I can’t believe we’re already half way through January. Honestly, where have the last 17 days gone?!
Knitting and crafting, that’s where they’ve gone; at least at my house. And food. There’s been some seriously good food. I swear, Lancelot is becoming a MUCH BETTER cook than I am, and I love it. Last night he made us salmon filets in the air fryer and they were to die for. (recipe here) We’ve been making a real effort to eat healthier, more fruit and veg and all that, and I would say it’s going well.
Top left: Flower ornament with inside dangles made of recycled beads and enhanced with netting around the top Top right: Back of the Flyaway Vest; I used Old Shale lace instead of stockinette and it’s really lovely seen vertical like that Bottom left: Herringbone Lace Infinity Cowl using yarn that’s been in my stash since 2017 Bottom right: Simple marker drawing that I made and framed (using a frame I had on hand); this will go in my new office (whenever we get to move)
Not pictured, but also recently finished, are a crocodile stitch flower pin using the same yarn as the cowl and a Granny stitch crocheted vest. It was a busy week.
So you may be wondering, what the hell are these 23 Things the title of today’s post refers to, and I’m so glad you asked. I saw in an email newsletter I get the idea of trying to come up with 23 things you want to do more of in 2023. It wasn’t as easy as I first thought it would be, but I love the idea of putting such a positive spin on the whole “new year’s resolution” type thing.
23 things to do more of in 2023 🌺
Draw
Read
Try new things
Push the boundaries of my old comfort zone
Hone my cooking skills
Give myself some grace
Find healthier ways to eat
Walk
Be mindful of how much packaging waste we bring in to the house
Find ways to use the materials I have on hand
Learn how to compost
Get more creative with recycling / repurposing around the house
Spend time with friends
Grow my own food
Certificates and badges
Pay it forward
Sing like no one is listening
Just say NO
Let go of the little things that really don’t matter
Eric did not enjoy his brief time wearing the dog’s holiday bandana…
We’ve been having a laid back holiday break. The guaranteed time off between Christmas and New Year’s is one of the best perks of working in higher ed as far as I’m concerned. I take time to stay up late, sleep in, and work on projects. We also got to spend some time with family and friends. We made our first full-on proper Christmas dinner. It’s been good.
Today I’m starting to return to a few of my “normal” things because work starts back up tomorrow. I wanted to take a minute to reflect on the year that was 2022, briefly.
We welcomed a niece to the family. We celebrated more birthdays and our second anniversary. We took two lovely road trips. I made a total of 179 projects. And we still (to the best of our knowledge) have not had COVID. It’s been a good year.
In terms of the goals I set for myself last year, I did really well. I was not able to lose weight and I bought a single skein of yarn, but I aced everything else. That makes me really proud.
My goals for next year:
No new craft supplies
Finish all of my kits
Read at least 4 books
Establish and maintain habits/routines for exercising
Complete at least 5 creative projects each month
No new clothes unless I need new underwear or bras
No new shoes
Lose 50lbs
Post on my blog at least once per week
Learn how to bake bread from scratch
Earn at least one professional certificate
Learn at least one new craft skill
Part of the weekly blog post will be an update on goals, to help keep me accountable. In the spirit of full transparency, I did stack the deck just a bit. Prior to the end of the year I purchased a few more craft supplies and some clothes. I also spent some time yesterday disassembling some old jewelry that I don’t wear anymore and salvaged most of it to reuse.
The “word” for next year is going to be FRUGAL.
We have plenty, we want for nothing really. Not saying that we’re wealthy by the financial standards set by many in this country, but we have enough to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table, the lights on, and extra to do fun things periodically. By the standards of many places we are wealthy as kings, and that’s not lost on us.
Every month we make a donation to the local food bank. Throughout the year we make donations to other charities. I share my cookies whenever it makes sense, and we’ll continue to do that. Not spending money on things we really don’t need means we’ll be able to help others.
Top Left: Us on Christmas Day Top Right: Eric the Red, the Most Interesting Cat in the World Middle Right: Improv dinner – baked pork chops with onions, cranberries, and acorn squash in a whiskey mustard butter sauce Lower Left: Beaded ornament I made for my friend, Dr. K Lower Middle: Tiny star earrings I made myself Lower Right: The finished Celtic Neck Warmer
I firmly believe in the mantra “work smarter, not harder.” It’s quite possibly the secret to any success I have in life. I would much rather spend time planning, and working, ahead so that I spend less time scrambling at the last minute.
