Since my last post many days ago, I graduated from university with a B.Sc, started nursing school (yet another B.Sc) and I’m actually nearly halfway through my program! I hadn’t done a lot of crafts in the meanwhile until about a couple months ago when I finally picked up my knitting needles again. I will be sharing those projects that I’ve been working on (and completed) since October of this year and I hope to be more active on this blog as well as publishing more patterns in the near future. I will also be sharing things that I’ve made for Christmas presents this year – so if I know you offline, chances are that you may end up spoiling a surprise for yourself.

I plan on doing Works in Progress posts on Wednesdays, Finished Objects posts on Fridays and little things in between.

• Try to use materials from my stashes (beads, yarn or fabric) – A.K.A. spend as little as humanly possible on craft supplies for the year – Exceptions to this would be ‘necessary’ things like: wire (for making jump rings, eye pins, head pins, etc.), felt (for accents for amigurumis) and spools of thread (for the sewing machine, of course).
• If I have to spend money on craft supplies, I’ve decided on a $2 allowance per month (so a maximum of $24, including tax, for the year). I’ll be keeping track of this on the blog (guess that means no more buying wonderful handmade lampwork beads… I have a lot already, that haven’t been used yet!)
• To crochet and/or knit a minimum of 12 preemie hats for a local hospital as a donation (I was originally thinking of 52, one for each week, but I figured that would soon become more of a ‘chore’ than something I’d like to do – one per month should be a good amount) – I also want to learn “new” things for each hat (new stitches, new patterns, etc.)
• Utilize the wonderful crochet stitch dictionary that I receieved for my birthday! It’s The Complete Book of Crochet Stitch Designs: 500 Classic and Original Patterns by Linda Schapper and I haven’t gotten a chance to use it as much as I would have liked (used it as a reference so far and used one of the mesh patterns for my mom’s Christmas scarf). I love this book. It’s in need of a review for this site though!
• Do reviews! I’m planning to do at least 2 reviews per month – probably not in April or December, due to exams, but I figured I could ‘catch up’ or do some in advanced in the other months. This is where I plan on using (and slightly abusing) my local public library, as well as some of the books that my sister and I already own as well as maybe buying some magazines (I’m currently on the hunt for a new/recent copy of Crochet Today! – I’ve tried 3 different bookstores and haven’t had any luck yet)
• Get better at taking photographs. I own a point-and-shoot Sony Cybershot (DSC-W150) and have for almost a year (since January 2009). And on that note…
• Make a light box! I’ve been meaning to since forever. I even have some saved boxes just for the purpose of making a light box, I just haven’t gotten around to making it yet.
• And, lastly, but definitely not least, to be more organized with all of my craft supplies (I’m going to be cleaning out a few drawers so not all of my beading supplies are, ahem, everywhere – as well as getting a few bins to put my jointly-owned yarn stash somewhere besides in zipped plastic bags in a giant clear plastic garbage bag).