Christmas 2009 is over (and was very fun), so now is the time that I start looking to the new year. I probably set New Year’s Resolutions for myself about half the time, and this year I’m going to jump on a bandwagon with a lot of other Americans – sort of.

Here’s the deal. I’m going to lose weight in 2010. How trite, huh? Before you die of boredom, hear me out. I have a cunning plan. I came up with this plan about a decade ago, and I think it’s time to put it in place.

My BMI (body mass index) falls smack-dab in the middle of the normal range. Oh, this is getting more boring by the second! The point is that I’m a healthy and active person, so weight loss isn’t something I need to do for my health. It’s for my face. This is my plan…

Over the next year I slowly lose weight to get myself down to the low end of normal on the BMI scale. Because I’m 5’11”, that’s TWENTY FIVE pounds. Holy shit. Anyway, I lose this weight slowly enough so that my skin has plenty of time to keep up and stay taut, especially on my face. I will maintain this weight for the next ten years or so, until I start to see old lady wrinkles on my face. Then I just gain ten or fifteen pounds to flesh-out my face a bit, and viola! Lines gone! No plastic surgery!

I’m pretty sure you’re laughing now, but all brilliant people get laughed at, so I’m flattered. Thank you.

When this plan is a glowing success, I’ll be on the Today show and everyone will want to do it. Watch this space for the next eleven years and you’ll see.

This is the last category of my favorite photos of the year – and no, I still don’t have my photo-taking-mojo back. Here are my self-portraits.

These are my favorites of 2009 and that’s all fine and good, but I think my Favorite Self-Portrait Ever still holds its title.

One of my goals with selfies is to push the limit with how different I can make myself look from one day to the next, whether it’s staging the photo, messing with hair and makeup, or manipulating the image in software. (Truth be told, I still haven’t taken the time to learn all about my camera and it’s settings, so those variables are out.)

So now I’m left with 41 days remaining in my photo project, and very little urge to pull out my camera right now. I have to hope that 2010 is the magic year that gets me going again, because I really do enjoy it.

This is Part II of my favorite photos of 2009 series. Still trying to get my photog mojo back.

While I was loading up the coffee maker this morning, I thought about a couple of handknits that I hadn’t bothered to photograph and put on Ravelry. Then I thought of a couple more. Then I started thinking about a ton of things I made this year that hardly got any attention at all. Lame! The number of things I knit and didn’t photograph has to be upwards of 30 items, because I know I made 23 Christmas gifts that were shipped off without so much as a blurry camera phone shot.

Ah, well. Bygones. Here are my nine favorite photos of things I made this year.

Next up – 2009 Favorites, Self-Portraits.

I’ve recently done something I didn’t think I’d ever do. I “paused” my year-long, photo-a-day project – on day 325, no less. Poof! I lost inspiration. I found myself skipping days and taking crap pictures, so I paused the project until I can get back into it again.

For the sake of trying to jump start my inspiration as well as wrapping up the year, I browsed the photos I took in 2009 and picked out my favorites. Here’s Part 1, Basenji Bonanza.

Next up, 2009 Favorites – The Knits

Things have been quiet here at verypink.com, but not at Verypink Headquarters.

The weather is cooler, and the business of knitting is busier than ever. My knitting classes are full (or overflowing), and I have private lessons all day. Then there is also Christmas knitting – I’ve been finished with my Christmas gifts twice already, now I’m back to just one more. I also have two newly-finished sweater designs that are just waiting for me to release the patterns.

But I can handle all of these things without trouble, even with four dogs. The stickler is that I’m feeling tendinitis creeping into my wrist and elbow, so I need to save all of my arm/hand use for knitting, which means that I need to spend less time on the computer. The horror!

You will find a new Pona update over on the Basenji Rescue site, and I’ll post an update on everything else very soon. Even if I have to type it with my nose.

A few weeks ago I got this email from a reader named Fiona:

Hi Staci,
This is possibly a little bit strange but I just wanted to write to you to say well thanks. I’ve been reading your blog for probably around about 4 years now and have always been very impressed with all your knitting. So much so that in August 2006 I decided to give it a go for myself, now both my grans knitted like demons and my mum dabbled so they had all tried to teach me before but nothing doing, so my mum was surprised to be asked to show me again. I took to the knitting this time and it stuck, after admiring your clapotis I followed the link to knitty.com, started posting on the message board there and eventually found my way into the chat room.

There, as these storys often go, I met a boy.

At the end of August that boy became my husband and we are currently in the process of getting me a visa so I can go and live with him (he’s American, I’m Scottish).

So my point, I wanted to thank you for being an inspiration and leading me to discovering a hobby that I really enjoy and which has ultimately led me to finding someone I aim to spend the rest of my life with!

All the best
Fiona H.

*Sniff*. Someone pass the tissues. What an awesome story, Fiona. Thank you for letting me share it. Best of luck to you and your husband, and may all your “pains” be “champagnes”.

By the way…does he have a single brother? 🙂

Here is the progression of my Halloween costume this year:

	First, I scored a black wig for $6 at Target…
	Then I made a fake pregnant belly using pantyhose, fiberfill, and rubber bands…
	I collected a few more bits, including black liquid eyeliner…
	And, bang! Chola! Here is one definition of Chola from UrbanDictionary.com: hardcore latina gangbangers. They usually have thin, arched, angry looking tattooed-on or penciled-on eyebrows, brown or dark red lip liner, …tats, Converse or Nikes, flannel shirts, lots of gold jewlrey (with their name and crosses), crunchy gelled or moussed hair either down or gelled in a high perfect ponytail either straight back or gelled in a design, and they go out with cholos.
	I got myself off to my friend Kristin’s Halloween party. Here I am with two of my good knitta friends, Steven and Meg, in Alison‘s awesome party photobooth. So much fun. I always see Halloween as the first wild night of the holiday season. Onward!

If you’re interested in an update on Pona, I just posted one today on the Basenji Rescue Blog.

The haiku speaks the truth! I took NyQuil last night, and before the medicine had even hit my throat, all of my muscles relaxed and begged for sleep. Classic conditioned response. I slept for 11 hours last night.

I felt the woozies of a virus coming on last night, and I like to attack the symptoms while they’re tiny and manageable before they can really get a grip on my body. My head is a little swimmy this morning, but so far so good!