Bell's Palsy, 2017 sewing goals and StackMyKnitsUp

General update
I've been ill for most of January so far: I had a virus that knocked me out for a week, and now I have Bell's Palsy on the right hand side of my face. I've been assured by the doctor that, as it's probably related to the virus, it should get better in a few weeks and there shouldn't be any permanent damage. For now I can't really do any of the stuff that I usually do; I'm slow, tired, and screens are painful to look at for more than a few minutes, so while I wrote most of this post about a week ago, it's taken until now for me to have a good read-through.

I had a lot I wanted to achieve sports-wise this year, and needless to say I am WAY behind on that front. I've ridden less than 30 miles this year, and I haven't run since November thanks to the broken toe. Honestly I'm thinking I need to shelf my cycling and running goals altogether and concentrate on meeting a step goal instead, because I feel a million miles away from being able to do even half of what I'd planned.

Sewing
Sewing-wise, I've purchased a few patterns but have not done an awful lot with them. I've printed and cut the pieces for the Sew Over It Ultimate Shift dress, and I'm hoping to finish it by the end of the week, as by all accounts it's quite straightforward.

As I'm still quite new to sewing, I've been really keen to come up with a #makenine list, but I've been struggling to make decisions. I am definitely going to be making these, though:

   Sew Over It Ultimate Shift Dress (in progress)
   Spot Pocket Skirt from No Patterns Needed book (in progress)

   Birch Yoga Pants - these will be a gift and will need to be done early in the year.

   By Hand London Anna Dress

   Homemade dress form (I'm not sure if this counts!)

I also love, and have bought, these patterns, but I'm undecided about what fabric to use:
 
   Sew Over It Ultimate Trousers
   Tilly and the Buttons Rosa Shirt/Dress (Rosa from the Sewn vlog made an awesome dress from Liberty needlecord, but I also love Tilly's own kitty shirt)

On the "maybe" pile are some miscellaneous ideas that I've had, that may or may not come to anything:
   Tilly's Miette skirt
   A raglan t-shirt

   A cardigan 

   A kimono style wrap dress to pull on after summer swims
   Pyjama top from Wear Lemonade (free pattern)
   Sorbetto (free pattern)

   Pink cord tulip skirt (draft from my own khaki one) 

Skills-wise, I think I still have a lot to learn about the basics, and I think that I'm still at the stage where I'll learn something from every pattern I use. I'm really pleased that I've already managed a few things like sewing with jersey, but I think the main thing I learned in 2016 is to take my time tying up loose ends, and finishing things properly. I'd like to work on/try some nice hand-finishing - blind hems, slip stitch, and all sorts of basics that I feel like I might have been taught 20 years ago in school. I think a priority also has to be fitting toiles and trying some re-drafting. I'm really excited to make my dress form as I think it'll help a lot!

In other news
I did manage to do a little bit of painting. I have plans to make a whole series of these for my craft room our guest bedroom, sticking to a crafty theme, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out! Children of the '90s might notice the reference to a certain Prodigy track that attracted a fair amount of controversy at the time. If incorporating something into a knitting-related pun doesn't neutralise it, then I don't know what will.

Blog goals?

I'm really new to blogging and I don't think I'll ever be the sort of person who can churn out beautiful posts, but (after this one!) I'm going to aim to have at least one decent photo per post. Because my screen-time is so limited at the moment my main goal is to take fewer, better pictures. This should get me better at using my camera, and it'll mean I can spend very little time deleting and editing bad photos!

xx