I Am On My Way: The Post In Which I Check In For July 2014

I can't believe July went by so quickly. There's still so much I want to accomplish in 2014 and there's only 5 months left! I wanted to write this post to check in on how July went with my goals for the year.

So, let's have a look at my 2014 goals progress:

~Keep a daily journal.
Continuing to stay strong with this goal and in fact, I'm converting others to the Bullet Journal system I'm using. If you haven't checked the system out, you definitely should!

~Continue keeping a list of the eucharisteo/gifts/joys/Thanksgivings in my life.
I'm doing this in my daily journal. I'm over 3,500.

~Read at least one non-fiction book each month of 2014.
1 ~ Girl Meets God: On the Path to a Spiritual Life by Lauren Winner ~ completed 5-January-2014
2 ~ Almost Amish: One Woman's Quest for a Slower, Simpler, More Sustainable Life by Nancy Sleeth ~ completed 18-January-2014
3 ~ In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed by Carl Honore ~ completed 9-February-2014
4 ~ Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living by Tsh Oxenreider ~ completed 16-March-2014
5 ~ Confessions of a Prayer Slacker by Diane Moody ~ completed 4-April-2014
6 ~ The Knitter's Life List: To Do, To Know, To Explore, To Make by Gwen W. Steege ~ completed 3-May-2014
7 ~ The Organized Kitchen: Keep Your Kitchen Clean, Organized, and Full of Good Food-and Save Time, Money, (and Your Sanity) Every Day! by Brette Sember ~ completed 17-May-2014
8 ~ I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn't): Making the Journey from "What Will People Think?" to "I Am Enough" by Brene Brown ~ completed 29-June-2014
9 ~ The Yarn Whisperer by Clara Parkes ~ completed 9-July-2014
10 ~ Notes from a Blue Bike: The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World by Tsh Oxenreider ~ completed 22-July-2014
11 ~ Junia Is Not Alone by Scot McKnight ~ completed 28-July-2014
12 ~ Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray and Still Loving My Neighbor by Jana Riess ~ currently reading

~I plan to continue sharing about the creative part of my life which includes knitting, spinning, and designing patterns on a month to month basis here on my blog. Hopefully that will include sharing about designing at least six knitting patterns, knitting at least two sweaters for myself, knitting at least six pairs of socks for myself, spinning at least five batches of fiber, knitting several preemie hats to donate to charity, and who knows what else!
So far, I've completed:
*Design Projects ~ 4
*Cowls ~ 5
*Gloves ~ 1
*Hats ~ 20 (19 of them are preemie hats for charity)
*Shawl ~ 2
*Socks ~ 18 (4 are new designs, 5 of them are for me, 9 are gifts)
*Sweater ~ 1
*Washcloths ~ 5
*Misc. Items ~ 2
*Spinning ~ 5
TOTAL ~ 59 projects completed in 2014

In progress are:
*Shawl ~ 1
*Socks ~ 1

Details are below.

Finished Projects
2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #15, 2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #16, 2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #17, 2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #18, + 2014 Top Down Preemie Hat #19 ~ From my own free pattern Top Down Preemie Hat. Knit on US6 (4mm) needles with various yarns + colourways (you can go to the page for each hat to see the details). Our knitting group, the Town Mouse Knitting Club, knit hats earlier in the year to donate and I decided to continue making 1 per week to donate later.

Stripey Hitchhiker ~ From the pattern by Martina Behm. Knit on US5 (3.75mm) needles with CJKoho BFL Top Handspun in the Liberty and Justice (for all) colourway and Brigantia Luxury Yarn Double Knit in the 8100 colourway. I won the handspun from my sweet friend Vicki's Dragonfly Soars podcast. It wasn't enough to knit this pattern, so I striped it with the Brigantia and I absolutely adore how it turned out!!!!!!

My Cane Didn't Want to Be Naked Anymore 2 ~ From the pattern I designed which is available for free on Ravelry here http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/my-cane-didnt-want-to-be-naked-anymore. Knit on US6 (4.0mm) needles with King Cole Merino Blend DK in the Silver + Dusky Pink colourways. As you know if you follow me other places online and/or watch our podcast, I'm walking more (I want to get rid of the wheelchair if at all possible), so I decided my cane needed a new cozy. I modified the pattern a bit this time - instead of doing a ribbing at the bottom for over the stopper, I instead removed the stopper, did a kitchner stitch, and replaced the stopper over it. It's staying in place so much better than with the ribbing.