I make menus for the week so I know what I need at the store so that I only make one trip. I get my outfits put together for the entire work week on Saturday morning so that I don’t have to think about it when I’m getting ready for work in the morning. I use a medication management system that allows me to fill an entire 30 mornings and nights worth of medicine at once and comes apart so that I can take my container of meds for a day with me if necessary. I cold brew my coffee at home 32oz at a time so that I have inexpensive, healthier, coffee at home any time I want.
Basically, if it can be done in a batch I do it that way. I had the epiphany yesterday during my massage that “efficiency is Lazy but with a purpose.”
At any rate, I’m gearing up for the year ahead and starting to make some plans. Here’s my officially official list of Goals for 2023:
No new craft supplies (unless I manage to completely deplete my stashes of stuff)
Finish all of my kits (beading, knitting, etc. including the ones I’ve put together for knitting projects)
Read at least 4 books
Establish and maintain habits/routines for exercising
Complete at least 5 creative projects each month (anything creative counts – drawing, knitting, jewelry, LEGO, etc)
No new clothes unless I need new underwear or bras
No new shoes
Lose 50lbs
Post on my blog at least once per week
Learn how to bake bread from scratch
Earn at least one professional certificate
Learn at least one new craft skill
I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve stacked the deck in my favor here. I’ve stocked up just a tiny bit on craft supplies, bought 2 pair of shoes, an assortment of clothes (all of which will help rebuild my now lacking work wardrobe), and a new winter coat. In my defense, the coat is lilac colored, was 40% off, and was something I had been looking for.
Part of my plan to maintain my state of lazy efficiency will be to post an update on my goals as part of my weekly blog post. I’m currently toying with the idea of trying to figure out how to create a template for myself in WordPress just to maintain some consistency for myself be lazy and not have to recreate the wheel every damn time. And so as to help keep myself accountable, I’ve not only told you fine people about my goals but I’ve also shared them with several of my good friends and I’ve printed a pretty copy of them to hang on the bulletin board next to my desk. Accountability and reminders, yo.
I do have some pretty things to show you. I’ve been working on projects, trying to finish a few things before the year ends but also adding in some new fun bits.
Top left – the Leaf Scarf, now complete with beads. It will need to be blocked slightly. Top right – a Celtic Cables Neck Warmer, free pattern and using yarn I already had. Should be done soon, it’s farther along than it was there. Bottom left – that is Vanessa the Plesiosaur. She was a crochet kit from Toft yarn and I would HIGHLY recommend their kits. I made that for the husband. Bottom right – I’m making the Flyaway Vest using a beautiful laceweight yarn that ombres from a beautiful rich ruby to a vibrant fuchsia and back again. The entire thing was originally written to be stockinette stitch but I’ve modified the back to use Old Shale lace which I think will be particularly interesting seen vertically.
The neck warmer will definitely be finished before the end of the year, the vest may be as well. I do also have a few other projects still in progress, as you may recall, and I’m not sure about their status. I do seem to like having a variety of things going at once to stave off the boredom.
psych update
There isn’t actually much to report right now. I haven’t had any medication changes or symptom changes in quite some time now. I have gotten into the habit of using my full spectrum light in the mornings when I work at home and I know that helps with the Seasonal Affective Disorder. I also make a point of taking care of my physical health as best I can, better now than I ever have really, because at 46 years old I have finally realized that it’s easier for my brain to feel good when my body feels good. Remarkable, eh?
Welcome to Monday. No, I don’t care if you still have your receipt, you can’t get a refund. Buck up, little camper, here we go again…
Tao Silk Scarf – not using silk, maybe alpaca?
This is the “personal” project that I’m working on most right now. The pattern was free from Jimmy Beans Wool and is pretty straightforward; just a 4 row repeat. I’m using a ball of unknown laceweight yarn from my stash. I suspect it started life as “naked” alpaca from KnitPicks that I dyed myself about a thousand years ago but I don’t honestly remember. It’s pretty, it’s easy, and it makes me happy.
