18 for 2018 – October update

Happy Monday!

I’m a bit late this month but here is my update for my yearly goals. And guess what? I’ve finally made my stitch marker!

18 letters sent to friends – 4/18
With the interstate move I would like to keep in contact with friends so I want to make the effort to send them handwritten letter throughout the year.

One more this month, I still need to print out pictures of baby Clark and send them to friends overseas.

17 new recipes tried – Completed in July
If you’ve been following me for a while you will know that I love cooking and baking so this should be pretty easy. Plus, the monthly bake-along will definitely help me with this one!

My MIL and I made a shepherd’s pie, and it was my first time trying her recipe, it was super yum!

16 painted units of miniatures – 5/16
My husband and I play a miniature game and one of the fun parts is to build and paint our own miniatures. I haven’t done much last year so I hope to catch up this year by painting more models.

I’ve had no time to paint this month, I prioritised crochet instead!

15 books read – 9/15
I’ve decided to tune down this goal from last year, as I don’t have a lot of time to read. But I feel like 15 would be a good number to reach this year.

One more book, I’ve finished ‘Your baby and child’ from Penelope Leach. It was a nice read and I’ll probably go back to it as Clark grows older.

14 mitered squares added to my memory blanket – 5/14
I have started a knitted memory blanket using my scraps of yarn from previous projects (mostly socks) and I’d like to see it grow this year.

None this month.

13 batches of baked goodsmade and eaten – Completed in August
Again, with the bake-along this should be quite easy to accomplish!

I’ve made banana bread and peanut butter cookies this month.

12 pairs of socks – 4/12
We have real winters in Melbourne, so hubby and I will definitely need new socks, I thought one per month was a manageable goal.

No new socks this month.

11 new stitch markers made – Completed in October
I have been playing with shrinking plastic lately and I’d like to make new stitch markers using some cute drawings.

You guys! I’ve made it!!! I used different finishes, some rings to fit on knitting needles and clasps for crochet.

10 new movies seen – Completed in May
We go to the movies almost every week, so I think this goal will be easy to reach, but it will give me a change to blog about movies I see a bit more.

We went to see Venom this month.

9 amigurumi made – 7/9
I obviously love amigurumi enough to design some! I want to precise that those 9 amigurumi will be from other designers, I might even participate in another ami-along.

I’ve made a cute little jellyfish for a friend’s baby.

8 months cross-stitched on the snowflower diaries calendar – 2/8
This did not get worked on at all last year, so I’d like to finish it this year.

No cross stitch this month again.

7 games of 40k played with hubby – Completed in September
The good thing with painting miniatures is that I will definitely want to play more (I’m hoping anyway) and this will definitely be a fun activity to do with my husband.

We’ve played some more model games with hubby and his best friend who visited us.

6 new designs published – 3/6 
As you know I already have two new designs that I need to write up and publish. I have also started on a knitted shawl design using the beautiful yarn I got in NZ. Very excited about this one!

I’m currently working on writing up Nate the Narwhal’s pattern and I’m also working on a design for the amigurumi.net yearly contest.

5 k steps walked every day – 7/31
I changed this goal. I am still trying to keep moving during my pregnancy to not transform into a couch potato! Hopefully this will help me keep healthy despite the weight gain.

Still not great last month but I’ve now recovered okay so I should do better in November.

4 LOTR squares finished – 2/4
Yes I know I’ve been making this for ages but 2018 is the year I get it finished!

Definitely been working on a square but I don’t have enough time it would seen to actually finish it!

3 jumpers knitted – 1/3
Similarly to the need for socks, I will need more jumpers this year! I already have the yarn and a pattern for my first jumper so I’m hoping this goes smoothly.

Almost finished the first sleeve on my second jumper, getting there. 

2 getaway trips – Completed in July
We are trying to save money for a house deposit this year, but I’d still like to get a couple weekends away with hubby. We already have one planned, we will be going to the Bendigo sheep and wool show in July

1 thesis submitted – Completed in June
I’m so keen to finish my PhD, so this is definitely my n°1 goal this year!

And that’s it! Have a great week!

18 for 2018 – September update

Hello everyone and welcome October!

