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.

Time to add another

I'm no longer 29, so it's time to make next year's list. Here's the one I half-heartedly worked on during my 29th year. I've decided that it's no use to be hard on myself that I don't even finish half of my goals (and that I've carried some of the same ones for more than four years). I should just be glad to have goals, I suppose. Also, a few of these will be finished within the next few days/weeks, including #10 and #12.

29 things to do while I'm 29
1. Finish the wedding quilt.
2. Ride bikes with Justin.  Justin sold his bike for $5, so it's time to give up on that dream.
3. Sew the grey and pink fleece coat.
4. Design and knit my Weasley sweater.
5. Make Elizabeth Zimmerman's modified yoke/raglan/whatever sweater.
6. Finish my Bayerische socks.
7. Knit a sweater for Justin.
8. Knit 20% of my yarn stash, including any new additions.
9. Spin 30% of my fiber stash, including any new additions.
10. Read all of the Anne of Green Gables books.
11. Repaint the concession wall in the bedroom
12. Knit a sweater from my handspun yarn.
13. Finish the first draft of my story.
14. Complete the first cross stitch I ever started (8th grade?).
15. Complete and submit the first level of the Master Knitter's program.
16. Get new furniture for the family room.
17. Take a long weekend vacation with Justin. Austin, TX for Paul's wedding. It was wonderful.
18. Switch over to homemade cleaning solutions.
19. Celebrate Literacy Day (September 8).
20. Sew something out of knit fabric.
21. Paint the upstairs/downstairs hallway and stairwell.
22. Read at least 10 books I own but have not read. (Death Comes at the End, The Patient, The Daily Coyote, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, A Year in Provence, Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, One for the Money, You Don't Look Like Someone I Know)
23. Teach myself Trigonometry.
24. Knit all of the sock architectures in Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Knitters.
25. Do something with all of these loose photos - scrapbook? Album? Scanned and on the computer. It's a good start.
26. Finish big orange blanket.
27. Make macaroons.
28. Finish all of my holiday knits before Thanksgiving.
29. Learn double-knitting.

I've been thinking about what I'll add for next year - definitely more about stashbusting yarn, house maintenance, that sort of thing. There is, however, one that can't really be named. Mostly because we don't know who it is yet.

I'm very much looking forward to August and meeting our new little friend.

29 for 29

Justin reminded me that I hadn't yet shared my list of 29 things to do in my 29th year. A lot of them are the same because I'm pretty good at writing down goals and then completely ignoring them, but for some reason, I think this year is going to be different. For example, I only have three knitting projects on the needles. Three. There have been times when I've had 12. So clearly I'm in a place of finishing things, and maybe I'll get to the point where I work on one thing consistently.

And maybe monkeys will fly out of my butt.

But I have finished something, and in honor of Earth Day, I thought I'd share:

29 things to do while I'm 29

1. Finish the wedding quilt.
2. Ride bikes with Justin.
3. Sew the grey and pink fleece coat.
4. Design and knit my Weasley sweater.
5. Make Elizabeth Zimmerman's modified yoke/raglan/whatever sweater.
6. Finish my Bayerische socks.
7. Knit a sweater for Justin.
8. Knit 20% of my yarn stash, including any new additions.
9. Spin 30% of my fiber stash, including any new additions.
10. Read all of the Anne of Green Gables books.
11. Repaint the concession wall in the bedroom
12. Knit a sweater from my handspun yarn.
13. Finish the first draft of my story.
14. Complete the first cross stitch I ever started (8th grade?).
15. Complete and submit the first level of the Master Knitter's program.
16. Get new furniture for the family room.
17. Take a long weekend vacation with Justin.
18. Switch over to homemade cleaning solutions.
19. Celebrate Literacy Day (September 8).
20. Sew something out of knit fabric.
21. Paint the upstairs/downstairs hallway and stairwell.
22. Read at least 10 books I own but have not read. (Death Comes at the End)
23. Teach myself Trigonometry.
24. Knit all of the sock architectures in Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Knitters.
25. Do something with all of these loose photos - scrapbook? Album?
26. Finish big orange blanket.
27.
28.
29.

We are now a mostly-vinegar-and-baking-soda household. I'm still using a green cleaner for the toilets, but everything else is cleaned with a baking soda paste (or Bon Ami) and then copious amounts of vinegar. I hate the smell of vinegar, but other that than, it's working really well. I especially love when I spray the baking soda on top of the vinegar and everything starts to fizzle. In that same vein, cleaning the drains is one of my favorite things to do. Dump a cup of baking soda down the drain, followed by a cup of vinegar. It's like a middle school science project volcano. Follow with hot (not boiling - you may have plastic pipes) water 15 minutes later and your drain is good to go. My favorite place to do this is in the basement on our floor drain because I'm all willy-nilly with the amount of ingredients and sometimes get a mini Mt. St. Helen. I never got to build a volcano in school.

