Champagne and Socks

I’m getting so excited about these! The first Paper art workshop is this Saturday. The second one was just announced and if you’re in Perth and are interested, I recommend signing up straight away as the first one filled up overnight.

Paper Art Workshop

A passionate collector of found objects, Pam Langdon is inspired by the marine environment and patterns within nature. Her art practice resembles a beach combing expedition encountering strange, sometimes unidentifiable objects which have been washed ashore. Pam’s unique artist’s books are transformed and recontextualized from a discarded unloved existence, giving renewed life. Inspired by the stories and pages within each book the intricate cutting, folding and rolling of their pages forms spirals, symbolising movement and energy and reflecting growth patterns found in nature. The labyrinth of folds and curls entices the reader for closer inspection of their mysterious new life.

Pam will display and demonstrate 2 different forms of books, incorporating origami paper folding and paper cutting techniques. Each participant will also receive copies of Through Splintered Walls to enable them to begin work on their artwork for the combined community exhibition in May.

Due to materials, places are limited. To register, please contact Lee Battersby, Coordinator Cultural Development and Arts, on 08 9528 0386 or email lee.battersby@rockingham.wa.gov.au.

Date: 16 February 2013
Location: Gary Holland Community Centre
Time: 1pm – 3pm

Through Splintered Walls by Kaaron Warren (Book 6 in the Twelve Planets series) is available as a paperbook and ebook.

I’ve had diagnosed Crohn’s Disease for 14 years. I’m very lucky to have a mild form. Chronic diseases aren’t fun. You get good days and bad days, good patches and bad patches. Stress exacerbates. No surprises then that in the lead up to my wedding, I got a flare up. I actually had close to one of the worst flare ups I’ve had, and probably the worst since the first few years. I was my sickest on the day of my hens. And I had some not that great days in Paris.

After 14 years, and having been through periods of really really debilitating sickness, I’m blessed with the learned knowledge that this too shall pass. I know there will be better days. I can bear the fact that I haven’t been able to tolerate even a sip of alcohol in about 5 months. I’ve not had an espresso coffee in a month, and only a couple of instants in that time. And last week, I finally admitted that I have to go back to being gluten free. I can cope with all this because I know it’s not forever. And because I feel 1000 times better when I don’t eat/drink these things. I almost feel disease free – so much so that a few times I’ve been caught out thinking it was all better and having a coffee only to discover that no, no it’s not better it was just being managed.

For the last two months I’ve felt sick almost 24 hours a day – there’s the indigestion, nausea, stomach cramps – both the sudden sharp and the dull constant – muscle cramps, random rashes, there’s the TMI stuff, the sudden lack of appetite, the mouth ulcers and what sometimes trumps all of these for worst – the ravenous hunger. The kind that is this hollow desperate feeling in the pit of your stomach that if it doesn’t get filled, turns to intense, flooring nausea.

But today I realised that the black abyss has set in, has been creeping in for a while. I mentioned it to C and he told me he’d noticed. It’s a pretty standard thing – if your body isn’t absorbing vitamins and minerals, and in particular B12 – then you become susceptible to depression. That’s not even taking into account the drain of feeling sick all the time, or having to compromise lifestyle or diet. But I realised today that this is the reason I can’t seem to make myself *do anything* and that I lack focus and drive and direction. It’s very frustrating.

But screw all that, you know? I mean, what choice do I have?

So I took the best measures I could – I ate salads and drank juices and I guess I’m going to have to be vigilant on that front for a while. At least I know why I’m in struggletown. It feels like knowing why is the first step to conquering it. Cause I have too much to do this year to put up with this shit.

A slight break in transmissions here as I went home from work sick on Thursday and haven’t really been all that focussed since. My Crohn’s always gets upset by lack of sleep (and air travel) and the worse my lack of sleep this week got, the worse my Crohn’s felt. I felt pretty unwell sitting at my desk Thursday morning and after two hours I stood up and popped my head over my cubicle wall (my boss sits on the other side now) and asked if I could go home and she said, “you look shit. And stay home tomorrow if you still feel sick.” Which at least confirmed it – I always second guess myself, “am I really sick?’ kinda thing. Still, I headed home (and luckily made the bus connection at my train station, otherwise is a more than 30 min wait for the next one out of peak hour, not awesome when you just want to go home to bed.)

