Hello lovely followers! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, or if you don’t celebrate it, then a wonderful day nonetheless. 🙂

First, a little shameless self-promotion. I’ve been really liking Instagram over the past few months, and I post there quite frequently. So if you want to keep up with my crafting misadventures, please go follow me! 🙂

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I wanted to write one last post in 2016, and I happened upon this list of resolutions I made last year. I completely forgot I had written these, so it was interesting for me to go through them. Let’s see how I did! 🙂

2015 New Years Resolutions

1) Reach 300 followers

I think we were at around 250 followers when I moved back to wordpress.com, putting me right back at zero. But I value the smaller number of followers I have because you all are so supportive and kind. I’d rather have just a few lovely folks like you than a whole tribe of people just for the sake of it. 🙂

2) Finish blogging Unraveled

In case you’re confused, this is the book I’ve been blogging on Once Upon a Yarn – you can view past chapters here. In November I finished writing it, which I’m really happy about, but I didn’t post it all here. It ended up much too long for that, actually. 😛 I’m still going to mark it as done, though, because I did finish writing it.

3) Learn my way around WordPress.org

Well…I ended up moving back to wordpress.com. But I learned a lot about self-hosted blogging and domains and all that good stuff, so I consider it a success. In the future I would really like to have a .com, but not until blogging can become a bigger priority. It was a fun adventure!

4) Finish my granny rose afghan

Yes, and I’m so proud of it! <3 I got the Attic24 yarn pack for my 17th birthday, and it took me about a year to make this.

5) Crochet a sweater

I did a Bee and Puppycat cosplay, which I really need to write about sometime, and made this sweater for it. I was delighted that it actually fit. 😛

6) Crochet some Star Wars-themed things (and post about them)

Well, I did make a bunch of Star Wars things. I wasn’t as good about posting about them though. But thinking back, I made two Yodas, two Obi-Wan Kenobis, one Han Solo, one Rey, two BB-8s, and half a Luke Skywalker. (I have to finish the arms.) I think that counts as “some Star Wars-themed things.” That’s what I get for having Star Wars-obsessed friends. 🙂

7) Hold a crochet-a-long

I completely forgot writing this down! It was a good goal, but it didn’t happen. I think this would be fun to do sometime, but probably in the more distant future. I love participating in CALs. 😀

4/7 isn’t too bad. I’m happy with what I managed to get done in the blogging world, although I wasn’t as active as I hoped. 🙂

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So that begs the question, what are my goals for this year? Time to do what everyone else is doing this time of year and make a list!

2017 Resolutions

1. Look into publishing Unraveled. This is a scary one, but it’s my top priority this year, writing-wise. It’s terrifying to put your work out there, but I really need to stop procrastinating and do it already. 😛
2. Crochet the shawl I promised y’all, the one from Unraveled. I had a few requests for a pattern, which absolutely delighted me, so it will be fun to work on this when I get a chance.
3. Post once a month. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s still better than nothing. Something to aim for anyway. I’m now a full-time college student and don’t have the energy to post regularly.
4. Build up my Instagram following. How about 300 followers in a year? A little overly ambitious, maybe. ;P
5. Open an Etsy shop. Ack, this is scary too! But I really want to sell crochet patterns – not finished objects. It would be an adventure!

2016 Highlights (in which I get a little sentimental)

The new year is always a little difficult for me. Blogging has been a great comfort – the knowledge that a part of myself has been preserved here, that I can go back and look at events in my life, is reassuring. I think it’s a very similar thing to journaling. I really appreciate all of you sticking with me. My blog has changed a lot over the four years, but I’ve met some really wonderful people and am grateful for the friends I’ve made. I may have never met you in person, but you’re a big part of my life. 🙂

This morning I was thinking about how done I am with 2016, how I’m absolutely ready for it to be over. That’s true, I am ready for 2017, but I also had forgotten how many great things happened this year. I went back through my iPhoto library, which is how I keep a record of things, and found myself smiling at a bunch of pictures. It was a good reminder of the positive side of 2016. No, maybe it wasn’t my favorite year, but there were still a lot of good things. So for my future self and for any curious readers, I wanted to post some of my favorite pictures. (None of my family, out of respect for them not wanting their faces plastered on my little corner of the internet. That doesn’t mean they weren’t a highlight of the year!)

I got to spend five weeks on the most beautiful island in the world, volunteering for Canoe Island French Camp. That’s an experience I will never forget, and it was an amazing learning experience. I think I grew a lot. (Both figuratively and literally…unfortunately…they had really good chefs.)

(Dork.)

I started college full-time and discovered I really, REALLY like French and writing. And may have more of Hermione’s obsessiveness in me than I thought. 😛

Wheeee, a pair of crocheted socks! I managed to crochet both my mom and my dad a pair of socks that fit. Crocheting socks was on my bucket list, and I’m super happy to finally know how to make them. They’re really fun.

I got to see my favorite author, Marissa Meyer, twice. (Unless the first one was in 2015…my memory is a little hazy…but I don’t think so.)

I went to Rose City Comic Con with one of my best friends and geeked out for an entire day.

And yes, I did a lot of crocheting. 🙂

This has been a really long post, but I like having a record of things. Ten points to your Hogwarts house if you stuck with this post to the end! 🙂 I’d love to hear any high points that happened during your 2016. Or the low points. Those are important too. I just hope you had more good than bad. I’ll see you guys in the new year… thank you for being so lovely. 🙂

Happy New Year!