The Year That Was 2012

Well, I've made it through another year, and I think I managed to keep all my resolutions from last year, so I think I'll keep the same one's again for next year. It was a close call as I had to finish an item that I started on the weekend to make sure that I didn't have more than 6 WIPs come midnight.

So now it is time to see what I've achieved this year.

I started on a path that will get me some formal qualifications. Unfortunately, my study was interrupted when we had to move house, so I didn't complete the work that I needed to this year and now I have to wait until the second semester next year before I can make another attempt.

On the crafting side, I entered 6 items into the Albury Show and was awarded 3 1sts and a 2nd. As well as this I managed to finish 100 items (I had miscalculated when I put the figure up on Friday). Here are all of my finished objects.

 In this picture you will see 44 Hanging Towels, 8 Toys, 7 Drink Bottle Cosies, 4 Teapot Cosies, 3 Toddler's Jackets, 3 Rose Towel Hangers, 3 Plastic Bag Bags, 3 Jug Covers, 2 Dishcloths, 2 Scarves, 2 Pair of Booties, 2 Blankets (one of these was started by someone else then handed to me to finish), 1 Set of Wine Glass Socks, 1 Toddler's Sunhat, 1 Pair of Gloves, 1 Tea Cloth, 1 Beanie, 1 Christmas Tree and 1 Bookmark.

In the meantime, Sue made these.

She seems to have so many things on the go at the moment but doesn't seem to be able to find the time to finish many of them.

OK, now onto the plans for next year.

At the end of January I will be eligible for early retirement, which means that I can access my Superannuation (all $40,000 of it). Seeing as how it's not enough to actual live on for any length of time, Sue and I figured we would use it to go on a holiday. So, for the first time since I arrived in Australia (for me), and the first time since she was born (for Sue), Sue and I are planning to leave the country for about 8 weeks and fly over to the UK so I can get a look at the country of my birth and to generally tour around. We plan on going all the way up to Inverness and over to Ireland as well as trying to see as much of England and Wales as we can.

I also plan on finishing my Cert IV in Web Design but, if the planned trip goes ahead, I will miss the first half of the semester so I'm hoping that I can get some of the work done (based on what I was doing this year) and just hand it in when we get back back.

I'm not sure how any of that will effect my crafting goals but here is what I have planned. I will try to get all of my current WIPs finished. The following is the list of what I'm currently working on.

Rose Clan Dress Tartan Rug
Crochenit Cot Blanket (trying a method for doing rows that are longer than the hook)
Toddlers Jacket
Jumper (sweater to you Americans) for me
AustralianaV2

Box Stitch Blanket

At least 2 of those were carried over from last year, but I'm confident of getting them finished next year.

The next thing to do is to make a dent in my to-do list which currently looks like this.

Things to make to replace stock for my market stall:

Bottle Cosies in more team colours

3 String bags

Teapot Cosies

bag holders

Sunhat and booties (white)

Tommy Turtle

Koala

Owl

Pineapple Angel Bookmark

Small Bunny

Things I'm itching to get started on:

Crochenit Knee Rug (same as Cot Blanket and will also use up some of my stash of 8ply)
Crocheted Slocks
Something from my "99 Granny Squares" book
Something in Tunisian Crochet Lace (I'm thinking of modifying Ellen's Jacket pattern by substituting a lace stitch in the main body of the pattern)
Something from the Book I won from Ellen Gormley (I've had it over a year now).
A doily from an old pattern book I bought (I've had this 1 for about a year now also).

Banner for Stall (still in the design stage but it can wait)

Table Runners for each Australian state and territory (currently trying to design the ACT one).

Tunisian Crochet Intarsia Table Runner

Spiral Blanket (saw one on the internet and figured I could have a go at it without the pattern)

Dinosaurs (I've made one but Planetjune has plenty more and I've bought patterns for 12 of them)

I would also like to experiment a bit more with Tunisian Crochet Intarsia.

So, my resolutions from last year were to have more entries in the Albury Show (I had 2 last year and 6 this year), make a dent in my stash (I did, but it was a very small one), and to finish the year with no more WIPs than I started the year with (I had 6 at the start and I have 6 at the end). I think I managed to keep all of those and I can't see any reason why I wouldn't be able to keep them again next year.

That's it from me for this year so it's time to say Happy New Year to all and I hope to hear from everyone in 2013.

Richard.