So I’ve been floating around at home, not really focussed enough to be overly productive but still not properly on a good bodyclock. At least I’ve been able to sleep in when finally asleep so that’s meant catching up on sleep. Some symptoms still prevail – some are socially acceptable (if you don’t know that I *feel* sick, it doesn’t impact on you) and the socially unacceptable ones have quietened down. Still nothing radical for me like coffee or alcohol. I tried indian food tonight and that was not a good plan.

I’ve been catching up on recorded TV, finished The Closer – many thoughts on that, maybe a review – and knitting. Meh. I keep wanting to start posting about our wedding and trip away but it almost feels like putting it into words might take away the magic of it.

Today we made it up to my post box where I found two parcels that shall challenge me on my stash reduction goals for the year – 4 mini charm packs and 1 skein of yarn (Sweet Georgia Yarn, tough love sock yarn in Honey Fig – been coveting that colourway for years). I shall have to get started on using them as per the charter. Otherwise …

Well yesterday I discussed all my dates and so on with my Boss and today I informed HR about my proposed end dates. And filled in all my enrolment paperwork. So … it’s happening. I am actually quitting my day job to work full time this year, come April, on all things publishing.

If I don’t think too hard about it, it’s not too scary. I got an interview for the job I was applying for 5 minutes before I went on leave to get married but I withdrew from the process this morning. It feels really weird – naked and scary – to be out here on the ledge without a back up plan. But at the same time, back up plans kinda give you permission to fail. No back up plan means you have to succeed. You have to scramble and hustle and figure it out cause there’s no going backwards on it. No safety net. And oddly, I’m finding that empowering. I think because it’s the first time I’m betting on myself. I don’t actually do that very often. I’ve always taken the safe road before. Time will tell what’s after the bend in this road but I’m energised and pumped to find out. But I’m so sad to be leaving awesome work people. Again.

I was starting to think that whole jetlag thing from Canada was an aberration. I felt fine after flying home last week with almost no sleep. Thursday I stayed up pretty late and pottered around unpacking and catching up on recorded TV. And Friday was the same. I even *baked*.

On Saturday we had invited round both our families to join us for brunch and the opening of all our presents. We were very strict about not opening any before this, and having the bridal registry delivery booked for then, so as to have something still wedding related to cling to after all the rest of the activities were done, and the honeymoon was over. I’m really glad we did it that way too because it was an excellent reason to have everybody over and catch up again after all the family related stuff we’d done at the end of December.

We hosted brunch (hence the baking) and the event lasted far longer than we’d intended due to the delivery truck not arriving in the am as promised but rather 2pm. Nonetheless there was enough excitement before then and non registry gifts and catching up and babies to coo over and very very tired dogs to laugh at (the puppy has tried to sleep non stop since we picked him up on Thursday afternoon. He had one helluva holiday).

Present opening was overwhelming and humbling and embarrassing. We are very loved and people know us very well. And now I am very excited to go all nesting with our place to fuss about and cull and replace and set up my married home. (I’m sure that feeling will pass.) I got ridiculously excited over glass jars which I had added to the list at the last moment and which doing so forced Kathryn to have to *sit down*. I didn’t really expect to get *all* of them! And now I am having a glorious time clearing out our pantry (which OMG when was the last time I did that?) and putting everything in glass jar storage. I’m hoping that the rodent proofing elements of this will offset the “but what about the Best of and Use by dates” issues). I’ll admit that I kinda want the pantry to look like this though I suspect, in reality, noone’s stays looking like that for long.

I’ll also report that I no longer have tea storage issues *grin*

Sunday was gloriously mellow before we were thrust back into the harsh glaring daylight of reality and our Normal Lives.

And then, the jetlag kicked in. Maybe as a combination of the whole having to sit at a desk and concentrate for long periods of time again, that’s always pretty draining before you get back used to it. But now I am alternating between days of feeling like I could fall asleep at any moment and nights where I am wide awake and cannot get to sleep at all. And what is with this weather Perth? So as much as I thought I would be back into the swing of things by now, and even booked a bunch of appointments thinking I would be (what.the.hell?), I very much am not. I’m dragging myself through the day bleary eyed and getting through the bare minimum when I get home at night. Here’s hoping I kick the lag sooner rather than later.

