Welcome 2016!!  How was your 2015?  Mine was quite a journey…great peaks along with a few ravines and valleys.  Lots of growth and learning mixed in along the way!  But it ended on a very high note and 2016 promises to really rock!  So let’s see what were my goals last year and did I meet them?  My word for last year was Renew as I wanted to renew my passion and zest for life and work.  I wanted to delve back into my creative self.  I accomplished those goals and some.  It was indeed a year of renewal; although the work renewal came very late in the year!  But come it did!!!  This year I want to apply more discipline to my life and I want to see my creative flame burning even brighter!  I feel the older I get the more open I am to learning and growing.  I want to embrace more knowledge and grow in both my professional and personal life.  My professional life is completely rocking!  This seems to be my year to shine as challenges, kudos, recognition, and so many many wonderful things are being thrown at me!!!  Funny how the universe just seems to know what we need and knows the timing as well!!  On the creative side I really expanded and challenged myself with my hobbies.  Professionally I embraced my knowledge and once again began sharing it through trainings and mentoring.  It’s just nice to start a new year on a high note!  My 2016 word has not yet fully materialized but it will…always does.  

We finally had a few days break in the rain and the hubby and I headed to the seaside with the dogs.  I just love how the winter ocean is so wild and beautiful.  So totally different than the summer ocean!!  I really believe I like it best in spite of how frosty cold it is!!

Sweet baby Misha just celebrated her first birthday with us.  She came to use late December last year from Northwest Boxer Rescue.  After I lost Cinny so close to losing Holly I didn’t think I would ever stop hurting.  Misha has helped to heal my heart.  She is so crazy and silly!!  Charlee has been such a wonderful addition to our home too.  Bruno and Misha accepted her immediately.  She is so sweet and gentle!  I do love my fur babies!!! 

It felt so wonderful to get away.  Hubby and I have so little time together as we work opposite shifts and his choice for days off  are pretty shitty.  Luckily I can adjust my schedule so we have at least one day together!! 

Back home and hubby requested a red and black hat.  I love Quince & Co so grabbed this:

To make this:

I’m amazed at how easy this knits up!  I rarely make two of the same thing but this was so easy the first time around I didn’t mind a second one at all.  I used larger needles and left off the second boarder design.  

Got some more completed on my Swedish Spring shawl.  I love the little design created by a variation of knitting three together.  And I love knitting with Mad Tosh.  This is mad tosh lite in black current and totally awesome!!!

I have to get this cast on ASAP!  

Baa ble hat.  I’m doing a KAL with Stash my LYS in Corvallis http://stashlocal.com  Stash had some awesome kits but I had some Cascade 220 I wanted to use and some Juniper Moon Farm Herriot left over from a project.  I’m thinking this will be a super easy project and I may end up making a few before the KAL ends.  I have really wanted to knit this hat since I first saw it at my LYS Tangled Purls  tangledpurls.com about a year ago.  When I heard Stash was hosting a KAL I was all over it!!!

I am blessed to be surrounded by numerous yarn shops in the Portland metro area along with amazing local indie dyers!!  So I am so excited about the Rose City Yarn Crawl in March.  I can check out the shops I’ve yet to see!  And there is a mystery KAL starting end of January designed just for the crawl.  I’m planning on getting my yarn from Shannon a local amazing dyer  https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheYarnAtHomeMom  Check out her sock club….awesome!  And btw don’t we all just love Etsy?!!  

Oh and let me tell you those Hiya Hiya Sharps my hubby got me for Christmas are just the best!!  I have knit picks wooden interchangeables and still love those but the Hiya Hiyas are the best.  I knit so much faster as they are so light and smooth.  And the cables are more flexible and much easier to use doing using magic loop.  I love them!!

And now I must go cast on my Baa ble and finish up the house…you see I tore it apart today as I wanted a new arrangement and I’ve now currently got this and that and all asunder.  Must go sort it out!

Happy New Year to all!

Patricia