What Was I Thinking?

... back on April 1st when I wrote down these goals for April:

I'm disappointed about the weights; I haven't been to the weight room once all month. I did finish the Spring Cowl, Meridian is close and Jessie's Girl is blocking. But what made me laugh out loud were those two other projects. Seriously?! I have started a scarf, but it's a long way from being done. and one more cardigan? not even in the wings...

Honestly, I'm not sure what I'm going to knit next. The retailer preview for next weekend's release of the new Churchmouse patterns looks awesome. as in I could see myself making everything. So I think I'm going to finish what I've started and then decide. I might not even set knitting goals for May (?!?). (but I will get to the gym and that's a promise to myself I intend to keep.)

Do you set goals for your knitting? It feels quite freeing to think about letting that go!

Celebrating the Good Stuff.

I added another MantraBand to my stack today. This one in honor of my 2016 intention for more celebrating the good stuff.

The card that accompanied the band included these "instructions":

Celebrate love.

Celebrate family.

Celebrate friendships.

Celebrate small victories.

Celebrate courage.

Celebrate life, and you will always

have more to celebrate.

(see why I'm a fan?!)

I love how thinking about things in the frame of "celebrating" helps me focus on the good stuff. And in the spirit of beginning how I mean to go on, here's a short list of what I'm celebrating right now.

• Katie was home sick today (not the reason to celebrate!) so I had the opportunity to bring her soup for lunch ...and she just texted it was delicious (yay Costco!)
• Today was a newsletter Thursday and my part was done early this morning. Someone else pushed the "publish" button. (and that same someone else is also posting on the shop's Instagram feed and blog). That's not even a small victory - it feels huge!
• Only forward progress on the purple sweater.
• It's bookclub tonight - no book, but we're still getting together for a chili potluck. I've wavered about going (Marc just got home from Asia last night), but now I'm showered - and soon I'll be dressed and made up. Celebrating neighbors...who are friends.

How about you - what are you celebrating right now?

Reading Harder.

Last week when we shared our "proud of" lists for 2015, my #6 was about reading:

Reading a lot of books. I completed Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge and another round of BotNS Bingo. Both expanded my reading world into new genres (Romance, Non-fiction, even Fantasy) and gave me different perspectives on themes I'd previously avoided (racism, domestic violence, poverty, science :-) ... and I enjoyed nearly all of it. I'm actually setting a goal to read less in 2016...but to continue to read harder. Stay tuned for more on my plans for the 2016 Read Harder Challenge.

The Read Harder Challenge is sponsored by Book Riot. hands down my favorite bookish place on the internet. There's a website full of smart content and a bunch of podcasts. I regularly listen to Book Riot and All the Books. fun and informative. (sigh, I wish all my news could be packaged like this!)

2015 was the first year of their Read Harder challenge. They listed 24 challenges and we had to read 24 books. Book Bingo gets me a little outside my comfort zone...but this one landed me in a whole new playground. Here's what I read last year.

see all the details on Goodreads here

And here's what we've (yes, we! Sara is doing the challenge with me this year!) planned for this year.

see all the details on Goodreads here

Someone much smarter than I has created an editable pdf... I do love having my own personal list!

Close readers might note that I have not shelved anything for the non-superhero comic that debuted in the last three years... Sara is reading Lumberjanes which I read and thoroughly enjoyed last year. This is a really unfamiliar genre for me, so I think I'll see what others read - and love! - before deciding.

I must admit a few of the challenges threw me for loop (not sure what the playground analogy even is for this!) but I love that there's a mix of lighthearted fun ... along with the serious.

I completed challenge #4 on Tuesday. Charlie and I read Fox's Socks (thank you Bonny for the recommendation!) twice. I'm going to keep this image in my mind as I venture on to a few of those harder titles.

There will be another round of Summer Bingo (as long as Ann and Michael make the cards - stay tuned...Memorial Day-ish), which will mean another 25 books. And my neighborhood bookclub is going strong, but that's likely just another nine or 10. My goal for this year is 60 books. I've still got a lot of room on my TBR!

How do you feel about reading "harder"? is there a book I'm missing that you think I MUST read?

Ten on Tuesday | More and Less.

Charlie is all about more these days. If you know baby sign language, you might recognize "more" in the middle of this story board.  This is from New Year's Day, when Marc showed Charlie the horse game. and then had to play it over, and over, and over.

