Unfulfilled New Year's resolutions

It's that time of year again, time to look back on what we have accomplished in the previous year. Not a pretty sight for me, because I haven't accomplished even one of last year's three resolutions (to design my own knits, finish the Bayeaux tapestry, and start weaving).

However, I haven't been completely aimless this past year. I actually accomplished some very useful things - I got two raises at work, and I started running.

The two raises (one retroactive) I basically got by nagging, but the running was a real effort. I followed the NHS Couch to 5k programme, which gets you running five kilometres in nine weeks. It starts out easy, alternating one minute of walking with one minute of running, and gradually builds you up to running three times a week for 30 minutes straight.

Unfortunately my running schedule suffered when the evenings became too dark to run in the park after work. But I've managed to sustain about one run per week with a running partner, and now that the days are slowly getting longer, I'm going to try to work back up to my peak summer schedule of three 30 minute runs a week.

So, resolution number 1, continue running!

To continue the theme of non-craft related resolutions, I've decided to try to escape from the cooking rut I've gotten into. I used to quite enjoy cooking, but lately I lack inspiration and usually just throw together some sort of pasta for dinner.

I bought Yokam Ottalenghi's beautiful vegetarian cookbook Plenty this summer, and the three recipes I tried were fantastic, so I'm going to try to work through the whole book. And when I'm done, I might just go ahead and buy his second book, Jerusalem. Time to get away from Italian and return to the Middle Eastern foods of my childhood.

So, resolution number 2, continue cooking!

Since I can't completely neglect the crafting, I'll revisit last year's resolutions and really finish the Bayeaux tapestry this time. Thanks to knit-free Mondays I have actually made some progress - one and a half people, and the surrounding border.

If I manage to keep to that schedule, I'm sure I'll be able to finish handily in time for next Christmas. We'll be in the States next year, so my mother will be able to help me make it up into a wall hanging.

So, resolution number 3, continue embroidering!

And finally, because I couldn't possibly let a year go by without at least one knitting resolution, this year I promise I will definitely definitely start designing my own patterns. Moving to a new, smaller flat has made me realise that I already have far too many knits (and too much yarn). Designing my own knits should slow me down so I don't produce many more knits that I have no space for.

So, resolution number 4, start designing!

There, that should keep me busy.