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2013 was an absolute shitty year for me. It started in October of 2012, 7 days before my last post, and continued shitty up until October of this year. Things seem to be evening out, though my job is still stressful.  My personal life was so stressful that the massive changes and uprooting of my job that started in January 2013 that should have been freaking me out, I basically ignored. Once my emotional energy started to free up, I started to realize how stressful work was. The best thing for me was crafting--I finished 11 different knitting projects in 2013, and took up cross-stitching, finishing 2.5 starter kits in the year. In contrast, I knit 5 projects each in 2011 and 2012.

2014 is going to continue challenging, at least at work, but I do feel like it's a fresh start in ways I've never felt before. I entered a new decade of life, and I'm starting to figure out what it is I really want to do. I also think I'll have another excellent crafting year--it's an awesome way to watch all the great TV shows out there! ;)

So with the new year, I've started two projects--one is a quick(er), reflective project, and the other is a year-long commitment. The year-long commitment is a repeat of one that got lost in the shuffle last year--I am going to be re-attempting Photo365, taking at least one photo a day. I'm setting the bar low, here--just has to be a photo, nothing particular. The other is the focus of today's post, and inspired by a friend in my knitting group, who calls it "Finish It or Frog It". The idea is to take a look through all of your works in progress and make a decision to either finish it, or to frog it (rip it out). I had fewer projects on the needles than I thought I had, which was nice.

From left to right, that's baby blocks, a lacy Baktus, a Lace Ribbon scarf, a Hanami, a Sack Boy (complete except assembly), Mock Colorwork Fleckle Mitts, an Urban Aran Cardigan, and a passel of hexipuffs.

I started the Hanami in February, 2008, making it the oldest WIP I have.

The yarn is Spirit Trails Fiberworks Atropos, 100% Bombyx Silk, laceweight. It's a lovely combination of peachy orange and spring green, though it does suffer from Silk Stink. As you can see, I'm only a few rows into this five year-old project. I'm adding this to the "finish it" pile, though I'm going to rip it out and start over again. I'd like to set a goal for completion, but that's unlikely to motivate me--I'll just need to find some reasonably mindless TV to watch for a while.

Next up is the Lace Ribbon Scarf, started in June of 2009. 

Please excuse the lousy photo, this is Malabrigo Yarn lace in Tuareg, which is a much lighter shade (and not the TARDIS blue shown here). This is soft, and lovely, and the pattern is pretty boring and I think there are much prettier patterns out there that would show off the Malabrigo better. This is a relatively easy "frog it".

The next eldest pattern was started only a month after the Lace Ribbon scarf, and is a Sack Boy from Little Big Planet. 

It's hard to see there, but the Sack Boy is done, except for assembly, which I've been putting off since sometime in 2009. I think I need to trim the zipper down to size, and do some other "not really part of my skillset" things, hence the procrastination. This is a finish it, since it's so close. Originally it was going to go to my then-boyfriend and his roommate, but now I think I'll keep it or give it to the roommate.

The Urban Aran Cardigan, a modification of the Patons Urban Aran pattern, has been languishing for quite some time, as well. I started it in March of 2010 and made quite good progress, until I ran into a mistake in the shoulders that I never summoned up the energy to rip back and fix.

This is a tough one, because the yarn is Misti Alpaca Chunky in charcoal, oh so lovely and soft. But this must-needs be frogged--I've gained a bit of weight since then, and a 42 inch finished bust on a cardigan won't cut it any more. This frogged into two balls of yarn, but clearly was from three.

In October 2011, I started making Two Seam Cubes to make blocks for a baby who is now 2.

That actually makes this an easy frog--I can save the yarn (Plymouth Yarn Dreambaby DK) for future babies. I did complete 2/3 of 2 cubes--I won't frog those since the yarn is already cut, but I doubt anything will ever come of them.

Also in October 2011, I started a Lacy Baktus.

As pictured here, it's lovely, but in person is far, far too yellow for my tastes. Route 66, in Spunky Eclectic Touch Sock, was one of those yarns I loved in the skein and hated once I started to use it. This is a frog and probably a yarn I'll try to swap.

2012 and 2013 were good years for finishing projects. I'm starting the new year with only two unfinished projects from 2013, both started in the fall, and none from 2012. First up is the Mock Colorwork Fleckle Mitts, from a kit with yarn from A Hundred Ravens, started November 10th of 2013.

These are a bit of a cheat--last night, I bound off the second mitt, and now just have to pick up stitches for the thumbs. This is a finish!

Lastly, we have The Beekeeper's Quilt, a forever project I started November 22nd of 2013 when I got bored with the mitts (they're gorgeous but slipped stitch "colorwork" gets real boring, real fast!).

This quilt is modeled after similar fabric quilts, and consists of tiny knit hexagons, that you stuff with wool or polyfill or yarn (I used polyfill).  I've knit 19 of the suckers so far, and I want a blanket big enough to be my bedspread on my full size bed, so I have a long, long ways to go. This is a keeper, too, but like I said, it's a forever project.

And there we have it--starting 2014 shed of the weight of four projects, and determined to finish another four. 

Obligatory End of the Year Post

Bear with me, this will hopefully be my last navel-gazing post for a while. Something in the air in December makes me really, really introspective.

Remember when you were a kid, and you always listened to grown-ups complaining about time going soooo fast and not knowing what they were talking about? And then all of a sudden you blinked and you were a grown-up?

Well, all of a sudden, I blinked, and I've been out of college and time just keeps going faster and faster and I want to scream stop! I need to enjoy this! But time doesn't listen, because time is a motherfucker.

December of 2004. I graduated college. (Tip for those of you still in college: Don't graduate a semester early.) I had only just met Jon a couple of months previous, and I was still dating him. I went home to NJ. I was antisocial over "winter break" and played a lot of Super Mario World. I had a definite feeling of "Now what?" And in January, I started looking for jobs, starting with a "part-time" job at B&N. (I was full-time inside of 3 weeks. Wheee.)

December of 2005. I was the head cashier at B&N. I spent my time working, sleeping, or drinking at O'Malley's. I think I was depressed. I was disheartened by my inability to find a real job, but still unwilling to look outside of publishing. I got a wretched cold on Christmas Eve. I got dumped and my brand new boots broke all in the same night. I felt trapped. I hated my job. It was bad.

December of 2006. I was an editorial assistant at Prentice Hall. The job was too easy, and I missed Boston. I'd been applying to jobs in Boston unsuccessfully. I'd been so thrilled to get the job, but I was beyond ready to move on, even though I had only been in the job for 10 months. (See: me going on an interview in January, and telling my boss I was doing so. But without that, we wouldn't have any of the stuff in December of 2007) Living at home was driving me insane)

December of 2007. I'm an assistant editor now, all because I did something kinda stupid and really ballsy. Wow. (For the record, the interview was a disaster.) I moved back to Boston, I've got an awesome group of friends here, I was brave and braved the Midwest. For the first time, life is really looking up in December. Even though the EA job > B&N, and B&N > unemployment, I was so...stuck that December sucked. But I had an awesome year, and I'm looking forward to 2008. (I had to double check this earlier. The thing about working in textbook publishing is that you lose track of what year it is, because our copyright years are so skewed from the calendar year.)

I hope your New Year's Eve is everything you want it to be, and that 2008 is an awesome year for everyone.