As I write this in mid-November, I look forward to the next year. My thyroidectomy (removal of thyroid) is scheduled for next week and I hope I will regain some of my previous energy. Dealing with illness and body change in the last year has reminded me we don’t have to be always ‘on.’ This was a hard lesson for me as I have the mindset of keep going no matter what, but now I realize I can keep going but at a slower pace and that is okay.

I’m not setting any concrete plans yet as I tried to do this for the last two years and failed. It made me feel guilty, which was not a productive emotion. Both years it was because of circumstances beyond my control and sometime we need to roll with what life throws at us. I plan to keep writing and hope to publish this year, but I need to concentrate on my health and well-being first. My tendency to ignore these things and plug on has to change and I am implementing these changes. Moving forward, I hope to balance these things, but because life can be unpredictable, we can only try our best.

Here are some of my yarny finished objects for the end of the year.

My Franken Cardigan

Halloween Socks

My turquoise hand-dyed Salty Days Sweater is making progress.

New cast ons:

The Barley Field Slipover

Yarny things I’m obsessed with:

I recently watched a video from KnicoleKits and saw how she converted a shawl to what she called a wrapover. I’ve never heard this term before, but after speaking to a few friends in Canada, I’ve concluded it’s a Canadian thing and it’s genius.

Let me explain. I quit making shawls. I think they are gorgeous, but they fall off and even with the variety of shawl pins and clips I’ve collected over the years, I had to fiddle with them constantly. So I stopped making shawls and gave away most of the ones I’d made.

Seeing her remake beautiful shawl patterns into something more wearable for someone who moves around is bloody brilliant, and I can’t wait to make my first one.

I wanted to add that I think this technique could work for crochet or knitting or even Tunisian crochet. If you are interested here is a link to her series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcRG_9QBuVQ&list=PL8hKi1Z9uUl7Y5AN4i8i-JKN6EFHay3Rz