One Month In

Today is the last day of the first month of the new year and it's time to check on what I've done so far this year.
On the knitting front, I have completed a total of four bears for The Mother Bear Project.

I've added almost a full round to my 10 stitch afghan (that top left hand corner is where I started the year),

added about half a dozen puffs to my collection for the Beekeeper's Quilt, (I looked back and only had a dozen in September.)

and I'm working on the first sleeve of my Hey Teach.

That's not bad progress so far.
In the gardening part of my life I'm also making some progress. We added two beds to our garden area this month.

The strawberries are starting to bloom.

I have a blossom on one of my peach trees. (I tried to tell it that it's still too early, but it didn't listen.)

The huckleberry is getting it's new leaves too.

Everything else is starting to show buds, but hasn't done more than pop out a couple of leaves. There are quite a few patches of a little white flower that I am trying to figure out. I have no clue what it is.

I also got a picture of a tiny bit of the creek that runs through part of our property. The creek gets high with the rain, but almost disappears when it gets dry around here.

We've been feeding the birds and the deer (and rabbits, squirrels and other assorted wildlife that hits the deer corn.)
I'm also preparing for my daughter's wedding. I finally found what I'll wear and if I could magically lose 20 to 30 pounds before the wedding I would be jumping up and down. I put on weight while nursing my husband last year and I'm just beginning the process of taking it back off. It will be a slow process and I don't think that it will be complete by April.
Not much more going on around here at the moment. I've spent some quality "baby time" in the past few weeks and enjoyed it. I'm also enjoying being able to give them back.

A Look in Both Directions (Behind and Ahead)

I just counted the number of completed projects on my Ravelry page and there were 32 listed projects. I know for sure that I completed 43 because one of those projects is actually a group of projects. I'm pretty happy with that since I am pretty sure that there were some things completed that never got the love of a Rav project page.
This year, so far, I have completed two bears for the Mother Bear Project. That is already one thing completed on my Mission Possible 2012 list.
The list is
1. Ten Stitch Afghan
2. Two woven scarves for granddaughters
3. Something with handspun
Those are the carryovers from last year and then:
4. Hey Teach sweater (started already)
5. February Lady sweater
6. Twelve hats for MT25
7. Dot the Dress UP Box Monster
8. Gabby the Garden Monster
9. Mother Bear Project Bear


10. Hermione's Everyday Socks
11. Spin 4 oz braid
12. Beekeeper's Quilt
13.Dishcloth
14. Hat
15. To Be Decided
I know that there are fifteen things on the list, but since three of them are carryovers I decided to add three to the list so that I would have twelve new projects to aim for too.

Just before Christmas I became a great-grandmother and just after New year's I became a great-aunt. That means we have two new people for me to knit for. That will be fun. I picked up the yarn to do at least two sweaters that are not on the list above. I only have thirteen of the fourteen items to go so surely I can fit two more little sweaters in there. (Why yes, there is a small chance that I am delusional about the amount of knitting I can accomplish. Why do you ask?)

We are planning to expand our garden this year and have started that process by planting two apple trees, two peach trees, and two pecan trees. I'm considering an asparagus bed, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort since there are only two of us in my family that will eat it. Of course, I could make that a reason to have a smaller bed of asparagus. I'll have to think about it.

I have already begun Hey Teach and it's about halfway complete. My gauge was different and my yarn was different and I'm making a size that is two sizes too big according to the pattern, but should work with my gauge. It looks right and the size is still what I was expecting so that's good news so far. I already have the yarn for the February Lady Sweater and am trying to patiently finish something already on the needles before beginning something new. I have spinning on the go, two hats on the needles, the Hey Teach, and a hat on the machine. I've been deciding on yarn for my next woven project and bought beads to do Demeter's Shawlette with my handspun.

I hope to post more frequently this year. I guess we will see how many of my goals for the year I manage in my life.