2018 Recap: Books

Whoops, one more recap post! This is my annual "I do occasionally read words instead of writing too many" post where I cover what I read for the year, plus a bit of a ramble.  I wound up trying, and failing, to keep track of the manga read.  There are just too many!  It's especially "bad" in the winter when I curl up with the cats and my laptop and just... binge read all evening.  Imagine all the crafting I could have done!  Oh, well, I am enjoying myself either way. :)

image via Google image search

Italicized is a book I have never read before.   
Italicized and bolded is never read and a new-to-me author.

1. Jingo (Terry Pratchett)
2. The Last Continent (Pratchett)
3. Carpe Jugulum (Pratchett)
4. The Fifth Elephant (Pratchett)
5. The Truth (Pratchett)
6. Thief of Time (Pratchett)
7. The Last Hero (Pratchett)
8. Night Watch (Pratchett)
9. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (Pratchett)
10. The Wee Free Men (Pratchett)
11. Monstrous Regiment (Pratchett)
12. A Hat Full of Sky (Pratchett)
13. Going Postal (Pratchett)
14. Thud! (Pratchett)
15. Wintersmith (Pratchett)
16. Making Money (Pratchett)
17. Unseen Academicals (Pratchett)
18. I Shall Wear Midnight (Pratchett)
19. Snuff (Pratchett)
20. Raising Steam (Pratchett)
21. The Shepherd's Crown (Pratchett)
22. The Unadultered Cat (Pratchett)
23. Gilgamesh (Stephen Mitchell)

I started the year continuing the Discworld series.  They just kept getting better!  I was surprised at The Last Hero since I didn't realize some would be young adult novels too.  There wound up being several like this which made for quick and enjoyable reads!  I had hoped to finish the series by June but sometimes there wound up being too much of a delay between books (some had to come from the far corners of the state). I finished in the middle of July.  It's great to have them all read though bittersweet that there won't be any more to enjoy. I cried reading The Shepherd's Crown.

My husband got me The Unadultered Cat off of my wishlist for Christmas last year thinking it was part of Discworld.  I had that book on my list before I ever knew of the Discworld series!  I have no idea where I had heard of it though.

After Discworld, reading books kind of slowed down as I worked on getting caught up on our National Geographic subscription.  I had several months worth of backlog to get through.  There were a few library book sales during the downtime and I stocked up on some new (and old) material.  So, this year isn't as good as previous years in terms of numbers.  And now I have a new series of books to watch for hah.

My husband wanted to read a bit more in terms of stand-alone books (most of his reading is on the computer) and wanted to keep track of them.

1. Ringworld (Larry Niven)
2. Eat That Frog! (Brian Tracy) 
3. Creativity, Inc. (Ed Catmull)
4. Gilgamesh (Stephen Mitchell)
5. Extreme Ownership (Jocko Willink & Leif Babin)

I'm really glad he's joined a bookclub at his work!  He seems to be enjoying it too, even though they only read one chapter a week of their chosen book. I often feel like we're holding library books hostage but the librarians are great at encouraging keeping them until they're finished.  :)

owned media - why yes, we DO like Asimov, have you noticed?

Because we've gotten a healthy collection of books, one of my goals whims for 2018 was to sort of organize them so I wouldn't wind up with duplicates.  I think a lot of people might use GoodReads or something similar to track their books.  My solution was simple and less elegant: a Google spreadsheet!  We had already started one for our CDs ages ago (we have as many CDs as books -- we love music!).  It eventually grew to have separate pages for manga, movies, and video games.  I like this method because it's easy to search on my phone whenever I accidentally find myself in a bookstore or at a thrift store.  According to the sheet, we have 275 books (excluding manga, my craft books, and some miscellaneous items).  It sure felt like a lot more when we moved...

I think this year I will tackle my craft books.  I really like vintage craft magazines and books.  Ravelry is a great place to log them but not all of them are listed and I have no scanner to contribute.  I think it will be easier to have everything in one spot anyway.

thread stash

On a stitchy note, I also have a spreadsheet for my floss.  :)  I think we just really like spreadsheets (I also have them for sewing machine attachments and my Corelle set, and my husband has several for his things too).  If you're interested in this stitchy one, you can find a copy here.  You'll need to save it to your own Google account if you want to use it.  She has since updated it to contain the fabric calculator and floss availability, but the newest colors are not in there.  They're easy to add if you have basic spreadsheet knowledge.

