Well, 2014: you were and now you’re gone and I’m okay with that. During 2014, I did a little knitting… you know, just enough to keep me from killing people.
Finished Objects: 49 projects
(this links to my Ravelry project search for 2014 – way faster than linking ALL THE THINGS)
Operation Sock Drawer in full effect!
I finished 10 pairs of socks for my sock drawer. They make me happy. But also, make me want more handknit socks. C’est la vie.
Project Sweater Chest
This got started late in the year, but I’m jumping on the bandwagon. I finished 2 adult sweaters and 3 baby sweaters that were gifted. More sweaters are coming. The plans are laid, (some) swatches are already knit. It’s cold here and I want sweaters.
2014: The year of the shawl
I finished 12 shawls/wraps/cowls this year. I don’t know what got into me. But it was cute & warm.
Hats
I knit 13 hats and 3 premie hats, 3 of which were my designs.
Baby Commissions
I crocheted a baby Minnie skirt/hat/diaper cover set, as well as 2 sleep sacks for a friend’s daughter’s baby. She is pretty cute in that Minnie outfit, so the crochet was worth it.
Baby Blankets
I knitted 2 baby blankets this year, both as gifts and both of my own design. I need to write those patterns up & share them!
…and 1 top that I hate and probably will frog.
A check in on my 2014 goals for myself.
2014 Crafty Goals
More socks. More sweaters – pullovers this year, too! More custom fitted garments, regardless of how I feel about my body on that given day. More knitting from stash. More knitting that makes me happy. Less finishing things that don’t ‘make my heart sing’, as Gigi from The Knitmore Girls would say.
More socks: √++
More sweaters: √-
More knitting from shash: √
More knitting that makes me happy: √
Less finishing things that don’t: √
Life got in the way of the sweaters, but considering all the things I knit on the fly or designed myself, I’d call it a successful year.
Then there was the yarn diet. Here’s the short version of the diet, with more goals (because I don’t have enough goals in life, apparently):
Yarn Diet Goals & Boundaries:
- Knit only from stash for the first half of 2014.
- During the first half of 2014, move $40 into savings every time I’m tempted to go to my LYS or Etsy to buy yarn.
- After the first half of 2014, new yarn can be purchased, but only in yardage amounts equaling what I’ve already knit in 2014.
- Work projects that have been marinating in my queue before casting on ALL THE THINGS from a newly purchased/released book/pattern collection.
- Enjoy the process & the product!!
2014 Crafty Goals:
- 20,000 yards of yarn worked this year.
I worked 19,000 in 2013 or just over 10 miles… I think this is doable!- Learn two-at-a-time sock technique.
- Learn toe-up two-at-a-time sock technique.
The yarn diet worked pretty well and I stuck to it for the most part. I had exceptions listed in the original post and other than that, I paid my ‘temptation’ money to Halos of Hope. I knit a lot from stash. I wasn’t as strict about yardage-in/yardage-out as I intended to be. Stress and insurance companies and subpoenas will do that to you. I have been prioritizing my cast-ons with my existing library, so I think it worked!
Crafty goals – I knit TAAT socks and TAAT toe-up socks this year! WOOO!!!
Yardage goal wasn’t quite met. I worked a combined 18,347 yards between knitting, crochet & spinning. I didn’t make it, but considering everything else that happened this year, I’m still happy. That’s a lot of yarn – that’s roughly 10 1/2 miles or 16 3/4 kilometers ( #metricrevolution !) of yarn.
I also received a spinning wheel for Birth-aversary-mas, and her name is Gretchen. We are still trying to figure out how to work together. It’s a process.
All in all, another year where yarn kept me out of prison and out of therapy, for better or worse. 🙂
Donita Westman 