craft and riding goals for the year

Today I'm going to post my craft goals and my motorcycle riding goals for this year.  I'm not really into making resolutions, but I am a goal-oriented personality and I generally work better with a plan, so I've set some goals to hang structure on as the opportunity arises.  First, the crafting goals!

Quilting
1) Finish three quilts this year.  I currently have three in progress, two of which are twin-size, and another one planned out in my head and another 2-3 still in the formative stages.  So I think this is a reasonable goal.
2) Take two classes this year.  Last year I took a kaleidoscope class with my friend Christy, and we both enjoyed it and learned a lot during the session.  I'm already scheduled to take a scrap quilting class at the Sewing Expo, and I'm still looking through the Pacific Fabrics catalog to determine if there's something on the winter schedule that I would like to do.

Cross-Stitch
Finish two projects this year.  I'm mostly done with my QR code piece, and I have the materials and pattern for a dragon piece from Game of Thrones, so this goal is more about execution than learning.

Knitting
Finish two projects this year.

This is my newest skill/craft, as I just learned over Thanksgiving when my mama taught me how to do the knit stitch.  I'm working on a scarf now using yarn I picked out (Debbie Bliss Rialto merino wool, apparently in fingering weight!) on size 6 needles, and it's taking a while.  That's okay, as I want to be sure I have a firm grasp of the concept, and the knitted fabric is coming out super soft and very nice.  Here's what I have so far - I'm most of the way through one (of four) balls of yarn, and my scarf is currently 9" wide and about 7.5" long.  This should end up getting me a scarf at least 32" long, which may be short for some but is fine for me just to tuck into a coat when I need one.

The lighting in here doesn't do the color justice, it's a beautiful royal purple.  Everything is going well so far, although I'm having a bit of a kerfuffle around the top left corner where I messed something up last night, got it fixed, and then got startled by my husband and screwed it up again.  I think I have it under control now - there's a mistake there, but I'm back to the right number of stitches and I think it'll look fine once I get a few more rows on.  And hey, what's a first knitting project without a few errors?

Yesterday I went to the closest yarn shop to me and ended up going home with some bright lime green wool in worsted weight and a set of size 7 needles.  I want to start another scarf so I can learn the purl stitch at the same time, and then I'll have two to practice castoffs on once they're done.  I think once I can do caston, knit, purl, and castoff I'll be ready to take advanced beginner or intermediate knitting classes, which seem to be shorter and easier to fit into my schedule than some of the beginner series that I've found.

Finally, my goals for motorcycling this year!

Motorcycling
1) Commute to work over 200 days this year.  In 2011 I managed 211 days, and in 2010 I managed 202, so this is achievable barring some seriously bad weather.
2) Put 10,000 miles or more on my bike.  In 2011 I rode 10,541 miles, so again this is doable.
3) Take at least 2 fun rides during the year.  Last year we only managed one, when a friend was visiting from Texas, and I'd like to do another one or two.  Maybe a ride down/around Mt. St. Helens would be grand!

And that's all for today!