Life, Knitting and the Pursuit of Roller Coasters

It’s been a crazy year with a lot of ups and downs. I’m really ready for a new beginning and a better year ahead. My car has been my biggest enemy this year, and it decided last night to give me one last hurrah for the year. So after a year where I’ve replaced the battery, the tires, the rear brakes, the casing on the side mirror, and the engine… last night the drivers side window came unclipped and fell into the door. I live in Michigan, it’s December, and the nearest dealership is 30 minutes away. I’m not looking forward to that chilly drive. So, get your car serviced regularly or it will come back and bite you in the ass. Consider this my public service announcement and biggest lesson learned for 2007.

Knitting wise, I’ve been all over the map this year.

I’ve played with a ton of sock patterns resulting in 18 pair (19 if I finish dad’s today). My mom got 3 pair, I gave 3 pair at Christmas (dad, brother, and sister-in-law) and the most spectacular pair went to my sockapalooza sock pal. The rest are all mine and between those and the few pair I knit in ‘06, I’m down to a very scant number of non-handknit socks in my wardrobe. I have a couple pair of solid black and brown trouser socks and a few pair of athletic socks, but the rest are all knit! I knit simple socks, fancy socks, cabled socks, lace socks, socks at amusement parks, socks in the car, socks at work, and even participated in a crazy mad event that was essentially a multi-round sock race. It’s mostly been my year of socks, and with my sock yarn stash as it is, there are many more years of socks ahead.

I made 5 scarves, including two very nice chevrons. I love my amusement park chevron and wear it constantly. 3 of the 5 scarves were gifts, 2 of them gifted for Christmas. I have several other scarf patterns I want to play with, but they really aren’t my go-to project.

I made my first sweater, an undertaking that was far faster and simpler than I ever expected it to be and something I consider among my biggest accomplishments of the year. Another is in progress and I see many more in my future.

And I made a few other random accessories… a hat, some gloves, a few dishcloths.

It’s also been a year of knitalongs, a year of Ravelry, and a year with NaBloPoMo, and a year that I’ve realized I need to figure out a better strategy for managing those sorts of things if I’m going to participate.It’s been the year that the knitting traveled. I worked on socks in several amusement parks, and my socks got to see some rather coaster geekish things like the walk-back tour at the Voyage at Holiday World, and the brake run of Kentucky Rumbler at Beech Bend Park. One sock even rode the carousel at Kennywood.

I’m not really setting any notable knitting goals this year, I’m planning more on just going with the flow since I tend to do that anyway. I am going to be mindful of the presence of the holidays a little sooner(like say, next week), I am going to try to pare down the number of projects I’m splitting my time between, and I’m finally ready to tackle some lace, but beyond that you might as well stay tuned, because I have no idea what the future holds for me in this craft.

I am working on some other more personal goals though and I’ve begun them a few weeks prior to the new year. My mantra for ‘08 is “What can I do today to improve my health, wealth and home?”

I’ve got some little projects, and some notable ones in the works. The biggest one this year will be finally focusing on getting rid of debt. The money thing has been hanging over my head like a noose, and I’m ready to behave like a mature adult and get it taken care of. In the grand scheme of things, it’s initially a short term cleanup project with some longer term implications and additional goals once the debt is gone. I can have the credit cards gone at the end of the year, and most everything else taken care of in another beyond that, in the meantime, I’m working on establishing some healthier spending habits that should help in the long run. Financial independence in my 30’s is not unreasonable and is well within my reach.

That one trickles into all sort of other projects that will be more of a downscaling than full removal. mostly Knitting from my stash, fewer coaster trips (this is definitely a limited time while buckling down for the debt reduction thing), decluttering my apartment, better time management, and cooking more meals at home. I’m not really making resolutions, just setting some goals and direction and aiming to be in a healthier and happier place at this point next year.