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project 7/52 . . .

. . . a complete cheat this week. Little Man is about to 'graduate' to another room at his day care and we want to give the women who have looked after him something to remember him by (that isn't snot and temper tantrums). I had three notebook covers already made in my 'stash' but there are four women . . . so I made another one. In yellow.

project 6/52 . . .

 . . . plum jam. I refer you to the fine print - I specified 'make something' and while that usually means 'make something by sewing my fingers raw', occasionally it also means 'make something not sewn'. Very, very occasionally it means 'make something by cooking'. Last week I made jam. Believe me, this is a rarity.

I am currently . . .

 . . . on holiday which means I am busy travelling round small-town op shops, collecting knitting patterns and old sheets. Today, for your viewing pleasure, I bring you 'Fontana Men' . . .

 . . . 'Creepy Men' . . .

 . . . and one that I like to call 'Seriously?!?!'

I mean seriously? Out of all the photos they took for the cover was THIS photo the best of the lot? What the hell were the others like?  The woman on the right? Not her best angle. I am pretty sure she also makes an appearance in 'Creepy Men' and she looks normal there so they have really done a number on her in this photo.

And in other news, on Saturday I ran a half marathon (it's on my 'list'). Once upon a time, back in the days of disposable income and sleep, I used to run quite regularly. Now it's something that has to fit round the edges of life. My preparation for this event was therefore less than ideal. I also got a bit sick in the days leading up to the race - why is it that your body feels compelled to fall apart the moment you go on holiday?

My initial aim was to finish in under two hours, but after I got sick I revised that to 'getting my sorry arse across the finish line before the race officially ends'.

As it turned out it wasn't (quite) as bad as I was expecting. A fly flew into my eye around the 14km mark which was a little distracting (what are the chances?) and by the 19km mark my left hip was threatening to come out of its socket and complete the race on its own. But the day was sunny, the scenery was glorious (Buller Gorge) and in the end I just scraped in under two hours: 1 hour 55 minutes 48 seconds.

project 5/52 . . .

Yes yes, I know. I'm late. I did make these last week but didn't have a chance to post them until now . . .

Felt balls for a friend who doesn't know she is getting them yet. She was wanting something to decorate her mantelpiece and, in true Christchurch style, it had to be something that wouldn't break or have the potential to become a lethal object if it suddenly became airborne. Felt balls - the obvious choice.

project 4/52 . . .

. . . pink and green birds, a belated birthday present (resolution FAIL) for a dear friend who likes pink and green.

project 3/52 - diary cover

I used to treat myself to the Moleskine diary, back in the days when I had disposable income and full nights of sleep. These days my finances can't quite stretch to it - child to feed and all that. So this year I started the hunt for a Moleskine equivalent. I was resigning myself to the Collins A5 when I stumbled across Typo and this little beauty:

Page a day, which I like. And, best of all, it was a mere $5 because by the time I got round to buying it the year had started. I was stoked.

So this week's project 52 is a diary cover in glorious shades of snot. I do like snot colours.

While I usually prefer asymmetry, my obsessive compulsive tendencies got the better of me this time and I was compelled to put a bird on the front and back.

project 2/52 - two birds . . .

 . . . with one stone. Today's Project 52 is also my entry into this national competition.

(Please excuse the crap photography - damn my complete inability to compensate for white backgrounds!).

It was an interesting exercise and by interesting I mean 'not to be repeated in a hurry'. I should have started it earlier - weeks earlier.

While the competition determined the theme, the end result is something that I would be happy hanging in Little Man's room . . . and this is where it is destined to end up.

And in other news, we've bought a caravan. A 1972 Zephyr. We actually bought it about a month ago but this weekend was its first outing. Muz has these golden memories from his youth of caravan holidays with his family. I have a slightly more realistic idea of just how much fun you can have away from your own toilet and shower, but I am still up for the challenge.

We went about an hour out of town because we didn't want to go too far afield, given that we are caravan novices. We forgot a lot of stuff (essential stuff, like insect repellent) and we didn't put up the awning properly but hey, that's what the outing was all about. It was a test run and, even with all our amateur mistakes (and there were many), we had a ball.

project 1/52 . . .

. . . starting it off easy with the whole 'make something every week' resolution.

Behold, a cluster of baby tops destined for yet another friend who now knows why sleep deprivation is a form of torture.

Uninspiring, I know, but I am pacing myself. I still have 51 projects to go and I don't want to peak too early.

putting it out there . . .

 . . . which is not something I do with New Year's resolutions. In fact as a general rule I don't even write them down. That's waaaaaay too much of a commitment. I much prefer to keep them 'in my head', where they remain fluid and flexible. I like to be able to manipulate them to suit how my life actually turns out that year. When everyone knows the original resolution was to 'write more letters', it's hard to claim success with 'send more emails'.

Anyway, I saw this and thought that maybe this year I'd actually hold myself to my resolutions. I am a firm believer in the power of peer pressure. There is nothing quite so motivating as the collective pressure of your peers, weighing heavily upon your judgement. Don't want to go for a run today? That's fine, Katy. It's your choice . . . if you think you can live with the SHAME of EVERYONE KNOWING you have FAILED.

Yep, peer pressure really taps into all my inner insecurities. 

So here we go - this is what I hope to achieve in 2012:

Bottom right square has intentionally been left blank - I need a little wiggle-room, people.

Edit: My decidedly amateur-looking resolutions are now part of this gallery. Ante has just been upped. Peer pressure is weighing even more heavily upon me . . .