Thinking 'bout a Resolution...

"... and it sounds like a whisper."

So, I'm thinking about goals for 2011. 2010 has been an interesting year with our share of heartache as well as enjoyment. I don't have any big plans for this year other than a family vacation this summer. Josh will pick the direction of travel as he's not travelled much. I don't care much where we go, just have to get out of dodge and show the world to our young man.

Knitting-wise, which is always where my head is lately I have lots of goals:

- Not buy new yarn until I've knitted up what I have... exceptions: vacation/travel souvenir yarns or I need to make something specific and don't have anything suitable. [As you can imagine, I can make really anything fall under that second one.]

-Knit myself at least three pairs of socks, if not seven... I'd like to have one for each day of the week. I have one on the needles and yarn for two (or three) more.

-Knit a sweater for Jameson. [I have the yarn, pattern, and needles for this.]

- Go to Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival!

I would also like to loose the 20 or so pounds that have snuck up on me this last six months that I've been preoccupied. I plan to try to ski on days I don't work, but not to freak out if i don't. I'm already registered for a 10K Ski race in the end of February so that is incentive to practice. Today I did 3.4 km in 45 minutes. If I decide I'm going to stick to skiing I'll try to buy a boots, poles, ski's combo at the end of the season if they are on sale. When the weather gets better I'll go back to walking and hopefully biking [bike needs some work--Steal back the bike trailer I bought from mom and dad].

I would like to do something to celebrate the wheel of the year... just something small.

And of course: pay off debt. which will probably entail refi the house in June and pay things off on that + new windows and hopefully my sun room.

I think that is enough for a year!

A big storm is supposedly brewing and it just makes me want to hole up and knit! Its so warm and toasty in our house, thanks to the wood heat. I got in a good ski today, about 3.5 km I think. Its the farthest I've been. It really was beautiful out there with the freshly fallen snow twinkling in the sunlight. It made me think of the poem Sara read at Grandma's funeral, "I did not die, I'm the twinkling snow." How true, it really sums up my feeling on death and energy reuse.

I've been really thinking about knitting socks lately... I think I've caught the bug. I have about three sets of sock yarn to be knit and my plan is that they are all three for ME! Josh would like a pair of wool socks, but I have to say I'm not inclined to knit him any when he doesn't take good care of his things. I know I'll be really upset if he looses/wrecks them. I'm hoping that the pairs for me go smoothly because Knit picks has some adorable tonal yarns that would be nice for future pairs!

Unfortunately I have some birthday knitting to finish before I can focus on my socks.

January: Mom, Rozie [Mom's I'm waiting until she gets her hoodwink and then she can chose between matching mitts or a Salute hat]

February: Hana (almost done)

Then I suppose its back to Dad in April, Urgh... not more socks! Why is it that I am excited to knit socks for me, but dreading knitting socks for him!

Then I think I'm free for June, July, August, September.

October: Sally & Sara

Then its back to Christmas and my two boys. Maybe I can manage to get Josh a pair of winter socks done before next Christmas! I suppose I could use that Gwion as it already has Nylon in it.

The seasons are definitely changing and even though our young family doesn't "go back to school" I'm definitely feeling fall in the air. The trees are changing, the furnace is churning, my hands are knitting. I've got a big list of "to do's" for the Holiday season and I'm happily chugging along, not really worried about getting them all done, because they are in order of who will appreciate them the most. Josh and Jameson are done, Mom is almost done minus one graft, John & Zhenya are done, Pearl is OTN. There are so many fun things to knit but these are mostly simple little gifts as I don't think GIFTMAS is the "reason for the season". I've been doing a lot of thinking about the holidays; traditions, beliefs, and the like.

As I don't believe in God, I'd like to honor the passing of time and seasons by celebrating the earth and universal energies. So, my plan is to start celebrating the stops on the Wheel of the Year, starting with Fall Equinox? or maybe Samhain/Halloween. I'd like to start with at least one thing for each of the significant days in the Wheel of the Year.

Halloween we'll carve pumpkins and put candles in them. I think jameson will enjoy the guts and the knife (yes, I have a safety knife). My plan is to keep up this tradition year after year. Winter Solstice I'd like to do a candlelit dinner and maybe make some Ice Luminaries.... well, maybe not the luminaries this year, but we'll see, definitely the candlelit dinner.