I can’t believe there are only 3 months left to the year, and what a year it’s been so far! Here is my monthly update to my goals for this year. As you can imagine I didn’t get much done as I spent a while in hospital but I still ticked a few things off the list!

18 letters sent to friends – 3/18
With the interstate move I would like to keep in contact with friends so I want to make the effort to send them handwritten letter throughout the year.

I sent a birthday card to my best friend this month, I may have been a bit early but at least I’m sure she got it on time!

17 new recipes tried – Completed in July
If you’ve been following me for a while you will know that I love cooking and baking so this should be pretty easy. Plus, the monthly bake-along will definitely help me with this one!

Very strangely, I made burgers for the first time this month. I’m usually not a big fan of burgers but they are quite different when made from scratch and I really liked the ones I made. 

16 painted units of miniatures – 5/16
My husband and I play a miniature game and one of the fun parts is to build and paint our own miniatures. I haven’t done much last year so I hope to catch up this year by painting more models.

I finished one more model! yay! Very pleased with how this one turned out, and I got back into the swing of painting with another unit on the way.

15 books read – 9/15
I’ve decided to tune down this goal from last year, as I don’t have a lot of time to read. But I feel like 15 would be a good number to reach this year.

I finished the last book of the trilogy I mentioned, ‘Ellana, la prophétie’. It was great to re-read those books and I’m looking forward to when Clark is old enough to read them too. 

14 mitered squares added to my memory blanket – 5/14
I have started a knitted memory blanket using my scraps of yarn from previous projects (mostly socks) and I’d like to see it grow this year.

None this month, my knitting has been rather slow.

13 batches of baked goodsmade and eaten – Finished in August
Again, with the bake-along this should be quite easy to accomplish!

I haven’t really been keeping track of this goal, but I have at least made a batch of savoury cakes and a batch of mini quiches that I froze before I went to hospital.

12 pairs of socks – 4/12
We have real winters in Melbourne, so hubby and I will definitely need new socks, I thought one per month was a manageable goal.

None again this month, this goal isn’t looking too good (unless I decide to make 8 pairs for Clark, those should be pretty fast!)

11 new stitch markers made – 0/11
I have been playing with shrinking plastic lately and I’d like to make new stitch markers using some cute drawings.

Ahem… 

10 new movies seen – Completed in May
We go to the movies almost every week, so I think this goal will be easy to reach, but it will give me a change to blog about movies I see a bit more.

For the first time ever we haven’t been to the movies this month! But I have watched two movies I hadn’t seen before. I finally got around to watch Coco (twice!) and I loved loved it! And I also watched Wonder, which was so good too. 

9 amigurumi made – 6/9
I obviously love amigurumi enough to design some! I want to precise that those 9 amigurumi will be from other designers, I might even participate in another ami-along.

No new amigurumi this month.

8 months cross-stitched on the snowflower diaries calendar – 2/8
This did not get worked on at all last year, so I’d like to finish it this year.

I haven’t done any cross stitch in ages, so no progress here.

7 games of 40k played with hubby – Completed in September
The good thing with painting miniatures is that I will definitely want to play more (I’m hoping anyway) and this will definitely be a fun activity to do with my husband.

We have actually played heaps of games of miniatures this month. I got a new game for hubby early September and we’ve played at least 3 times each week, including when we were stuck at the hospital. So that’s another goal completed!

6 new designs published – 3/6 
As you know I already have two new designs that I need to write up and publish. I have also started on a knitted shawl design using the beautiful yarn I got in NZ. Very excited about this one!

One more off the list this month! I’ve published Cooper the Copepod‘s pattern

5 k steps walked every day – 5/30 
I changed this goal. I am still trying to keep moving during my pregnancy to not transform into a couch potato! Hopefully this will help me keep healthy despite the weight gain.

Not too great again this month but that should be changing as I recover! Plus, baby Clark loves going on walks in his stroller so hopefully that means I’ll be more active in October. 

4 LOTR squares finished – 2/4
Yes I know I’ve been making this for ages but 2018 is the year I get it finished!

Still working on the second to last square, hoping for a finish this month.

3 jumpers knitted – 1/3
Similarly to the need for socks, I will need more jumpers this year! I already have the yarn and a pattern for my first jumper so I’m hoping this goes smoothly.

