Half-Way for January . . .

No, I know we're not exactly half-way through January yet.  Which is good, because the half-way I'm talking about is my pair of socks for Sock-A-Month!!  I finished the first one on Saturday morning.

I'm even hoping to crank out sock two by next weekend!  You see, giving in to the temptation of the Hemlock Ring blanket seems to be just what I needed to kick my knitting into high gear.  Not only have I been inspired to keep working on the blankie, but my little socks have been calling out to be finished as well.  So if these knit-cravings continue, I should have no problem finishing this pair up in no time.  I'll give you all of the yarn and pattern details then but if you just cant wait, go ahead and take a peek at my Ravelry notebook.

Want to knit a pair of socks each month with us?  Come on over to Sock-A-Month 9 and join to fun!! You'll find all of the sign-up instructions right in the side-bar.

Poison . . .

Ah, Hemlock, you bitter herb.  You have killed my resolve and made resistance futile.  I struggled against your lure, vowing to finish current endeavors before bending to your will.  But the pull of your magic was too strong for me to fight.  This morning, I took but a taste.  I found you were not bitter at all, but sweet and addictive.  I have cast all others aside, ensconced in the grasp of the Hemlock Ring.

New year, fresh start . . .

The tree has been taken down, the presents are all put away, the decorations have been tucked safely away until next December and Pete's vacation has ended.  Although we are into our fourth day of the New Year, today is the first day that actually feels like the holidays are over.  Like it's time to get back to work and make a fresh start.

With that in mind, I thought I'd share some of my New Year's Resolutions.  I've got quite a long list this year, so I won't post them all here.  They are really more like goals rather than resolutions.  And many of them are just a starting point.  Small improvements to be met and then built upon to get things where I'd like them to be.  I plan to visit my list often and revise the resolutions as the year progresses.  But here's where they start . . .

• Complete a pair of socks each month for SAM - I've been lax at sock knitting (and knitting all together) lately.  I want to get back to it in 2010.
• Knit one Christmas gift each month - I've joined this Ravelry group to keep me inspired and on track with this goal.  It reminds me of the KAL I was in a few years ago where we knit a gift each month.  It was so great to have a pile of hand-knit gifts tucked away when December came!
• Read at least one book each month - I used to love to read.  Somehow I let knitting and wasting time on the computer lure me away from that hobby.
• De-clutter - we've got a lot of stuff in our house that we simply don't need, and we have a serious lack of storage space.  This will be the year I finally toss or donate what we don’t use or need and organize what we are keeping.
• Blog two or three posts each week - this is one of those early goals I hope to improve upon as the year goes by.  My real goal would be to post every weekday, but I'm going to let myself start out slow.
• Comment on my friends blogs and get back to emailing replies to comments my friends leave - I feel like I haven't been the best friend lately (both on-line and in real life).  More comments and emails are my way of showing my love to my poor neglected friends.  Hopefully some of you have already noticed that I've been commenting more over the past four days?
• Lose 30 pounds - hopefully by July!!
• Eat at least two fruit and three vegetable servings each day - I'd eventually like to up this to seven total servings rather than five, but this is another one I'm starting out slow on.
  
• Exercise five times each week

So there you have it.  Quite a list, I know, but I also think they are very doable.  What about you?  Have you put together a list of resolutions??