Okay, that's all the recap posts for me.  I've already started on 2019's list with a whopping three finishes.  They're children's novels though, so nothing too extreme. :) There's still a little time to enter the first of 2019's Year of Giveaways, if you'd like!

2018 Recap: I Beat My Own Record!

Aloha, faithful blogger minions!  Here it is, the last post of 2018 and it might be a bit long!  I've once again copied my list of finishes and I am so (overly) excited to see that I surpassed my previous record of 18 finishes with a grand total of 27 for this year, YAY!

2018

1. January - Birdhouse - 18-count white Aida, kit by Design Works Crafts
2. February - Tiny Parlor Cat - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
3. February - FFIII Logo - white hardanger, pattern by me
4. February - Gingham Bird - 14-count white Aida, freebie gift in Enjoy Cross Stitch, Christmas 2012
5. March - Floral Bouquet - 14-count perforated paper, kit by Mill Hill
6. April - American Flag - 14-count white perforated plastic, kit by ?
7. May - Fan Bookmark - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
8. May - 4th of July - 14-count white Aida, freebie pattern found here
9. June - Nargacuga - 20-count light tan jobelan, pattern by me
10. June - Basic Socks - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry), modified to fit my feet
11. June - Fan Bookmark - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
12. June - Star Stitch Washcloth - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
13. July - A Flowering Hat - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
14. July - Serendipity - sewing, rewired and ready to run!
15. August - Chair Boots - crochet, pattern in Crochet World Omnibook, Fall 1981
16. August - A Flowering Hat #2 - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
17. September - Vintage-Inspired Coasters - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
18. September - Ghost Microkit - 14-count black perforated plastic, freebie pattern found here
19. October - Curtain Transformation - sewing, remaking single panel curtain into two lined panels
20. October - Tranquil Tea Wrap - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
21. October - September Aster - 14-count ecru huck towel, freebie pattern found here
22. October - Cuore di Halloween - 14-count orange Aida, freebie pattern found here
23. November - Chair Boots, set #2 - crochet, pattern in Crochet World Omnibook, Fall 1981
24. November - Gingerbread House - 14-count perforated plastic, kit by NeedleMagic, Inc.
25. December - Ceadeus - 20-count light tan jobelan, pattern by me
26. December - Fan Bookmark - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
27. December - Husband Cube - 20-count light tan jobelan assembly of six stitches, pattern by me

The Stitches

an eclectic ensemble

This was a pretty big year for stash-busting stitchy things.  Dyeing fabric I already had, using up old beads and buttons, stitching little kits from giveaway wins or thrifted finds...

III and VIII

The biggest deal for the year was finishing Final Fantasy III and getting both it and FF VIII framed.  While I wasn't happy with the framer, I am pleased to have all three stitches (including the previously framed VII) up on our wall.

fine artistry at its finest

I also finished the last of the sides for the Monster Hunter cube and turned it into, well, a cube!  There will be more on this in January's Gifted Gorgeousness but for now, have a little teaser picture of my glorious 3-second sketches trying to work out placements. :D

missing Oct Nov Dec

Only managed one huck towel this year, but there's just three more to go!  I keep playing around with other ideas for these.  I wonder if they'll ever truly be finished or they will become one of those projects, where you just keep adding to them as whim presents itself. :)

The Knits

cat feet cloths

Knitting kind of had a low presence this year.  But I did two things I've really been wanting to accomplish -- an amigurumi and socks!  Yay!  Too bad the socks took a zillion years of restarts but I eventually got a finished product that I can wear.

The Hooks

hook it all!

Crochet was everywhere this year with nine projects!  I made a modification to some of the speaker cozies, whipped up some chair boots, a couple of these flowering hats, a shawl to match the one hat, several fan bookmarks (not shown), and a set of eight coasters.  The shawl is my first ever and will also be included in the next GG post.

The Sewings

Serendipity!