We'll do J's bday at the Dells, hopefully with his cousins. He'll be getting some elmo and other gifts from us, but we don't really expect any from anyone else. I might attempt some creativity and do a dirt cake this year... maybe in a sand bucket? or dump truck? I'm not really into the "themed" parties and all that crap so we'll have a few gifts, cake and candles. I might get him a new Birthday Boy tee as his probably won't fit this year. I always want him to feel special on his birthday (and every day) but I don't want him to have unrealistic expectations like his mother does.

We will be celebrating Giftmas this year with the Wisconsin family. I'm sure we'll do the typical Christmas Eve with Mom & Dad at their house and read the "christmas story" and exchange gifts. I'm hoping mine will be all handmade (I've got to get knitting!). Then we'll head to Lakeland Manor for the big family get together. The only person I'll be making something for is Grandma Flora (Yikes, she's not in my queue!). Everyone else we'll just enjoy their company: eat, drink, and be merry!

I'd like to get J a new set of Pajamas for Christmas Eve and then he'll have gifts from Santa when he wakes in the morning (train set from Garage Sale) and a stocking full of little gifts and maybe some treats.

Other traditions I'd like to keep going: Christmas Cut out Cookie making with Mom & Dad a few days before Christmas, a Christmas tree either in or outside the house, (fill in the blank).

It is so nice when BigJ offers to attend to lilJ when I know its really me that he wants. But at least he's trying so that someday (probably soon) I won't really be needed *sniffle sniffle*.

I worked today. I work again tomorrow, three days in a row. Doesn' t sound like much to most people, but three 12 hour days back to back adds up. Especially when a little boy doesn't sleep through the night.

BigJ has been working a lot on his race car. It seems like such a time-suck to me, but I know he LOVES it. I just have trouble understanding how he can spend so much time on something when every week it just fails again and again. Last night the belt blew. Tonight, rained out. I wish he would put that much time and effort into our house & family.

I'm almost done with J's sweater! I'm going to wait to weave it in until June 1st so it counts for my 52 in 52. Do you think that's cheating? I don't, I need all the help I can get :) Next up: coffee cozy then Luke & Lindsay's baby sweater. Tiny size and adorable pale pink yarn! I hope it knits up quickly so I don't get annoyed with it! This vest knit up so quickly I want to do EVERYTHING on bulky! Unfortunately only two other things in my queue are bulky: Hoodwink and Bella's Mittens. The rest is mostly worsted, which isn't as bad as fingering!

I have been doing some thinking, (no that's not the point) and I think I really need to limit my screen time. I realize this may seem contradictory to starting a new blog and maybe it is. However, I think that I need to spend more quality time online instead of just "surfing" around and looking at material things to spend money on.

We haven't had TV programming in our house for over two years and most the time we are satisfied with that choice. I find myself wondering what is the difference if I'm surfing on HyenaCart, Ravelry, ebay, craigslist, and Facebook all day long? So, my goal is to only be online while I wake up (drinking coffee in my PJ's until about 9) and after lil'J goes to bed until I go to bed at 9. This way I can keep up with the "goings-on" of the knitting, spinning, wool, cloth diapering, and facebook scene, but not waste my entire day on mindless internet drither.

Onto less exciting matters... Aunt Sally said she would GIVE me her spinning wheel which is awesome since she knows how to use it and that it works, etc. I'll be down at her house for the MREA Energy Fair in June so I can pick up the spinning wheel then! Then my friend Sara HH connected me with a fine lady up near Ashland who is willing to show me how to spin and wants to see my unique wheel! Hot diggity!

I made a comment on my facebook recently:

to all of you who are "so excited for the long weekend" please don't get sick or hurt or allow that in your family if you are in my "jurisdiction" so I can have a great long weekend too-- at work.

And someone wrote back about "but I bet you like a regular paycheck". Well, duh! But not at the expense of people being sick... Here was my response:

I'll be honest, I like a regular paycheck, but I also like my job. I do NOT like that people have to be sick for these to be possible, I'd rather everyone and their loved ones stay well... who can disagree with that?

