Goodbye, 2012!

What a year! 

I thought I would take a little time today to at least go over my goals for 2012. How many were accomplished? Well, here was my initial list:

Finally add new patterns to the Mirth line--it's been almost two years!

(Hurrah! We did this, for sure.) 

Design two fabulous sweaters for two great freelance jobs already in the works.

(See results below.)

Get those glove designs released (sigh).

(We got one! The Ironwork Mitts!)

Finish my mom's knitted blanket.

(Ummm...nope.)

Jog...regularly.

(Walking and working out were good enough for me!)

Renew my passport.

(Another nope)

Do some instructional videos.

(Man! I really wanted to get that one done, too.)

Pay down debt...way down.

(Well, some down, at least.) 

Build a second raised bed so we can plant more veggies.

(Yes! Fred did this and we harvested plenty of tomatoes, snap peas, zucchini, and chives this summer.) 

See family down South!

(Wonderful trip it was.)

In a later post this year, I reported on these goals and here's the report with amendments.

1. Mirth patterns--two in production right now. Finished and tested and ready for the tech editor--soon!

And done--the Masonry Cowl and the Arcadia Cap. Yea!

2. The freelance sweaters--one shelved (indefinitely) and one on hold until late summer.

The shelved one is never to be unshelved, but the "on-hold" one is done and will be released soon!

The most exciting freelance news of 2012 was my design in Creative Knitting and my article also published in the same issue. That was huge fun!

3. Gloves--still waiting up in the workroom for me.

As said above, we got one of them released! But, yeah, most of them still await. That just means more glove fun is on its way. 

4. Mom's blanket--over halfway done and at present I'm only a couple of weeks behind schedule.

I never did catch up, doggone it. Must make new plan.

5. Jog? Not so much, but I have been working out and doing the walks with major hills. I can do 30 push ups and as many sit ups and am within 5 pounds of that magic number. I feel great!

This is still true. Very strong upper body, but the lower body is always a struggle. 

6. Renew passport. Still gotta!

And still gotta.

7. Instructional videos--not yet, because if I had done it, you'd be the first to know it.

This is also still true.

8. Debt--paying on it regularly and vanquishing that old foe once again!!!!

Yep.

9. Second raised bed--done this past weekend thanks to daughter's boyfriend and my trusty husband. We'll be planting this weekend!

The planting went great, we had huge crazy plants and my nasturtiums were doing fantastically until beset with black mites. Could not vanquish them, no matter how I tried, so I had to pull up ALL of them. They were threatening my plum tomatoes. Sadness, and lessons learned.

10. Visit family down south. 

This doesn't happen often enough, especially with grandkids getting bigger all the time. We'll see if we get to see them in 2013. (Cross fingers)

Besides attending to these goals, 2012 has been a lot more fun here on my blog. I enjoyed doing a few regular series, like Monday Favorites and Friday Food Fun. I want to try to incorporate something similar in 2013. I also enjoyed celebrating National Crochet Month this past March by posting about crochet every day that whole month. That process did make me more determined to include crochet in my yarny endeavors. Even though I did not manage to work it in as much as I wanted to, I did crochet more in 2012 than years past. I'll keep working on this one. The few crochet WIP's I have will tempt me enough to assure that!

I loved taking part in National Knitting and Crochet Blog Week in April and hope to do it again in 2013. Junebug Days was also a bunch of fun in June. I haven't decided how Junebug Days will shape up for next year, but tune in, because it will happen.

I count 2012 as a success, because I kept learning, made new friends, and we learned ever more how to live in a more healthy way, both physically and mentally.

I look forward to 2013 and I hope to see you all there with me. Thanks for following my blog, for your sweet comments, for stopping by and simply reading once in a while. Just knowing you are there inspires me to do a better job here. I'll be back soon with new goals and FO's to show as the new year rolls in.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's celebration and that we all have a sweet, creative year in 2013!

Cheers!