Christmas Is Over for Another Year

Boy am I glad too. This has been a particularly rough holiday this year with problems related to my grandmother. I'm starting to feel better about things after I talked to her and made sure that she was asking questions and getting back a little bit of control of her life.

As far as stitching, not much was accomplished this weekend. I did knit a scarf. Pictures later since I can't figure out how to reduce the image size with our new camera software. I tried it in my old software and the picture looked horrible.

The holiday was quiet, which I love. I didn't over cook, actually I cooked way less than I normally do and it was the right decision. We had ham, two casseroles and some cookies and cupcakes and that was it. The leftovers of the ham will be made into some kind of ham and bean soup as soon as I find a good recipe.

Stitching: Looking Ahead

I hadn't planned to set any stitching goals but have decided that goals might actually be a good thing. Of course they will be more like guidelines, but you know what I mean. I refuse to feel bad if I don't achieve any of my goals. This is a hobby, it's supposed to be fun but I do have some things that need attention.

Priorities for 2006:

Finish MLI's Fairy Grandmother
Finish Mirabilia's Mermaid of the Pearls
Finish Stitchworld's Dragon Isle
Finish Mirabilia's Lady of the Flag

All four of the above mentioned projects are over half finished. Finishing them in 2006 should not be a problem if I work a little on each one every week. It will just take some discipline.

On the B* List:

Finish Houses of Hawk Run Hollow
Start and Finish By the Bay's 13th Colony Bay Parts 1-3 on the same piece of fabric.
Finish Mouline Rouge by Long Dog

New Projects for 2006:

sonne Spot Sampler by Long Dog
Sarah Tatum Reproduction Sampler-Scarlet Letter
Ann Medd 1742 Reproduction Sampler-Scarlet Letter
Mermaid-Teresa Wentzler
Tradewinds-Teresa Wentzler
Also on the new projects list for 2006 are Lizzie Kate's Block Its all stitched on one piece of fabric and Bent Creek's Monthly Snappers all stitched on one piece of fabric. I'd love to complete both of these by the end of the year but while I prefer my happy little dream world I'm reasonably sure that won't happen. I'll be satisfied to get half of each project completed.

There are other projects I hope to finish, many WIP that I hope see something other than the inside of a Rubbermaid bucket in 2006 and projects that aren't even kitted that I dream of starting in 2006 but I won't list them now.

Crocheting and Knitting for 2006:

I hope to participate in Julie's Snowflake Mondays in 2006. I'd love to make a snowflake a week. I'm in search of simple snowflake patterns right now. The patterns I have here are for someone with some thread crochet experience and mine is minimal. I'll see what I can round up this weekend in the way of easy snowflake charts and be ready to crochet my first one next Monday.

I want to finish an afghan for my mother that I started almost two months ago and set it aside for other things. It was wrong. It was supposed to be a combination housewarming/Christmas present so maybe I'll have it finished before the end of January.

I also need to crochet each of my boys new afghans. Just need to decide on colors and patterns.

I also want to get back to my 63 Squares afghan and start to work on several I have kitted up and ready to go.

I'm going to learn to flippin' purl in 2006. I didn't meet that goal in 2005 so I'm going to suck it up and practice. I want to knit my middle son a sweater, Jesse's Flames from Stitch & Bitch Nation.

Something that probably won't happen in 2006, but I'd really like to learn how to spin. I've been following some blogs Dave Daniels’ Cabin Cove Crafts, for one, the man has been spinning for what, 4 weeks, 5 weeks? Incredible! I want to do that one day.

Now what I need to learn is time management because I have a few other projects not fiber related that will be taking up a lot of time. It's ok, it's all good, I just need to learn how to organize my life so I can do a little bit of everything and not freak out.

I really want to be a better person in 2006 too. More thoughtful and caring, take a little time to make sure people know that I care about them. I tend to be a hermit and will go weeks without talking to people I care about, not the ones I live with, couldn't avoid them if my life depended on it but other family members I avoid calling for whatever reason. Time to get over myself and do the right thing. Life is short.

I also hope to plan for Christmas 2006 all year long so that I don't get all creative on December 23 like I did this year with scarf way back at the beginning of this post. I see some boogabags, some Sophie bags in my crystal ball and they will hopefully be gifts for next Christmas. I am going to do better all the way around in 2006.

*really the "A+" list but I have got to focus on the first 4 projects and get them done!