I have now reached the sleeves on my summer jumper! I’ve tried the body and the fit is nice so I can’t wait to finish that one to wear it. 

2 getaway trips – Completed in July
We are trying to save money for a house deposit this year, but I’d still like to get a couple weekends away with hubby. We already have one planned, we will be going to the Bendigo sheep and wool show in July

1 thesis submitted – Completed in June
I’m so keen to finish my PhD, so this is definitely my n°1 goal this year!

That’s it for me this month, it’s been surprisingly productive considering how busy I’ve been. I hope you are all getting on well with your goals too!

18 for 2018 – April update

Hello readers!

That’s it, another month already! Again, it wasn’t very productive craft-wise as I was away for work again in Queensland. It was very productive for work though so that’s a great thing! Here we go!

18 letters sent to friends – 1/18
With the interstate move I would like to keep in contact with friends so I want to make the effort to send them handwritten letter throughout the year.

No new letter this month, but I’ll be sending a few next month for my baby shower invitations! How exciting!

17 new recipes tried – 11/17
If you’ve been following me for a while you will know that I love cooking and baking so this should be pretty easy. Plus, the monthly bake-along will definitely help me with this one!

Only one new recipe tried this month, and it was the delicious caramels from our bake-along (although mine were a bit hard as you may remember, caramels are hard work!)

16 painted units of miniatures – 3/16
My husband and I play a miniature game and one of the fun parts is to build and paint our own miniatures. I haven’t done much last year so I hope to catch up this year by painting more models.

I have been painting this month but I haven’t finished any unit of miniatures. So no new unit this month but I’ll probably have progress next month!

15 books read – 3/15
I’ve decided to tune down this goal from last year, as I don’t have a lot of time to read. But I feel like 15 would be a good number to reach this year.

I’ve read not one but two books this month! I guess being away from hubby makes me read more 😂 I’ve finished All the lights we cannot see by Anthony Doerr and it was an amazing book, I did cry very hard though at the end, it just such an emotional story and so beautifully written. The other book I read is Masters of death by Olivie Blake. I’ve been reading lots of fan-fictions from this author and I think she is amazing. This book was her first full story and it really didn’t disappoint. I fell in love with the characters straight away and the story was so well thought I couldn’t put it down!

14 mitered squares added to my memory blanket – 1/14
I have started a knitted memory blanket using my scraps of yarn from previous projects (mostly socks) and I’d like to see it grow this year.

None this month again sadly but I’ll be knitting some this month, promise!

13 batches of biscuits made and eaten – 3/13
Again, with the bake-along this should be quite easy to accomplish!

Sadly again, none this month because I was far away from home and I didn’t want to eat all the biscuits by myself! 

12 pairs of socks – 2/12
We have real winters in Melbourne, so hubby and I will definitely need new socks, I thought one per month was a manageable goal.

Zero here too but do gloves count? 😅

11 new stitch markers made – 0/11
I have been playing with shrinking plastic lately and I’d like to make new stitch markers using some cute drawings.

Again, it’s just a matter of making them but I didn’t get time. They will happen eventually!

10 new movies seen – 9/10
We go to the movies almost every week, so I think this goal will be easy to reach, but it will give me a change to blog about movies I see a bit more.

I’m almost done with this goal already, with two new movies seen this month. I’ve seen Ready player one, which I thought was fantastic! I loved all the nerdy references to pop culture and video games in it. The second movies I saw was Avengers: infinity war and it was awesome! That was one of the movies I was really looking forward to seeing this year and it was so cool. I won’t give any spoiler but I just can’t wait for the next Marvel movies in the next few years!

9 amigurumi made – 1/9
I obviously love amigurumi enough to design some! I want to precise that those 9 amigurumi will be from other designers, I might even participate in another ami-along.

I’ve made a couple of my own designs again but none from other designers. I’m still working on mini me and I hope to finish her this month.

8 months cross-stitched on the snowblower diaries calendar – 2/8
This did not get worked on at all last year, so I’d like to finish it this year.

I’ve finished June! That means I’m half way done with the calendar. I would really like to have this displayed in baby’s room when it’s done so I’ll try to get cracking on it!

