New Years always brings with it a flurry of resolutions, endings and new beginnings, the thoughts that things will be better this year. My 2 day dreams for the New Year are the following:
- The troops pull out of Iraq, the elections are over and the Iraqi’s will now govern with wisdom.
- The hurricane center miscalculated the number of storms coming our way this year
I have some personal goals for this year.
- More patience and control; over my sometimes acid tongue. My son will be turning 15 soon and a learner’s permit looms on the horizon.
- Better use of my time. I want to read more books, finish more projects, and attend more community events. As I have grown older the time has just flown by.
- Tolerance toward all those not sharing my wavelength.
I cleaned out my guestroom this weekend.
This is the room that holds the iron, ironing board, sewing machine, wall of books, unseasonable clothing, all my yarn, needlepoint supplies, fabric, boxes upon boxes of photos not in albums and a wall of books. It was an intolerable mess, ignored since the summer. Now that I am in my late 40’s and revisit the closet filled with stuff, I realize that I will never complete the number of projects that I have managed to accumulate. It’s just not realistic and too look at all the stuff is overwhelming. So I purged some more. I feel so much better now.
In between this cleaning exercise I have been working on my sock. The “Eye of the Partridge” heel, simple as it is gave me more trouble than I deserved to have. The trouble is that I can’t remember which of the 4 rows I’m knitting. I know that I’m on the right of the wrong side but not if I’m supposed to knit 2 or 4…1 or 3. It does make a difference in the dimples that show up in the heel, hence the name. I’m not disciplined enough, that while lying in the hammock and knitting the mere 32 stitches, to keep track. My mind wanders too much. I just forget. I should add discipline to the little list above.
After tiring of that exercise, I finally tried the “Reverse Bloom” cloth in my “Weekend “Knitting” book. I actually purchased this book for the pattern alone. I must have started and ripped out the first petal 8 or 9 times. The reason was the same as above. My mind couldn’t keep track of what I knitted 6 rows ago. I persevered and finished my flower at midnight. It’s made from leftover Sirdhar chenille in a particularly vibrant watermelon color. Not very easy to work with but the results pleased me. I found some Lily cotton in my closet and will try another one.
Today is the end of my winter vacation and it’s back to work. Erik has 1 more day to play before school starts tomorrow. Oh, to be 15 again.