Yes, yes, I know. 2012 was one HELL of a year for me – so incredibly full that something had to give way & unfortunately, it was my blog. I’m hoping to change that in 2013 – we shall see!  Things have calmed down a bit over time, I just need to get back into the writing habit.  :)

Some brief 2012 highlights – fell in love, got a new job, held my BFF’s hand as she gave birth to the most beautiful little girl, saw my youngest become an adult (& vote for the very first time in his life), got the key to the TARDIS (*grin*), rang in the New Year with my loved ones in the backyard with a firepit, s’mores & homemade hot cocoa.  ;)

Running

Yeah, I’ve totally flubbed on my running. I admit it. I had every intention of making all of the halfathons in the challenge this time round – instead, I’ve missed every single one. There is one left in March, but I’m thinking I probably won’t make that one either.  LOL

Reading

Ah, reading! I did not give up reading in 2012 – a woman can only sacrifice just so many things before losing her mind!!  ;)  I had set myself for a reading challenge in 2012, to return to my first love (reading, in case you didn’t catch that), and I succeeded!  Goodreads laughed at me – I’d set my challenge for 100 books in 2012 & I totally surpassed that. For 2013, I’ve set the bar higher to 150.

• Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
  I listened to the audiobook for this one – I did get a bit annoyed at some of the mispronunciations (Ripon, WI and “short lived” stick out in my mind), but whether you listen to the book or read it – GET THIS BOOK. It is utterly fascinating, very well researched and a completely captivating read. I cannot recommend it enough.

Knitting

Whew! I’ve also not given up my knitting – are you crazy??  LOL  I cannot begin to list everything I knit in the past year, of course, so I’m just going to skip that part.  I have, however, felt inspired by a new pattern that I totally intend to knit this year.

It is a simple pattern offered up for free by Bernat, but what a really cool (pun totally intended) idea…  it is the Temperature Scarf CAL and KAL.

In a nutshell – you knit 2 rows for each day of the year in seed stitch. The color that you knit the rows with depends on the temperature for that day. Of course, you aren’t limited to the temp – you could use the dew point, the wind chill, the humidity level …  I even saw someone comment that she might use the number of hours of daylight each day (Alaskan resident).  Now, I live in an area of the country where, sadly, the entire months of July and August would essentially be one mass of red, so I’ll probably go with my hometown in Wisconsin instead for better variety.  LOL

To aid myself in sorting out the colors, and because I’m such a great big uber-geek, I created an Excel spreadsheet to make it a piece of cake to get the color codes determined.  Then I thought that it might be handy for any other knitters that love this idea, so I slapped it up on Google docs. So here you are – go download my geeky spreadsheet & have fun knitting!!  ;)

Today’s Ravelry Search

Wow, it’s been such a long time since I’ve done this! I have really missed this particular exercise for my blog, even though it takes me some time to get the post done.  It’s my favorite part, truth be told.

So yeah, it’s that time of year, so for this one, I’m sticking to a classic.  LOL

Voodoo you love me? I do!! I really do. :D

This pattern is on sale until Valentine’s Day – only $2.25! ♥

* What a super cute idea! :)

* I seem to keep finding this designer’s patterns – I really enjoy them! They aren’t in English, but usually the photos & videos make it easy to deduce.

* Simple. Sweet. For those times when you just don’t want to give an anatomically correct version. ♥ ;)

* You see? Same designer! Seriously though, owls that form a heart!? How on Earth could I resist THAT?? ;)

Aw, I love these!

* Ok, I would have loved this one just for the name alone: “Love Actually is all around”… (I LOVE that movie!)

* Free pattern!

Take care, happy running/knitting/reading!