7 games of 40k played with hubby – 2/7
The good thing with painting miniatures is that I will definitely want to play more (I’m hoping anyway) and this will definitely be a fun activity to do with my husband.

None played this month but we will probably have a few games this month.

6 new designs published – 2/6
As you know I already have two new designs that I need to write up and publish. I have also started on a knitted shawl design using the beautiful yarn I got in NZ. Very excited about this one!

I’ve published my updated design for Naiad the nudibranch, but I don’t really count it as it was already a published design. I’m putting together the pdf for my copepod at the moment so hopefully I’ll have another publish next month!

5 km ran without stopping – in progress
This doesn’t seem like much but currently I can’t run more than a few minutes without having to slow down to a walk, so I’d like to be able to actually run without dying for 5 km!

I’m kind of giving up for this goal as I’ve not been able to run in the last month. I get really out of breath so I think that instead of running 5 km I’m going to try to walk 5 km at least 5 days out of 7 in the week to still keep active. I’m also trying to keep my pace around 10-12 min/km. I’ll let you know how I do next month! 

4 LOTR squares finished – 1/4
Yes I know I’ve been making this for ages but 2018 is the year I get it finished!

None this month, I don’t actually think I’ll get started on a new square for a little while, as I already have wayyyy too many projects!

3 jumpers knitted – 0.2/3
Similarly to the need for socks, I will need more jumpers this year! I already have the yarn and a pattern for my first jumper so I’m hoping this goes smoothly.

I cast on! I’ve bought Arwen, a beautiful jumper design from Isabell Kraemer and I’ve made a start on Monday. It’s knitting up really fast so I’m hoping it will be done in no time. Very excited to add another jumper to my wardrobe!

2 getaway trips – 1/2
We are trying to save money for a house deposit this year, but I’d still like to get a couple weekends away with hubby. We already have one planned, we will be going to the Bendigo sheep and wool show in July

Next trip has been booked for July to go to Bendigo! I’m still so excited about it!

1 thesis submitted – 0/1
I’m so keen to finish my PhD, so this is definitely my n°1 goal this year!

Another paper submitted this month for my thesis so it’s really shaping up now! Supervisors are happy which is always a good feeling. Submission date is still set to 1st of July so not far now!

That’s it for me! I hope your month has been productive 😘

 

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18 for 2018 – February update

Happy Friday readers!

February is up, and it was not a very productive month for me craft wise, but on the bright side I actually got heaps of stuff done for work. So not much progress this month but hopefully I’ll be back on track in March 🙂

18 letters sent to friends – 0/18
With the interstate move I would like to keep in contact with friends so I want to make the effort to send them handwritten letter throughout the year.

Still none this month, but I did receive a very nice card from some of my family in France that I will answer. 

17 new recipes tried – 8/17
If you’ve been following me for a while you will know that I love cooking and baking so this should be pretty easy. Plus, the monthly bake-along will definitely help me with this one!

Three new recipes tried this month, some shiitake noodles (for which I completely forgot to take a picture), chocolate mousse choux and strawberry jam.

16 painted units of miniatures – 0/16
My husband and I play a miniature game and one of the fun parts is to build and paint our own miniatures. I haven’t done much last year so I hope to catch up this year by painting more models.

Still none, as I didn’t take those up to Brisbane with me. But on the bright side I’m going to the hobby shop tomorrow with hubby to get some painting done! 

15 books read – 1/15
I’ve decided to tune down this goal from last year, as I don’t have a lot of time to read. But I feel like 15 would be a good number to reach this year.

I’ve read “Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine” by Gail Honeyman. I’ve really loved it, the story is told from the point of view of Eleonor and she is just the most interesting character. I am also currently reading “All the lights we cannot see” by Anthony Doerr and I’m really liking it so far. It’s taking place between France and Germany during WWII and I really enjoy how the book is written with switches between places and times. 

14 mitered squares added to my memory blanket – 1/14
I have started a knitted memory blanket using my scraps of yarn from previous projects (mostly socks) and I’d like to see it grow this year.

I’ve done one new square so far, yay! That brings the total of squares on this to 7 in total, so I definitely need a lot more if I want to finish it, but it’s a slow project that will probably take me years so that’s okay!

