Hello 101 and Hello 2007!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope your day is shaping up nicely, and that you're kicking off the new year in just your favorite way. We have the blackeyed peas cooking in the crock pot, and the turnip greens and ham waiting to be cooked. (I'm still deciding on the cornbread factor.) I feel lucky already--we are always lucky when we can find turnip greens out here. Last year we had to do collard greens, which I like just fine, but turnip greens will always be my first choice--we have always made sure on New Year's Day to eat turnip greens for financial gains, and blackeyed peas for luck in the coming year.

I wanted to get this post in yesterday--it's time for the knitting year in review! As I did in 2004 and 2005, I gathered together all my knitting. This year looks a little slim for a few reasons, but they all involve more of my knitting actually leaving the premises. Here's what I have left...

Pardon the flash, but it was cloudy. Here you see 4 men's sweaters, 1 woman's sweater (my fun cardigan project with Noro Kureyon), 3 little guy sweaters, a couple of pairs of gloves, mitts, 3 pairs of socks, 3 hats, 2 headbands, and 5 scarves. I sent away 10 pieces for various publications, 5 pieces as gifts, and 3 pieces as shop models.
(The sweater in the lower left corner is one for Preston, the older grandson--I should show you and tell you more about that one in another post.)

What I actually knit in 2006:

• 6 men's sweaters
• 1 woman's cardigan (mine)
• 6 scarves
• 7 pairs of socks
• 5 small sweaters
• 2 baby onesies
• 4 hats
• 3 pairs of gloves/mitts
• a man's vest
• 2 felted/fulled bags
• a baby blanket
• a tea cosy

From looking at this list, I can see that I need to do more women's sweaters and felted/fulled items in 2007. Of course, there will be socks, and I have 5 pairs in various stages of completion at the moment. That's what I'm doing today, even though I'm a little drowsy from uncharacteristically staying up until 2:00 A. M. last night. Fred and I enjoyed a fire and neighborhood fireworks (we are 2 blocks from a park, and a few blocks from the UPS campus--always ripe for fireworks) out the big picture windows while having a good discussion about future plans. Here's to future plans!

Some of mine are to regain balance in my life with work, play, and everything in between; to keep the freelance design going while building Figheadh; and to become the healthiest 50-year-old I can be! I've got about 6 months to the big 5-0, and want to reach it 20 pounds lighter and in good shape. I let my physical self slide too much with all the work last year. Thus, the commitment to balance. I really want to try not to neglect my health--I want to be a kicking old lady!

Getting this a little topsy-turvy, in 2006 we got Fred into a better job, he embarked on another new venture (more later about that), I got 7 designs accepted for other publications, we got 12 new Figheadh Yarnworks designs published, actually did some advertising, gained a grandson, and got Natalie graduated from UGA. However, we only went on one hike (on my birthday--a tradition) and no camping trips! That must be remedied in the coming year. I wanna get into the woods!

I'm gonna go check out everyone's blogs and read your wrap-up on the past year. Forward motion, people! Let's have a great year!