Today I saw more milk, more eggs, more kiwi (oops, sorry, that was the last one), more book (he likes to read most books at least two times in a row), more puzzle, more cheese and I'm sure there were a few others, too.

Which sets me up nicely to share this week's list - what I want more (and less) of in 2016.

1. more real food. hopefully cooked by me (and/or Marc).

2. more play. and not only on Tuesdays.

3. more current events. I gave up news a few years ago and I must admit, I didn't miss it. But this past week, when I mentioned to Sara that "I don't do news", she told me that wasn't something I should be proud of. She's right. Especially in an election year. So...I'm listening to Morning Edition and All Things Considered and looking for a few more sources. I'd really love to read something (vs listen), but I find it hard to read on my computer and I definitely don't want any paper coming home. Ideas welcome!

4. more celebrating the good stuff. I feel like I do a pretty good job of celebrating the big things (birthdays and such), but I want to be more mindful of the ordinary things.

5. more reaching out.  emails, letters, cards, coffee meet-ups...

6. more music. and not only because dancing is fun!

7. more photos & stories.

8. less WIPs. I want to finish what I start, not necessarily have less starts! (and I really want to finish all the things I've started in years past).

9. less caffeine....and hopefully

10. more sleep. It feels wimpy to admit this, but I need more sleep. I'm better equipped to deal with life when I've had 7+ hours...and my typical night is closer to 6 (or less). as I type this, I think maybe wimpy is just another word for grown-up. We'll see!

Thank you, Carole, for another inspiring topic. I look forward to seeing what y'all have planned - and to cheering you on!

If you're not already part of the Ten on Tuesday fun, click here to join.

Ten on Tuesday | Looking back with Pride.

...today, Carole's asked us to share ten things we did this year that we are proud of.

from last December - the image that prompted me to choose Present for this year's word

In no particular order, here are mine:

1. Followed through with my Present intentions (mostly, on most days anyway) ... as I look over the rest of this list, I'm happy to see elements of those intentions in all of them.

2. Tuesdays with Charlie. and yay - I get to continue them into 2016!

3. Daily yoga

4. and 10,000 steps.

5. I credit both of those with helping me recover from elbow and hamstring injuries (and getting me in better shape to be 50-something years old).

6. Reading a lot of books. I completed Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge and another round of BotNS Bingo. Both expanded my reading world into new genres (Romance, Non-fiction, even Fantasy) and gave me different perspectives on themes I'd previously avoided (racism, domestic violence, poverty, science :-) ... and I enjoyed nearly all of it. I'm actually setting a goal to read less in 2016...but to continue to read harder. Stay tuned for more on my plans for the 2016 Read Harder Challenge.

7. Blogging more. This post is my 205th for the year, so I'll end the year with 207. I'm planning to continue posting at least five days a week from here on out. This platform is hands-down my favorite way to share photos and updates with friends and family ... and I love being part of such a warm, caring and fun on-line community!

8. Bi-weekly newsletters for the shop. The feedback we're getting from customers, vendors and designers has been really positive ... and I'm finally starting to enjoy more than dread "Newsletter Thursdays".

9. Connecting and re-connecting with extended family members...cousins and an aunt...and looking forward to nurturing those relationships more in the coming year.

10. Finding my niche at church. I began the year a bit over-extended, but I've successfully handed off the leadership role for my women's circle and teaching high school Sunday school and ended my three-year term as a Deacon. Which leaves me with the Prayer Shawl Ministry...and it's thriving!

...and whew. Thank you, Carole for the chance to look back on so many positives from 2015. I look forward to sharing more in everyone else's successes, too. Click here if you aren't already part of the Ten on Tuesday fun!

Getting Organized | Off to a Good Start.

...whoa, all this organization sure takes time away from actual knitting (and reading!) But boy does it feel good. After nearly six hours yesterday, my yarn room now looks like this:

The top shelves hold nearly all of my "multi-skein" stash, as well as twelve balls of Rowan Pure Wool Worsted 

mostly single skeins that I can hang

all the rest. the straw and white wire baskets are stash and the black basket in the middle is hibernating projects

In the process, I filled up one big bin with yarn, a few pattern books and project bags...and even one WIP that I had no desire to finish or frog, but figure one of my students might be willing to. And I filled up a good bit of our recycling bin with pattern printouts that I have online.

