Cartoon via String-Theory Blog
I've been thinking about my knitting goals for 2014 for some time now. I toyed with a lot of creative possibilities. I thought it could be fun to focus on one particular category of FO's for a year -- all hats or neckwear or baby things.
Choosing a particular technique like colorwork or double knitting to perfect for the next 12 months was another idea.
Then I pondered the possibility of choosing a single fiber to knit with for the year (linen is a current love and silk could be interesting) or a single weight of fiber, say only fingering or worsted weight yarns.
But in the end, I settled on perhaps one of the most common goals for knitters at the start of a new year -- a three-fold S-plan for knitting through my current stash of yarn.
I have, over the past few years, purchased a number of interesting yarns I've wanted to try and I still want to knit them up. Some I've been afraid of because it seemed like they were so special I should save them until I found the "perfect" project or I became a more proficient knitter etc. but it's time to just bite the bullet and enjoy them however the FO turns out.
I also have quite a number of single skeins of 'new to me' yarns that I bought with the express purpose of knitting up a smaller project to see how a particular fiber or combination of fibers works out and how well it washes and wears over time.
And then there's all the lovely left-over bits of yarn from other projects I've done -- maybe not enough for a single knit but by combining a few I might make something useful.
So here's my three-fold plan:
1.Specialty yarns -- Put aside my fear, choose a project, and get knitting.
2. Single Skeins -- choose smaller projects to test these out and put them into active service. The Linette scarf is the first single skein project of 2014 so I'm off to a good start here.
3. Scrap Yarn -- Experiment with colorwork projects to make good use of all these bits and pieces. I've almost finished one of these projects too, details to come soon.
I'm not suggesting that I'll stop buying yarn altogether but I hope to focus first on working with the yarns I already have before I'm tempted by something shiny and new or (heaven forbid) sale yarn.
I also hope that some of these yarns will be knit up into things I'd like to gift so that I can stock my knitted gift box through the year. It would make things much less stressful come holiday time.
So, what about your knitting goals for 2014? What are you hoping to accomplish this year?
Love the comic and your list of goals! Good luck and look forward to seeing how it all goes this year!
My knitting goal is to finish the afghan I've been working on for years now :P Just 2 more pieces out of 8 to do! I also want to do a couple other smaller goals, but not sure what yet --- either trying/learning a couple different techniques, or doing a couple smaller projects that I've never done (socks, kids sweater, etc.)
Posted by: Alyssa | 01/10/2014 at 01:00 PM