It’s always easy to be on the wagon the first couple of weeks of January. And especially so when you’re still on holidays.

But for the record:

Tonight I cooked dinner. And it was delicious. I’m back on the 12WBT and I made the eggplant and sweet potato bake. And it was divine. Definitely a recipe to keep on hand to sub in for ones we don’t like. And best, it serves 4 so we have a meal for tomorrow.

I watered my garden, aka 6 fruit trees. My father-in-law watered them whilst we were away and even discovered the three I’d planted at the very back of our backyard (note, you can see from the back door to the back fence even though the lot is hu-uge, on account of the barren wasteland in between these two points). He told me he drenched these when he was there and that he thought 2 of the three could be saved. But today when I headed out and watered them, I saw budding green leaves way at the bottom of the dead sticks. I think maybe, just maybe, this watering thing could be something. And my potted dwarf fruit trees on the patio also look so much healthier than when I left them too, despite the heatwave. Ahem.

I worked on cleaning and decluttering and tidying too and for the first time ever after a trip, my bag is unpacked and my clothes washed and put away, a day after arriving home. I’ve also tried something new, instead of letting new gifts “settle in” (the time you allow possessions to just become at one with your house whilst remaining packed in their packaging and in fact just sort of metres from the front door where you first left them when you brought them in), I’ve unpacked and washed what needed washing and started using things. I’m trying this out because I’m terrified of becoming a hoarder and also because when you leaves things for “special” or for “the right time/use”, you just end up never using them at all. And if they are remotely perishable, like candles or body lotion or tea, you end up throwing them out without ever having enjoyed them at all. I guess I’m exploring the enjoy things early even if that means you’ll have used them later.

I started airing my yarn stash. This involves pulling it all out and looking at it. I’m entering all my stash into Ravelry, at the moment without photos to speed up the process and just have something that’s workable. (I’m girliejones over there). As I work through things, I’ll tag them slightly better, etc. I’m a bit scared about the total tally – that it will be ridiculously huge. And at the same time, I’ve just been looking at my more precious skeins, with the idea of looking to keep for items for myself because I LOVE and must HAVE that yarn vs using it to make for gifts for someone else i think would appreciate the colourway more, and also with the intention to reduce the amount of stash overall (so looking for projects as well, rather than just having it there “in case the whimsy takes hold”) and there is a little bit of anxiety about it – not actually wanting to give up the pile of skeins, liking and wanting the pile of skeins in and of itself. Which is not *so* terrible if the idea is that I am a yarn collector rather than knitter. But how big should a collection really be, if that’s the case? And I’m not sure that’s the case with me (though … ooh “collector” is such a dangerous word in this house … must put down the obsession, and walk away). I’m trying to console myself with the idea that when I use up all the yarn, I *can* buy more. There’s no rule that says no purchasing of future yarn in the future. But still. Pile of yarn. So yummy.

I’ve also started trying to rationalise and make better use of online (and social media) tools. I think the name of the game will be to streamline internet use both to reduce the time spent whilst also maximising exposure to quality content that genuinely interests me. So that’s meant culling subscriptions to feeds on Google Reader and being hones about what blogs and sites I genuinely want to read. And getting back into using Ravelry properly, as mentioned above. I’ve also been using and tidying up my Bookmarks (for some reason I stopped using Bookmarks in like 1998 and then never occurred to me to use them as a way of refinding things on the net. Don’t ask!) I also tidied up my Pinterest account – I got one ages ago as a way of brainstorming for my wedding palate so I never really mentioned it. But now that’s done (and really, was there a reason the colours and themes of my wedding needed to be a secret? I was always torn on that one), Pinterest can be for fun! And also, there’s my wedding board still there if it interests anyone. You’ll not be shocked to find out I am girliejones there either.

Determined to get back to this blog every day thing (remember when I used to post like 9 times a day? Who was that person?), if I have nothing to say, I’m going to work on Resolution #1 – Focus on the positive. So here goes.