Ooo, a new category this year!  This was the year to fix up the sewing machine found waiting to be scrap metal.  So exciting for me!  I haven't really sewed anything new with her but I did hem a ton of curtains.  I've had some heavy winter drapes for years, but they were puddle length and that Does Not Work with my cats.  So I made them floor length.  Much better!  I think it was 8-10 panels I shortened.

an appropriate length

I also hemmed my kitchen curtains.  This was a single, long, unlined panel with tabbed tops.  It became two shorter, lined curtains with just a regular top.  I also made some "tiebacks" with some of the leftover scraps and reused two buttons that were up on the original tabs. From more of the scraps, I also made a very small pillow stuffed with a little catnip from a destroyed kitty toy.  Item-Stealing cat loves it!  And has currently hidden it...???  I've checked under all the couches!

Random Blog Stats

Most Views: 191 views - A Heartfelt Hallowe'en Blog Hop
Most Comments: 28 comments (excluding my own replies on no-reply bloggers) - Easter Treasure Hunt ~ A Blog Hop!
Least Views: 54 views - September Smalls ~ The Return of the Microkit
Least Comments: 10 comments - September Smalls ~ The Return of the Microkit

All of the blog hops are my most viewed and commented on posts! An odd one out was November's GG post which had almost double what other GG posts had.  It still wasn't enough to topple the Hallowe'en Blog Hop though!  Serendipity, Redone was also a fairly popular post which makes me really happy.  That was an amazing project for me!

This year as a whole was down from previous years.  Blogger has gone through some changes (not necessarily good ones) and had some issues.  Instagram and Facebook seem to be taking a lot of traffic away from here.  I'm not going anywhere, yet.  I very much dislike what FB has become and am considering deleting mine altogether; I rarely post on it anyway.  Instagram is owned by FB so I have no desire to even start an account there. 

2019 Goals/Plans

I wound up not participating in the 2018 Ravellenics, probably because of those dang socks haha.  Kind of a bummer but there will be others where I can try again!

As far as SALs, I'll be joining Gifted Gorgeousness again (this is 2018's linkup).  It seems like the only SAL on the planet I feel like I can actually contribute to seeing that I love making gifts and making use of items gifted!  And possibly making liberal use of shoehorns (cough).  I will be dropping the Smalls SAL.  I felt too pigeonholed for some odd reason.  Maybe there wasn't enough shoehorning power available.  Due to Sheer Stubbornness™, I don't like jumping in and out of SALs as a project presents itself nor forcing myself to work on a project just to have something to fit in.  It makes me feel like I'm neglecting things which is not the point of any SAL!  So, a great idea for a lot of stitchers; it just didn't fit in with my rather random crafting style.

I would like to start the next Final Fantasy stitch.  I feel like I must have something nerdy going on or my life is incomplete!  As for which one... I'm still not sure.  There's one I'd really love to do, but the logo will be difficult, both to make into a pattern and actually stitch.  There's a "small" one I'm considering as well which would have another one done rather quickly (in terms of my pokey stitching :D).  I'd also like to have at least one more of the Flower-of-the-Month huck towels done.

For the other crafts, I would like to knit my first sweater.  No particular sweater or cardigan in mind; it could have long sleeves, short sleeves, tunics, fair isle, anything will work as long as it goes on the upper body and isn't a shawl or scarf.  I would like to knit another Tiny Parlor Cat; possibly a little Peanut for my husband's desk herd. I'd love to make use of the sewing machine to make actual clothes!  I'm not sure how much "from scratch" items I'll wind up making.

Did you read all that?  :)  Thank you for sticking with me!   Even if I stitch a lot of weird things, I draw encouragement and inspiration from other bloggers.  Here's to 2019 and 30(?!) finishes!

2017 Recap: Books

Hi!  It feels weird to be posting so many times but I wanted to squeeze in a timely recap of books for the year.  I won't give you any book reports, though.

image via Google image search

Italicized is a book I have never read before.   
Italicized and bolded is never read and a new-to-me author.

