New Year's Resolutions

I know some people think New Year's resolutions are, for whatever reason, silly.  Not I.  I love the feeling that this year could be the year.  The year you get organized or lose weight or learn Chinese.  Whatever.  And the way I see it, you've got most of January to decide what's most important to you to work on this year.

Umm... Obviously.  But what about crafty/bloggy goals?

 I've got some personal goals, of course... but I'm sure you're most interested in the bloggy/crafty ones so I thought I'd share.  First of all, I'm sure I didn't quite reach my goals last year.  That's fine with me.  Goals are just that: something to work toward.  Even if you don't make it, it's the journey that counts.  I think that's enough trite expressions for one post.  On to the goals:


1. Knit more.  Last year was not a good year for me in knitting.  I had projects go terribly wrong, run short of yarn, and even get lost.  I think it was hard for me to work knitting into my new full time working schedule.  I feel like I've finally got the hang of it now: I knit smaller projects on the bus and at lunch with some time in the evening for larger projects (Anna Karenina, I'm looking at you!).  Specifically, I would like to finish Anna Karenina sometime in 2015.  That might not sound like much of a goal, but I've got a good couple of feet to get done this year if I have any hope of finishing it next year.  Right now I'm probably half way done.  Progress is slow.

18" ruler for sense of scale.  It's clear, though, so boo.

 2. Sort, use, and organize the stash.  Oh my gawd I need to get organized.  I'm tired of never being able to find anything and, to be quite frank, I've got too much stuff (fabric and possibly yarn included) lying around.  A lot of it I'm really not in love with and some of it is small quantities (think baby stuff).  I have an idea of how to make this work so that I can start 2015 with significantly less stuff than I have right now. I am going to bribe myself with new fabric (wait, that seems backwards right?).  The plan:

I must finish five complete sewing projects and do any required fixing/mending before I can buy fabric.  Fabric must have a purpose in mind and it must be used immediately.  I don't know how I'll deal with thrift store finds in this framework, yet, but unless it's something I specifically know I'll need (like backing for a quilt or Christmas fabric) I'll try and let it go.

For every two pairs of completed socks I can buy one skein of sock yarn.

For every two (or three?) completed sweaters I can buy one sweater quantity of yarn.  This one's tricky as sweaters do take a lot of yarn, but I know I've got enough yarn to do a fair few sweaters this year.

3. Make an advent calendar.  I'm particularly fond of this one, but I've seen lots of cool ones through the sew-a-long late last year.  I want to do a mix of activities and treats.  I feel like this year there were so many things I wanted to do during the holiday season that we just never got around to.  Having the advent calendar would help keep me accountable.

4. Sew better.  I feel like I sewed a lot last year, but this year I really want to get better at fitting and finishing stuff including linings (I'm looking at you Bemberg I will defeat you!!!) and zippers (I think I've mentioned my ill success in this department recently.  Also using apparel fabric more and quilting cotton/sheets less.  Not that there's anything wrong with those, I just want to focus on making clothes that I will love and will last.

5. Blog more!  I don't feel like I've quite figured out how blogging fits into my crazy schedule but I like doing it and I'd like to be more consistent.

I feel like those are all pretty vague/attainable goals for the coming year.  Now let's get on with it!