If you're my sister, scroll quickly and don't read this next part. LOL!
Birthday Socks for Lola, Birthday Socks for Wyatt, + Birthday Socks for Waylon ~ Used the measurements from the pattern by Jane Richmond, but modified the pattern to get the look I wanted. Knit on US1.5 (2.5mm) needles with Knit Picks Stroll Tonal in the Harvest colourway. I wanted to get all 3 pairs of these socks done at once so I could ship them back to the US together (versus higher shipping cost for shipping them separately) to my Momma for my niece and nephews birthdays (one in September + the other two in December). They've arrived safely and I can't wait to see their faces when they receive them.

#TheAlmonsTakeLondon Socks ~ Just a plain vanilla sock with the Fish Lips Kiss heel. Knit on US1.5 (2.5mm) needles with Trailing Clouds Nimbus Self Striping Sock in the Mind the Gap colourway. As you've probably already seen, we spent almost a week in London in July. How could I not knit with this sock yarn that was dyed with the colours for the 12 lines of the London Tube. I didn't quite finish the socks before our holiday was over, but finished the last half of the 2nd sock after we returned home. I love, love, love these socks!

It's Not Magic, It's a Sock Blank! Socks ~ Just a plain vanilla sock with the Fish Lips Kiss heel. Knit on US1.5 (2.5mm) needles with Easyknits.co.uk Sushi Sock Roll in the Lovely Lydia colourway. I purchased the sock blank (ok, let me explain for those who don't know, what the dyer did was take a machine knitted piece of fabric, dyed it in a gorgeous gradient colourway, and then sold it to me; I think knit from the fabric by unravelling it as I knit) at Unwind Brighton which was a fibre festival we went to while we were on holiday in Brighton which is south of London. It was definitely a unique experience to unravel to reknit the fabric as something else. I still have quite a bit of the center portion of the gradient left over, so I'll use it for another pair of socks.

The Border Tart Nine Pinkish Bumps ~ Spun on my mini Turkish drop spindle. Started with 50 grams of 9 bumps from The Border Tart. Ended up with 47 grams, 155 yards of a Sport Weight 3-Ply and a 1 gram, 6.7 yards Mini-Skein of a fingering weight 2-Ply for Damaris

Chocolate Brown Unknown Fibre ~ Spun on my mini Turkish drop spindle. Started with 24 grams of an unknown fibre. Ended up with 23 grams, 93.3 yards of a heavy fingering weight 2-Ply.

Current Works in Progress
*Shawl ~ Endless Rainbow
*Socks ~ Super super super super super super secret project 5 - a new sock design

2014 Completed Projects:

Design Projects
*Spoilers Socks (Doctor Who Inspired) ~ completed 1-March-2014 ~ this pattern which was inspired by Doctor Who's River Song was exclusively released to members of the Doctor Who Companions Sock Club on 25-July-2014 and will be available for the general public to purchase on 18-January-2015 on Ravelry at http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/spoilers-socks-doctor-who-inspired

*Super super super super super super secret project 2 ~ completed 30-March-2014
*Super super super super super super secret project 3 ~ completed 26-April-2014
*Indie Burgh Yarn Crawl 2014 Socks - Pair One ~ completed 25-May-2014 / Indie Burgh Yarn Crawl 2014 Socks ~ Pair Deux ~ completed 11-June-2014 ~ this pattern was released on Wednesday, 18-June-2014, just in time for the first Indie Burgh Yarn Crawl on Saturday, 21-June-2014, it is available to purchase on Ravelry at http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/indie-burgh-yarn-crawl-2014-socks

Cowls
*Casu Cowl ~ completed 7-February-2014
*Sweetness Cowl ~ completed 15-March-2014
*Sowing the Seeds Cowl ~ completed 30-March-2014
*Cantaloop ~ completed 29-May-2014
*Sowing the Seeds Cowl 2 ~ completed 8-June-2014

Gloves
*Urban Necessity Gloves ~ completed 23-January-2014