Well, we’ve made it to 2023! We’re only a few days in to the year, but already the adverts on the telly are full of the seasonal ‘buy a new sofa’, ‘book a summer holiday’ etc, and social media is full of the ‘New Year/New You’ ads.
Fortunately the majority of the people I follow are, like me, more into intentions and goal setting than ‘New Year’s Resolutions’. I can’t remember exactly when I last made New Year’s Resolutions, but I know for a fact they included not doing/eating this/that and they were guaranteed to fail and make me feel as though I’d failed in the process.
Nowadays I set goals for the year, based on the framework in The Maker’s Yearbook. I bought this yearbook a couple of years ago and really liked the structure of it, but found the space for writing too specified – there seemed to be either too little or too much, never quite the sweet spot I was after. So, in January 2022 and this year I have looked back at the goal setting pages from my copy of the 2020 Maker’s Yearbook and used the questions from it in my bullet journal. It asks things like ‘What is your biggest dream for the year?’ and, perhaps more importantly, ‘What steps do you need to take to get there?’.
I’m not going to share all my goals here, but you should be seeing some new things happening during the course of the year. For example, I applied to be a vendor at another yarn show this morning – fingers crossed for that one. I won’t find out if I’m successful until the end of Feb/start of March, but I’ll be sure to let you know!
Am Byth, the latest MKAL from Yarn O’clock and myself, begins on Friday 13th January. That’s in just 10 days time! Remember we are not going to tell you what you are making until the start of Part 2 (released on 27th January). All you need to take part is 225m/100g DK yarn (we are using West Yorkshire Spinners Croft DK) and 3.5mm needles. We are beginning with a pinwheel cast-on (there will be a video for this on my website and Yarn O’clock’s youtube channel), so you’ll need double pointed needles or your favoured type of needles for a teeny-tiny starting circumference.
You can get the pattern from me on the website, Payhip, Lovecrafts or Ravelry (no link as I don’t want to spark a migraine for anyone!) and the relevant part of the pattern will be uploaded on each release date.
If you want a kit, or to have parts of the pattern emailed to you, you should contact Anne at Yarn O’clock. She is open again from Wednesday 4th January, so you can pop in or ring the shop from tomorrow!
Here is a selection of some the colours of Croft DK (photo from Yarn O’clock’s website):
The Fasten Off YAL has now come to an end and, just like last year, it was great fun. I got to know the work of some designers I hadn’t previously encountered and, just by playing along with some of the social games on Twitter and Instagram, I won two prizes!
The first prize was from Kate Atherley, from whom I chose Mackinac Mitts (I’m still pondering the yarn to use for these – there are so many splendid single skeins of 4-ply in my stash at the moment). If you haven’t come across her designs before, do have a look – they’re great!
The second prize I one was from Síle Thiels of Knit Dance Repeat Designs. From her designs I’ve chosen the Treble Jig Legwarmers.
I really like the fact that she uses music to inspire her designs (as have I in the past) and, even better, her legwarmer design fits calves up to 22″ in circumference! Mine are 19″ so I have the added excitement of a pattern that goes over the calves that I don’t need to alter to make it fit!
Fasten Off YAL covers knitting, crochet, loom knitting and Tunisian crochet, and with 109 designers taking part in the most recent one there were so many wonderful designs to choose from. If you do any of these four crafts (or design for them) I heartily recommend getting involved next year.
This morning I had to phone the dentist again. On Saturday I felt extreme pain in my gold crown whilst eating cereal of all things (toasted rice and wheat flakes) followed by a terrible crumbling sensation from the tooth behind it. It was just like you get in those dreams where all your teeth fall out. If you’ve never had that particular dream I envy you! One corner of my back molar has broken away leaving a very jagged edge and not a lot of tooth. They have been able to fit me in for their first available appointment, which is in two weeks. Fortunately I’m not in pain as long as I keep cold liquids and food away from that corner of my mouth, but these teeth of mine have been letting me down over the past twelve months – and I’ve nearly ground my way through my third or fourth mouthguard. I’m hoping they’ll be able to help!
When I was having a rummage through the freezer drawers just before Christmas I found something wonderful; two bags of blackcurrants! You may remember that I didn’t pick any last summer and so hadn’t made any jam and I’d forgotten that the crop the year before had been so plentiful that I’d only used half of it and frozen the rest. So I will be making blackcurrant jam in the next couple of weeks, staving off my need for the Seville oranges to arrive at the Farm Shop for marmalade making.
(Please note – there is no connection between my jam and marmalade-making and my dodgy teeth! I’ve just been grinding them for years and they’re literally reaching breaking point.)
That’s all for today. Next week I’m going to be telling you a bit more about my Welsh learning and the stitching I have been doing, as well as hopefully having some knitting to show you! ‘Til then, take care, stay home if you’re poorly and keep warm, K x
Lovely reading as ever. Happy New Year to you and here’s hoping that 2023 is a good year for you and all those you hold dear. Sheila. X
Thank you Sheila! And here’s to a good one for you and yours as well. K x