Looking ahead

Happy New Year! In the spirit of the season, I've been thinking about what I want to do/accomplish/take care of in the new year (and, in many cases, before baby #2 makes her appearance). This year I'm focusing on setting reasonable expectations for myself. There is always so much on my to do list and I want to be able to take pleasure in what I can cross off it but not feel too guilty when I don't get to something. So I'm trying a new technique -- the list can stay as long as it always is but has two categories: realistic goals and aspirational ones. If I get to the latter, that's great, and if not that's ok, too.

Here goes on the crafting front:

1. Knit a sweater for me this year.
2. Finish Armas before knitting that sweater for me (I've told myself that I don't get to cast on for the Rocky Coast Cardigan I've been eyeing for ages until I finish Mr. Tinks and Frogs' current sweater-in-the works).
3. Finish at least one more sweater, two hats, and a blanket for Sprout (#2) before she arrives. (Maybe 2 hats is aspirational; might need to change this one to "find appropriately sized knits that I made for Tadpole").
4. Actually complete a quilting project. I've started a couple of quilting projects over the years but have never made it past working on the quilt top and I'd like to change that.
5. Finish Tadpole's purple pinwheel quilt around the time she moves to a big-girl bed [ETA March-ish].
6. Make a quilt for Sprout by the time she moves out of our room and into her own room [ETA June-ish].
7. Spin more. (Hopefully this won't be too hard since today was the first time I had sat down at the wheel since we moved into the new house in August).
8. Publish another knitting pattern. (This one is aspirational - I'd love to make it happen but I'm not going to stress out if I don't get around to putting the pattern together. And yes, the design is on the needles. Now I just have to see if it is going to work and whether it is worth trying to scale for multiple sizes or just leave as is).
9. Post on the blog at least once a month. (Again, I'd love to blog more frequently than that but once a month seems like a realistic commitment for now).
10. Figure out how to take better pictures in low light with my camera. We have a lovely new house but it's winter, which means I have maybe an hour a day (assuming I'm home and not at the office) in which to snap a good knitting shot since there is no obviously sunny spot. It would be really nice to know my way around my camera a bit more so I don't have to resort to the phone to get a shot capturing any kind of detail. For example the pic below shows the lovely soft light reflecting off the snow but doesn't exactly capture accurate color or stitch definition.

Making progress here - I've actually finished the first sleeve and started the second. Unfortunately, I'm utterly distracted by the little crib blanket I started for Sprout last week. Progress on Armas will recommence when the blanket is done.

Here's to a happy, healthy, and relatively stress-free 2014.