Midmonth Update

I hope you're all having a great February! Normally I wouldn't bore you with details of the weather but we've had some fierce storms over the last few weeks! I'm not scared of thunder or lightening and I really enjoy watching storms but we've had some claps of thunder here so loud that it feels like the house is shaking! The car alarm has gone off a few times because of thunder too! Rain has been extremely heavy and some parts of Jakarta have experienced flooding; luckily not where we are though! This has all meant long nights knitting! 

1. Complete the left front of my cardigan (cast on today) I have finished the left front, re-knit most of the right front and as of today started seaming!

2. Decide what to do with the socks and shawlette that are currently on the needles (more on that later) I ripped out the socks and will probably knit a pair 2AAT using the magic loop method. 
3. Spin for at least 15 minutes every couple of days I've been very bad with the spinning as I've been really focussed on my cardigan. 
4. Figure out a plan of action for a baby blanket I need to knit I've not given this much thought...yet! As I'm not going home until Christmas I'm not too concerned about time. 

That's it for now. Next time I hope to show you a mostly completed cardigan and share some plotting I'm doing for my next projects. Have a great week! 

 

February Goals

As January was a good month for knitting and spinning (at least by my standards) I am keen to keep this up this month. These goals really do seem to help keep me accountable for my crafting and ensure that I get on with my projects - or at the very least think about them.

Goals for this month:

1. Complete the left front of my cardigan (cast on today)
2. Decide what to do with the socks and shawlette that are currently on the needles (more on that later)
3. Spin for at least 15 minutes every couple of days 
4. Figure out a plan of action for a baby blanket I need to knit 

 

Monthly Goals Update

Has January whizzed by for everybody else like it has for me!? It's been a good start to 2015 and I hope it continues this way. Having taken a rather long break from doing any kind of exercise this month I decided to start again and not really because it's January either. How long I will keep this up for I don't know but I would really love exercise to be a regular part of my life again. 

At the moment I am flitting between spinning and knitting; trying to do each evenly so I make progress in my projects. Last week I picked up an old spinning WIP that's been sitting unloved since March last year. Back in February 2014 I started spinning some Ixchelbunny Magic Bunny Top in the Aurora colourway. Since discovering that I much prefer to spin combed top from fauxlags I decided to dig out the remaining top and start spinning it again. I realise it's probably going to look slightly different to the first batch I spun but I'm fine with that. Fauxlags are making it an awful lot easier to spin as the sparkle can be a little bit tricky. 

Finish Rivoli shawl - I'm less than 10 rows away from the bind off so this is achievable! As you know this was accomplished at the beginning of the month. 

Pick up my cardigan and knit on it! Stop procrastinating and get on with it! I've finished knitting the right front! 

Half way through I had a little panic that the numbers in the pattern were wrong. Lots of people reassured me that the Custom Fit patterns are very reliable so I was going to push on through when I realised that somewhere, somehow I had missed out 5 stitches! I think it must have happened at cast on as I can't see how else it could have. Instead of ripping out all the knitting I'd done I just increased to the right number of stitches and am now hoping that it's not so noticeable of that it doesn't change the fit drastically. 

Spin for at least 15 minutes every couple of days. I would say I've done this for most of the month...some weeks more than others but I don't think I'm far off. 

So a pretty successful January in terms of my goals. Who knows what I could do in February? How was the start to your 2015? Full of fibery goodness I hope! 

Midmonth Update

The last week has mainly been about spinning. I have done a little knitting but not much. I will write an update of my spinning progress soon as that's another post. This is an update of my goals for January though.

Finish Rivoli shawl - I'm less than 10 rows away from the bind off so this is achievable! Done!!! I need to get my husband to take a picture of it in all it's glory. It really is stunning and worth showing off.

Pick up my cardigan and knit on it! Stop procrastinating and get on with it! I finished the decrease section I was on and am currently reading ahead in the pattern to the neck and armhole shaping. I think I understand so should be able to pick it up and carry on soon enough. 

