12 for 2012

New Year 2004/05, Bondi Beach.

Happy New Year everyone!  I'm not one of those people who make a big thing out of Hogmanay, but in 2004 I sat on a beach and thought about my life - I was supposed to be in Thailand over Christmas that year, on Phi Phi to be exact.  Phi Phi was devastated in the tsunami that hit on boxing day.  I honestly felt like I had been given another chance, and suddenly my life to that point seemed so pointless.  I decided I was going to follow my heart, and my heart told me to go home and stop pretending I was happy being so far from the only person I missed every single day, so I booked a flight and flew home 2 weeks later.  I have never regretted that decision even though things never worked out the way I wanted, but every year since then I have made plans and goals of things I would like to achieve the following year.

This year they are a good mix of personal, family and crafty goals.

1. Remain out of the overdraft and use no credit for personal gain.  I personally have a very bad history with credit, and ever since being declared bankrupt at 23 I have become quite militant about our spending.  Our grocery bill is heavily budgeted, we save for big things we want and not once went into our overdraft last year (for us that is a huge thing, considering 2 years ago we were living in our overdraft!)!  I am stepping this is up next year as we need to save hard in the first half of the year so we can afford to do the things we want to do, which leads me to....

2. No yarn purchasing.  This is a hard one, very very hard.  However, I have way more yarn than I could ever knit in the next year, so I just need to remain focused!  I also got some yarn for Christmas, and my sister is giving me lot's of acrylic yarn she bought but will not use, so I have lot's that needs used up!  This does mean it's unlikely I'll be attending unravel this year :(  There will be one exception however; Penelope Craft in Amsterdam!  I'm really hoping the exchange rate will be better this summer, but regardless of that, I'll be purchasing more GGH Alpaka in numerous colours while I'm there.

3. Get our house decorated.  We have not touched much since we moved in, and the kitchen in particular, is looking run down, tired and in serious need of some love.  I have 3 target rooms - kitchen, hallway and spare room.  Our kitchen is black and white and there's not much we like about it other than the size, so we are going to inject some colour by painting the walls and wall tiles.  Hallway needs painted, stairs need sanded and something done to them (they are currently an orange shade of brown paint/thick thick stain). The spare room was going to be our big project, but it now depends on saving enough back to buy new furniture (Jitterbugs crash wiped out most of the savings for it), remove the horrific built-in wardrobe, plaster the ceiling and carpet the room/sand the floor (depending on the condition of the boards).

4. Continue our decluttering!  At some point in the next 3 or 4 years, we need our house looking nice enough to sell, and clutter will only get in the way of that.  We need to sort out the stuff in our loft and make some hard decisions regarding what to keep and what not to keep.

5. Get my anxiety/depression under some sort of control.  We can't afford counselling sessions, so I'm going to need to figure it out myself.  I have issues, like most people on the planet, but I want to get them sorted and get my head clear because I'm fed up feeling this.

6. Plan better for Christmas!  Money got a bit tight towards the end there, and I really wanted to make some things but time got away from me, so next year we start planning in September, and anything I want to make has to be ordered and started by October!

7. Learn how to spin even yarns.  I got a book for Christmas which should hopefully help with this, as will the 3 large sheep fleeces I have in my loft!  If I spend some time every day doing it, I should see a difference by the middle of the year.  I really hate not having my wheel set-up in place all the time as it's a hassle getting it out and everything set-up every day, but if we get the spare room sorted out I can keep it in there.

8. Do something nice that makes me feel good about myself - the two piercings I've been wanting forever would be a good start, maybe a small tattoo towards the end of the year.

9. Become better and more experienced at colourwork.  My birthday present should help rid me of any lingering fear of multiple colours, and hopefully I'll be a colourwork pro by the end!

10. Make time for spinning and embroidery!  I'm going to try and dedicate 30 minutes every day to spinning and one day a week to embroidery.  They are both things I love doing but always get cast to the side as soon as I start knitting, and it's time they saw some love again.

11. Finally knit those elusive socks!  This will require figuring out which yarns in my stash have nylon content, I don't think I have many, but it's a good place to start and if I enjoy it will give me something to look forward to when stash-buying commences in 2013 (I'm already wavering at this.....)  I also have the Noro Sock that I want to use for Ziggy!

12. Finish at least 1 project a month!  I have some big projects planned over the next year, all of which I have yarn for, in addition to the smaller projects I naturally gravitate towards right now.  I'm hoping in 2012 that I will reduce my stash by a considerable amount, and then in 2013 I can start knitting larger projects regularly as I'll actually have space for the yarn then!

So, those are my 12 'resolutions'.  I may not be successful in conquering all of them, but I am very much goal driven and this gives me something to work towards in the next 12 months.