Other things that are making me happy include making a few more holiday gifts over the weekend, getting connected with a local knitters group that will happily take the hats and scarves I’ve been making and donate them to their chosen charity this year (I just need to get all of the ends woven in), and Lancelot. I mean honestly, what’s not to be happy about with a partner who gets what “partner” actually means.
Another thing that makes me happy is being a student, and I realized last week that it’s been too long since I wore that hat. I am not at all interested in another degree right now – for one thing I don’t think I can afford it in terms of my mental health. The university I work for covers some tuition costs if you attend one of the system schools, so that would help if I did decide to pursue a program there again, but mentally and emotionally I know that I don’t have what it would it would take to do justice to another full-on graduate degree. Not right now at least.
Instead I’m going to do a professional certificate program, all online and from the comfort of home, and I should be done in about a month. All for $50 and it comes very highly recommended. I’m excited about this. I really am someone who thrives on learning new things.
Goals update
Y’all probably know by now that I set myself some goals every year. I do not believe in the whole “new year’s resolution” thing, but I do believe in pushing myself to do new things and try to do some old things even better. The list for 2022 was (comments for each in brackets):
No new yarn (I have only bought yarn once, for a very specific project that was commissioned by a friend)
Learn a new knitting skill (I’ve finally learned how to knit with two colors!)
Complete at least one creative project every month (so far August was my slowest month with only 7 projects)
Learn a new craft skill (I’ve learned several new techniques for beading and jewelry making)
Try at least two new recipes every month (we’ve tried far more than this and loved 99% of them)
Plant and maintain a vegetable garden (we had tomatoes, two kinds of peppers, strawberries, and assorted herbs growing on the deck; I’ve started clearing space in the existing flower beds to accommodate a proper garden next year)
Lose 50lbs (this is the goal that I’ve struggled with the most and haven’t made any real progress with)
I’ve already been working on my goals for 2023, mostly so that I can be prepared. I’m 99.999% confident these are set now:
No new craft supplies (unless I manage to completely deplete my stashes of stuff)
Finish all of my kits (beading, knitting, etc. including the ones I’ve put together for knitting projects)
Read at least 4 books
Establish and maintain habits/routines for exercising
Complete at least 5 creative projects each month (anything creative counts – drawing, knitting, jewelry, LEGO, etc)
No new clothes unless I need new underwear or bras
No new shoes
Lose 50lbs
Post on my blog at least once per week
Learn how to bake bread from scratch
Earn at least one professional certificate
Learn at least one new craft skill
I think those should be both challenging yet absolutely attainable. And, in an effort to be able to tell when I’ve finished all of the kits I have, I’ve started taking an inventory of everything I have in the house. That’s been a great exercise because I’m uncovering things that I had completely forgotten about. It’s like shopping without spending any money.
I’ve considered going back to doing goals on a weekly basis; not quite sure about that yet. I will say I feel there’s a lot to be said for it in terms of keeping accountable. For now, it’s Monday and it’s time to see where today takes us.
Eric and Froggy are trying to hide from Monday, unsuccessfully
Lancelot and I seem to have started a tradition of sharing a bottle of wine on our anniversary, and being the sentimental fool that I am, I’ve kept the corks from those two bottles. I wasn’t really sure why, it just seemed right. Yesterday I decided to see if I could make them more visible and that’s exactly what happened. I wrapped the corks with a bit of wire and added some sparkly bits. The other one is the same concept but with different accents. I have them hanging on the plant stand and they’re just perfect. I love projects that combine found objects and supplies I already have on hand.
I have definitely been keeping busy with the crafting lately. I finally finished some ornaments I had started working on sometime earlier this year, because the inspiration for how to finish them finally came to me. And I modified that Dragon Egg pattern to use some Koigu KPPM I had in my stash and ended up with a cozy for a plant jar.
I have no idea how much of a skein I used for this because it had been salvaged from a project of unknown origin and has been in my stash for well over 10 years. I had approximately 90 zillion ends to weave in because of this so instead of weaving them in I threaded them all to the inside and hid them instead. It’ll be our secret, shhhhh…
Keeping with my goal of not buying any yarn this year, and realizing that it wasn’t a struggle, has me thinking about going even bigger (actually smaller) next year. My thinking right now is that I won’t buy any new yarn, kits of any kind, or craft supplies next year. The caveat to all of those is that if I somehow manage to run out then my goal will have basically been met. But trust me, that’s not going to happen. I started making a list of just the bead kits I have and there are 10 on the list so far. So far. That doesn’t count the knitting kits, the crochet kit, felting kits, and other assorted craft kits that I know are lurking in this house. Step one is going to be to find and catalog all of those.