1. Little House in the Big Woods (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
2. Little House on the Prairie (Wilder)
3. Farmer Boy (Wilder)
4. On the Banks of Plum Creek (Wilder)
5. On the Shores of Silver Lake (Wilder)
6. The Long Winter (Wilder)
7. Little Town on the Prairie (Wilder)
8. These Happy Golden Years (Wilder)
9. The First Four Years (Wilder) 
10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (J. K. Rowling)
11. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
12. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
13. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
14. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
15. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Rowling)
16. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Rowling)
17. The Color of Magic (Terry Pratchett)
18. The Light Fantastic (Pratchett)
19. Equal Rights (Pratchett)
20. Mort (Pratchett)
21. Sourcery (Pratchett)
22. Wyrd Sisters (Pratchett)
23. Pyramids (Pratchett)
24. Guards! Guards! (Pratchett)
25. Faust Eric (Pratchett)
26. Moving Pictures (Pratchett)
27. Reaper Man (Pratchett)
28. Witches Abroad (Pratchett)
29. Small Gods (Pratchett)
30. Lords and Ladies (Pratchett)
31. Men at Arms (Pratchett) 
32. Soul Music (Pratchett) 
33. Interesting Times (Pratchett)
34. Maskerade (Pratchett)
35. Feet of Clay (Pratchett)
36. Hogfather (Pratchett)

After unpacking our books post-move, I felt the need for familiar, easy books that I love and that would serve as a pick-me-up.  The Wilder books were given to little-me as a boxset from one of my father's college professors.  My copies are very well read at this point.  I've always particularly loved The Long Winter.

It was past time to do the almost sort of annual reread of Harry Potter.  At least these are hardcover and can stand the abuse!  No Cursed Child, never again, boooo hisssss.

And then, after joining the new local yarn group, they roped me into a summer reading challenge, which I'm pleased to say I not only completed, but also won the drawing for a gift certificate to a local restaurant!  The Discworld series fit in nicely with some of the options, and after a spectacular enabling essay from Jo, I dove in!  I decided to stick with publication order as it was easiest for me to keep track of where I was.  All of our local libraries function as one and we also have the option to request books from any library in the state.  Because I often had to wait for the next one(s) to come in, progress slowed as the year aged.  I didn't quite make it halfway through though I started reading the series in June. So far, I've greatly enjoyed Equal Rights, Small Gods, and all the Witches and Rincewind books.  (Rincewind may or may not make me an oddity in the Discworld fandom but I just loved his personality and timing haha.)  There were a few I didn't really love, at least not as much as the others (such as Moving Pictures and most of the Watchmen series).  And it was a bit fitting to be reading Hogfather at Christmastime!  I promise that wasn't planned.  It took this book for me to fall head-over-heels for Death.  :)

I did not include any manga.  After thinking about that, I might try a separate list for them in 2018, at least for completed series.  I'm sure this year I was well over 200 for this genre alone!  I read a lot of manga, though many are one-shots (basically one chapter) and almost all of them are online.  I do  have a nice collection of my own on my "geeky" bookshelf.  I will keep track of them by completed series, not a separate line for each individual book (volume).  I'm not sure how to go about including ongoing series.  Perhaps I should just omit them or I'd really wind up with a plate of Spaghetti-Os.

You know, I guess I did pretty well on books this year. :)  No new-to-me authors but that's okay.  Sometimes familiar favorites make things better.

And that's it for this year's posts!  I'll see you all on the other side. :D

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* HAPPY NEW YEAR! *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

2017 Recap: Do All the Crafts

Hello, howdy, and hi! I always like to do a recap post so here is 2017's little collection.  I've copied the list from my finishes page and created a small collage for each craft, including a few images of stuff I hadn't yet shown on the blog due to various present restrictions.

2017

1. February - Casserole Potholder - thermal crochet, freebie pattern found here, modified by me
2. February - Small Potholder - thermal crochet, freebie pattern found here
3. May - Mock Honeycomb Dishcloth #1 - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
4. June - Little Cowboy Afghan - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
5. June - Mock Honeycomb Dishcloth #2 - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
6. June - August Gladiolus - 14-count ecru huck towel, freebie pattern found here
7. July - Rubber Ducky Washcloth - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
8. September - Sunflower Coaster - crochet, pattern cobbled together by me
9. September - Zinogre - 20-count light tan jobelan, pattern by me
10. October - All Hallow's Eve - 14-count black Aida, pattern by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery
11. November - Star Stitch Dishcloths (4) - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
12. December - Fan Bookmarks (6) - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
13. December - Snowman Mitten - 14-count brass ornament, kit by Bucilla
14. December - Clothespin Angel #4 - crochet, pattern from Leisure Arts leaflet 2518
15. December - Creeper Hat - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry), modified by me 

