Christmas gifts and New Year's resolutions

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had wonderful holiday season. I've been a bit slow getting back to the internet because I was so busy spending time with family and friends in the real world . But now I'm back refreshed and ready to spend time with friends in the virtual world (I got a webcam for Christmas, so who knows where that might lead!)

I managed to visit lots of yarn shops in GR (Grand Rapids, Michigan, where my family now lives), DC and NY. I also did pretty well in the Christmas present department.

I got the main things on my list - knitting baller and swift - but not the books. After looking through the Vogue Knitting book I realised a good portion of the patterns are from magazine issues I already own, and besides it was really too heavy to transport back. And the Christmas ornament book was not available in any of the shops I visited, and it was too late to order it in time for Christmas. So that one will have to wait for next year.

Instead my husband bought me a book to help me design my own clothes: Knitwear Design Workshop from Interweave Press. This book looks like an absolute mine of information (or a minefield, depending on your view of mathematics). It gives you step by step instructions on how to take measurements, lay out designs, pick fibres, and then offers all the standard sweater designs and lots of extra neck and sleeve options.

The rest of my Christmas presents I bought myself, at the many yarn stores we visited. I'll write about some of the highlights (Habu!) in upcoming blog posts. For now, before it gets any later in the New Year, I better address New Year's resolutions.

I'm not particularly strict about New Year's resolutions - I don't usually manage to keep them, but I do feel it is useful to have goals. Looking back on last year's resolutions, I realised that I achieved one out of two, which is not such a bad accomplishment.

My mother's Christmas jacket. As per usual I had great
difficulty following instructions, hence the strange puckers
at the shoulder, but they blocked out and it looks FINE!

So I'll continue the tradition this year.

Resolution number 1: Start designing my own garments. With the lace shawl design class I took in October, plus my new design book, I should be well prepared to take the next knitting step.

Resolution number 2: Finish the Bayeux tapestry for my husband. Not the WHOLE Bayeux tapestry, of course. Just a scene that I foolishly promised to make for him over four years ago. I'm more than halfway done, and I really need to get it out of the way so I can focus more on knitting.

And maybe just one more, to really challenge myself...

Resolution number 3: Learn to weave!

So, has anyone else made any New Year's resolutions?