Out with the old, in with the new...

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

We're three days into the new year and I've set up one of my knitting machines. To make room for its stand, I had to move the old desk into the storage room downstairs. That desk had been a wonderful home for my old desktop computer. Really old - a little more than five years, which in computer terms is just about ancient. You see, I got a laptop last fall that has become my constant companion but I wasn't quite ready to give the old faithful desktop computer so there it sat, used only occasionally. Today, as I took it apart, bundling up the mouse and keyboard (wired - do they even sell them anymore?) and all the other bits and pieces, it felt like the end of an era. A profound sense of sadness came over me as I reflected on all the things I'd learned and done with the help of that desktop computer and those that preceded it.

It was a transition. Transitions are good. They make us reflect on things we've done, wish we had done, wish we could have done differently, and those we'd like to accomplish going forward.

First, a look back at 2008:
I finished 18 garments and three home dec/accessory projects. Not nearly as impressive as some of the really prolific sewing bloggers but quite an accomplishment for me. I also made two wadders (plenty of lessons learned from those) and countless muslin mock-ups of patterns I was considering for various projects.

Of those 18 finished garments, 10 were dresses (the two wadders were also going to be dresses if this makes a statistical difference to anyone).

The number really surprised me because I have lived in pants this last year except for a precious few warm days when I could actually wear a dress.

At the end of last year, I pushed the issue a bit after making the wool jersey dresses - I packed very lightly for the trip to Paris: just the dresses and one pair of jeans that I vowed to wear only if I was miserably cold. Well, what do you know, I ended up wearing a dress every day seeing as how I didn't have that many choices :-) and I only wore the jeans on the last day when I was miserably cold and sick to boot. My point is that if I have nothing else, I will wear dresses even in bad weather. It seems pulling on a pair of pants is just an old habit and so...

Looking forward at 2009:

1. I'd like to wear dresses more often - that means I'll have to sew more of them. Ideally, I would like to increase my sewing productivity to 26 completed garments (at least 20 of them dresses).
   
2. I'd like to master the knitting machine so I can knit some Missoni-like fabric for more dresses.
3. I'd like to start putting embellishments on my creations - it won't be anything wild, it just wouldn't be me, but little touches like piping or tone-on-tone embroidery would be nice.

So there you have it - my dreams for the new year. I am formulating a plan to accomplish them all even as I type so hopefully this time next year, I'll be reporting great success.