Knitting

knittin's

I felt like this turned into a year of dishcloths!  Apart from the hat, that's all I knit this year haha.  The final count was seven (two of each color of the variegated yarn).  The purple and green ones are done in a "mock honeycomb" stitch which makes a delightfully dainty-looking cloth.

The hat was a Christmas present for my husband!  It was my first time doing Fair Isle knitting which I'm pleased to say wasn't difficult at all once I figured out how I was most comfortable holding the second color.  I did make a rather silly mistake though.  The pattern calls for size 6 needles and I accidentally used size 9!  My needles don't have the little underlines to denote those two sizes apart haha. I didn't realize this until I went to put the needles back in their case after the hat was finished.  The gauge was close (mine was 5.5 stitches per inch to the called-for 5) using them, though.  The pattern idea came from here, along with a modification here.  I changed the look of the face to fit the in-game creeper.  Also, it had to have a pompom.  :)

Crochet

hookin's

Crochet was a bit more varied!  The potholders were finished early in the year as a sort of therapy for the move.  Next up was the star baby afghan and sunflower coaster.  Lastly was the thread clothespin angel.  What a fiddly little pattern!  I had to pay close attention to the pattern reading as commas were VERY important haha.  I changed the called-for colors, giving her a bright red dress and a metallic sheen halo (FYI metallic crochet thread behaves much better than metallic floss).  She was fun and I hope to make more in the future.  I certainly have enough thread to crochet an army in a rainbow of colors!

Cross-Stitch

stitchin's

Like last year, this was again a bit sad for cross-stitch finishes.  I am happy to have made my first flatfold for a Halloween stitch, as well as stitched my first Frosted Pumpkin piece!  And the brass ornament was a fun idea.  I did manage another one of my Flower-of-the-Month huck towel finishes, and another Monster Hunter side for the cube.  I even managed to work some on Final Fantasy III (last shown on here for last year's recap!).

It went from here

to here.

Not much of a change but there is a little difference, most notably the right side of the picture with his cape and sword.  I found a new (to me) floor stand that allows me to sit back more comfortably to work on these larger pieces so I have been grazing on it.  The goal is to have it finished in February as the local framing shop runs a special on free museum glass.  I would like it and FFVIII framed at the same time and possibly explode from the excitement.  Even if I just manage FFVIII framed, I will probably still explode from the excitement!

Goals

That's it for 2017's crafty endeavors.  It wasn't as much as last year but still more than previous years so I'll count it as a win, especially with how rough the start was!

As far as "goals" for next year, one item of interest is the 2018 Ravellenic Games.  I enjoyed working on projects during the 2016 Ravellenics where I finished a hat and a pair of house slippers so I'd like to challenge myself again for the new one.  I'm still trying to decide what I'd like to "compete" in.  Cross Country Living is a strong contender since I've already a project in mind.  Toy Bobsled also sounds fun and perhaps a way to get me to actually try my hand at amigurumi!  Or perhaps Sock Hockey.  I've attempted my first pair of socks which has ended in total disaster (wrong yarn, waaaay wrong yarn) but I don't want to be defeated.

I was out of all SALs this past year.  I know I'll be rejoining Gifted Gorgeousness (this is 2017's link).  Other than that, I'm not sure what I'll be doing.  I don't enjoy facebook or flosstube as a medium so that knocks out a few.  I've never stopped collecting my ORTs though I no longer take pictures of them for TUSAL.  I'm considering WIPocalypse (2017 again) as it would fit in with my posting style but because I have very few projects ongoing at a time WIPs are actually scarce!  Plus I don't think I'd link up because of the facebook thing.

It seems I like to stick to broad-spectrum SALs where I can work on whatever rather than ones that have a specific theme.  Maybe I should see if there are any KALs or CALs out there that could help broaden my horizons.  I would love to hear your suggestions!