I thought I would have lost weight over the trip – I had a Crohns flare up for about 3 weeks and whilst that’s not the way one wants to lose weight, I thought that that with all the walking we did, maybe just maybe I’d finally break through my barrier. Weigh in says no. Which was sad at first. Funny how we always think we burn way more calories walking than we remotely do. And I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I could whilst away – French food might not be up there on the vegetarian stakes, and it might be very rich, which is not great when Crohnsing, but I love love love the patisseries and the chocolates and the hot chocolate which I drank instead of coffee and the crepes. Sigh. Oh the crepes. So … yes, considering all these things. I did not put weight on whilst gorging in Paris. And I am calling that a win!

While we were away, my Father-in-law (am using it til it stops sounding weird, ok?) popped in to our place when he was in the area to look in on things. In other galaxy and another time, I would have absolutely hated this. But this is not that time or place. He managed to be at our place just as our fridge tripped the fuse and so he was able to save the contents (not much as we had cleaned out before leaving) and put it on an extension cord to another power point. He also totally saved one of my fruit trees in the back, which I’d given up for dead, by soaking it with water when he was there. AND he chatted to our next door neighbour whom I’m ashamed to say I’ve never met, in two years, as I’m shy and not the popping in to introduce myself sort, such that she came over to say congrats to us as we arrived home last night AND offered us a dip in her pool if it gets too hot AND this morning when I put the bin out, I totally wished her good morning. I’m so glad for the icebreaking as it’s a bit scary being all by yourself in a suburb if something happens.(And she’s really nice, as it turns out).

I was worried that we would have this total anticlimactic let down on getting home from our holidays. I’d deliberately tried to head that off by inviting parents and siblings over for brunch tomorrow as the presents get delivered from the bridal registry. So I’m looking forward to that. But I’d forgotten we had our Christmas presents loot stashed at C’s parents while we were gone and we went passed there on the way home from the airport yesterday. So I got to remember how lovely they were – I got Haighs chocolates and tea, lots of tea, and some glass jars which I totally wanted (the other Alisa has homemade nougat and little macaroons on her countertops in them). And one last present we got to unwrap which was … a TEA BOX!

We arrived home this afternoon from our gorgeous honeymoon. We were so sad to leave Paris and it seems so odd to have just been there, scoffing croissants and sipping hot chocolate yesterday, and today, it’s back to real life. We still have a few bits of our wedding to hang on to for the next couple of days but come Monday, it’s back to the grind.

We had a bit of a horror final flight home. But flying from Paris to Singapore, I watched three fantastic movies and finished off Season 6 of The Closer. The movies I thoroughly enjoyed:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower – 5 stars! – intensely heartbreaking indie film about, and yet celebrating, the pain that is high school, and being different. Loved it. (And yes, those who heard C’s wedding vows, I cried)

Pitch Perfect – 4 stars! – OMG. Accawesome! This film is funny and brilliant and reminded me that I need to watch more dance, singing and 80s movies this year. I LOVE Rebel Wilson. She is choosing some really brilliant roles for herself. She does tend to play the same role, but I love it. In Pitch Perfect, she was funny without her being fat being the joke. And she’s just outstandingly confident and self assured and brilliant. And sometimes her confidence is situationally over the top but not always. LOVE her. (Also, oddly quite loving Anna Kendrick even when I didn’t really love her in Step Up 4).

Paris Manhattan – 3.5 stars – French film debut by Sophie Lellouche – Alice is obsessed with Woody Allen. Her Parisian Jewish family are odd, or perhaps not really. She is 30 and single and not wanting to be. But she’s complex and difficult. Set in the 4th Quarter of Paris, I loved the backdrop for its familiarity. And it had a happy ending.

What I noticed though, including with The Closer, is lately I have been choosing and enjoying TV and Film with female characters as leads, who are interesting and complex and are romantically with men who genuinely love them for who they are and are interested in what it is that they are doing, actively support and encourage it. That’s kind of a really nice trend.