13 batches of biscuits made and eaten – 3/13
Again, with the bake-along this should be quite easy to accomplish!

Adding the choux here brings my total to 3 for the year. I’m sure I’ll make some more this month for hubby as he loves his biscuits! 

12 pairs of socks – 2/12
We have real winters in Melbourne, so hubby and I will definitely need new socks, I thought one per month was a manageable goal.

With hubby’s socks finished, I’m keeping to my goal of 1 pair a month! 

11 new stitch markers made – 0/11
I have been playing with shrinking plastic lately and I’d like to make new stitch markers using some cute drawings.

None this month but I have been drawing some plankton which I might use for this.

10 new movies seen – 4/10
We go to the movies almost every week, so I think this goal will be easy to reach, but it will give me a change to blog about movies I see a bit more.

Only one more movie seen this month (I had to wait for hubby to watch movies when I was away) and that was Black Panther. I quite enjoyed it, I thought that the story was simple but well done and the special effects were spectacular! 

9 amigurumi made – 1/9
I obviously love amigurumi enough to design some! I want to precise that those 9 amigurumi will be from other designers, I might even participate in another ami-along.

No new one made this month but I did start to make a mini me from Kerry Lord’s “Edward’s crochet doll emporium”. I’m loving it! 

8 months cross-stitched on the snowblower diaries calendar – 1/8
This did not get worked on at all last year, so I’d like to finish it this year.

None this month, I didn’t bring any cross stitch on my trip up to Brisbane.

7 games of 40k played with hubby – 1/7
The good thing with painting miniatures is that I will definitely want to play more (I’m hoping anyway) and this will definitely be a fun activity to do with my husband.

No game this month either, maybe we will have one this weekend though.

6 new designs published – 2/6
As you know I already have two new designs that I need to write up and publish. I have also started on a knitted shawl design using the beautiful yarn I got in NZ. Very excited about this one!

I’ve been working on my shawl design as well as a new amigurumi design, which you may have seen if you’ve been over on Instagram. 

5 km ran without stopping – in progress
This doesn’t seem like much but currently I can’t run more than a few minutes without having to slow down to a walk, so I’d like to be able to actually run without dying for 5 km!

I didn’t run much in Brisbane as it was so so hot but I’ve been back at it towards the end of the month and I think I’m going good still with this goal. 

4 LOTR squares finished – 1/4
Yes I know I’ve been making this for ages but 2018 is the year I get it finished!

No new square this month but I need to start the next one so that I don’t lose momentum.

3 jumpers knitted – 0/3
Similarly to the need for socks, I will need more jumpers this year! I already have the yarn and a pattern for my first jumper so I’m hoping this goes smoothly.

I bought yarn for a second jumper, does that count? (trying to find excuses to add to my stash here!) 

2 getaway trips – 0/2
We are trying to save money for a house deposit this year, but I’d still like to get a couple weekends away with hubby. We already have one planned, we will be going to the Bendigo sheep and wool show in July

First trip planned at the end of March, I’m excited for some holidays with hubby, it will be nice.

1 thesis submitted – 0/1
I’m so keen to finish my PhD, so this is definitely my n°1 goal this year!

Not submitted yet, but I have now done my thesis review so I am ready to submit as soon as I have finished writing my thesis! Super excited about that, now I ‘just have’ to finish writing 🙂 

That’s it for me, I hope you have been doing better than me this month, and if not I think we all deserve a break 🙂

18 for 2018 – February update

Happy Friday and welcome to February!

I can’t believe that January is already over, the first month of the year has just gone by so fast! This is my update for my 18 for 2018, and I’m quite excited with what I’ve accomplished this month!

18 letters sent to friends – 0/18
With the interstate move I would like to keep in contact with friends so I want to make the effort to send them handwritten letter throughout the year.

None this month, but this is because I’m actually visiting back next month. I think I might next month though, as I got my best friend into knitting and would like to send her some new knitting needles 🙂 

17 new recipes tried – 5/17
If you’ve been following me for a while you will know that I love cooking and baking so this should be pretty easy. Plus, the monthly bake-along will definitely help me with this one!