Thank you all for helping my 2017 get brighter.  Here's to 2018!

2016 Recap: Craftiness

Hello there.  Thank you to the lovely ladies who messaged me over my long absence, and especially those who ferreted out my email after my last post.  Your kindness and concern was really, really appreciated though I couldn't bring myself to reply to you.  Things are starting to fall back into place again.  Routines are a good thing for me even if a bit "boring."

Though 2016 didn't end on a particularly high note, I still wanted to do a crafty recap post for it because it wound up being one of my most productive crafting years to date.  Rather than a large assortment of pictures, I will put the list from my finishes pages here and a collage of each craft.

1. February - Uno - knit fingerless mitts, pattern found here (ravelry)
2. February - June Wild Roses - 14-count ecru huck towel, freebie pattern found here
3. February - Lemon-Lime Potholder - thermal crochet, freebie pattern found here  
4. March - Speaker Cozy #2 - crochet, pattern from Star Book No. 78: Television and Radio Scarfs
5. March - Shamrock Dishcloth - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry) 
6. June - Dolphin Washcloth - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry) 
7. July - Rathian - 20-count light tan jobelan, pattern by me
8. August - KitKat Hat - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry) 
9. August - House Slippers - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry) 
10. August - July Delphinium - 14-count ecru huck towel, freebie pattern found here
11. September - Brachydios - 20-count light tan jobelan, pattern by me 
12. September - Mittens - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry) 
13. October - Kitty Prints Scarf - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry), modified by me 
14. October - Fan Bookmarks - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
15. October - Jack-o-Lantern Bookmark - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry) 
16. October - Haunted House Dishcloth - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry) 
17. November - Yellow Potholder - thermal crochet, freebie pattern found here
18. November - Green Potholder - thermal crochet, freebie pattern found here

Totals:  7 knit items, 7 crochet items, 4 cross-stitch

the knits

I'm glad I completed the "kitty set".  They came in handy this winter and the hat especially got a lot of smiles and comments.  The fingerless mitts taught me how to do cables which, at the time, was very exciting.  And then never again for the remainder of the year.  And the washcloths are plain ol' fun.  I like themed items obviously.

the hooks

Lots of thread crochet this year, which is good, I am very fond of it.  After finishing the two thermal crochet potholders in November, I started a third, very large potholder (think 9x13 casserole dish) in a combination of the yellow and green and a couple skeins of white.  This is the only project I had out as all my yarn/floss/notions/life/sanity was packed away.  I finished it February 3rd (though as it's 2017 it's not a 2016 recap but more of a catch-up).  Of course, I still had a small bit of yarn left over so I made one more smaller potholder, again with the white/yellow/green combo.  I finished it February 10th. It felt nice to have some new things to unpack for the kitchen and it made me feel good to make space for new yarn use up stash.  The collection is the (small, I know) picture on  the far right.

the stitches

A fairly dismal year for cross stitch though.  I finished two of the lovely huck towels and two more sides to the husband cube.  I still love how Brachydios turned out.  I have yet to fish out my cross stitch stuff.  The mojo just hasn't been there.

I also managed a lot of progress on FFIII but it wasn't a finish like I had hoped.  It went from here...

before

...to here.

after

So it's getting there, slowly but surely.

📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚

Also, I read a few books.  I had originally intended this to be its own separate post but for reasons, it's getting tacked on here.  I like to read but am not a very avid reader (gee, I wonder if all the other hobbies take up too much time). I tend to stick with old favorites, rereading them as many times as I please.  I did not include any manga I have read although several series were sprinkled in throughout the year.

Italicized is a book I have never read before.   
Italicized and bolded is never read and a new-to-me author.