I have many blog posts to make and I’m sure they will tumble out over the next week or so. I’ve only got a couple of days left in Paris and my thoughts have been turning to the serious business of 2013. There is much to do. There is much I would like to do. And there is much I learned from 2012 that I would like to implement in 2013. The most important of which is happiness. 2012 was one of the best years of my life. So much good happened to me in it and I want to clutch onto every last strand of it and bring it with me.

So here are my resolutions and/or goals for 2013. And how I think I am going to ensure I achieve them.

1. The most important one: learn to focus on the positive and not the negative.

Something that was really highlighted for me in 2012 was that I will always mull over the negative – the one bad review against 23 good ones and an award win, the two people who don’t like me, the three people who can’t make an event etc etc. And there were some really really ridiculous moments last year that worked to slap me awake to my thought processes. One of those was the overwhelming attendance at the TPP Hour at Natcon. I remember standing on a chair about to speak and looking round the room and seeing so many familiar and smiling faces. I had a very similar moment when I was standing in front of everyone at our wedding ceremony, I was terrified in the moment and then looked up and around, to so many familiar and smiling faces.

This year, I want to consciously focus on the positive of situations, friends and events. I want to spend the year reprogramming the way I default react to things. I’m going to let the evidence speak for itself and I’m going to learn to stop nitpicking successes into failures.

2. Lose 5 to 8 kg.

This one is here and written this way because it’s part of something from last year. I could rewrite it as “become fit” or “become healthy” or whatever and elsewhere, these goals are broken down and itemised that way. But when I come back at the end of the year, how do you tick that off? Last year I lost 14kg. I did that. And I did it through the Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation program. I’m signed up for it again and will probably (finances allowing) do it for the whole of 2013 as well. In this program I am learning so much about menu planning, balanced eating, healthy eating, exercising (though this one I did not do that great), goal setting, consistency and a little bit of cooking. In the coming year, I want to learn how to carry on a healthy lifestyle beyond the program so that in 2014, I can do it on my own.

According to the BMI chart, I actually need to lose something like 14kg again to be in the “healthy weight” bracket. I dunno about that so I’m setting myself a more conservative number and then I’m going to reassess. In any case, I want to aim for a goal weight and then maintain it in 2013 and beyond.

3. Develop daily routines (for morning and for night)

I’m unbelievably crap at doing something daily (see points made above). I’m crap at taking medication every day, or following a skin care routine or exercising or whatever. (and yet, by the way, I am excellent at falling into bad for you daily routines, like the 4 years I ate a huge bowl of cookies and cream icecream plus milo right before bed, or the caffeine habit I just kicked, again). But apparently, being “successful” involves being consistent and having routines and training yourself to expect things. Importantly, for example, to beat insomnia, a shut down ritual in the lead up to bed is recommended – like you do with kids – and doesn’t include tv or the laptop etc. And “apparently” you can find more inner peace and balance if you don’t wake up and immediately check email, twitter and chug down your first coffee. I dunno. I kinda like doing all those things but I’m also coming over a pretty full on and stressful five years stint and I’m thinking a bit more zen, chamomile tea, yoga and contemplation does kinda sounds … well … nice. Plus, stress stifles creativity. So.

I’m yet to actually map out what these routines will be or involve and also how I will get into the habit but hey … 51 weeks of the year still left, I’ll get there.

4. Commence PhD

This one is its own one cause it involves resigning, which is going to be sad and a bit upsetting, even though my boss knows it’s coming etc. It also flows into number 5 and if I was a better list writer, I bet I could have collated these to optimise …. blah blah blah

5. Be regimented / in a routine in studying from home

Did I mention that I get to do my PhD from home yet? I spent a lot of 2012 thinking that all I wanted to do was just stay at home and work on TPP and now I get to do that. But. Here are the two buts:

1. TPP has never been a regimented, time blocked activity. I mastered the art of that story – you know the one about filling the jar with rocks and then gravel and then sand and then water – I filled in every and any free moment with TPP, if I had a moment, I’d be doing something for TPP in it. That’s a really really really hard habit to break. I told myself NO TPP on my honeymoon and well, I *mostly* managed that? But you see the problem. It’s going to be really hard to sit down and start and then end at the end of the day. I can already find myself saying, yes well but 7.5 hours a day? That’s not really enough time to get it all done. I want to make sure that I fill the time that I will find myself having with all the things that I gave up over the last few years – some of my hobbies got neglected, hanging out with my friends, going to the movies, seeing my family etc etc.

