Wahoo! No More 2008!

Not that 2008 was a particularly bad year, it was just...hectic. But looking back on it, what year isn't hectic? Here are the major things I accomplished this year:

1) Completed a grueling internship in Hollywood
2) Wrote my thesis and finished grad school
3) Moved to San Diego
4) Survived six months (and counting) of no work, but several hours a day of trying to find work and all that entails
5) Survived a visit by the in-laws

Hmmm...most of that stuff happened in the first half of the year. And it's not all that exciting. But I was sure busy for most of it! This is off-topic, but I used to work for a graduate program in psychology, and one day just for fun I took some kind of stress test in which you get a certain amount of points for having gone through certain life events in the past 12 months. Major events like getting married, moving to a new city, switching jobs, the death of a loved one, etc. were given the most points. I forget all the details, but there were "healthy" levels of stress and you were supposed to try to stay within the point count for those levels. Anything above those levels was considered extreme and a person who had these elevated stress levels was supposed to do whatever they could to reduce the stress. I scored hundreds of points above the healthy level, and going back year by year, it was clear that I had scored well above healthy for as far back as I could remember.

At the time, I was quite proud of myself for handling stress so well. Now that I look back on it several years later, having had what would be considered "extremely" stressful years in the interim as well, I have come to the decision that that's just normal life, and that my life is no more or less stressful than anyone else's.

Just take care of yourselves is all. :)

I also knitted a lot more than I ever have before, completing 54 projects in all (not counting one adult sweater that is almost done). This includes 8 scarves, 6 pairs of mittens/gloves, 12 hats, 8 accessory/misc. projects, 2 full-size lace stoles, 3 baby sweaters, and 7 adult sweaters. My knitting goals for 2008 were simple: make a sweater that actually fits (done, done, done, done, and done), and do some colorwork (also done, done, done, and done).

In 2009, I would like to:

1) Complete an adult-size colorwork sweater (which would actually be done by now, except that I am still waiting on the yarn I ordered back in August).
2) Knit more lace...I love knitting lace and I don't really know why I don't do it more often.
3) Use up all the yarn I have in my stash at present. I don't think this will be too hard since my stash is manageable by comparison, and I still don't have a job. (No extra cash makes spending money a bit of a problem, therefore I must knit with what I have.)
4) Knit one thing from each of the pattern books that I had to have, but which have since languished on my shelves. This may be a bit difficult.
5) Try my hand at designing a garment for myself.

These aren't hard and fast goals that I will be checking back in on throughout the year, but I am a very goal-oriented person, and I like to set challenges for myself. It's also nice to see that there are still plenty of things to accomplish and learn.

Happy New Year to everyone! Sorry for the lack of pictures in this post, but...I got a new camera for Christmas! Yay! I'm still trying to figure out how to work the new software and all that jazz, but I am planning on my next post, all about my new knitting-related acquisitions. Stay tuned!