1. The Diamond Throne (David Eddings)
2. The Ruby Knight (Eddings)
3. The Sapphire Rose (Eddings)
4. Domes of Fire (Eddings)
5. The Shining Ones (Eddings)
6. The Hidden City (Eddings) 
7. The Redemption of Althalus (Eddings)
8. Hyperion (Dan Simmons)
9. The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
10. The Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
11. The Two Towers (Tolkien)
12. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (Terry Pratchett)
13. The 5 Love Languages (Gary Chapman)
14. The Return of the King (Tolkien) 
15. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Rowling et al.)
16. Anne of Green Gables (L. M. Montgomery)
17. Anne of Avonlea (Montgomery)
18. Anne of the Island (Montgomery)
19. Anne of Windy Poplars (Montgomery)
20. Anne's House of Dreams (Montgomery)
21. Anne of Ingleside (Montgomery)
22. Rainbow Valley (Montgomery)
23. Rilla of Ingleside (Montgomery)

I received both the Elenium and the Tamuli series by Eddings for Christmas 2015, and then just felt like rereading Althalus because he's fun.  Yes, I had never read a Terry Pratchett book before!  It was in our library's book sale for 25¢ and I took a liking to the ridiculous title. 5 Love Languages was interesting.  I found both my husband and I "speak" the same language: Acts of Service.  I hated Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.  It was like a horrible fanfic with none of the magic of the original books.  I put it in bold because surely Rowling did not write such a jaded view of the adult magical world.  I was fully intending to purchase this book but after reading it through the library it will never find a home with me!  strong feelings  One cannot just read one Anne book.  I can never pick a favorite of the series.  Maybe 1-3 and 5.

And then all my books were packed away for the move that felt like it was never-ending.

Okay, I think that is enough for this recap / catch-up post.  All of those items seem so far away, from a different life.  I'm not even going to do goals this year and just take things as they come and enjoy life outside of boxes.  Eventually.  The boxes are never-ending as well.

2015 Recap & 2016 Ambitions (Image Heavy)!

Aloha world!! I hope you had a Merry Christmas and received all your stitchy desires. :D 2015 is drawing to a close so I thought I'd better start working on my recap post since our Internet is probably going to protest the whole way.  We've just had a ton of rain, more than was really necessary and I think all of our state is closed due to the drama it has caused.  They've moved the planes at our local airport to higher ground because the Mississippi River is in major flood stage.  We are up on the bluffs so no danger here unless getting stuck in the muddy driveway is a danger!

Cross-Stitch
I managed 2.5ish SALs this year! In order to not have so many images in one post, I made a (rather ghetto) collage of them.

2015 finishes!

One SAL was Gifted Gorgeousness hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching. I think it was the most successful even if it doesn't have the most finishes.

1. I designed and stitched a Muppet "baby sampler" for a friend's first baby! I think turned out really cute (sorry, I won't show the whole thing because it contains the full name of their child). Would you believe I still have it?? We've been trying to get together for a while but life has just not played fair. I am afraid to mail it because it's somewhat large and with the glass and questionable mail services...! 
2. Next was the Dolphin Trio, a Dimensions kit given to me eons ago which turned into my longest WIP that I just sorta snacked on when the mood hit. I am so happy to have it finished!  It is not finished-finished but you know how it goes with finding Perfect Frames.
3. Next was Rathalos, a wyvern glyph from Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, a game both my husband and I love playing together.  The plan was to also stitch Rathian to go with him but silly me mentioned how nice a cube would be so four more are being planned.  Rathian colors continue to be a struggle.  Maybe I just don't like olive greens!

before

after

The next SAL was the Flower of the Month SAL hosted by Alyssa at Brownie's Chair.  This SAL seemed to fizzle out at the year went on though several did manage to keep posting about it.  I finished January, February, April (March was finished years earlier!), and May.  They are all done on 14-count ecru huck towels.  Since this post will also serve as the last FotM update, I made a tiny bit of progress on June's flower.  It felt good to get back to Xs after all the yarny things I've been doing lately!  And while I was stitching on this I thought to myself, "Hmm, these look somewhat like Rathian colors."  And then it hit me, these ARE Rathian colors!  I think.  But they do look right in the floss toss.  I'll probably fret some more over them though. :b

before, dug out in June

Lastly was IHSW hosted by Joyze at Random Ramblings.  I decided to work on Final Fantasy III during the weekends of this SAL took place/I felt like it!  It started off with a troublesome mistake which I finally put on my big girl panties and fixed it by means of doing the letters.  I keep feeling disappointed in myself over this piece thinking I hardly had any progress but with the before and after, it doesn't look too bad.   And the mistake is fixed!  I shall be very glad when I never have to stitch on it again though.  This one is determined to drive me nuts.

after

Crochet

just three more!

