A Few Firsts

Happy New Year a few days late. We arrived home yesterday. It was an interesting trip. We woke up to 6” of fresh dry snow in Edmonton which affected many flights as this storm seemed to be everywhere. We got on our plane to come home and left an hour late waiting for the pilot and co-pilot. Their flight was 45 minutes late coming in from Toronto. Vancouver was rainy (so what is new?) and when we landed in Kamloops, we were in the midst of a snow storm. We grabbed our baggage and headed home as the roads were in wintery condition. Got home late afternoon and are now under a snow warning with freezing rain expected Monday afternoon.

Our trip to Edmonton was fabulous. We had a great time with Son, Daughter-In-Law, and Grandson. We did a few firsts………

• Got all of the Lego Mini Series 13 figures by Dec. 30 (three trips) and that series wasn’t to come out until Jan. 1, 2015. Daughter-In-Law has them at their house.
  
• Went to Lee Valley and looked at what they had. It was something we wanted to do and were happy that we did it.
  
• Bought yarn in a beautiful yarn shop to make our Grandson socks. Got a new sock pattern that is very interesting. I also got the wool yarn for the first knitting course I am going to take.
  
• Drank ice wine which is sweet.
  
• Had Ukrainian food New Years Day of which we enjoyed.

Today we need to unpack, shovel snow (the Spousal Unit) and get back into the routine of renovations, decluttering, cleaning, and eating properly. Tackling lifestyle first though there will be a bit other parts thrown in to keep the mix interesting.

Until tomorrow……………………….

Explore 2015

Where less will be more.

RECAP

Last year I decided that I would Explore 2014. And explore I did for most of the year. Along with being a great start down a new path, it was exciting and fulfilling. During the year, the Spousal Unit and I realized that it is time for change. Was it to be Plan A or Plan B. What we knew regardless of the plan, less is becoming more in our lives.

In 2014, I explored with no strings attached. What ever hit my fancy I did in the areas of sewing, knitting, and crafts. Lifestyle was to remain constant, which it didn’t.

EXPLORE 2015

In 2015, I am adding a few guidelines (which can be broken). If less is to be more, I need to focus on that.

Lifestyle

This is to become the forefront of our daily existence. With lifestyle, we will continue to:

• Declutter and purge things in our house and lives. We want to do some traveling even if it is only day trips.
  
• Enjoy our grandson. We love him to death, enjoy Skyping with him and want continue visiting with him.
  
• Run – Yes, run. I want to build up (again) to running 5 km 3 times a week
  
• Introduce some other form of exercise 3 times a week.
  
• Eat healthy to keep my blood sugar under control. To embark on a journey of weight loss.

Sewing

• To make patterns for myself and slowly build a basic wardrobe. It won’t be a fancy wardrobe as my goal is to get TNT patterns. This means cutting into my stash and if it fits, all good and well, if not, donate it and try again.
  
• To watch the Craftsy classes I have purchased and use the information for sewing the garments I plan on making.
  
• To make the Spousal Unit more shirts. He loves his shirts to be made as they fit better and I make them exactly to his specifications. Two pockets, longer body, and XL sized cuffs to fit around his XL wrists.
  
• To make 3 or 4 dresses for the little girls I sewed for last  year. These are fun items to make and greatly appreciated. I want to design sleeves for the next batch of dresses so they can be worn in the fall and spring.
  
• Limit the hours in the sewing room again. Walk out when I want to and if I don’t go in on any given day, that is fine.

Quilting/Craft

• Purge, purge, purge. Limit the items I want to make and pair the fabric and patterns together.
  
• To sew grocery bags for the food bank. I would love to commit to 4 bags per month but I feel uncomfortable doing that.
  
• To sew some gift bags out of some of the Christmas fabric I own. It may or it may not happen.

Knitting/Crocheting

• To knit up all the yarn in my stash. That is a pretty broad statement but one I plan on doing. But I am creating a couple of sub categories.
  
  • Sort the yarn into acrylic and natural fibres.
    
  • Knit acrylic for donating to charities and natural fibres us. 
    
• To learn continental knitting and to start taking courses which will critique my knitting and force me to be a better knitter.
  
• To look at my knitting needles and decide on what I want to buy to complete my collection. Knit Picks or Turbo Addi?
  
• To choose projects that begins to stretch me – advanced beginner to intermediate to master. 
  
• To make a new knitting bag and to have a couple of small totes to carry small projects in.

What I love about knitting is being able to take my knitting with me. I keep a lot of patterns on the iPad and can tuck it and my projects into my knitting bag.

I have added a few specific things to do but my focus in each area is purging while working on techniques. If more is to be less, then this is the year to do it. 

Welcome to 2015!