A year in review - or lousy excuses for not keeping up with my blog

I made the scarves in blue, maroon,
purple, rose and red.

I noticed I did only two entries all that year. Not too good if I want to continue writing a blog, but it has been  a good year for my family and me

So I'll try to cover some of the highlights just so you know. And I hope to do better next year. In that light, I will write New Year's Resolutions tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Knitting
In some ways, I have lost some of my knitting mojo. I still knit but not at the frantic pace I did in preview years, especially the year after I retired. . I think it is because I have had so little success with selling that I just didn't build up my inventory. Even on Etsy, I have sold only a couple of items. I do better with patterns though. I think I will dedicate the next year to knitting for charity instead.  I did make a hat for my son and husband for Christmas and I completed lace scarves for my Divas (my women's group). I will include the pattern for the scarves in the next few days on this blog.

A before and after
of my personal journal

Writing

Even if I haven't kept up on my blog, I do keep up on my personal written journal. In addition to the writing, I print out pictures on full-sheet sticker paper and stick them into my journal. I did notice of the past year that I fill the pages more and more with stickers and less writing. I don't know what that means, but I hope I can do better there too.

Travelling
In June, Ken and I took a month-long trip, but not just any trip -- probably the trip of a lifetime. We went to Europe. It was not only sight-seeing, we visited family. We went to Swedish, Denmark, and Germany, with a short stay in Iceland and England. We also spent a week in Washington D.C. to attend Sophie's wedding. She is the daughter of my best friend Sheila. I will write most about these adventures in other blog entries.

Health
In October I had the bane of the female gender -- I had a hysterectomy, and it was one of the best things I even did. I feel so much better and I can't even describe why. But since then, I have lost 20 pounds and will continue to the future.

My son Lorne
My oldest son now lives in Los Angeles and works in Hollywood as a film editor. Late year, he got a job with BuzzFeed and he loves  it. I guess this means he won't be coming home to live anytime soon. I hate it when you raise independent children and they leave you. Alas.
If you want to see some of his work, you can go to YouTube and enter BuzzFeed Unsolved and Worth It.

My Son Dane

Dane modeling the hat I made for him.
The scarf came with the coat.

With an undergrad degree in classic guitar, Dane decided to pursue his other talent in Mathematics. (Funny, just not too many job opening for classical guitarist on Craiglist.) So he went back to school and will complete his masters in accounting this spring. He got an intern job at an accounting firm during tax season, and at the end of the flurry of returns, they offered him a full time job. So he is fully employed with a good salary even before he finishes his degree. CSU (Colorado State University) told him that they had a 100% employment rate out of this program. Guess they were not kidding.

And finally my kitties

We have had Omi and Wookie for a little over a year now, and I am passionately in love with this two little creatures. Omi is the perfect cat and Wookie is the magic cat. Omi (the black kitty) is loving and affectionate. She has to be next to me almost constantly. If I sit down, she is on my lap and will even crawl up to shoulder to get closer. Wookie is a tortie, but she is entirely and completely my cat. She doesn't like anyone else to touch her and hides even from Ken. But if I am sick, she won't leave my side, purring constantly as if her purrs will cure me. And I have always gotten better, so maybe she has something there.

My Knitting Journal

I am at heart a writer. I write for a living and I write for fun. I write serious fiction and I write comedy. So it would only make sense that I would not only do a knitting blog, but I have a personal hand-written personal journal as well. I carry it with me most of the time and the condition of my journal proves that it is well-used and well-loved.

Yes, it has come apart, but it
is a blessing because it is
easier to carry with me.

I don't mind if you read it because it is dedicated to my knitting observations only. You will not find any personal secrets of my dislike of most green-colored yarns, heart-felted confusions of liking double-point needles over circular needles, or descriptions of clandestine rendezvous with crochet hooks or weaving looms.

My key to color-coding my notes, and
a cheat sheet on how to do the
Kitchener stitch, because I can
never remember how to do it.

I use my journal keep track of what I am knitting. My journal has come to my rescue many times when I pick up a dormant project and can't remember what pattern I was using. I color-code my projects as starting (green), progressing (pink), frogged (red), and finished (orange). Besides, it's fun to go back a year or so and see what I was working on at the time. Sometime I see a project I completely forgot about and go down to my craft room to find it and finish it.

My journal is a perfect place to create charts or
copy one from my books to take with me.

Although I make many of my own stickers, I
will purchase some if I really like them.

The stickers are just a very fun and entertaining way to play with my journal. I usually make my own stickers. I have copies of my favorite photographs either ones I have taken or ones I have copied from the net. I include pictures of my family and, of course my cat Neko, just to make me smile while I write. I put in knitting-related cartoons and memes I find on Facebook. I also include pictures of my completed projects because I take a picture of everything I finished. (I love digital cameras!)  I arranged them on a Word document and print them out on full sheet sticker paper -- it comes in white or clear paper. I usually use the white because my journal is graph paper and the lines show through.

I put the stickers on a
few pages ahead of time and
write around the photos.

I like the graph paper so I can make charts of what I am knitting.  Then I don't have to carry a pattern or a book with me. I like the design of this journal so much that I purchased another one to use once I have finished this one.  However, since I have used only a little over half of this journal in three years, I think I am set for a decade or so.


I don't consider the writing in my journal any piece of artistic genius. It is a dumping ground for my thoughts so great writing isn't a priority.  I will put quotes and saying that I like in there as well, but anyone reading my journal will become quickly become bored. They would like the pictures and knitting charts better than anything I write.

I include a lot of pictures of my sons in my journal
as well as many of my Neko