I was up bright and early this morning. The house felt uncluttered and fresh after yesterday’s marathon undecorating efforts. Don’t you just love how simple and fresh everything feels when the Christmas clutter is cleared? Don’t get me wrong, I love having everything all Christmassy, but somehow when it’s all gone everything feels ready for a fresh start.

As it’s Epiphany we ate the traditional Dreikönigskuchen for breakfast. There’s a hidden king in one of those rolls – I didn’t get it, but as this year’s king was found and rehidden multiple times I think we ended up with three kings in our house this year. There’s something kind of fitting about that.

Before the masses were up and about I finally managed to finish the Austin Hoodie. The last sleeve seemed to be never-ending. I’m sure someone was unravelling it during the night. Anyway, the recipient was duly pleased with her rather late Christmas present. It’s a great pattern and I really quite fancy making one for myself sometime. It’s also lovely to have a finish so early in the year…that sets up the yarn stash busting efforts really nicely!

Austin Hoodie by Connie Chang Chinchio, knitted in Madeline Tosh Merino Light (Colourway: Margeaux).

My one and only complaint was in the vast colour variation in the yarn from skein to skein, which meant I had to juggle it a bit to get some semblance of evenness.

Knitting done, I headed for the woods for my first run of the year. I decided not to push myself as I’m still fighting the tail end of the fluey lurgy thats been revisiting me regularly over the last month – so a 5km loop was all I attempted. If I’m honest it was a grotty, grey, foggy day for running. The snow has just melted and all the grass looked brownish and squashed and there wasn’t even the semblance of a view. I’m horribly unfit, so it was a bit of a slog, but I felt so much better when I got home than before I went. It’s true what they say about endorphins, don’t let anyone tell you it isn’t.

This afternoon has been taken up with finishing the laundry, getting all the thank you letters sorted and making sure everyone is more or less ready for school tomorrow. I’m ready – more than! – but then I don’t have to go anywhere in the morning!

Now I feel like the table is clear and I can start on lots of new things with a clear conscience. I love that about January. Who knows what this year will bring – there are lots of nice things on the horizon, together with several possibly quite black clouds. What I’ve learned though over the past year or two is that sometimes the black clouds just have to be. Sometimes we learn more from failure and difficulty than we do from success. As a mother I’m so pre-programmed to make everything right for my children that I sometimes don’t realize that failure has to happen – and that everyone has to learn to deal with it sometime. Dealing with failure goes hand in hand with learning to take responsibility for your actions and believe me kids need to learn that sooner rather than later.

So 2013, bring it on….I’m ready…

Helen

It doesn’t seem to matter where I’ve been or what I’ve been doing, I love coming home. OK, I’m not quite so keen on all the laundry that a family of 5 bring back with them from skiing and the chaos that I have to spend a day or two organizing, but for me, home is certainly where my heart is.

After a fabric-free week I’m  itching to dig around in my fabric and get started planning some lovely projects for 2013. I’m trying to stay strong and get the hoodie finished first, mind you. But then, the world is my oyster…..

I have some lovely French General reds, beiges and browns that are definitely headed towards a quilt., I want to make myself a yoga bag, do some dressmaking and I’ve had several requests to knit hats and cowls….I can’t wait. There is little that makes me happier than pottering around in my teeny-weeny sewing corner and working on my projects. I also have three lots of blocks for bees to get done this week and I’m going to start putting together the blocks for my Sew Euro-bee-an quilt. Mwah…sounds like heaven, right!

And everyone goes back to school and work on Monday and then I’ll have the house to myself.

Hard to beat, eh?

Helen

I’m starting to feel a bit healthier and have been hitting the skis…

Top of the Gemsstock, Canton Uri, Switzerland (2,963m…that’s almost 10,000 feet). Above the clouds.

And here on cross country skis in the valley between Andermatt and Hospental. So peaceful.

It feels great to be able to get out into the crisp mountain air and get some exercise and enjoy the peace of the Alps. Normal life will resume soon and I need these days to tank up on Vitamin B and fresh air – not to mention the quiet!

Helen

I’m starting 2013 today…a day late I know, but yesterday turned out to be a write-off and I’d prefer to start afresh today. I think I probably managed to jinx yesterday by deciding on New Year’s Eve that my main resolution for 2013 was to be fit and healthy. I had no sooner formulated the thought in my mind before I felt like someone had hit me on the head with a block of concrete and I spent New Year’s Eve in bed dosed with flu remedy feeling like I’d been got by the lurgy to end all lurgies. Flu twice in a month, or twice in three weeks if we’re nit-picking seems a little unfair. And to think I could have been skiing down a mountain at midnight holding a flaming torch to show me the way! (Well OK, I probably wouldn’t have even if I could have, but it would have been more fun than my evening was!)

So enough moaning – not a good way to start the year.

2013 is going to be a good year. I’m going to get myself fit again, run some races, not buy more fabric, learn how not to micromanage my children and stop worrying about them and just enjoy the fact that they are all healthy……

It’s a bit like last year and the year before really….simplify my life, don’t sweat the little stuff, take time to smell the roses (once the snow has gone!). I suppose that just shows that this is all a path I’m walking along and slowly but surely I will get there. There are no radical changes in my life, just more of the same and hopefully living a mindful life, a full life, a life lived to it’s potential.

There may be a new job on the horizon in 2013. This is a slightly scary thought, but I shall investigate, see what’s what and step a little outside my comfort zone. That usually turns out to be a good thing to do.

At some point I’m also hoping to finish the Austin Hoodie that should have been in my daughter’s Christmas stocking. It’s getting there – and it WILL be lovely when it’s done! This is a great pattern, full of neat little details – I like the cuffs and the woven stitch around the chest. I like the fact that the sleeves are picked up at the shoulder and knitted down to the cuff. I like that there is no sewing together. When this is done, its really done and ready to wear.

So to all of you put there who take the time to stop by – I wish you a peaceful and happy year, a year of living life to the full and enjoying the good things even when life throws hard things your way too. I hope those of you who don’t usually comment will say hi sometime – I’d love to get to know you a little better.

Happy New Year!

Helen

So that’s just about it. 2012.

Quite a year, one way and  another. Full of ups and downs. Not a stellar year, but there have been worse.

Highs: Learning to scuba dive and cross country ski, visiting the Maldives again, watching FC Barcelona play superlative football, being British and proud watching the  London Olympics, meeting so many of you at the FQR in London, my daughter working hard and winning a place at Gymnasium, lots of lovely knitting and sewing.

Lows: Losing my dear friend Mary in July, tearing the ligaments in my knee skiing in January and taking forever to recover, teenage angst and lots of worrying about schools and social lives of said teenagers, the flu from hell and 101 other little niggles too minor to worry about.

I have to confess to being less successful than I would have liked as far as using my stash was concerned, nor were my weight loss efforts (haha) at all successful (but at least I haven’t put anything more on). Running was fairly rubbish this year too – I only competed once – I’m still training but only once a week at the moment.

Fabric: up 22.5m….not good (I hang my head with shame….proof that I am a weak-willed woman!), but still massively better than last year 😉

Yarn: Down 1,500m yeehaa! This would have been doubled if the hoodie was finished, but I’m still plodding along with the sleeves….one day….. 😉 I was trying to make 12 pairs of socks this year, but only managed 7.5. Maybe 12 was a little over-optimistic.

So that’s it done then. Another chapter just about closed. Tomorrow is another day and another year. I wonder what it will bring.

Happy New Year everyone – and thanks for visiting!!

Helen