Today, I went through all the hibernating WIPs, which all live in that middle basket at the base of my bookshelf.

before

After assessing actual status and the likelihood of finishing, I only ended up frogging one project (the laceweight Panoramic on the top row). The Susie's Reading Mitts is the project I put into the bin yesterday.

I updated notes, took photos,

after... six pairs of socks (still)!

skeined the frogged yarn and soaked it.

ready for its bath!

I'm planning to knit a very easy infinity scarf (as in cast on a boatload of stitches on a size 7 needle, join in the round and knit until I use up the yarn). I do love the yarn (it's Juniper Moon Findlay Dappled, a 50/50 merino silk blend) and the colors and I think it will be a great accessory for the fall and winter. This is going to be the third project I've tried with this yarn. Third time's a charm, right?!

My next step is the stash. I kept nine sweater quantities of yarn, a few other multi-skeins that I have projects in mind for, and a couple dozen single skeins (including sock yarn and all that Rowan Pure Wool Worsted that never made it into a mystery afghan). Stay tuned. I hope it happens this weekend. But I might be reading Go Set a Watchman instead!

I really appreciated all the advice and encouragement you shared last week. I'm curious, are you surprised with how much yarn I still have?

Taking Stock.

...I am slowly but surely getting comfortable with the Get to Work Book. It's great to have all my "to do stuff" in one place and I'm loving the templates. Above is a bit of the monthly "Reflect and Goal Set" page (which I finally found time to work on last Thursday and Friday). This "new approach" to knitting is my big project for July. And there's nothing like sharing about it in a blog post to really hold myself accountable.

The gist is that I'm not going to be able to knit for hours on end; and I'm still not comfortable knitting on any needle smaller than a size 5, or with any yarn that's not mostly wool. Of course that still leaves plenty of room for all kinds of projects! And I do work for a yarn shop. Those bi-weekly newsletters and the frequent arrival of new yarns continue to tempt me (which the shop owner likes; my enthusiasm translates into sales!)

There's another section on this Reflect page titled "To Let Go Of". For me, that's yarn and WIPs that I'm really just not into (anymore). What a huge relief to give myself permission to frog and repurpose all that yarn!

With all that in mind, I have three action items to complete this month:

1. Sort through all my WIPs (thankfully, they're all on Ravelry). Assess status and chance of finishing - BE REALISTIC (a few are from 2010 and many are socks...on size 1 needles). Frog what I'm not going to finish (that yarn goes into stash).

2. Sort through all my stash. Give away what I don't want. Get all the rest of it into Ravelry (with a photo!)

3. Assess my Ravelry queue. Be sure it's only projects I really do plan to knit (hopefully with yarn I have). My goal is to have nearly all my stash (maybe all but the single skeins of fingering weight?) tagged to actual projects...again, that I want to knit in some reasonable timeframe. BE REALISTIC.

#1 has already started. The cardigan I started back in April on size 3 needles...went for a swim in the frog pond!

Any advice or words of wisdom to share? I'd love to hear!

Knitting Resolutions for 2014.

…yep, I made some! and since one of those resolutions is to blog about my knitting, I figured it would make sense to share the whole list. Here goes:

1. Update Ravelry as I knit, including photos. I had been really good about this and I need to get back into the habit. Not only are the notes helpful when I'm asked about my projects, the photos are fun to share (and helpful).

I made this little set over the weekend and I'll be blogging about it for the shop later today. It's a baby gift, knit with yarn I bought in 2013…so count one for others (#3) and one for stash (#4)

2. Blog about knitting, both here and for the shop.

3. One-for-one for myself and for others.

4. One-for-one for stash projects and new yarn purchases. I am counting WIPs and hibernating projects as stash in the hopes that motivates me to finish them! But this is still going to be hard - I work at a yarn shop! And five days into 2014, I've already bought yarn for one project… so I need to start something with stash or finish one of those WIPs to balance that out!

5. Knit more cowls and shawls (and fewer sweaters) for myself. Getting to wearability here, I find I'm wearing my accessory pieces more than my sweaters - even in winter. Of course I have at least six sweater's worth of stash (and one WIP); we'll see how this goes!

6. Knit myself a hat and mittens to wear when I walk Holly. This has been on my to-do list since 2010 - and I am finally going to make it happen, hopefully this month, but for sure in February (and yes, I've got plenty of yarn in my stash, so that's a help).

