the Akamai Knitter

Here we are at the eve of another new year. As I look ahead at another year filled with friends and fibery goodness, I thought I’d take a moment also look back to see if I managed to accomplish some of this past year’s resolutions.

To refresh your memory these were my goals:

1. Get over my sweater fear and knit a few. I really need to get off my lazy ass and my comfort zones and just dive in. I have enough yarn for one sweater. I just need to get rid of the mental block in my head that I can’t do this.
2. Spin more and with specific projects in mind. I’ve already started doing this, but I want to keep it up.
3. Knit with what I spin. I have yet to knit with what I’ve spun except for one afghan block. This is just plain silly. I must stop this kind of silliness.
4. Lose weight. I’ve been slowly losing weight this past year and I’d like to keep it up by going for regular walks and cutting down on my snacking. I think if my body were at a more acceptable weight I’d be more inclined to knit sweaters for myself too.
5. Get my Christmas presents out on time. I was really bad this year and I feel really badly about it. I had them all knitted up I just didn’t get them wrapped and mailed in time. Shame on me.
6. Buy more yarn. I’m really hard on myself when I buy yarn. I agonized over every purchase like I’m bleeding money when in fact I’m not. I don’t have a terribly big stash and I do use what I buy. I need to stop with the guilt trips whenever I buy yarn. (I do need to go easy on the sock yarn though. My sock yarn bin is huge. I need to go on a sock yarn diet.Oh and I have huge amounts of laceweight.)
7. Be more patient and kind to myself. I find that the courtesies that I unthinkingly extend to others rarely get extended to myself by myself. So I need to start being more courteous to myself by being more tolerant as well as being patient and kind.

Let’s start at the beginning.

1. While I didn’t knit a lot of sweaters, I did manage to get over my sweater fear. Hopefully 2008 will bring more sweaters into my wardrobe.
2. I did start a spinning project with a specific goal in mind. Unfortunately, I didn’t even come close to finishing it. Maybe I’ll have better luck in the future.
3. I did start a project out of my own handspun. Even though I didn’t finish it, I feel like I’ve accomplished that goal.
4. Ha! Let’s not even go there. :)
5. Again. Ha! But I have joined a support group this time around to help me be better prepared for next Christmas. I’ll get it right one of these years.
6. Oooh. This was a hard one. Needless to say, mission accomplished.
7. My perspective has changed from when I set this goal for myself. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to be demanding of oneself. It’s great to challenge yourself to new heights as long as you don’t abuse yourself to the point where it becomes counterproductive.

I don’t think I’ll be making any resolutions for next year. After awhile, the resolutions I made this year began to feel more like a burden then a motivation.

Instead, I will start the new year with a completely clean slate, clear of mind.

Happy New Year!