In other news, Lancelot and I took a mini-vacation to Des Moines, IA last Friday and had a blast. We went to the Art Center, Botanical Garden, an art gallery, and had the famous Crab Rangoon pizza at Fong’s. It was great to be able to get away and not spend an entire day on travel. It took less than a full tank of gas for the round-trip, plus we only needed a hotel for one night and L found a very nice place that was smack in the middle of what we wanted to see and was reasonably priced and had a fantastic continental breakfast. On Saturday when we got home we hung out and watched way too much TV and just had a really good time together.
We are sort of adorable together
psych update
There’s actually not much to update right now. I won’t see the doc again until the end of November, though I do see my therapist just about every other week. I think that therapy, like the medication, will always be a part of my life and I’m really ok with that. I feel very strongly that we all need someone to talk to that we know won’t judge us and will help us find solutions to situations that we just can’t talk to anyone else about. It’s just good for the soul.
I didn’t necessarily plan it this way but hey, it’s the end of February! I am not too disappointed that I haven’t been posting super regularly because it’s been because I’ve been involved with doing other things, like life. And adulting. Generally I would say that “life” is much more enjoyable than “adulting,” but not always. But I digress.
Ignore the black lines
I managed to get back to the glass studio this past weekend and had a delightful time. That flower thing will be a “pretty” that sits in a frame on a table. It was fun to make, especially now that I’ve figured out how to work with the glass and work around my hands not wanting to cooperate all the time.
Dinner last night! Red lentils and chicken thighs
Lancelot and I have been cooking together, pretty much every night, and it’s wonderful. We’ve decided it’s probably time to start getting to work on my whole “lose 50lbs by the end of the year” thing so I’m opting for even more health recipes. Never a bad thing really.
I am also happy to report that this month I completed no fewer than 13 creative projects, and that makes me very happy indeed.
It’s odd, well maybe not, but I think it is. I’ve essentially quit Facebook. I still have an account but I don’t have the app on my phone, it doesn’t come up on my work computer at all, and I just don’t check it anymore. Once in a great while Lancelot will tell me about something, usually dealing with our new niece or with a close friend, and I’ll go out there just to see that single thing. But that’s it.
I’ve realized that this has freed up a remarkable about of time for other things. Like knitting. Like watching shows I enjoy. Like talking to my husband.
I am still posting photos on Instagram, and I keep up with a few people that way. But I’ve decided that I’d really rather talk to the people I care about and spend less time just randomly on the internet.
The one real downside to that is I’m spending less time with my personal laptop turned on and so less time reading blogs, and less time writing here. These are trade-offs I supposed.
I feel like an update is in order, so here goes…
I am still knitting and making progress, which is good. We’ve been working on trying new recipes and it’s been more like once a week as opposed to every other week. And I’m still working on various Lego kits that continue to arrive. I think today I’m going to make some tulips and sunflowers. The next “big” kit is a typewriter.
One of our favorite meals for Meatless Monday is Tofu and Black Bean nachos
One of the goals I had set for last year was to explore vegetarian cooking and try to incorporate that into our lifestyle. I actually found that I really enjoy it. We have not switched to an entirely vegetarian diet, but we do make a point of having at least one meatless meal every week. And because it’s catchy (and I think something they did during WWII?) we go with Meatless Mondays. Tonight’s dinner will be an delish vegetarian chili made in the Instant Pot. It’s tasty, healthy, and really quite filling.
Now where is that recipe for BBQ squirrel?
On Saturday Lancelot helped me with a project that’s really needed to be done, and especially not since I’m going to be trying to expand my recipe horizons. That mess spread all over the table was the contents of my recipe box, my mother’s recipe box, and my grandmother’s recipe box. It was hard to find anything because there were duplicates, cards with very sketchy info, and names that didn’t always make sense to us. So instead of filing things in alphabetical order we decided to group them by type, like “Appetizer” or “Drink” or “Breakfast.” It’s in much better shape now and should actually be useful. And yes, there is actually a recipe for BBQ squirrel. My mom said it was pretty tasty.
