Photo from Pinterest.Happy New Year, it's been a while but I decided to take a little break over Christmas and the New Year. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas if you celebrate and a good start to the new year. As usual I had a happy, hectic, busy Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my large,slightly mad family then I had a very quiet week with lots of time on my hands to knit, we didn't even go to the Sales, this year.
On Boxing Day, my eldest daughter, her partner and my grandson went back to Stoke to spend time with her partner's family and the youngest went to Cornwall to spend time with her boyfriend and his family so it was just me and the husband. I did enjoy the peace and quiet, though I do miss my family when they're not here, As I just mentioned, it did give me time to knit as much as I wanted and to think of my goals for 2015. I was instantly drawn to this quote that I saw over on Pinterest, I think sometimes you do need to strip things back and just enjoy the simple things, which will be one of my goals for 2015.
One thing I'll be doing in 2015 is to start a knitting diary after seeing Dani's aka Little Bobbins over on her podcast. I did have a small notebook which I kept notes and scraps of yarn but Dani's took it to a whole new level. I picked up a large, wire bound notebook with beautiful, high quality, crisp, white pages which I can't wait to fill with lots of knitty goodness and photos.
The first page of my knitting diary has been given to my Knitting Goals 2015. I think they are all quite do-able and I hope to achieve them all. Here are my goals.......
1: To finish all my WIPs before casting on a new project. I had eight projects on the needles, I frogged two, I finished four over the last week and have two to finish.
2: Knit an adult size sweater for myself, I'd already cast on Old Romance by Joji Locotelli but didn't get very far with it before I started my Christmas gift knitting.
3: Design a cowl with the help of Design A Cowl with Laura Nelkin over on Craftsy. I purchased this class last year and didn't get around to starting it.
4: Knit at least 6 pairs of socks, I'm taking part in the Personal Mystery Sock Club 2015 organised by Aunty's Alice Loves To Knit over on Instagram. I'll share more details of this fun idea in a seperate post.
5: Knit from stash, I know I say this every year!!!!! I'm part of a yarn club so I will still get new yarn every three months. If I want to knit another sweater I will need to buy the yarn as I don't have a sweater quantiy or if I go to any knitting events, I know I'll end up buying something but as a whole I'll be knitting from stash.
I just wanted to show you my secret Christmas project that I was knitting for Kerry, a very good friend of mine, these are the O.W.L Mittens by Celeste Young which was published in The Unofficial Harry Potter Knits, that was kindly gifted to me by a lovely IG friend.
Kerry is Harry Potter mad so needless to say she was absolutely thrilled with her gift. She couldn't believe that I knit all those spells into the mitts. I loved every stitch and I know they will be well loved, I used Drops Baby Alpaca Silk, a gorgeous soft blend of alpaca and silk which will keep the hands nice and toasty.
Another passion of mine is reading and when I saw that Erin from Bringing Up the Burns had organised a reading challenge, I decided to take part with my niece who is also an avid reader. There is a list of 26 prompts that we follow each time we chose a new book.
The first prompt is A Book You Own But Have Not Read, this one was easy. I've had The Girl on the Cliff by Lucinda Riley in my bookcase for a while and is a book I've wanted to read for a while. It hasn't disappointed, from the first couple of pages I was hooked, it is very atmospheric, the characters are interesting and obviously have secrets that haven't been revealed yet which makes this book the sort you just can't put down. It's always just one more chapter!!!!!
I'm linking to Nicole's blog, Frontier Dreams and her Keep Calm Craft On, it's such an inspirational blog and I love looking through all the links with some many gorgeous projects.
I'm also linking to Ginny's Yarn Along where you'll find lots of other posts from people who love knitting and reading and another inspirational blog.
Thank you stopping by, I'll be back soon with one of my own recipes for my homemade Spiced Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup.
xxxxxDebxxxx
12 comments:
Love the sentiments on keeping life simple :-) ... Your knotting journal is just gorgeous & have to say its a goal of mine to read more this year, I used to read a lot then crafting took over my life, I read a book over the holidays and realised how much I've missed it ... Thanks for such a lovely post :-) xx
So glad you had a wonderful Christmas!! LOVING those mittens!!!!
No wonder that authors name looked and sounded familiar; I'm reading "The Orchid House" by her. It'll be neat to see how your knitting notebook takes shape. Super sweetie you are too knit your Harry Potter mad homegurl those spell mitts.
Those mitts are amazing. I don't have enough uninterrupted time to do those! i am going to try to master DPN's this year as I was given the Nordic Knits book this year and need to try my hand. Jo x
those mittens are super cool. also, looking at the picture, I realize I have NO IDEA where my copy of Beedle the Bard is, weird! Will have to check that reading challenge, I have decided to read 30 books this year so that might be a good complement to it!
Those mitts are amazing!
And I love the idea of a knitting journal, I always forget to update ravelry and it's good to have notes on any changes!
I love the idea of a knitting journal! There are so many cute projects I want to make! I think the reading challenge sounds fun too. I haven't ever participated in one before, but I do love reading! Maybe this will help me to figure out which books to read next!
The book challenge sounds really fun. My library does Biblio Bingo every winter. Each bingo square has a theme and the librarians have pre-selected titles that fit that theme. Once you read a book, you get a stamp on that bingo square. Once you get 4 stamps in a row, you get a prize (mug, tote bag, etc.) and you also get entered to win 1 of 10 gift baskets. It's a lot of fun and a neat way to be introduced to books you may not read otherwise.
That knitting journal is amazing. I might have to start one. I do use Ravelry a lot, but I love real live books!
I also think it's perfect to have fun with family -- but then some quiet time.
Those mittens are fantastic! What a lot of color changing.
I'm completely in awe of the Harry Potter mittens! I'm a bit fan, and like your friend I can't quite believe you've managed to knit spells into them :o Absolutely amazing x
I love those mittens, they are gorgeous. Love your organisation, I love nice stationary and so this is right up my street!! My goals are also to knit from stash and I've already bought two orders of yarn!! No more!
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