Since learning this in 2014, I feel like this year was a year to kinda expand my knowledge.  I joined a CAL that went waaaay too fast for me haha. But now I know Very Well how to do corner-to-corner crochet thanks to the zillion squares in the Christmas blanket yay!  I have all nine of the main ones complete now and have the others planned out in charts.  It is so very tempting to say yay~ I am done with the squares ahaha.  But I will be good and make three more so my blanket will be a more acceptable (to me) blanket size.  Rudolph was a Pain In The Buttocks.  Holy moly.  That mouth area was enough to drive me bonkers.  The gingerbread man was pretty rough too.

hey, more Rathalos colors?

doily in action oooo

I also made my first doily and first pair of house slippers, both of which I'm happy to say went over really well with Mr. Husband. :D  It's nice to have such an appreciative guy.  I will be making another pair of the slippers for myself (bluuuue) as my house slippers are currently disintegrating.  You can find the free pattern for them here (ravelry link).  I am disappointed to say this little doily is all that I managed to get finished, though.  Even though each motif takes about 1-1.5 hours, there just aren't enough sneaky hours in my day without ignoring everything else that needs done!  But now I don't have to be sneaky so I'll be able to work on them more often.

Knitting

dishcloths!

kitty prints scarf

This was my new adventure for the year!  I taught myself from books and am continuing to learn through a little group that meets roughly every two weeks at the library.  I first made some potholders (gotta start somewhere) and am currently working on a scarf that wants to curl like there's no tomorrow.  Since it is just the one skein of yarn, I take it almost everywhere with me.  The doctor's office, Mom's house, hotels...  I am a rather slow knitter so far though.  I am very excited to learn socks and then no foot will be safe from my needles!

Miscellaneous

this is Halloween, this is Halloween

My husband's company called for wreaths for their Christmas party with the "requirement" that they be the main colors of red, black, and white.  There was only one solution to that in our household! :D  We had a lot of fun making this and I learned a new thing about Mr. Husband -- he's really, REALLY good at picking colors and making little felt flowers (those swirlies at the bottom were all made by him proud peacock wife moment).  Sally's hair is a bit long in this picture; I trimmed it afterwards to make it even with the bottom of the wreath.

soooo tasty!

Next were these little ornaments made for some friends we have over for game night.  This little cat is named Airou and he's from the Monster Hunter world (same as Rathalos and Rathian).  They're made from felt and stuffed with yarn ORTs and felt scraps haha.  I love how these turned out and I think I should probably make another one for ourselves. :D

Overall and Ambitions Onward
I think I did okay for 2015.  I learned a new skill and that's always an amazing thing!  I also bought two patterns online (Frosted Pumpkin patterns, too! Eee!) for the first time ever (if you don't recall the vaaast majority of my stash is freebies and/or thrift store finds).  My goals for 2015 (this post) were mostly met *scooting FFIII under the bed* and thanks to the generosity of some stitchy friends, I got TWO needleminders!  They are remarkably useful inventions and I'm not sure how I survived without them.  One thing I mentioned in passing without any real goal was getting a calendar for my stitching.  My husband provided a small planner from his workplace (he does everything digital so he doesn't need it) and it worked rather well to track hours/days!  I hope he can get another one for this year and I will include crochet and knitting in there too.  Maybe.  :)

I'm not going to be overly ambitious in 2016 and just do what I want (like I don't already :b).  I have already signed up for 2016 GG so I can continue putting a dent in my gifted collection!   I love this SAL!  I don't know if the FotM SAL will continue but I will keep working on my huck towels because I want the set to be finished.  If IHSW continues I'll try to make appearances in it once in a while.  TUSAL will keep going too, maybe with yarn ORTs this time, oooOOOooo.

I WILL HAVE FFIII DONE IN 2016.  RAR.  famous last words

I think that is all from me.  I hope you all have a fantastic 2016!  My husband and I are rather stick-in-the-muds.  We'll probably just go to bed tonight and not watch any ball drop.  But we will have black eyed peas for supper on New Year's Day. Greens will have to be a salad haha. :)