So here we are in 2025, and I am very much in a looking forward mood, especially as I have had a lovely break over the Christmas period, seeing family and old friends, going for walks, and generally eating far too much of everything, but especially chocolate. My children have been home for the holidays (although really I should stop calling them children now, they are so self sufficient) and treating me by cooking and indulging my fondness for sci fi and fantasy movies. But they are off back to their respective universities on Monday and we will have to readjust to a smaller household again.
I love January, and the hope it holds for the future. I prefer, in fact, not to think in terms of resolutions, but in terms of goals and achievable ones at that. So my goals on the home front include various adjustments to the garden, and getting the back door fixed. I am reminded as I write this, that I have to buy in my seeds and get planting as well – the joy of planning the vegetable garden. There is vague talk of going sailing in the Hebrides but we have no other holidays really planned, as my husband plays cricket and refuses to go on any journey in the summer that can’t be achieved between a Sunday and Friday. He says that we have Norfolk on our doorstep, so why would we need to go anywhere else in the summer, and perhaps he is right. However, we are going to Brussels in March so that I can pop over to the enormous trade fair in Cologne, but also do a bit of a city break at the same time, and I am very much looking forward to that.
Mandy and I will be meeting on Monday to set our goals for the shop, in addition to the exciting things we already have planned for 2025. These include the East Anglia Yarn Festival in March and our Retreat on 6/7 April at Little Massingham Manor. We are hoping to introduce some new yarns from our favourite suppliers (West Yorkshire Spinners have some interesting things up their sleeves) and perhaps the trip to Cologne will result in a new brand being added to our stock, as well as being an opportunity to see what new loveliness Lang Yarns will be introducing this year. I very much welcome any suggestions you might have for things you would like to see in the shop – contact me with your ideas. We have found that people are already thinking about workshops as they always do in January and they are booking up fast, which is very pleasing.
The main goals I have set, however, are my knitting goals for the year, in the shape of the Make 9 Challenge. The idea is to list 9 things you would like to make over the year. Last year I achieved 5 and a half of the things on my list, although I had done quite a lot of things that weren’t on it as well. This year my list is:
Knitting for Olive’s Vest, Stephen West’s Glittering Snowscape Shawl and the October MKAL, the Whitmoor Sweater, the Shetland Wool Week hat, the Halibut jumper (not to everyone’s taste, I know, but I have had my eye on it for ages), something by Isabel Kraemer, perhaps in a chunky yarn and (very unlikely) a Shetland Lace shawl in one ply wool which would be right out of my comfort zone. And of course socks – at least 2 pairs of Moomin socks plus other commissions for birthday presents.
Do you have goals for 2025, knitting or otherwise? Let me know what they are!