7. Finish all my WIPs and hibernating projects. I have one sweater (for me) on the needles and a handful of hibernating projects, most of which are socks. Here are the hibernating projects - see what I mean about the photos?

So there you have it - not too long of a list, and certainly do-able. I'm hoping it gets me into some better habits about what I knit and for whom. Are you resolving anything about your knitting this year?

Looking Back | 2013.

…at thirteen of the best things that happened around here.

Rob & Katie and the sparkler sendoff (a favorite moment from a favorite day)

1. Katie and Rob's wedding. The day of - May 18 - was wonderful, but the planning and preliminary parties - notably the bachelorette weekend in February where Katie and her friends shared one cottage and my friends and I shared the other (and there was snow) and a shower in April hosted by my sister and sister-in-law - and sharing the celebration with friends and family made it truly memorable. I'm so grateful, too, that we have hundreds of photos to remember it all.

Marc & I - November 17 before a wonderful dinner in the Dominican

2. Our 30th anniversary. and getting really comfortable with the whole empty nest thing. Marc and I celebrated with a trip to the Dominican Republic back in November. It was the first time the two of us had taken a vacation together on a plane since our honeymoon. We ate and drank and read and lounged for five whole days in the sun. We also had a Nespresso machine in our room and I lost count of how many espressos I had.

3. The half marathon. Way back in March, Katie, Rob, Sara and I ran 13.1 miles. This was my first half marathon…and likely my last. In a burst of post-event enthusiasm I signed up for two more - one on Thanksgiving morning and another next March. Our Dominican trip pretty much put me off the Thanksgiving one and I just realized today that I'll be out of town for the one in March. Oh well. I'm glad I did it. just once.

4. The mid-distance running group at the Y. More post-event enthusiasm encouraged me to join a running group, and this part is sticking with me. I've made friends and like running with others now more than running solo. Quite a change in just 12 months!

5. Yoga. I resisted at first. The one class I took last year wasn't very good and I was too into Pilates to give it a second chance. But then I took a class this spring - the teacher subbed for one of my Pilates classes, but she taught a Yoga class - and I had second thoughts. The girls at running raved about a 90 minute class on Friday mornings and I decided to give it a shot. First class…and I was hooked. My routine now includes three classes a week - two Vinyasa Flow and one Yin. Combined with a few days of running, I think I've found a fitness routine I can live with for a while.

6. Katie & Rob built a house (and moved in) that's just three and a half miles from ours. I love having them close. I especially love that we see them (ok, mostly that Katie and I see each other) regularly and have fun together!

7. The prayer shawl ministry is real. The timing was right, for sure, because we had more than 20 women show up for the information session in April. Monthly meetings started in May and eight months later we have a solid core of about a dozen ladies. We've made several dozen shawls, lap robes and baby pieces and have expanded the ministry to include a local cancer infusion center and a single mother's outreach program.

8. Our whole family is on Instagram. Katie and I started back in early 2011, then Sara joined, and we got Marc on board the morning after the wedding. I was enjoying looking at all the photos that the guests shared…and he wanted in. Now he regularly shares photos on his Asian adventures and it's great to follow along. But I have to say that the photos he shares of our lives here together are my favorites. Also, #tbt.

9. Photography. I took a phone photography class in July and learned so much, especially about iPhone/iPad apps to edit photos (PicTapGo and A Beautiful Mess are my favorites). Inspiration spark! Then Katie & I both bought a 50mm 1:1.4 lens last month and whoa. I'm in love with my DSLR all over again.

my "stats" view from Goodreads

10. Reading books and audiobooks. I read 28 (those two unstarred books at the bottom are "not gonna finish" ones) books this year; more than any recent year by a long shot. In addition to discovering short stories, I also found a few new favorites - Neil Gaiman's American Gods, Diana Gabaldon's Outlander and John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany. I started listening to bookish podcasts, too, and would highly recommend Book Riot, Books on the Nightstand, Bookrageous and (if you're ok with R-rated language) Literary Disco.

11. Another 2-day walk. It's a fall tradition. and now we've raised over $20,000!!!!

12. Teaching knitting. I started nearly four years ago (!!!?!!) and I am finally feeling like I figured it out. I have about 15 regular students who fill three classes each week. They keep me on my toes - did you ever hear the way to really learn is by doing? it's true - and they inspire me.

