Horsies and A Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody! I love reading blogposts summarizing the year that has ended and planning the year that has just begun. I didn't feel like reviewing my makes for 2015, since I've only been back to blogging for a couple of months. But I have been thinking about the upcoming year and what that means to me, and I'll be sharing some thoughts about that at the end of the post. But first, let's focus on one of my me-made Christmas presents this year - and it has horses on it!

As a teenager I lived and breathed horses and one of my absolutely dearest friends has stayed with me since those days. My friend still works hard and keeps her love for horses alive, so as soon as I saw this hat, I knew I had to make one for her.

I first saw the Karusellen hat on the blog Fringe Association (which I love, love, love!) and bought the Pom Pom Quarterly solely for this pattern. Btw, I blame this hat for my recent addiction to Ravelry. So. many. hours. spent browsing through patterns. So. many.

I learned so many things knitting this hat. The instructions included several new to me - techniques, and I took my time with it, because I suck at color work and I wanted those horses to be perfect.  The only thing that still makes me a little sad, is that the color work portion was nearly finished when I somewhere on the internet (very possibly the Fringe Association - blog) read that it does matter which color goes above the other when switching between colors. And I had randomly decided to do the opposite, so all the color work had to go. That still stings a little.

But back to the New Year 2016, and what it means to me. I already know that this year will be a hugely important year for me personally. And perhaps that is why I don't feel like setting any specific goals for sewing, knitting, blogging or any other hobbies for that matter. As I'm a huge planner by heart,  I can't resist the urge to plan altogether, so here are a few small "suggestions" for the future me this year...

Get your yarn stash under control - I have already made progress

No new yarn this winter, except for gifts - so far so good

Please woman make a pants sloper already - I know, I know, but I've made some progress

Sew work appropriate clothes - I have some plans

ENJOY everything that comes with sewing and knitting: take your time to get the best result you can get. It's better to sew one garment in three months than three garments in one month, if it means that I'll make sure that that one garment will be worn over and over again.

And a quick reminder from your guilty conscience: you have a bag of clothes in the back of your closet that needs to be refashioned, or possibly burnt.