January Intentions
I haven't made any grand resolutions with the start of the new year. I don't plan to reinvent myself, or stop purchasing anything except groceries, or become a gym rat. I love watching other people set these goals and try to stick to them. But, for me, I find winters in Ireland to be an extremely difficult time for my mental health. The short days, cold temperatures, and perpetually grey skies don't inspire a feeling of new beginnings. I want to hibernate, stick close to home, daydream, be gentle with myself, survive until springtime.
However, something that I have really been enjoying doing lately is making monthly intentions. Basically these are goals or resolutions under another name, but with less pressure, more focus on my life as a whole, and with a shorter time frame. I have no idea what I'm going to be in the mood to accomplish in six months time, but I have a pretty good idea of what I would like to focus on for the next few weeks. I first started focusing my time like this a few months ago when the 'personal curriculum' trend was taking over social media. The basic idea is to think about what you want to learn or achieve within the month and then to create for yourself a syllabus, reading list, projects, maybe even a test or field trip at the end of your time-frame. It's amazing what I can achieve when I put myself back into the academic mindset. I always liked being in school and the structure that it brought into my life, so why did I feel like I had to give that up now that I'm no longer pursuing a degree?
At the end of each month, I sit down and really think about where I want to focus my energy in the next month and what I can realistically achieve. I think about any deadlines I have for work, any interests that are top of my mind, classes I am interested in taking, events I plan to attend, seasonal tasks that need doing, or topics I want to research. I make a big list and write all of these things down, then I start to whittle that list down and choose a few that are the most exciting to me and that work well together. These become my monthly intentions.
After I have an idea of where my next month will be taking me, I go through my bookshelves and pull out any books I have that fit the subjects I'm going to be focusing on. I reserve other books from the library. I choose television shows, movies, and podcasts that are appropriately themed that I might want to watch or listen to throughout the month. I try to find a museum exhibition I can visit or a live online lecture I can watch that reinforces the topics. I make myself a rough schedule to follow.
For January, because I know it's a month where I have very little energy or motivation to do anything, I kept my intentions simple and gentle. I have no deadlines within the month for sewing commissions; the garden is hibernating under frost; I have no travel plans. I simply want to prepare my spaces for the coming months and lay the groundwork for big projects I want to focus on later in the year. I know this sounds incredibly vague, but underneath the general topic, I have some more specific goals and tasks.
- I want to clean and organize our barn as a first step in making it a usable workshop for garden tasks, natural dyeing, woodworking, and metal casting.
The barn has become a giant mess since we moved here a little over a year ago. It's filled with boxes of items left by the previous owners of the house and our own items we want to donate that are no longer serving us since we moved, tools that don't have a proper home yet that are strewn on every available surface, scrap pieces of wood, broken pieces of furniture that were left in the barn by the previous owners, soda cans that need to be taken to the shop for deposit return, bins of birdseed, cat beds for the feral cats, firewood and pellets for our stoves, and tons of other random things. Now that we have a car we can start to take some of these things to the dump, the charity shop, the recycling center, and make some space to organize what is left.
- I want to make a plan for our garden this year.
I like to think that I'm not a complete novice when it comes to gardening (I absolutely am). I've had small gardens over the years at our various rental properties. I grew tomatoes on our balcony in one apartment, peppers in pots in a rented house, ferns took over our patio in Dublin. But the garden here feels very different. For one thing, I don't have to think about picking it up and transporting it the next time we move (I'm still having trouble internalizing that we won't be moving again in a year or two. So bizarre after all the major moves we've made together.)
We also took over a beautiful, mature garden when we moved in to this property. The previous owners put a lot of thought, time, and love into landscaping and filling the garden with native plants that provide interest all year round. We are incredibly lucky and grateful. I am also slightly overwhelmed. Plants in Ireland take over if you don't keep them trimmed back regularly. I don't know what they all are and which plant is a weed and which was planted intentionally. I'm slowly learning their names and how to tend to each shrub and tree. So, I want to continue educating myself about the plants we already have in the garden and the best way to take care of them.
Pictures of our beautiful, wild, slightly neglected and overgrown garden and field throughout the last year.
In addition to general maintenance of the garden we already have, I want to start the slow process of transforming our field into an extension of the garden. This is a very long term goal for me. I'm dreaming about future decades when I picture the land covered in apple trees, a pond with ducks paddling around, raised beds full of vegetables surrounding a greenhouse, chickens scratching around the dirt, bees buzzing around the flowers. But I can start to lay the groundwork for this transition in the coming months if I plan now.
-I will purchase and plant apple trees and willow shoots this winter.
I'm planning to purchase 4 or 5 apple trees from the Irish Seed Savers Association. It will be a fun day out with friends to go and select our baby trees and hopefully have tea and cake in the cafe at the Irish Seed Savers orchard.
Pictures I took at the Irish Seed Savers orchard in September, when Orlaith and I took on class about starting your own orchard.
And I've already ordered a large selection of willow cuttings from a local source. They are scheduled to arrive in early February, so I need to make a final decision about where they will go, and get any supplies and tools I will need to plant them.
-I will research when the next local class on beekeeping starts and try to register. I have a dream of having my own hives, but I want to make sure I can take care of these little creatures responsibly before I bring them into our lives.
-I will read books from my bookshelf that I have been collecting about gardening and try to plan when and where I will plant each seed and try to learn a little more about how best to take care of our land.
-I will take down the fence that separates our manicured garden from the open field.
-I will prune roses, trees, and bushes that need shaping before they start growing again in the spring.
- I want to pick up knitting again and improve my skills.
I have knit off and on for a few years now, making a few very simple scarves and pot holders. I haven't ever gotten to the point where the actions feel natural in my hands or where I have the muscle memory to confidently continue knitting when I look away to watch television or read a book. I haven't ever taken the time to learn how to increase or decrease or to play around with various cast-on and bind-off methods. But I want to change this and improve my skills finally. I have a goal to knit a sweater for myself, and this month is about leveling up my knitting ability and confidence so that I feel ready to jump in to that bigger project.
I find this intention especially helpful for a month like January because it gives my exhausted, unable to get out of the house, low motivation days something to grasp onto. I am keeping yarn and knitting needles by the couch, and it is quickly becoming a habit to reach for them to keep my hands busy and my mind occupied instead of doom-scrolling endlessly through social media. Every stitch is a win that deserves to be celebrated.
Three patterns I am hoping to work on this month. (photos by the designers, linked below)
There are three patterns I have chosen to work on this month, in increasing difficulty. The pictures above are from the pattern websites, I'll link them below in case you want to cast on with me!
-Mistaken Rib Scarf by Purl Soho. I've chosen this project to remind my hands how to knit and purl, how to keep tension properly, how to cast on and bind off. Just a simple, mindless project to get back in the habit after a long time of not knitting. I've made a similar scarf for Daniel a few years ago, and have yarn in my stash to make this one for myself.
-Sophie Scarf by Petite Knit. Once I remember the basics, I want to teach myself how to increase and decrease and how to make this cute i-cord edge. I have been wanting one of these scarves for a while now, it looks simple and achievable and everyone's finished scarves look amazing on Instagram! I have yarn in my stash for this too; I love that it can be made with only one skein.
-Step by Step Sweater by Florence Miller. If I can get to a point where knitting feels comfortable, I want to dive straight into my first knit garment this month. I've read a lot of reviews for this pattern and it seems like people have good success with this as their first knit sweater. I love that Florence Miller offers this pattern for free and even has a YouTube video walking you through every step of the process.
Florence Miller
Do you make yourself monthly intentions like this? Are you someone who sets New Years resolutions?
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