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JANUARY
At the beginning of the year, Kali and I spent hours chillin' on the couch as I got back in the loop with the Bollywood Blanket.
FEBRUARY
Hooray! The Bollywood Blanket was finally finished! Its debut continues to be one of the most visited pages at Stix on the Beach. Visitors arrive here from a variety of sites praising it! Thank you! Not nearly a day passes when someone doesn't spend a good deal of time at the post, clicking on the various links to help 'em make their own variation of the Bollywood Blanket!
MARCH
Kali and I got straight to the point by wrapping our heads around cross-stitch! It may seem like I flew the coop after winging it, but I'm still crazy about wanting to learn cross-stitch and embroidery! Even now as I look through all the photos of the graphs and ideas for projects, I'm slapping myself upside the head for dropping the craft so early in the year and not returning to it until some point in 2013!
Another March project I appeared to fall asleep on is the Bed of Shells afghan, (once known as the "Blackberry Sundae Blanket"). This is another page that receives a lot of hits, thanks in huge part to the gorgeous belt Bear Loves Dove created from the snippet of the pattern shared in the post! I do want to get back to this blanket, but not until I have a new design idea in mind. I absolutely love hookin' up this stitch, especially in that color, and I hope to create something prettier with it than what I had in my head last year. So for now, the blackberry blanket is on the back burner.
In Spring I sprung into action by starting two of my most unique yarn creations yet! By thinking outside the box, I came up with the cool idea to crochet a granny square afghan based on Kevin Akers' All Wrapped Up! Groovy Gift Wrap of the 1960s book. Kevin was so kind to take the time to let me know that he loved this idea too! You'll be seeing a lot more of this blanket since I'm working on it being the first finished object in 2013!
April also saw the appearance of the new blog feature Crafting With The Classics and its premiere project, The Spirit of St. Louis blanket — based on Meet Me in St. Louis! I'm still super excited about bringing this blanket to life, even though I've put it on hold as it keeps evolving in my head — more on that a few months down. I do have another Crafting With The Classics project idea spinning in my head that I really want to follow through on this year!
MAY
I had a window of opportunity in between granny squares to learn about intarsia and intergalactic insects. Fair isle and intarsia are two skills I hope to improve upon in 2013! In fact, fair isle may indeed be my thing this year (like how Vicodin is my thing every year). And don't go off thinking I've forgotten about Frankii! I plan on finishing her — and maybe adding to the royal Ranatra family — before the year is up!
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OCTOBER
I hate summer. And I didn't want to do a damn thing until is was over and done with! Which is really friggin' hard to do here in sunny Southern California. The summer months fried my brain. Miraculously I managed to get out of the slump I was in with the Spirit of St. Louis blanket. I started focusing in on a design element that made me excited about the project again! And now that I have that element in mind, more ideas keep falling into place!
NOVEMBER
November weather was just the kick in the nutsack that I needed....wait. Let's start over. The weather in November was just what I needed to feel refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to begin crocheting 'round and 'round again. Quite a few seeds were planted in my head for new projects to pursue as well. I was even motivated to pick up my circular needles — and my love for knitting was rekindled!
DECEMBER
By the end of the year I had come out of the daze that had me worried my taste in crafts had gone stale. Thanks to my mom and daughter, I now have the books needed for the projects I have lined up. At this rate, I may never put the needles or hook down.
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Happy New Year! Let's make it a beautiful one!
*Checked out at the moment. Check back soon.*
I've had the worst luck with my knitting lately. I get bored with everything so easily and then I have no desire to work on it--unless I'm at the office, and then all I want to do is knit. But then I get home, and no knitting. Your post made me seriously jealous. I really need to pick up the needles and finish something. I know I'll feel better if I do!
Posted by: Molly | 01/11/2013 at 08:59 AM
Your year was full of fun crafting! I love the bright colors you choose in the majority of your projects. I swear, If I tried, it wouldn't turn out as beautifully as your combinations.
Posted by: Michelle | 01/14/2013 at 08:18 AM
What a nice recap of your year. Fun to go back through and recall all that you accomplished. And like everyone else, love your color choices!!
Posted by: Christine | 01/15/2013 at 03:34 PM
Hi Molly ~ I went through that phase a while back with my knitting too. The best thing I did was back away from it and learned another craft. Now that I'm knitting again, I understand why I loved it so much. :)
Hi Michelle ~ Thank you so much for the kind comment! I'm looking forward to spending more time on your lovely blog!
Hi Christine ~ So glad you thought it was fun! I saw so many other bloggers doing this, and as much as I loved their posts, I wasn't sure it was 'my thang.' But I had SO MUCH fun with it! It's definitely made me motivated to be more crafty in 2013! And I'm really trying to focus in on what colors work together, so let's hope it's a bright year! :)
Posted by: BellaKarma | 01/19/2013 at 05:44 PM