Remember when I used to share pictures of finished objects I’d knit?

Remember when I used to finish objects I’d knit?

Last year offered up an appalling four finished items: my grandmother’s shawl and three pairs of socks (two for me, one for Rudi). I started some things and worked on some long-languishing projects, but overall it was not a good year for my needles.

This year, I’m trying to come up with a game plan:

1. Finish 12 pairs of socks. I have many partially completed pairs. They totally count.
2. On a related note, quantify my works-in-progress. End the year with at least 1/3 less than the current number.
3. Knit myself a shawl for my 40th birthday. Next month. (Guess I’d better get working on that one soon…)
4. Send off some knitted gifts. (These should include the two I’ve finished but never sent along to their intended recipients.)
5. End the year with at least two new sweaters. (Again, any of the ones currently lying fallow would work perfectly well here.)
6. Join some knitalongs. Sock Madness occurred during an emotionally draining trip last year and I failed at it in a major way. The Tour de France was more productive for me, but still did not result in wearable objects, although the August finish-your-languishing socks competition did take care of 2/3 of the socks I completed in 2013. (This year, the Olympics and the World Cup soccer tournament, both major knitting occasions, are happening, so that’s two more built-in events right there.)
7. Fix my knits. I have several items that, due to moths or wear and tear, need darning. I’ve got a class next week that will give me a better grasp of how to tackle those problems.

I think that’ll do it. Essentially, I’d like to prolong the lives of the knits I’ve finished, complete some projects that have been long on the needles (or in drawers/project bags), and end the year with more things to wear. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

It snowed last night, and this morning we awoke to this:

Lovely.

My first three beautiful things post of 2014 encompasses the week after Christmas. It was a week filled with lovely things and these were merely three of them:

1. Snow falls through the evening commute, eventually coating everything with a fresh layer of white. I walk out into it, and great flakes oh-so-softly caress my eyelashes.

2. A text conversation prior to Christmas results in an invitation to visit Eric at his place near the Tappan Zee bridge on our drive north. Our late departure eventually rules out such a stop, but we decide to try again on the drive south. He shows us his flat, makes us tea, and provides entertaining conversation. It is a nice visit with an old friend.

3. Our late arrival home (think shortly before sunrise) means a lazy first day back in D.C. We sleep until the afternoon, go out to lunch, wander the neighborhood, and take in a movie. It is wonderful — and rare — to get to spend an entire day together.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world this week?

As always, my weekly post is inspired by Clare’s blog.

Last year I decided to start work on tackling three goals a month, which seemed a reasonable number, at least until I stopped fulfilling them — and then even setting them. But just because they didn’t stick didn’t make them a bad idea, so I’ve decided to resume them for 2014.

During January I plan to:

1. Darn my sweater and replace the two buttons that have fallen off. My Everyday Cardigan is regularly worn, but it is looking a little sad these days with holes and safety pins marring it. I’m signed up for a darning class mid-month to help me fine-tune the skills required for completing this task (and fixing the pile of socks that also need mending).
2. Take a bag of donations to the charity bookshop and one to Goodwill. The bags are already full and waiting. I just can’t seem to motivate myself to remove them from the house. (The Goodwill bag is particularly pathetic, since it spent all of December in the car and then came back inside when we needed the trunk space for taking Christmas presents up to Connecticut.) Maybe this weekend while Rudi is out of town I can get myself moving (perhaps with the promise of a trip to the Arlington library in pursuit of a book I really want to read that D.C. hasn’t bought).
3. Invite someone to visit. We need the incentive to keep the Burrow somewhat tidy, and, honestly, I’m a bit lonely these days with Rudi gone most weekends. Maybe we’ll have people over to celebrate Russian Christmas next week. Or maybe a tea party is in order some weekend. Or a game night…

Well, that’s my plan for January. How about you? Are you a goal-/resolution-setter?