I’ve had a few resolutions for this year, both professional and private. I’m always cautious of these New Year’s resolutions because I think that adding a new habit or getting rid of an old bad ones don’t depend on a date. If you can make something a daily (or weekly) routine, you’ll succeed anytime. But its a good starting point.

My private resolution is to regain my pre-natal strength and shape. It sounds cliche but what you probably don’t know about me is that I used to be quite athletic before I gave birth to two babies in 2 years. And soon after the second child-birth I lost almost 20 kgs (44 lbs). I can only blame myself (I just didn’t have time to eat) but let bygones be bygones… The problem is that I’m all skin and bones now and I really have to regain weight and I have to make it fast. Fortunately my spouse is a kettlebell instructor and we have quite many bells at home so I don’t even have to move outside the house to have an instructed workout. To make workouts a daily routine, I took part in the 10 000 swing challenge, which meant that I had to do 333 swings every day between 1st and 30th January (for those of you who don’t know what a kettlebell swing is, here’s a short video to demonstrate: (link) ). Sometimes I really thought that my whole day consisted of eating and doing swings… there were times when I hated it and wanted to give up but I didn’t. And finally it’s over! I made it! And I’m so proud! It really motivates me to continue (and by the way, managing 1-hour workouts three time per week seems a lot easier then managing 30-minutes 7 times…). So now I’m eating five times a day, doing workouts 3 times a week and keep counting calories to gain muscles and weight…

My most important professional resolution is to improve in designing knitting patterns. I designed a few hats last year but I didn’t find them challenging enough so I purchased a lot sock, shawl and sweater patterns from other designers to learn new techniques and I have already started to design my own pieces. Unfortunately I can’t show you anything yet because they are only existing in my head (and some ideas in my sketchbook) for the time being but as soon as I will have a quiet moment, I will start to write them down. This will come about the second half of February. My Ravelry group for test knitting is already open (it is called GK Test Knit), so if you would like to sign up, I will be more than happy to welcome you! ❤

I will have a really busy week since I am preparing for the last local craft show of the hat-season next Sunday (11 February) and I want to knit a ton of hats and cowls until then (I think it will do good to my yarn stash, too. It really needs refreshing). Plus my newborn props are debuting so I’m quite excited about this, too… 🙂 They are based on the patterns of a very talented designer called 3PLittleKnits, you can find their Etsy shop here: (link ). I just love their designs.

The beautiful pictures were taken by Englert Orsi Photography

Thank you for being with me, I hope to see you next week! And before I forget to mention: my GK Birthday Sale is still live but it ends in a few hours, so please check out my Ravelry Pattern Store today (February 4, 2018) because it will be gone by midnight CET! All patterns of The Enchanted Forest have 20% discount, no coupon codes needed.

KNIT.WEAR.SHINE.

XOXO,

Mici