(mis)adventures of spindlerose

Ten on Tuesday: Things I Want to Do in 2012

1. Knit with cashmere. I have cashmere blend yarn for several sweater-sized projects in the studio. This is my year to use it. I will earn a bit of luxury knitting every time I complete a fitness goal. First up is Sabine in Superior.
2. Run a 5K race in March or April. D and I have started running again. If we survive our cold winter morning runs, stay healthy, and stick to the plan, we will be ready for a 5K by St. Patrick's Day.
3. Run a 10K race in September. If we keep training through the spring and summer, we will be ready to tackle a longer distance by the end of summer.
4. Finish 12 sweaters. This is much less of a stretch than you might think. There are at least 10 nearly finished sweaters hiding on my shelves that stalled for some reason. It is time stop procrastinating, solve the problems, and finish them.
5. Finish 12 pairs of hand knit socks and give most of them away. My sock shelf is overflowing, but socks are still my go to project for travel knitting. Since there is a lot of business travel in my future, there will be a lot of socks.
6. Spin every day. Even 10 minutes a day with a spindle adds up to quite a bit of yarn after a few weeks. Daily efforts at the wheel lead to more consistent finished yarn. My spinning focus this year is spinning for a purpose rather than just spinning. I have made myself a personal fiber club of 6 bumps of fiber that I will spin for a specific project.
7. Knit with handspun. If I am spinning with the end project in mind, I need to knit the project when the yarn is finished so I can evaluate my progress and figure out what to do better next time. I also need to make some space in my handspun bin for the other yarns I plan to spin this year.
8. Learn how to weave. The more I talk to weavers and handle hand woven cloth, the more I want to weave. I am going to start looking for a used loom in May and take a weaving class or two later in the year.
9. Go back to Hawaii with D. We have not been there since 2009. It is time for a visit.
10. Post to this here blog at least once a week. I will start with Carole's Ten on Tuesday this month, and see where that leads me.

On becoming a finisher

Erin over at Unclutterer posted her third quarter resolutions this morning.

• Identify all of my unfinished projects.
• Finish ALL of my unfinished projects.
• Take on no new projects until all old projects are finished.

Anyone who knows me at all will not be surprised that those resolutions resonate with me. I have always struggled with finishing. My childhood bedroom (much like my home today) was filled with half-read books, half-sewn clothes, and craft projects in various states of completion. It took me an extra 11 years to graduate from college. Every now and then an uncluttering project unearths another notebook filled with ideas or lists of things to finish before I start something else. I spent much of June starting new knitting projects instead of finishing any of the nearly completed ones—that I want to wear. Even the half-marathon training project got side-tracked by a bad cold and business travel after the first month.

I'm not sure how well I will do at identifying all of my unfinished projects because I so rarely finish anything. I will maintain a running list of unfinished projects here at least through October. This will help me track my progress and force me to make decisions about abandoning projects that just aren't working. I will cross off the projects I finish or abandon and add new ones as I come across them. I don't think it's possible to list everything without tossing the entire house in the process.

I will finish things. Or I will abandon them and do something appropriate with the stuff associated with that project.

I know myself. Starting nothing new until every UFO is finished will not happen. There are days when I crave the feeling of new yarn on my needles or new fiber slipping through my fingers. At work, I rarely have control of when a new project will land on my desk or in my inbox. I will strive to keep the startitis under control and switch to a different unfinished project when I feel that urge to start something new.

My resolutions for the next 3 to 6 months:

• Maintain a mostly public running list of projects. I will keep a separate, non-public, list of work projects, but everything else will be posted to the list.
• Finish things.
• Be mindful about starting new projects. As Is there something already in progress that will do? before diving in.

Please keep me accountable to these plans.

25 Weeks

until I go for a long run. I have joined a running group that is training to run the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half-Marathon on September 19. This running group may be mostly knitters, but it is a running group all the same. I have not run seriously since high school (when I ran track distance events and cross-country) or even casually since college. I have slowly added some exercise back into my life over the past few months, but I need an ambitious goal to truly get myself moving.

I started training today by going out and buying a new pair of shoes. Then D (who I brow-beat into joining me in the fun) and I went for a run/walk around the neighborhood to get started on the path.

My challenge for the next month or so will be fitting training into the crazy work travel schedule. I expect to meet a few hotel gym treadmills over the next several weeks. Ideally, I will be able to get outside for a few runs or walks as well.

I look forward to growing closer to this group of friends as we train. And to the challenge.