Ten on Tuesday: 2012 Edition

I don’t know about you, but I am all sorts of optimistic and excited about 2012. I am confident it is going to be a productive year. Carole’s prompt for today, Ten Things You Want to Do in 2012, is perfect to help me focus on how to make the year everything I want it to be.

1. Publish e-book of crochet patterns. Since summer I’ve been slowly stitching away on a series of potholder patterns, one of which is available already through CraftSanity Magazine. My nephew is going to do the layout design work for me, and I’m looking forward to the challenges of creating an e-book. Of course, having taken an e-book class with Shannon at the Knitgrrl [virtual] Studio, I have a solid base from which to experiment.

2. Ride a century. I love my Trixie Trek bike. I’ve been training inside as I’m a wimp about riding in the cold, and once the warm weather is back, I plan to put many, many miles on Trixie to train for a 100-mile ride. I might get a bike tattoo once I reach that goal!

3. Refine my elegant, minimal wardrobe. I spent close to a year dressing with 33 items. Different items each quarter, but still limited. All fall I’ve been planning a new minimal wardrobe project in which I spend the 52 weeks of 2012 with only 52 items. Don’t worry, I’ll share my list with you later this week!

4. Sketch and paint more. I get a lot of pleasure from drawing and painting, even if the results don’t satisfy me. Neal recently made the wise observation that if I wanted to improve my watercolors, I ought to watercolor more often. Wise man.

5. Make a souffle. The scene in Sabrina when she is at the culinary school in Paris and forgets to turn on the oven when making her souffle amuses me. I hope I will at least turn on the oven!

6. Garden with Greater Gusto. I had little gusto for gardening in 2011. I’m aiming for a bumper crop of veggies in 2012!

7. Knit TTL Mystery Socks. I’ve done my gauge swatch, and maybe later today I’ll work on the cuffs. I’ve never made it through the KAL as its usual run in October comes at a too-busy time for me. I’m optimistic that I’ll do better with my participation in January.

8. Knit Sprossling. I have the yarn. I have the pattern. I want this sweater, and the only way I’m going to get it is to make it, right?

9. Build my conversational French skills. I have a good schoolgirl’s grip on French. I can read it passably. I can manage to get out a few phrases that keep me from appearing rude. The next time I go to visit Sara, though, I want to not only speak more fluently, but more importantly, to be able to understand the replies of those with whom I’m speaking. I’m going to use this BBC course as a start, and I also plan to visit a nearby French patisserie for their conversation nights.

10. Cultivate kindness. It’s all too easy to get snappy and judgey, which I dislike in myself. I’m going to strive to break myself of those reactions as much as possible.

11. Be bold. I’ve long believed that life is too precious and short to be wishy-washy and cautious. I’m not afraid of failure, yet I am not as bold as I know I could be, so in 2012, I want to open myself up even more to the possibilities and risks before me.

12. Dance. My body and heart love to move, and this year I want to try out different forms of dance. Jen has long inspired me with her ballet tweets, Neal became intrigued by contra dance recently, and I’ve always loved to swing. This is the year to dance!

Yes, you saw right; I broke the rules and listed TWELVE things because it is 2012! The list could go on and on, and my personal journal has a list I’m building that does seem to go on and on.

What about you? What is on your list?