2. This is not my first ride round the carousel. I already was accepted into a postgrad program and lived that dream. I already know how hard it is, how much work there is and how much it crushes your soul. And I know how to not finish. Been there and done that one. I also know that the very successful students in the other program I was in were so because they treated it like a day job. They showed up at nine, worked til their half hour lunch break, and then worked again til five. When they went home. And they did this every single day. They were not distracted by Buffy or tim tam morning teas or crushes or fanfic or lj etc. Thus, this resolution.

And when this one kicks in, I’m going to be adding exercising to my morning routine, as in the whole eat the frog first thing (do the worst thing on your to do list for the day first and it’s all uphill from there).

6. Get back into running

This one should be taken care of/executing numbers 2, 3 and 5 above.

7. Publish at least most of the remaining Twelve Planets volumes.

I really had aimed to wrap this up in 2013. And I am still working on that happening – if I can Make It So, I will! But life gets in the way and some things can’t be helped. And personally, I prefer a great book over meeting a deadline. But Asymmetry will be out very soon and volume 9 is not far off after that.

8. Publish two novels and an anthology.

What it says on the label. More on than anthology soon.

9. Apply for every arts grant I am eligible for.

This one is such a bane in my side but this year, I am determined! It’s been a very long (two years so far) process to sort out paperwork, and company structures and we still have to get audited etc, so lots still to do. But, what it says.

10. Through Splintered Walls art project.

This one has been in the works ever since we discovered the printing error. Kaaron, Narrelle and I were standing in the dealers room at Natcon pouring over the books, the covers looked so gorgeous and there was this heartbreaking error that we couldn’t fix or take back or in any way save that print run. I had confirmed it was not an error on our part so I knew the printer would fix it (and then did, within 3 days) and we did our best to retrieve every copy we could for replacement. But as we stood there looking at these books, as an environmentalist, I just couldn’t bring myself to pulp them; for all that paper to have been wasted. And Narrelle said – turn it into an art project! And there we were, the three of us in 0 to 3 secs, taken from heartbroken, crushed and depressed to excited, inspired and buzzing! We worked on the idea, bounced ideas off each other and eventually approached Lee at the City of Rockingham, which is where I live and which has a pretty cool culture and arts program (and coordinator!), and he also had some cool ideas. And the first workshop to learn paper arts kicks off in February. The project is away! And I can’t wait to see what it produces.

11. Grow TPP by 20%.

This is pretty much the annual goal for TPP. But as I’m writing this, I’ve realised that not only is that a sales goal, I think it might also be a great wider goal. Over the last few years, TPP has grown in people working behind the scenes as well as in the writers and artists we work with and the projects we take on. I think I’m going to look at this one as more inclusive than just sales. I quite like that!

12. Win Last Short Story 2013.

Okay so now I might just have let my fellow competitors know my intents. But there they are!

13. Read 20 books for fun.

Yeah. Take that! Apparently I am to have more time this year! Woot!

And I’m gonna throw in here signing up for the AWW 2013 challenge but I’ll figure out those details later.

14. Blog every day.

Yes. Apparently it’s a thing. I think I’ll also include in this – do social media better. And something about the podcasts. (You know I’m never gonna come back and refine this one, right? See this is how it happens, or doesn’t …)

15. Tidy/settle into the house

It’s a work in progress but I’d like to find it mostly liveable and comfy by the end of the year. It’s going to involve culling books and craft projects left by the wayside and clothes I no longer wear and all that crap I pack and schlepp from house to house when I move.