Aronia cowl made with Sweet Georgia Yarns Tough Love Sock in “Tapestry”
The cowl is gorgeous. I was a little concerned about doing lace with yarn that has so much color, but I think it looks amazing. I’ll be wearing it later this week. Right now I’m focusing my attention on getting the big mohair piece done. I’m envisioning a wide, long shoulder wrap type piece that will have three large buttons and multiple ways to fasten them. Yes, this is kind of a riff on Rectangulum but I have high hopes that it’s going to be amazing.
Hey y’all! Nope, not dead yet. I’ve just been busy and haven’t taken time to write in a really long time. I’ve been knitting, cooking, spending time with my friends, and today I finished a rather large Lego-type project.
The secret holiday gift for Miz M
I hated the mohair shawl I was making so I ripped it out and have started a new project with the yarn
I played with jewelry one day
That’s the most recent brick build, a giant swallowtail butterfly
I’m also working on a lace cowl (that doesn’t have beads) and another charity scarf. I stay pretty damn busy these days. And having Lancelot home makes it even more enjoyable.
I’m not a “new year’s resolution” kind of person, they seem destined to fail right from the start. I do, however, like to set goals for myself for the coming year. These are what I set for last year…
I will work to incorporate more physical activity into my routine by using the treadmill, ultimately getting to 30min/day, 5x/week
I will learn a new creative skill (I have kits here already for quilling and chain maille)
I will continue to explore vegetarian dishes and strive to include a meatless dinner at least 1x/week – Meatless Monday is a thing at our house
I will learn at least one new Indian recipeI will finish all of the fiber projects that are currently in progress
I will continue to work on my health issues by being more mindful of what I eat and drink
I feel like I did really well with some of those, completed them even, but not everything. So for 2022 I’m planning to…
• No new yarn (unless I somehow manage to use everything I have in the house) • Learn a new knitting skill • Complete at least one project every month – doesn’t have to be knitting, just something creative • Learn a new craft skill (like actually use the chain maille or quilling kits) • Try at least two new recipes every month • Plant and maintain a vegetable garden • Lose 50lbs
We’ll see how it goes. I have already kind of started by picking out yarns to go with patterns and putting them in project bags in my office closet. Hopefully that helps.
Hoping you’re all safe and having a wonderful holiday season. Be good to each other.
I’m feeling it more that the end of the year is fast approaching. While I firmly believe in focusing my energy on the future and only looking to the past for those important “lessons learned,” I don’t think it’s horrible to do a little self-reflection. And the closer it gets to the end of the calendar year the more I feel that tug in my brain to do just that.
I’m intending to do a slightly more formal review of the goals I had set for 2021 and a grand reveal of the ones I’m setting for 2022, but that’s a post for another day. These are more along the lines of life lessons I’ve learned this year.
Not all food prep is the same, and I get bored with a lot of it real fucking quick. I would say that frozen smoothie packs have probably been the most successful, followed closely by keeping hard boiled eggs in the fridge.
Whole Foods has the best produce in our area and it’s totally worth it. Because of this I also learned that I love parsnips.
I really like to cook Indian food, maybe because I really like to eat Indian food.
Supporting small local businesses is a wonderful thing and we should all try to do it more often.
Being happy is VITALLY IMPORTANT.
I can be 45 years old and still be stylish. It’s not only allowed but it’s encouraged.
I still love to read.
It takes a whole village to keep a human happy and healthy, and those people include the “family we choose” and should not be taken for granted. The pandemic has showed me how vital that small group of tight-knit friends really are.
It took being married to three men who were not right for me to realize that Lancelot is indeed right and necessary for my happiness. If that man isn’t my soul mate then I don’t know what that really means. With everything we’ve gone through already I can’t imagine having done this with anyone else by my side.
A tight hug from the right person when you really need it is amazingly restorative. It’s the very best OTC remedy to soothe the soul.
Today I love… starting to set goals for next year, wearing an old scarf with new earrings, going to a glass tonight for the first time in ages, that L is taking over more in the kitchen, and more progress on projects
randomly erin 