A New Year - Reflections and Resolutions

[gaidig]

Here I am, back in Atlanta from two weeks of vacation in and holiday time in Michigan with Scott, his friends and family.

Last year was, on the whole, a pretty good year for me, though there were some tough patches. As for accomplishing my goals, I didn't do as well as I thought I had. Looking back at my new years post, I see that my goal was to finish things, and to focus on four core interests of knitting, jewelry smithing, spinning and sewing, not gaining others. In this sense, I did quite poorly, as I took up leather tooling and spent a fair amount of money on tools and supplies. I also learned a lot about baking, tried cheesemaking and perfected my chocolate truffle technique. Uh-oh. On the supply front, I did pretty well, outside of the leather tooling thing. I finished the year with less yarn than I started it, and I only bought yarn twice that I hadn't planned for. I also spun more yarn than I ever had before, thanks to Scott's lovely gift.

As for this year, here's my plan:
On Ravelry, I resolved

1. Cold sheeping for the entire year. No special January 1 or fiber fair exceptions like I had this year. My cold sheeping includes both yarn and fiber. If I want new yarn, I have to spin it up from my fiber stash. The only exception is for yarn acquired to complete a project started in good faith.
   
2. Craft from stash for all other craft projects except for two already planned costumes.
   
3. Complete all of the projects I have planned in my queue for next year:
   
   • 1 large lace shawl
     
   • 4 sweaters/tops
     
   • 1 hat
     
   • 1 pair mittens
     
   • 4 pairs of socks for me.
4. Make any new clothing or buy from small producers/handmade or second hand. (Possible exception for a new coat)
   
5. Declutter.
   
6. Complete as many non-knitting UFOs as possible. They tend to get ignored in favor of knitting.

I’ve actually been doing most of these for a while now, so hopefully these goals won’t be too tough. Still, there should be some upheaval this year, so there's no telling what will get done.

I also want to kick it up a notch in a few other areas:

1. Make more bread (thanks to Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day).
   
2. Continue to decrease my consumption of processed food.
   
3. Continue to buy organic, free range meats and eggs. Improve my consumption at restaurants relative to this same goal.
   
4. Continue to eat local in season vegetables -- especially difficult in Winter.
   
5. Ramp up choosing local options for cheese, wine, beer, etc. Try the Sweet Auburn Curb Market?