16. Start greening the backyard.

It’s basically a barren wasteland of weeds. Sometimes you can see the puppy sitting and observing it as though he is waiting for the tumbleweed to roll on by. I took my dad’s advice last year and started small, on something that I could enjoy and maintain aka the small patio out the back door. I’ve managed to mostly keep alive my mini lemon, lime and apple trees though I fear they might not have survived the heat wave we missed over Christmas and still ongoing. Other than that, I don’t even think I managed to clear and tidy the 2 m by 2 m patio we have there. The whole thing needs reticulation which a) is expensive and b) not environmentally friendly. And so I am back at this standoff. I’d like to think that if I was going to be home all day every day, I might remember to hand water a plant or two. And I’d really really like to start a veggie patch. Plus plants/gardens around the home lower the temperature of your house …

17. Cook more.

(or at all)

18. Reduce my yarn stash.

This one I have already made instantly harder. I might have had a weak moment and sympathy for a soon to be crash strapped future me. And I fell and signed up for 1, just 1, sock club for 2013.

I’m sure I can work this out. For the last week, I’ve been wracking my brains trying to figure out a complex rule for how I can make this one work. I’ll get there. Just give me a couple more days.

18i Create my own sock club of the month

This one is stolen from the Yarn Harlot who did this one year – she went into her stash of yarn and patterns and made up kits and threw them in a cupboard and took one out each month to complete. I want to do that. I need to take stock of the stash and then be honest about what I like and what I think someone else might like should a knitted item in that colourway be gifted to them. And then … get started. Direction. That’s all I need. And a plan.

18ii Knit a jumper

I loved the one I finished for myself last year. My very first adult sized garment. I got over the expense of the whole 8 skeins or whatever in the same colour and thoroughly enjoyed the working on a big project. So I want to do another one. And I also have my eye on something like the beige cardigan/wrap that Brenda wears on The Closer (with the cables?)

However. I have a shiny new husband. And that means … no more boyfriend curse!!! I can knit C a jumper!!! A manly one. I’m going to look into that.

18iii Challenge myself, knittingwise

This comes back to the knitting before you die book I bought last year that kind of pointed out to me, I’d fallen into a knitting rut. And also, if I’ve never tried a bunch of things, I can’t really consider my skill levels to be advanced. I’ve been consciously challenging myself since and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it. I’ve just knit two things that were new or used new yarns on my holiday and I realised, when I thought about it, that all the yarn I’d bought in the second half of 2012 was for a specific project AND got used. Which had me thinking and creating number 18 on this list because I think maybe, my stash is holding me back (plus serious lack of time) … it’s a thought in progress. More on that, end of 2013.

19. Reduce my fabric stash.

For this one, I have started a couple of new projects that I think might use some of my stash for. I’m also going to do inventory of my works in progress and maybe work on starting some of the projects I stashed away. There is so much that is exciting and interesting in that cupboard, if I braved opening it, and made some kind of spreadsheet or something. Also if I had more time. And that one I think I have (can you tell I recently worked out why I thought I’d lost all my crafting mojo? and got excited to find out I really just had almost no free downtime!)

20. Learn to use a sewing machine.

I have a very old Singer that was gifted to me. And I think it works – it was serviced etc. And if I could use a sewing machine, then I could not have to quilt my quilts by hand. I don’t think I really enjoy hand quilting and I think it gets in the way of finishing projects. I’d like to have a bunch of finished quilts at the end of the year and not just a bunch of finished quilt tops. I’m thinking of dragging my mum along to a course, we’ve talked about it before and I think this is the year we should do this.

21. Reduce To Be Read Pile.

Stashes. They are no good for you. This is one of the lessons of 2012 I have learned. And I am still trying to coax myself to not be such a squirrel with the storing of nuts for the winter. They just stare at you and make you feel bad!

This can be done in any way I like – culling, skim reading, returning to lender, sending straight to deep shelving cause I’m not really gonna read it, or reading it. Might be for fun and fulfill number 13. Might be for the PhD. We shall see.

22. Spend more time with those I love.

I want to entertain more. I want to visit people more. I want to be more present.

23. Get properly in the GTD program.

C says it can take 3 to 6 months to be properly with the program. I kinda didn’t get fully set up in 2012 cause … life … But GTD saved me in the second half of the year. My wedding planning would have been far more stressful without it and no way I could have still worked full time, done TPP and a bunch of other commitments without a meldown. (There was no meltdown). So I’m going to get back to finishing reading this book and implementing because, it’s awesome. By end of 2013, I want to live a zero inbox both electronically and paperwork and in my house.