30 for 30 - this is what we call a bust

Oh, my 30 year-old self! You so crazy. Look at all of these things you didn't accomplish (again...the first three things have been on this list for at least four years. Consistency!). But you did, however, give birth to the world's youngest rapper:

This the cover of his debut album, "Cut Some Bitches."But you tried to do things on this list, self. Not very hard, but you tried. Here's the final tally:

30 things to do while I'm 30

1. Finish the wedding quilt.
2. Sew the grey and pink fleece coat.
3. Design and knit my Weasley sweater.
4. Finish my Bayerische socks.
5. Knit a sweater for Justin.
6. Knit 20% of my yarn stash, including any new additions.
7. Spin 30% of my fiber stash, including any new additions.
8. Read all of the Anne of Green Gables books.
9. Bedroom makeover.
10. Knit a sweater from my handspun yarn. (Still needs buttons, but they are in my possession.)
11. Finish the first draft of my story.
12. Complete and submit the first level of the Master Knitter's program.
13. Sew something out of knit fabric.
14. Paint the upstairs/downstairs hallway and stairwell. (We opted to redo the basement and office, as well as my old office and our bedroom. I get a pass.)
15. Teach myself Trigonometry.
16. Knit all of the sock architectures in Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Knitters.
17. Finish big orange blanket.
18. Make macaroons.
19. Learn double-knitting.
20. Knit 5,000 yards of fingering-weight yarn.
21. Read all of the Sherlock Holmes books.
22. Go on a "babymoon" with Justin.
23. Teach Gracie some manners.
24. Relearn geometry.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.

My favorite part of this list is the fact that I couldn't even think of six things that I very well knew I wouldn't finish.

I'm working on next year's list. I enjoy a yearly spectacular failure, apparently.

I actually finished something. And then we had to put it away.

I won't bore you with a mosaic of my finished projects of 2011, mainly because I finished next to nothing. It would be a two-frame mosaic of Henry and that enormous quilt. Maybe some knitting - I can't remember. I'm lucky I know what day it is. (Monday. Right?)

But I did manage to finish something for the holidays. The last stitches were put in on Christmas Eve morning, ready for Santa to fill them:

New stockings! (The dog sleeping in the sun is not new, nor is her stocking. Don't give me any grief about not making her a stocking, because her stocking is 10x more awesome than ours, and it was passed down to her from my childhood golden, Maggie, who was the greatest dog on Earth, godresthersoul.)

Henry and I picked up this fabric at Jo-Ann's back in October. I had a general idea of what I wanted to do. I went completely off grid with these bad boys, and I'm proud of say that with the exception of initially putting the lining together backwards, everything went pretty smoothly. Justin did have to help me draw the stocking shape because I kept ending up with a letter J. (Side note: file folders make very nice pattern pieces.)

Construction is very basic. I cut two stocking shapes out of leftover batting, then sewed my pieces directly on one at a time. Trimmed to make it pretty, did some decorative machine stitching, then sewed the two outside pieces together. Then I did the embroidery (chain stitch for some dimension and oomph), followed by the lining. And of course I lined them - what do you think we are, hobos?

I love them. And for the first time in history, I'm sad Christmas is over because we had to put them away. I will always remember this Christmas for being the one where we finally had awesome homemade stockings, even though Santa only put chapstick in mine. Neither Henry nor Gracie had anything in theirs, but Justin made out like a bandit. We'll be revisiting our priorities next Christmas.

We could reflect, or we could eat his tiny little toes.

Justin's reflection on 2011: Best! Year! Ever!

My reflection on 2011: I pushed a human the size of a (small) watermelon out of my boy-howdy. I also threw up some vegetable lasagna. Other parts were nice, though.

On to more important things. Henry got some nice stuff for Christmas, but his favorite gift by far was his toes. Look! So wee!

Toes are delightful. He likes his toes, he likes your toes. He likes them in the air, he likes standing on them, he likes them near his mouth. He enjoy socks on and he enjoys socks off. Toes can keep him busy like nothing else. And when you take his socks off for him? Magical.

So while I could wax on about how I barely knit a stitch in 2011 and my sewing was lackluster as well, I'll instead tell you that I grew a FREAKING HUMAN and it might just be the best thing I've ever done. Even if we are, apparently, raising a hobo.

Even the littlest thugs need hats.

Oh, motherhood. You are so sneaky. You bring me this screaming me-me who wears me out physically and emotionally, but I can't bear to part with him because he's so damn cute. And then all of a sudden BAM, he is darling, adorable, and so very sweet. He's everything in the world that you didn't know you wanted by now you suddenly need - NEED. As in, I miss him when he's sleeping. As in, I could watch him watch me for hours. As in, kid, you are a heartbreaker.

4 1/2 months, playing with CarterAlso, you are a thug. The very cutest thug in the world, but still, a thug.

Hat knit out of Berroco Vintage Chunky, my new favorite yarn. That is one tired little elf(As for the hat: cast on 64 on an appropriate needle, k2p2 until the cows come home, then decrease four times per row every other row until you have a nice little point. I tried to make a pom-pon, but that was a hot mess. The hat fit his very small 16" head, but will expand up to 18" or 19".)

All tangled up.

I felt very lost after Henry was born. Crafting and creating were out of the question because all I wanted to do was cry and sleep, sleep and cry. The crying quickly got better, but the general fatigue and well, let's be honest, emptiness were unsettling. I could barely even watch TV.

So I wasn't really paying attention when my mom started yammering about this new art form and a person who teaches it in Kansas City. She signed us up for a private lesson two weeks after Henry was born, and I slowly and surely started feeling like me again.

Zentangle is essentially drawing repetitive patterns one line at a time. It's kind of like doodling, but with shading and nice supplies. Official Zentangles are done on 3.5" x 3.5" high quality paper with a Micron pen and a pencil. I still use the drawing implements, but now I tangle in a moleskin notebook.

Listen, I'll be the first to tell you that I can't draw. But tangles are broken down into simple repetitive steps. Even I can do this.

For me, the best part about tangling is that even when my day is crazy and I can't make it downstairs to sew, or I don't have time to sit down with a sock, I can usually find a few minutes to tangle. (To be honest, it's been awhile because all of a sudden this child sleeps and I have time to play again.) I use my notebook as a kind of journal that helps me remember what was going on while I was drawing.

Tangling has also made me look at my quilting in a new way, and I know a lot of tanglers are also quilters. I feel more comfortable trying to come up with quilting designs that are specific to my pieced top.

I'm going to try to share my tangles in a more timely fashion (and try to keep up with my blogging, too). Are there any other tanglers out there?