Assessing the Year

Things Knit

I got a lot of stuff done this year, however, most of it was for holiday gifts. I made three cowls out of Mecha. One was for my cousin, one was for my undergrad professor of Religion, and one was for me, and I wear it almost every day now, though it has stretched a bit. It's soft and warm and I like it a lot more than a scarf.

For the holidays, the official count is:

Six Honey Cowls

Three Grid Scarves

Three Irish Hiking Scarves

Two Feather-and-fan Scarves

Two Grace Jones Cowls

One Ombre Cowl

I got a lot of knitting done, sometimes making myself a bit crazy in the process. I wish I could knit faster, but I am not unimpressed with my output for the year. I churned out about 20 projects this year, and I'm happy with that.

Old Resolutions

I resolve not to buy so much yarn this year. I am at 21 bins, and could add one or two more.

All I can say is that the universe smacked me upside the head for this hubris. I bought a lot of yarn this year. Three trips to New Orleans meant a trip or two each time to The Quarter Stitch, and I also found a new yarn store in the Marigny, which was a lot of fun. I went on the Greater Boston Yarn Crawl, and spent double the money I'd budgeted for it, and then there was the NH Sheep and Wool Festival. These all added large quantities to my stash, but I also bought yarn through the year from a couple of LYSs that I frequent. Some of the stuff got knit up immediately, and some of it was for holiday gifts. I also bought yarn three different times for the same gift, each time finding something better than what I'd already got. I failed miserably in this particular endeavour, and if I make this resolution again, I'll really have to do better (and of course, I'm already saving money each month for both the NH Sheep & Wool Festival and for Rhinebeck).

I will knit my stash. I will use all that lovely beautiful yarn I've acquired over the years.

I tried, I really did, to knit my stash. I made four of the six Honey Cowls from stash yarn. One of the Irish Hiking Scarves was stash yarn. And that's about it. I failed miserably at this resolution.

I will finish the projects I have on the needles before casting on new ones. Well, most of them, at least. Well, some of them, I'm sure. In some sort of order.

I think I actually finished one project that was on the needles, maybe in January or February. But this was another resolution that didn't work out for me. I really need to assess what old projects I've got on the needles, and determine if they really need to be finished after all.

I will make some items for myself.

Uummmmm. Well, I did make a cowl for myself, in January. And that was about it. I would like to make some sweaters for myself in the new year.

I will blog more.

This is the one place where I shined. I wanted to write at least two blog posts per week, eight per month. I succeeded writing eight blog posts for six months. I wrote nine entries in one month, and 10 entries for another month. However, I wrote only seven entries for two months, and only three (!) for one month. However, I have written 12 entries the last month of the year. So, more or less, I will class this one as a resounding success!

New Resolutions

Knit more stash!

I really have to make this a priority. I have so many bins of yarn in my room, that I not only cannot navigate it successfully, I had to store six of them in a friend's basement. And I still can't walk around my room without bumping into bins of yarn.

Make more things for myself.

I love making knitted goodies for my friends. I love giving them things that have come from my wooden needles. I need to make a few things for myself. I'd like to make a few sweaters, and use some of the amazing yarns in my stash for things. These yarns were meant to be seen, not hidden away in a bin in my room.

Seriously limit yarn purchases.

I know I like to joke that yarn bought on vacation doesn't count toward stash, but you know and I know that it really does. I do not need to single handedly keep each of my LYSs in business. I know that baby llama is gorgeous, and only $11 per skein, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. Well, I could mix the black with the grey and make a cowl for someone, I'm sure.

Learn to read charts.

I have already started this, knitting the New Bittersweet Cowl, and only referring to the chart. Of course, it's damn simple. Wait until I have to cable something.

Learn how to make socks.

Yeah, I have plenty of sock yarn, just don't know how to make socks. So I think it's time to learn.

Write more blog posts.

I'm pretty pleased with myself that except for one month when I only wrote three entries, I managed to turn out between seven and twelve entries each month. I will refine this resolution by trying to write better entries, so that as many as possible are well written, and not just filler that I churn out because I want to reach a certain number each month. In other words, I need to hone my writing.

And now, I need to go. I've got 25 bins of yarn that need knitting up.

Happy New Year, to everyone who reads The K is Silent.