13. Our new home. not just our 2nd house, and I know it helps that we sold the first a few months back.  Now we've made new friends, figured out the traffic patterns and really settled in. We love it. and it's home.

Thanks for reading all this. I didn't think it would be so long, but … that's how it goes sometimes! Reviewing the list, it strikes me that most of these things were not ones I planned a year ago. And so I'm reminded again how important it is to be flexible about my priorities and really, to simply be present in the moment with the things - and the people - that matter most.

Did you have any "aha" moments this year? Please share!

13.1 | done.

...yesterday I ran my first half marathon and finished a minute ahead of my 2:00 goal.

Wow, that's a statement I never would've imagined I'd make (or until last September even want to make) and I'm still trying to get my head around the possibilities it's created.

It was very special to share the event with three of my favorite people.

me, Katie, Sara and Rob (before the race)

Katie, me and Sara (after)... still smiling!

...but I did the run itself on my own (well, along with 14,000 other people and 8,700+ running the same race). It was dark when the race started at 7:00 am (I was in Corral F and crossed the start line about three minutes later) and it was uplifting to see the sun come up over the Atlanta skyline. The race started and finished in Centennial Olympic Park and the course took us mostly east, through the Old Fourth Ward, Inman Park and Little Five Points, Freedom Parkway, Virginia Highlands, Piedmont Park, Midtown and a final stretch through the Georgia Tech campus (which is a lot hillier than any of us remember!) A great course, and very familiar thanks to those six 2-day walks that cover a lot of the same hills. I met up with the 2:00 pace group about mile 3...whew! I didn't find them at the start line and was really disappointed; after that practice run I was counting on them for not only the pacing, but also the encouragement. They'd started about a minute behind me, though, which meant I needed to finish about a minute ahead of them.  So I left them just after we left Piedmont Park and ran ahead.

The run was tough, but never unbearable.  Love my new Garmin watch (and I especially love that I can read the three numbers - distance, overall time and pace - without my glasses); it was a huge motivator...and a huge comfort. My favorite moment (besides the one when I crossed the finish line) was when I hit 10 miles around 1:30 and realized I could run those last three miles at a 10 minute pace and finish at my goal time. One thing that surprised me was how crowded the course was the whole time...not only runners, but also spectators cheering us on. All that support really made the miles go by quickly.

from Marc  ♥

The support at home and on instagram and iMessage was wonderful too. thank you!

We celebrated all of that with margaritas and mexican food. and then a nap. Pretty much perfect.

So...what's next? More half marathons for sure. Katie & I are planning to run the Atlanta Half on Thanksgiving morning (Sara has already said she'll cook dinner while we run and I think that's a perfect plan!) and the Georgia Half again next spring. We've also signed up for the Peachtree Road Race - a 10k 4th of July Atlanta tradition that I'm very excited to participate in for the first time...since I've lived here for nearly 35 years! and we're scoping out other races. I'm also planning my first run with the local running club next weekend. Like I said, I'm still figuring out the possibilities...

10 goals for 2013.

...katie asked me last week if was making any resolutions for the new year. I quickly replied "no". and  shortly thereafter stumbled across an inspired idea to collect knitting resolutions and blog about them...and of course I had to participate. so that was three.

my knitting goals for 2013 (see #1-3)

and then yesterday carole asked about ten. and what the heck. I guess I'm in!

1. knit something for someone else for every something I knit for me.
2. steek a sweater (likely this one - and most of my sunday students are going to try it, too - love that they'll hold me accountable!)
3. work to a smaller stash...with nothing "new" from 2013.

4. fill up two project life albums with weekly spreads.
5. participate in my third year of ali edwards' one little word class (more coming on that soon...I'm still putting the finishing touches on last year...more coming on that soon!)
6. take 365 daily photos based on chantelle's prompts. 

7. train for and run a half-marathon at a 10-minute mile pace (we're signed up for a march 17 event - once I see how that goes, I'm planning to make a longer-term goal).
8. read mere christianity.
9. do something fabulous with marc to celebrate our 30th anniversary.

10. revitalize the church's prayer shawl ministry.

there are also the big things of katie and rob's wedding and my mom's 75th birthday...but those aren't all mine. and well, neither is #9. but it needs to be on my list to ensure it actually happens!

I look forward to the accomplishments we'll all see...and the encouragement we'll share. I'm sure it will be required. and welcome!