 
Spin for at least 15 minutes every couple of days. I will update more thoroughly on my spinning progress soon but I have been spinning at least this and more some days.

 

Resolutions

Many bloggers are currently setting their goals for 2015 after reflecting on 2014 but I'm not going to set any long term goals for 2015 as I doubt I will stick to them. If I'm being really honest 2014 was a disappointing year for knitting and spinning. I only got a handful of projects completed and I think part of the reason is that I have so many on the go and need to dedicate more time to getting them done! My knitting and spinning mojo has definitely faded and I hope it comes back soon.

Spinning is massively frustrating for me at the moment and I feel like I'm losing any coordination I had. It doesn't help that I'm not practicing often enough (because of said frustration) so what little time I do spend spinning I don't enjoy. The stop start nature of support spindling and winding on is making me yearn for a wheel; this year may well see me buy one. If I do it will be a Lendrum DT.

I will continue trying to set monthly goals for myself but need to make more of an effort to pick up a project most evenings! This month I think I'm only going to set a few goals to see if that helps me get my mojo back. 

January
Finish Rivoli shawl - I'm less than 10 rows away from the bind off so this is achievable!
Pick up my cardigan and knit on it! Stop procrastinating and get on with it!
Spin for at least 15 minutes every couple of days.

That's it for me. What are your goals or resolutions for this year or month?

 

Goodbye 2014

Well December has been a very busy month indeed! I apologise sincerely for my lack of content. I haven't really been up to much knitting or spinning this month due to work, a quick trip to Bali to see some friends and then family staying with us for a few weeks.

Bali was delightful and I'm really looking forward to going back at Easter to meet another friend. I took no pictures as the trip was really about relaxing, pampering and spending time with good people. I stayed in Kuta and didn't do much else but shop, eat good food and relax. My lovely friend also treated me to a spa! What we didn't realise at the time was that we had chosen a couples massage! It involved a relaxing massage and scrub with oils and other lovely stuff, an outdoor shower in the glorious weather (which was amazing!) and then a rose petal bath! Being terribly British we were both a little awkward about it at first but after a while we accepted, and then embraced, the humour in the situation!

Christmas has been great and I've enjoyed having my MIL and step daughter staying with us. The weather has been quite good and has rained less than we expected. Much time has been spent in, and by, the swimming pool or at a nearby water park! Christmas Day itself was quiet, we had a roast chicken dinner, chatted with family on Skype and played some card games. What have you been doing this festive season? If you celebrated Christmas, how did you do it?

I did also receive some wonderful news that my older brother and his partner are having their first baby! I'm so excited for them and need to cast on some knitting!

Here is a very disappointing update on my December resolutions: 

1. Complete the right front of my cardigan - I have not picked this up at all this month!
2. Continue spinning on 3 main spinning WIPs - I have spun on one of my WIPs but have done very little.
3. Complete the Seafoam Shawlette to Shrug - I have done a few more rows but really not enjoying it.
4. Complete the Rivoli shawl - I am nearly finished with it!
5. Turn the heel of my sock - I have not picked this up at all this month either! 

Happy new year everybody! I hope 2015 is wonderful and that you get out of it what you want.

 

December Goals

I can't believe it's December! Now, I know that after November comes December but it just doesn't feel like it should have happened so quickly! I suppose the fact that it's still 30C on average makes it a little difficult to accept as I'm used to the cold at this time of year! Don't get me wrong...I'm not complaining; spending Christmas Day in shorts and a t-shirt will be marvelous!

So goals for this month:

1. Complete the right front of my cardigan
2. Continue spinning on 3 main spinning WIPs
3. Complete the Seafoam Shawlette to Shrug
4. Complete the Rivoli shawl
5. Turn the heel of my sock

I have a couple of bigger goals in there that I hope to stick to! Being on Christmas break in a couple of weeks should help though! What are your goals for the month?