Crisis Averted! Thanks to my faithful scouting team (Lauralei) I've found a spinning wheel! I'm not sure its functioning, but I'll do my best to get it there! Its a Handmade wheel, made by Martin Stahl in Grass Range, MT 2/12/82 No. 50 I think it'll work.

So, my dreams of quickly owning a relatively cheap Ashford Traditional Spinning Wheel are dashed. *cry* the listing on Craigslist sold. So, I guess I will have to be patient and do like everyone (who spins) says and try out multiple models before I pick, "the one". Sounds like finding a husband! I'll keep checking Craigslist and maybe can find a good steal. Ha...There is a store in Roberts that does a two-day spinning workshop, so I'd love to do that, although as my mom says, Sally could just do her own two-day workshop with me. I would really like to try out other wheels... we'll see. I had a few leads to check out on my facebook post re: spinning connections.

On an upnote, I stopped at a garage sale on my 3 block walk home from work and found lil'J a trainset! They are bigger than the little wooden ones, but I think it will be nice in the basement when that gets put back together.

Will and BigJ put the Egress windows in last night so finally a little progress. J needs to paint another coat of DryLock Extreme and then we'll call Rob, the floor guy. We've decided to only finish the "finished" portion of the basement's flooring, about 2/3. That way, I won't be concerned about wrecking the new floor when we're throwing wood in or there is laundry or washing water flooding! We're also not going to texturize the walls so we don't have to worry about ruining that either. we'll just paint and hang stuff on the walls to camouflage it :)

Knitting: a few more rows done on the back of lil'J's bulky vest, I can't wait for it to be done, so far its adorable. I'm just too tired after work to work on it.

So, is their Blogiquette? Like etiquette? Like I'm pretty sure 3 posts in a day (so far) is a little excessive... don't worry I'm sure I'll get sick of it.

So, lil'J is such a boy, definitely his father's. His new toy? My Honda Accord, he's been playing in it for like an hour today, its parked in the shade, the door is open, but I see he's turned on the hazards-nice!

Mom and Dad are at the greenhouse so they are picking me up some Marigolds and Pansies to supplement my baby-perennial garden. AND a tomato plant since Mom got me the topsy-turvey Tomato grower thing for my Birthday.

I stopped at the LYS while in Spooner, no spinning classes, but possible lead of another local newbie. Big news, they are going to have a monthly Knit and W(h)ine in the evenings! I've been wanting wanting wanting this. I'll have to tell Mimi as soon as she gets back from Scotland.

What's for Dinner? Grilled chicken with Fetuccini Alfredo and Cesear Salad

Thank you mac for spellchecking me everywhere I type!

I've been eyeing up some more handspun yarn on Spots' and I can't get over how expensive it is, I mean, I realize you have to buy the roving which is handdyed and then send it to a spinning and then have them send it back. But, really couldn't I learn to do that? That is the question of the day: Can I learn to spin? Then I would only have to buy the roving or tops and a spinning wheel, of course... and ta da... my own handspun!

Action plan:

1. Send email to Aunt Sally to see about her spinning wheel/if she can show me how its done. (DONE)

2. Check Craigslist in the area/Twin Cities to see about used Wheels (DONE)

3. Order books on spinning on Merlin from the Library so I can see what the H@ll I'm getting myself into (DONE)

4. Forgo buying the beautiful MM Dragon's Lair handspun for now, adding that perpetual money to my "spinning" money for potential spinning wheel purchase. (DONE)

5. Start a blog to discuss this with myself instead of knitting or napping during naptime (DONE)

Finally planted the Valerian, Lavender, and Snowball Hydrangea I got at the Ojibwa Rd. Perrenial sale. I had wanted to put them somewhere new, but ended up just putting them in the flowerbed. Someday it will be beautiful. In addition to those three I also added BeeBalm and hostas this year. They need LOTS of water with this heat.

So, I like to journal and tell others, who probably aren't listening about my thoughts, ideas, and day-to-day life. I saw an article today in Knit Scene about starting a blog and decided, well, I could do that... I mean, its not like anyone has to read this nonsense, right?