Things I want to do in 2010

I think if I write them down I may be more inclined to stick to them or at least to work towards them. so here, putting my reputation on the line, is my little list.

1. I want to make a new knitted/crocheted critter every week. Whether I use it for a swap or put it in my Artfire shop doesn't matter - just that one item gets finished per week
2. I will plurk every day at least twice. So I had to pick some easy ones otherwise I won't get any done
3. I will give the whole house a new coat of paint, one room at a time, but by the end of the year all rooms will be re-painted (was going to do this last year - now it REALLY needs it)
4. I will attend all school teacher meetings - I know it's a yucky one and I usually come up with excuses to avoid it - I always feel like I'M being told off for how my kids are (or are not) doing
5. I'm going on a holiday by myself no kids, no husband, no responsibilities for at least a weekend. I know that seems mean but last year I had some nasty depressions that a break like this would have worked wonders on.
6. I'm going to help out at the school more Helping out at fetes and trips is another thing I used to do alot of and now I seem to have got out of the habit.
7. I'm going on a holiday with the kids - see I haven't left them out. They love Butlins holiday camps and they are not expensive. I enjoy it too - even though I still have to watch them and be with them all the time.
8. I'm going to put the bin sacks out every Wednesday Seems silly but I quite often forget and then the sacks kinda multiply out the back.
9. I'm going to stay in contact with my e-friends. I'm already pretty good at staying in touch with my plurky friends (that's a social network site) but the facebook gets neglected.
10. I'm going to excercise Isn't that a scary thought. I'm always making excuses like "no time" "too tired" but just walking the dog isn't doing it for me. I'm two sizes bigger than I want to be and, well, let's just say that me and diets don't last. I got a special offer on at the council gym so I should take them up on it.

I'm keeping the list short on purpose - if I try for too much they won't get ticked off. I can always add more later anyway. Will I achieve all these this year? hope so.

Working on that list

Yesterday, I went to my new "Let's Knit" knitting club; we meet once a fortnight in Starbucks, Bridgend. This was our second meeting (I did say new) The lovely thing was that we had two new members - this brings our total membership up to 6. I think that's a wonderful start.

After coffee all round we showed some of our projects that we are working on and got a decent amount of knitting done while chatting. It's just so nice to get out sometimes and meet up with like minded people. Our Emma, also known as Atomic Knitting brought patterns and yarn samples for us all to drool over - oh yes alpaca and silk - amazing.

She also sells her own hand-made stitch markers, knitting needles and other fab stuff - go check out her site.




Despite having a busy evening planned, i was able to make a bit of a dent in that list I showed you in my last post. This is Maisey the sweetest corn you'll ever meet. I made him specifically for Thanksgiving but he would look just as great on display to celebrate Halloween or Christmas or would make some budding chef a very handsome sidekick for their kitchen.

You can find him in my Artfire shop

Time to slow down...and speed up!

SLOW DOWN?
Well yes, I'm absoloutely terrible for seeing a new pattern or having an idea and going "Wow, I want to make one of those."
The problem is that I now have so many projects "on the needles" that I'm running out of places to put them and NOTHING is getting finished.

So speed up?
Yes, I must try my best not to start anything new for a while (but it is sooo hard)
I MUST finish more of my projects
I tried a "WIP Wednesday" which means every Wednesday I must try to finish as many WIPs (Works In Progress) as possible. But it doesn't seem to be working. I think I need to have more days in the week dedicated to finishing items.
How many projects did I finish yesterday (Wednesday)? One. Only one.
I crocheted this dragon from this to this....

Not bad, but not really making a dent in my list. What does my list look like?

Ooh, er, don't ask, Ok here goes...

1. A blanket for christmas for my daughter - OK so that was a BIG project and was a knit along so I couldn't go faster than 2 squares a week - but I am way behind if it is to be finished by Christmas.
2. A crochet scarf - another crochet along but not really putting the effort in that it needs.
3. Psyduck - yes, the Pokemon. He has alot in common with my son and will be holding his copy of "Pokemon Platinum Version" on Christmas morning.
4. Sean's Alien- This is an incredibly cute illustration drawn by his mother that I am trying to make into a toy. I've knit his feet and hands just fine but I've made his body about 3 times and ripped it out again - can't seem to get it right. Next try will be the last - however it turns out.
5. Corn cob critter - Yes he is a little man made from a corn cob. I started knitting him for Thanksgiving but he was bigger and had more parts than I thought so he is still in bits with no boots yet.
6. Scarf in Merino - I got some lovely soft Merino wool in a swap - It's just begging to be made into a scarf; so I'm doing about 4 rows a day on that one - fun pattern though - it looks like waves.
7. Bright Scarf - In a different swap I got some fun fur yarn with lots of colours in it. I would have loved a scarf in that fur but not enough was there, so I've trawled the yarn shops and found regular yarn in the same colours. I will have a scarf after all. A block of fun fur on each end and then blocks of each colour between until it is done. I've done about 20" so far - so it's going well.

So as you see, I need to concentrate a bit - one at a time huh?

I'll post pictures as I finish each one. That's a promise to you and to me.