 

Monthly Goals Update

This is my last post for NaBloPoMo and although I didn't post something each day I am really happy with what I have posted. It's definitely shown me that I can blog more and I will try and keep up some of the things I've started over the last month. 

I'm rounding this month off with an update on my goals for November.

1. Pick up my cardigan and do something with it! Anything! Perhaps even knit on it! I have been knitting here and there on the right front. Not much has been done but it's better than nothing.
2. Spin some of a WIP. I have spun on a couple of WIPs this month, including one that has been hibernating for some time.
3. Knit a bit more of a sock. I'm not too far from the heel!
4. Try not to distracted by all of the things! I have picked up on old spinning project to use with my new spindle but aside from that I've only worked on a few projects.
5. Blog as much as possible during November. Well this is the last day of November and my 16th post for the month! That's just over half and I'm happy with that!

I'll be back with my December goals this week! For now though I'd love to hear what you've enjoyed reading this month!  

 

WIPs

My goodness today has been productive so far! By 9am I had made a batch of sun dried tomato and ricotta cheese ravioli (I had defrosted a previously frozen batch of fresh pasta for so it's not all been made today) ready for tonight's dinner and done a 30min yoga workout! Then my day went marginally down hill as I took some of the skin off my right index finger but I am back on track and have just baked some oat cookies!

Anyway....knitting!

As I said yesterday I have been knitting on my goal projects for this month and wanted to share the progress here.

I dusted off the cardigan a night or so ago and decided that I just needed to knit it. Having ummed and ahhed over whether to use a stitch pattern on the front of the cardigan or not, I felt that, as that was the reason it'd been sat for a while, I'd better just do it in stockinette stitch so as not to let it sit any longer! A plain cardigan is perfectly acceptable and a fancier one can be knit when I'm more confident that I can do it!

After posting about my goals last night I picked up the socks and knit a few rows. Sometimes it surprises me how fluid it can be to knit on DPNs and that was the case last night. The stitch pattern breaks up the monotony of stockinette stitch and also breaks up the striping a bit.

Each night I've tried to spin a little bit and am making (slow) progress on both lots of fiber. The Inglenook is still in the mostly black part and I'm looking forward to a bit more colour coming through!

What have you been working on recently? Have you got a project that's just sitting there waiting for you to decide what to do with it?

 

Midmonth Update

At the beginning of the month I wrote some of my goals. As it's half way through the month I thought I'd update you on how they're going. 

1. Pick up my cardigan and do something with it! Anything! Perhaps even knit on it! I picked it up! I knitted on it! Pictures tomorrow to prove it!
2. Spin some of a WIP.  I've been spinning on the Inglenook batt and the Woolgatherings top from this post. I've not made much progress but it's progress none the less.
3. Knit a bit more of a sock. I have knit a little bit since this post but not much. I need to get back to it!
4. Try not to distracted by all of the things! I have resisted the tempation to cast on more things or start more spinning projects...yay!
5. Blog as much as is possible during November. Well this is my 9th post this month. It's not as much as other bloggers but I'm really pleased with how much I'm managing to blog. 
 

 

November Goals

It's the beginning of a new month and I always feel like it's a clean slate for my knitting and spinning projects. Each month I feel that I'm going to knit/spin that little bit faster and get more accomplished than I did last month. Yet, the time flies by and before you know it I've knit a few rows here and there on various projects but haven't really got anywhere!  

Last month I got distracted by the beautiful Curious Collective Shawl and cast on a new sock. This month our shipping has just been unpacked and I'm wondering what other new shiny thing(s) I can cast on! It's funny though because I'm really only knitting things for me at the moment so it doesn't matter how long those things take, but I feel bad for letting things sit without being worked on. Anybody else feel the same?

So here are a couple of goals for this month:

1. Pick up my cardigan and do something with it! Anything! Perhaps even knit on it! 
2. Spin some of a WIP. 
3. Knit a bit more of a sock. 
4. Try not to distracted by all of the things!
5. Blog as much as possible during November. 

Do you have some goals for this month? Feel free to share them here!