Happy New Year!
I can’t believe that were this far into January! The month has flown by! Still waiting on that major snow storm to roll through, but I’m happy to report that it’s been a very nice winter so far and I’ll take it!
Since it’s a new year I’ve gotten out my passion planner and am trying to brainstorm and think of the goals that I want to achieve this year, and not only knitting goals but also the get healthy fitness goals, as everyone always thinks about at the beginning of a new year. I also have been listening to the podcast from Rachel Hollis regarding the ‘Start Your Today’ Journal, which is all about goal planning and dreaming big and words of gratitude and setting your intention for the day and just kind of taking a reflection of how you want to grow.
I’ve been thinking about this from my brand perspective for Peacocks and Purls and where I want to take that. Ya know, in dreaming big, I always talk about someday wanting to own a retail shop that’s not just a yarn shop but a knitting place, a boutique, maybe even coffee shop, someplace to gather and do all the things that I love. Well… it being my own entrepreneurship. Grow my own brand… having local Knitters contribute their talents, a place where they can showcase their hand knits. A place that non-knitters can buy hand-knit gifts for friends and love ones. I noticed that this is the main dream… the main goal. I’d also have my website grow, a place that you could order online if you’re not local. I just really got starting to dream and am sinking into it, trying to decide what my goals are for at least this year. And like they say, you know, it’s a big big goal to take on, but how do you eat an elephant?… one bite at a time. So I’m working really hard at trying to set goals, set intentions, you know.. and I’m wondering if you’re doing the same thing… and if you do that in January do you set your goals for the whole year? Do you even think about that? Is it something that you stick with it or do you, you know… Crash and Burn by June cause that’s kind of where I go… Just let me know in the comments what your goal planning is, if you goal plan for the whole year, and how you tackle that…I’m curious to know!
I’ve been joining with the girls to knit a lot the last couple of months… as you know we started a knitting podcast… we are The Knitters Are Here! We get together just to sit and knit and chat and bullshit and have girl time. I think we all need that.. don’t you agree?? Girl time it’s a great thing!
Speaking of girl time I just got together with my sisters-in-laws to celebrate a birthday and we had facials at our favorite place called Facial Impressions in Medina Ohio.. thank you Amber for the awesome facial! Then we went out and had dinner and it’s just a great time, again to get with your girlfriends and just chat and spend an hour or more just chatting and having a good time socializing with wine!
So I’ve been working on a few knitting projects… I took on two different test knit projects… both hats. One is a cabled hat called the ISE hat…you can catch more about that on the Knitters are here podcast or through my personal podcast PeacocksandPurls on YouTube… and then the other hat that I test knit is the City Lights hat for tifneilan_handknits on Instagram… it was such an easy and fun knit with a beautiful outcome!
Both hats are available for purchase – there is only one of each. Scroll to the bottom to find purchasing options. 
There are the other knitting things that I’m working on…. our new years eve cast on sweater with the girls. We’re all doing the same sweater but different colors obviously… the Navelli by Caitlin Hunter and it’s slow going… I’m at the bottom of the sweater still…. it’s a knit from the bottom up and the bottom part is all color work so it’s a little slow going… because I’m also working on sample knitting for the professional Knitters course that I’m taking through the Knitting Guild.
It’s a course that you knit sample swatches and you turn them in and you have them graded by an instructor who then critiques and gives you feedback about your work and at the end of the course you get a certificate to be a professional knitter! Which really doesn’t mean a whole lot other than you’ve had someone to look at your own hand knitting and tell you what you are or aren’t doing correctly and the certificate helps when you’re doing test knits to show that you can knit and you can put it on your knitting resume that you are a professional Knitter, you’ve learned the trade, you educated yourself, and you know what you’re doing… so the designer can be confident in hiring you as a test Knitter knowing that you’ll understand where they’re coming from. I’ll include photos here of the two test knit hats that I did. I cannot include photos of the sample swatches from the course because part of the criteria is that you’re not allowed to take pictures and share it via social media or anything like that… so sorry! When I finished the course I might be able to give you a little sneak peek but at this point it’s a no no….
I’m still working on getting my knitting Studio at the point where I like it… my studio is sort of like my walk in closet too, where I get dressed in the morning… so it’s a dual-purpose room and I’m really trying to make it into something that seems to be solely dedicated to my knitting, to my business… so the aesthetic I’m looking for is clean and white and I just feel like it’s very cluttered, because there is so much “stuff” in an itty bitty living space…. (I just watched Aladdin last night lol)…. I’ll try to include some pics of the studio here – but let’s be honest and upfront….its a mess!
Well… back to my knitting and my boring full-time job at the medical office……
Til then Love….
City Lights Hat
This is a child sized hand knit hat. For ages 3-6yrs Blues & Greens
$30.00
ISE Cabled Hat
This is my recent test knit hat with cables. Sized child/teen
$40.00
I am loving the color combo – however….. When I knit it again, I’ll chose to make the main color the solid and the contrasting the speckle…… for a completely different look.