Cross it off

Well, we're getting down to the knitty-gritty of my goals list for my 28th year (technically my 29th, but whatever). I already have ideas percolating for next year, but today I'm pleased to announce that I completed #26 and learned how to do Tunisian crochet.

Fact: When I got my first set of crochet hooks, back when I was 14 or so, it came with a Tunisian hook. I had no idea what it was, but I've kept it through all of my moves over the years. You never know when you'll need a long crochet hook with a knitting-needle stopper.

I found a good video on YouTube here. It's really very intuitive and once I watched the videos, I just picked up some yarn and did it. It does feel strange to crochet again - my right hand and arm were trembling while I tried to make my muscles remember the steps. I'm going to do some squares for Ron's Blanket swap, which need to be sent in a few weeks. This will be my fourth round of participation - maybe I'll have enough squares for an actual blanket!

28 things to do while I'm 28

1. Finish the wedding quilt.

2. Finish the triangle quilt.

3. Ride bikes with Justin.

4. Sew the grey and pink fleece coat.

5. Design and knit my Weasley sweater.

6. Make Elizabeth Zimmerman's modified yoke/raglan/whatever sweater.

7. Sew another skirt. Maybe two.

8. Finish all 3 lingering UFOs

9. Knit a sweater for Justin.

10. Knit 20% of my yarn stash, including any new additions.

11. Spin 30% of my fiber stash, including any new additions.

12. Read all of the Anne of Green Gables books.

13. Take a cooking class.

14. Read the Chronicles of Narnia books.

15. Beat Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on Gamecube.

16. Train Gracie to be a therapy dog.

17. Repaint the concession wall in the bedroom

18. Spin and knit a sweater.

19. Create a series (at least three pieces) of art quilts.

20. Finish the first draft of my story.

21. Complete the first cross stitch I ever started (8th grade?).

22. Complete and submit the first level of the Master Knitter's program.

23. Get new furniture for the family room.

23a. Do not kill Justin in the process of above.

24. Construct some sort of anti-squirrel contraption in the vegetable garden.

25. Take a long weekend vacation with Justin.

26. Learn Tunision crochet

27. Learn to embroider

28. Re-open my Etsy store



Smackdown

I just wrote something kind of mopey and all, "I'm a loner, Dottie," but my blog apparently isn't going to put up with any of that crap and everything disappeared.

So I'm clearly meant to talk about something else. Let's talk goals. I figure I can take #19 off since I made my mom's fairy quilt and then my parents' monster quilt - that was definitely at least two art quilts' worth of work.

There are a lot of things still on this list and my birthday is in 14 days. I think I'll be able to knock a few off before then if I buckle down, but I'm also not going to force things. I have, however, been spending a lot of time working on my New Year's Resolution, which is to beat Super Mario Brothers 2 (for the original Nintendo) without warping. It's a heady challenge, but I'm up for it.

28 things to do while I'm 28

1. Finish the wedding quilt.

2. Finish the triangle quilt.

3. Ride bikes with Justin.

4. Sew the grey and pink fleece coat.

5. Design and knit my Weasley sweater.

6. Make Elizabeth Zimmerman's modified yoke/raglan/whatever sweater.

7. Sew another skirt. Maybe two.

8. Finish all 3 lingering UFOs

9. Knit a sweater for Justin.

10. Knit 20% of my yarn stash, including any new additions.

11. Spin 30% of my fiber stash, including any new additions.

12. Read all of the Anne of Green Gables books.

13. Take a cooking class.

14. Read the Chronicles of Narnia books.

15. Beat Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on Gamecube.

16. Train Gracie to be a therapy dog.

17. Repaint the concession wall in the bedroom

18. Spin and knit a sweater.

19. Create a series (at least three pieces) of art quilts.

20. Finish the first draft of my story.

21. Complete the first cross stitch I ever started (8th grade?).

22. Complete and submit the first level of the Master Knitter's program.

23. Get new furniture for the family room.

23a. Do not kill Justin in the process of above.

24. Construct some sort of anti-squirrel contraption in the vegetable garden.

25. Take a long weekend vacation with Justin.

26. Learn Tunision crochet

27. Learn to embroider

28. Re-open my Etsy store