I’ve tried a few new recipes this month. The first one was the ginger snap recipe from the fantastic bake-along. I have also tried to make crackers, and they were so amazing I’ve made several batches already! I got the recipe here. I’ve also made a few recipes from one of Jamie Oliver’s cooking book I got for Christmas.

Gingersnaps

Crackers

Tapenade white fish

Puff pastry chicken

Peach pork

16 painted units of miniatures – 0/16
My husband and I play a miniature game and one of the fun parts is to build and paint our own miniatures. I haven’t done much last year so I hope to catch up this year by painting more models.

I have been working on two units but I haven’t finished any yet. Hopefully in February. 

15 books read – 0/15
I’ve decided to tune down this goal from last year, as I don’t have a lot of time to read. But I feel like 15 would be a good number to reach this year.

This month just has been so busy I didn’t get time to read books, lots of papers for my thesis, but unfortunately that doesn’t count! 

14 mitered squares added to my memory blanket – 0/14
I have started a knitted memory blanket using my scraps of yarn from previous projects (mostly socks) and I’d like to see it grow this year.

I haven’t added any square this month, but I have a few projects using 4ply yarn, so I will be able to add more soon hopefully!

13 batches of biscuits made and eaten – 2/13
Again, with the bake-along this should be quite easy to accomplish!

I have done two this month, one was the gingersnaps and I made montecaos again, as they are my husband’s absolute favourite!

Gingersnaps

12 pairs of socks – 1/12
We have real winters in Melbourne, so hubby and I will definitely need new socks, I thought one per month was a manageable goal.

I have finished my Candy Corn socks and I have made a start on a pair for hubby, so I’m doing pretty well with this goal.

11 new stitch markers made – 0/11
I have been playing with shrinking plastic lately and I’d like to make new stitch markers using some cute drawings.

I haven’t really thought about this goal yet, but I am thinking I’d like to use some scientific drawings or nerdy themes. 

10 new movies seen – 3/10
We go to the movies almost every week, so I think this goal will be easy to reach, but it will give me a change to blog about movies I see a bit more.

I feel like there weren’t that many good movies coming out in January but I still managed three, Pitch Perfect, The Greatest Showman and the last Maze Runner. My favourite was the Greatest Showman, it really had a great story and I loved the songs ❤ 

9 amigurumi made – 1/9
I obviously love amigurumi enough to design some! I want to precise that those 9 amigurumi will be from other designers, I might even participate in another ami-along.

I have finished an awesome whale amigurumi that I talked about on Wednesday. I’m in love with it and can’t wait to give it to my friend!

8 months cross-stitched on the Snowflower diaries Joyful world calendar – 1/8
This did not get worked on at all last year, so I’d like to finish it this year.

I’ve actually finished the May instalment of the Joyful world. Very excited to have started on this again, it’s just so cute!

7 games of 40k played with hubby 1/7
The good thing with painting miniatures is that I will definitely want to play more (I’m hoping anyway) and this will definitely be a fun activity to do with my husband.

We’ve had one game so far, and I’ve smashed hubby mwahaha! I forgot to take a picture of the massacre though but I will next time for sure!

6 new designs published – 2/6
As you know I already have two new designs that I need to write up and publish. I have also started on a knitted shawl design using the beautiful yarn I got in NZ. Very excited about this one!

I’m stoked with this goal, I can’t believe I managed to publish both Wiley and Sandy‘s patterns this month, yay! 

5 km ran without stopping – in progress
This doesn’t seem like much but currently I can’t run more than a few minutes without having to slow down to a walk, so I’d like to be able to actually run without dying for 5 km!

I’ve been actively training for this, I’ve gone for several 30 min runs, with intervals to increase my cardio and I’m feeling really good about it. I haven’t done much last week though as it’s been consistently above 35°C during the day and well above 25°C at night. Hopefully it cools down in the next few weeks and I can train some more.

4 LOTR squares finished – 1/4
Yes I know I’ve been making this for ages but 2018 is the year I get it finished!

I’ve gotten back into this as well, yay! I’ve finished Gimli and I think he is pretty awesome 🙂 

3 jumpers knitted – 0/3
Similarly to the need for socks, I will need more jumpers this year! I already have the yarn and a pattern for my first jumper so I’m hoping this goes smoothly.

