A time of reflection

Did you have a merry Christmas?  Or was it just so-so?  Mine was excellent, thank you, although it felt strange working right up to Christmas Eve.  For the last four years, I've managed to take the last few days of before Christmas, but not this year.  Still, I have had the time off between Christmas and New Year - a much needed break.

For me, the time between Christmas and New Year is always a time for reflection and goal setting.  What did I achieve last year?  What do I want to achieve in 2012? Etc, etc.  It's that whole "New Year, new me" thing.

In 2011, I set 8 goals:-

• No stash enhancement (I've gone cold sheep)
• To conquer the garden
• To do the Lincoln 10k
• To finish the year with no UFOs
• To get pregnant (yes, this cancels out other goals)
• To knit 1 pair of socks every 2 months
• To knit 6 sweaters
• To lose 25lb in weight

So how did I do?  On the whole, not badly.  To summarise:  cold sheeping failed spectacularly.   We did manage to remove the non-hedge trees from the back garden so it no longer needs to be napalmed, but it is still far too wild and unruly.   I walked the Lincoln 10k dressed as a French Maid and we raised about £1,000 for charity in the end.  2011 is going to finish with the same two UFO's it began with (a shrug from Verena that just needs to be sewn together and my Hibiscus for Hope socks, which had to be suspended while I knitted the Sunray Ribbing top from A Stitch in Time because I wasn't sure whether I'd need to frog them for the yarn).  No, I didn't get pregnant.  And I lost 15lb in weight. I actually managed to knit six sweaters in 2011, as well as the second half of a seventh, so that goal was well and truly met (I'll put up photos eventually).  As was the one to knit a pair of socks every two months - I completed 6 pairs, almost finished a seventh and re-knitted one of the Hibiscus for Hope socks.

For 2012, I have a whole new batch of New Year's Resolutions goals:-

1. To really work at having a decent veggie garden this year.  I'd like to be able to feed us from it for days/weeks at a time.
2. To use things up.  I have a stockpile of "stuff":  make-up, fabric, cross stitch stuff, yarn, even cooking ingredients.  As Gigi Knitmore once said, "There's no point in saving things just in case the Queen drops in. Use it and enjoy it".
3. To only buy yarn from a) charity shops or b) if it is less than £3/ball.  Oh, and the yarn budget for 2012 will be £60 for the year, no more. I've tried going "cold sheep" and not buying yarn and all that happens is that I'll be good for months and then go mad.
4. To be tidy.  I have the messy gene - I can put a pen on an empty table and it'll look like a bomb hit it in 2 minutes flat.  I can't do neat but I can do tidy.
5. To be more organised.  No more forgetting things or procrastinating and putting off things that need to be done.
6. To buy less than 12 items of clothing in 2012 (underwear, socks and stockings exempted).  Ideally, I'd like to buy them from charity shops - I've had really good luck recently and scored 3 brand new suits for less than £10 each.  (I have far too many clothes anyway, so need to wear some stuff until it wears out.)
7. To lose at least another stone (14lb) in weight.  I want to lose the spare tyre that has settled on my midriff.
8. The nebulous fitness goal:  to strengthen my body by working out/lifting weights three times a week.
9. The not-so-nebulous fitness goal:  to be able to run 5k/3 miles without stopping, and to achieve this before my birthday in August.
10. To knit another 6 pairs of socks and 6 sweaters in 2012.  And to make them from stash yarns.
11. To blog more.  I didn't post nearly enough this year.

What about you? How did your 2011 New Year's Resolutions do?  Did any last beyond January?  Are you planning on doing any for 2012? 

I'd like to wish you all a very happy New Year.  May your resolutions be achieved and all your dreams and wishes in 2012 come true. Here's hoping 2012 will be a kinder year for all of us.

- Pam

A small victory

The other place I went to on Friday was Ikea. It was a long overdue visit in search of storage containers.

In the corner of my bedroom was a corner of shame. A corner of clothes piled high because there was nowhere else to put them, in front of a wardrobe bursting at the seams. I could only open one wardrobe door because of the clothes. Not any more. Behold the corner of my bedroom:


The boxes are Sortera by Ikea. I spent several hours on Saturday morning sorting out the mess, unearthing clothes I'd forgotten about, folding and organising them. I delved into the bottom of the wardrobe, unearthed and paired up shoes I haven't worn in months. The bottom box is shoes, the middle two are sweaters (casual on the bottom, work wearable above) and the top one holds jeans, shorts and my tracksuit.

DH helped me move the bureau slightly, to create a little more space. Result: for the first time in years, I can open both the wardrobe doors and access its deepest recesses.

Part of my long term plan is to sort out our wardrobe space (DH's is on the other side of the chimney). We're still using the built-ins that a previous owner installed. They aren't deep enough - you can't slide coat-hangers past the upright between the doors. My wardrobe is deceptively small, about two-thirds the size of its exterior - the outside is 40 inches wide but the inside loses 12 inches to the chimney. In theory it's floor-to-ceiling, but the top section contains a decorative arch, depriving me of even more space assuming I could actually reach up there. (I can't.) That needs lowering.

At the moment, the chimney holds a shelf and a mirror. I'd like to put a shoe cupboard in front of it, flush with the wardrobe doors, something along the lines of these cabinets from Ikea. And I'd like it to appear integrated into one unit with the revamped wardrobes. However, the wardrobe is another problem for another day.

For today, I'll bask in my small victory over a corner of mess.

- Pam