Lets just say "Phew!"
There was a ton of travelling for us - plus the summer up north at the cottage.
In July, Number One Son, returned from two years in England, in September left for a month in L.A. and then arrived baaaaaaak! Its so great to have him home again!
Carving out studio/storage space for him and his many endeavours meant rethinking/jigging so many things it was like moving house. Plus there's the comings/goings/appetites of he and his friends at all hours while keeping things on the rails for the business-week drill the other two "house mates" (sister and dad) have going.
Entertaining, work-related social committments and even Hudson's calendar were also epic all year long.
We helped out with preparations for the summer wedding of Darling Daughter's closest friends. During that week, we were also robbed, resulting in the loss of my 2 year old all-in-one desktop containing 30,000 photos and I don't even know how many knitting patterns. Retrieving, re-storing and sorting out what to do about all of it going forward is a huge job I'm still working through.
2016 also saw me really lean into cooking/making our diet even more local, seasonal, healthier, ethical and humane. Establishing these new habits has taken so much more effort than I thought it would!
As for purchases other than groceries, its never been more important to me to support businesses and jurisdictions that treat people, animals and the environment carefully, ethically and fairly. Dollars are powerful ballots of a sort and I'm determined to cast ours with a purpose beyond just getting stuff.
Knitting can be a big part of that whole equation and when my Ravelry page tells me many FO's* were practical over inspired, that a few were gifts and there were even donations to our local Syrian refugee support programs I feel like it really was.
I don't remember much about knitting any of it. 'Guess I'm now sufficiently adept at avoiding overly ambitious projects and successfully making those within my capacities that I can knit while avoiding memorable struggles!
So may as well up the ante. I'm going to trying making a (mostly) hand made wardrobe.
Many knitters are doing this of course and there are so many resources on line I've been trying to figure out the best ones for me.
Unlike knitting, I don't enjoy sewing very much. But I have the skills, the time and I'm equipped to do it (currently 4 sewing machines in this house, the most recent addition being a commercial machine on loan to Number One Son!)
I've made a few small efforts but there's really no excuse not to jump right in and see what happens.
So that's the plan going forward. Knit, Sew, Cook (EAT!)and of course hang out with Hudson. I plan to get back to posting too. Last year I drafted many posts about a range of things that weren't essentially about knitting so I never put them up. Now I don't think I'll hold this space to that kind of standard any more. How exactly it might look, I'm not really sure but with this post I've decided not to wait until all the t's are crossed and i's dotted. Instead, like my grand wardrobe plans I'm jumping in and I'll see what happens from here!
2017 Here I come!
*4 sweaters, 3 hats, 2 colour work cowls, 2 headbands, a pair of fingerless mitts, a pair of thrummed mitts and a colour work pair, 2 blankets, 2 embellished felted bowls and 3 trivets, 4 pot scrubbers, 3 dishcloths and a pair of men's 2x2 ribbed socks.
There was a ton of travelling for us - plus the summer up north at the cottage.
In July, Number One Son, returned from two years in England, in September left for a month in L.A. and then arrived baaaaaaak! Its so great to have him home again!
Carving out studio/storage space for him and his many endeavours meant rethinking/jigging so many things it was like moving house. Plus there's the comings/goings/appetites of he and his friends at all hours while keeping things on the rails for the business-week drill the other two "house mates" (sister and dad) have going.
Entertaining, work-related social committments and even Hudson's calendar were also epic all year long.
We helped out with preparations for the summer wedding of Darling Daughter's closest friends. During that week, we were also robbed, resulting in the loss of my 2 year old all-in-one desktop containing 30,000 photos and I don't even know how many knitting patterns. Retrieving, re-storing and sorting out what to do about all of it going forward is a huge job I'm still working through.
2016 also saw me really lean into cooking/making our diet even more local, seasonal, healthier, ethical and humane. Establishing these new habits has taken so much more effort than I thought it would!
As for purchases other than groceries, its never been more important to me to support businesses and jurisdictions that treat people, animals and the environment carefully, ethically and fairly. Dollars are powerful ballots of a sort and I'm determined to cast ours with a purpose beyond just getting stuff.
Knitting can be a big part of that whole equation and when my Ravelry page tells me many FO's* were practical over inspired, that a few were gifts and there were even donations to our local Syrian refugee support programs I feel like it really was.
I don't remember much about knitting any of it. 'Guess I'm now sufficiently adept at avoiding overly ambitious projects and successfully making those within my capacities that I can knit while avoiding memorable struggles!
So may as well up the ante. I'm going to trying making a (mostly) hand made wardrobe.
Many knitters are doing this of course and there are so many resources on line I've been trying to figure out the best ones for me.
Unlike knitting, I don't enjoy sewing very much. But I have the skills, the time and I'm equipped to do it (currently 4 sewing machines in this house, the most recent addition being a commercial machine on loan to Number One Son!)
I've made a few small efforts but there's really no excuse not to jump right in and see what happens.
So that's the plan going forward. Knit, Sew, Cook (EAT!)and of course hang out with Hudson. I plan to get back to posting too. Last year I drafted many posts about a range of things that weren't essentially about knitting so I never put them up. Now I don't think I'll hold this space to that kind of standard any more. How exactly it might look, I'm not really sure but with this post I've decided not to wait until all the t's are crossed and i's dotted. Instead, like my grand wardrobe plans I'm jumping in and I'll see what happens from here!
2017 Here I come!
*4 sweaters, 3 hats, 2 colour work cowls, 2 headbands, a pair of fingerless mitts, a pair of thrummed mitts and a colour work pair, 2 blankets, 2 embellished felted bowls and 3 trivets, 4 pot scrubbers, 3 dishcloths and a pair of men's 2x2 ribbed socks.