused how people could have more than one. Then I discovered that different knitting patterns are funner at different times. I can't knit fancy lace while watching TV. I can't carry around a blanket in my purse to work on in the spare minutes I have. I like having different projects, but they've exploded to the point where I have so many things going on that none of them are moving.
3. No knitting projects in the "dog house" - Why? Because I hit a snag and I set the project aside until I "have time to deal with this." Then... I never deal with it. Poor project sits folded up in a closet forever. Not anymore! I will be dealing with things when they happen. Setting things aside if they really frustrate me is ok, but no packing it up. 
4. 1 WIP must be an original project. I have so many ideas for projects, but I just don't do them! I'm hoping that this rule will help me.
5. Do hand stretching and strengthening every day. I need to get better at this! I do the stretches, but I sometimes forget to do my strength training twice a day.
6. Post to my blog once a week. I don't have to read blogs - that's been a ridiculous time ever since Google Reader went kaput ages ago. But I'm going to make a blog post once per week. Setting up articles to automatically publish counts, too. 

Six is a lot of new rules to have for myself, but I think that they're easy enough that I can do it! Actually, I'm already doing them, haha. The knitting time I'm squeezing in is leading to projects getting done (what a surprise!)

What do you think? Are you knitting new stuff? I'd love to hear people's suggestions for knitting resolutions and see what other people are doing!

Ho! An FO!

I finished my Acorn Stash socks today! It's going to be an industrious vacation. I've already helped Dan make a bookshelf, put up about a dozen photos on the walls, and have strongly contemplated cooking.

Anyway, I'm so happy with how these came out. I'm not happy with the fact that I didn't check for

errata when I was making the first pair, but it all turned out ok in the end!

I added a little detail to the second sock - I finished off the acorn on the toe. I love it! I'm too lazy to go back and do it on the first one, though.

The Goldilocks Ear

This week has been all about ears. Puppycat ears, that is. I've been making a few and trying to get one just right. I eventually went and drew ones out of paper to save myself time and yarn. But you don't want to know about that.

What you want to know is when it'll be done, right? Well, he's going to be done soon! I just have a little sewing to do.

I'm really glad that I took this picture, because I thought his eyebrows were fine where I pinned them. But once I looked at the photo I realized they were far apart. That's a trick to add to the pockets.

And a little bit of notes to transcribe... really, the notes are not very pretty.

Yes, I actually wrote "Screw you future self." I love mean messages from 9 months ago in my notes.

Star Wars: Force Awakens Knit Gloves in the Final Scene!

Ok, so I'm not going to spoil the new movie.

But I need to know - did anyone else see the awesome gloves that Rey was wearing in the final scene!? I want them. I want to make them.

They were in maybe 4 shots, but I managed to get a rough sketch.



Yeah, not very useful, I know.

Luckily Dan doesn't mind going to see it again because I need to see them again to get a good idea of what I'm going to make :)

Just like Puppycat (who is almost done btw) I'm obsessed with making these now.

If anyone can find me a picture, I'd really appreciate it.

Danmas Eve

It's a wonderful Saturday. Dan's birthday is tomorrow and I'm making him a cake later. Everything is going awesome.

The cats are napping...

Rosie the Roomba is running... (without causing cat freakout! Miracle day.)

And I've finished Dan's Socks! Just in time for his birthday :)

I'm really happy with this pattern. I seriously will never get tired of knitting these 3x3 stockinette socks. I used to HATE colorways like this one, but not anymore! Long live waltz socks.

Anyway, hope you have a nice quiet weekend!

Vancouver Trip Photos

I went to Vancouver! There was a training for work, and Dan has an extra week of vacation than me, so he tagged along. It was really great having him, since work trips on your own without any coworkers can get really lonely. It also gave me an excuse to go out and do touristy stuff (it can be awkward doing that stuff on your own - I did it this summer in Frankfurt and New Orleans when I went, so I know I CAN do it, it's just depressing!)

Obviously there were a lot of obnoxious couple selfies - but I figured for my blog, it'd be better to share the good photos that I took! So, here they are:

Pulled pork pancakes at the Red Wagon Cafe. I strongly believe everyone should make a pilgrimage to experience these. I ate them two breakfasts in a row.

Lights in Gastown. We spent a lot of nights walking around downtown Vancouver, since my training was 8-5.

Looking up a tree in Capilano Forest. We went to the Vancouver Art Gallery a few days later and I saw a painting that looked just like this. I guess great minds think alike!

Sun shining through the trees in the Capilano Rainforest. Yes, we spent two hours (and paid a ton of money) walking through a rainforest in Canada! I thought it was worth it, but of course I spitefully read every sign did every activity, and took a bazillion photos to get my money's worth :)

The view walking across the Capilano Suspension Bridge.

A flower at the Bloedel Conservatory. I'm actually really proud that I managed to take this on my phone. (My camera lens had fogged up.)

Weird cabbage plants at Bloedel Conservatory. They actually weren't even planted, they were sitting in a bucket by the door. It was actually pretty ugly looking, but I used artful cropping.

This last one might be my favorite picture of the week. We were looking at all the finches eating from bird feeders, standing back so that the drove of toddlers can get a closer look, when a guide comes up and asks "Have you seen the nests?" We say no, and he quietly shows us this nest up in the branches! The two finches in it were looking out, and we watched them watch us for a while. After a minute, the Dad (on the left) flew off and you could see chicks peeking out! 

Anyway, that was my week. I brought 1 knitting project (Dan's striped socks) and made good progress! But nothing really worth photographing. Sorry!

Checking In

I'm not knitting very much, mostly because of the hand - I've got to take it slow. Before, most of my "spare strength" that I had went to knitting, but now it's all going to strength training. Which, by the way, sounds way awesome-er than it actually is.

But I've been making little bits of progress! I'm also stuck, though, which is tough.

First road block: Puppycat.

He looks like a puppycat! Hooray! But... I lost my notes for him. Though I could finish him free-style, I was really excited to have the notes to put up as a pattern. It's been a long time since I've published any patterns. Really long. So losing the notes has been a bit demoralizing. So, he's in time out until I find them.

Second road block is on my pretty little blanket. Can you see it?

How about now?

Okay, I'm sure it's actually really hard to see... but I can't un-see it! This row is supposed to be red, but it's orange. ORANGE. And I had to find it after I finished the entire row. No, I couldn't figure it out after the first square. Or the third. I had to realize it after laying out the pieces to bask in my pride.

So, I have to tear out that entire row and re-make it with the right color. I just haven't gotten enough guts together to do it. 

My other projects are going along slowly but surely. I've got a baby sweater that's almost done (!) (Yes, I might finish a project this year!) which I don't have pictures of. I've also got two socks going.  The first is a pair of socks for me, designed by the amazing Anne Hanson:

The second pair is... you guessed it... more waltz socks! I started these in Rochester for Dan. He picked out the yarn, but I'm a little worried that they won't make very good socks. But I don't really care, because the colors are great.