I haven’t cast this on yet but I do have the yarn ready so maybe I’ll cast on in February 🙂 although I have a lot of WIPs as usual!

2 getaway trips – 0/2
We are trying to save money for a house deposit this year, but I’d still like to get a couple weekends away with hubby. We already have one planned, we will be going to the Bendigo sheep and wool show in July.

We have planned to go back to Brisbane for a wedding in March, does that count as a getaway? If yes that will be the first one of the year 🙂 

1 thesis submitted – 0/1
I’m so keen to finish my PhD, so this is definitely my n°1 goal this year!

I have my thesis review next week, so this is definitely getting closer, wish me luck!

I hope you have all been getting on great with your goals too

Happy New Year! 18 for 2018

Happy New Year everyone!

I wish you all good health, happiness and lots of creativity for this new year and I hope that all your dreams to come true for 2018.

You may know that last year was all about change for me, with moving houses, a new job for hubby and working on my PhD from home. This year, I want it to be about growth. My hope for 2018 is to grow professionally, hopefully finding a post-doc, but also personally. I would like to grow my crochet and knitting skills and also to grow as a designer. I’ve been really encouraged by your kind words and I’m very excited for what’s to come.

Last year, I kept on seeing the 17 for 2017 goals and this year I’ve decided to join with 18 for 2018. I will keep you updated every month with how my goals are going and hopefully I make it through most of them during the year.

18 letters sent to friends
With the interstate move I would like to keep in contact with friends so I want to make the effort to send them handwritten letter throughout the year.

17 new recipes tried
If you’ve been following me for a while you will know that I love cooking and baking so this should be pretty easy. Plus, the monthly bake-along will definitely help me with this one!

16 painted units of miniatures
My husband and I play a miniature game and one of the fun parts is to build and paint our own miniatures. I haven’t done much last year so I hope to catch up this year by painting more models.

15 books read
I’ve decided to tune down this goal from last year, as I don’t have a lot of time to read. But I feel like 15 would be a good number to reach this year.

14 mitered squares added to my memory blanket
I have started a knitted memory blanket using my scraps of yarn from previous projects (mostly socks) and I’d like to see it grow this year.

13 batches of biscuits made and eaten
Again, with the bake-along this should be quite easy to accomplish!

12 pairs of socks
We have real winters in Melbourne, so hubby and I will definitely need new socks, I thought one per month was a manageable goal.

11 new stitch markers made
I have been playing with shrinking plastic lately and I’d like to make new stitch markers using some cute drawings.

10 new movies seen
We go to the movies almost every week, so I think this goal will be easy to reach, but it will give me a change to blog about movies I see a bit more.

9 amigurumi made
I obviously love amigurumi enough to design some! I want to precise that those 9 amigurumi will be from other designers, I might even participate in another ami-along.

8 months cross-stitched on the snowblower diaries calendar
This did not get worked on at all last year, so I’d like to finish it this year.

7 games of 40k played with hubby
The good thing with painting miniatures is that I will definitely want to play more (I’m hoping anyway) and this will definitely be a fun activity to do with my husband.

6 new designs published
As you know I already have two new designs that I need to write up and publish. I have also started on a knitted shawl design using the beautiful yarn I got in NZ. Very excited about this one!

5 km ran without stopping
This doesn’t seem like much but currently I can’t run more than a few minutes without having to slow down to a walk, so I’d like to be able to actually run without dying for 5 km!

4 LOTR squares finished
Yes I know I’ve been making this for ages but 2018 is the year I get it finished!

3 jumpers knitted
Similarly to the need for socks, I will need more jumpers this year! I already have the yarn and a pattern for my first jumper so I’m hoping this goes smoothly.

2 getaway trips
We are trying to save money for a house deposit this year, but I’d still like to get a couple weekends away with hubby. We already have one planned, we will be going to the Bendigo sheep and wool show in July

1 thesis submitted
I’m so keen to finish my PhD, so this is definitely my n°1 goal this year!

That’s it for me, I hope that you have your goals sorted if that’s your thing and again I wish you all an amazing year!