Friday 25 January 2013

My plans for knitting in 2013

My plans for knitting in 2013 include a more planned approach - I am trying to work on finishing up something before starting something NEW that is similar, eg I have a pair of cowls almost done I will NOT (she tells herself sternly!) I will NOT cast on for another! (sigh .. but I wants to .. it CALLS to me!) you can see my problem?

My problem however, is my responsibility to be grown up about it and not give in and then make excuses when I'm caught out.

So. confession. ok. I confess I have in fact CO for a hat.  even though I wasn't going to, I have.
I confess it because I'm not supposed to CO without finishing something, however I need a hat!
Alright. I don't NEED a hat that much that I break my feeble resolve, but you know what I mean?
I had a need to CO and I reasoned that since its snowing and cccold I could somehow justify it.

Now. this is part of my problem.  Part of me just dashes enthusiastically through my wool stash, my patttern library on Rav. and my books and magazines and I come up gasping for air squeezing yummy project plans and squealing with excitement at it all.
The other part of me is that I am very much a "process" knitter.
In deed "process" is my word for 2013.
When coming up with it I asked my no.2.son studying English to help - after I told him the aim of the exercise to come up with my "word" and my intentions HIS suggestion came within a second of my asking - "FUTILE" .. futile?  hmm oh well, he could be right!?

Well I have to prove him wrong. I have to prove to myself that its not all futile this planning and take steps to demonstrate my resolve to become more organised and take a planned approach - I have all year, surely I can do something with it?

OK. thats the ramble over.
At knit-night this week I was very good I took along my lovely Glencoe scarf to knit and I am making this and the two baby-cardi's as my main knitting project and today I tidied my yarn stash and sorted out those projects I never will finish and ripped back all the knitting and rewound the balls.
I wrote out in a book I found all my plans and here it is:


ongoing projects OTN
 This then is officially my current projects OTN's that I aim to finish up before starting any new:

  1. Killing III chevron jumper
  2. Ice Queen cowl 
  3. Hidden Picture owl-cowl
  4. Glencoe Scarf
  5. Design H baby Sirdar cardi
  6. Blossom baby bolero
  7. Amy Butler hat (new)
  8. Gloves from 5-in-1-adventure Craftsy class
  9. Anderson - baby cardi in dk
  10. Dish cloth
  11. Marlene socks
Doesn't sound so bad? really?  11 projects on the go in varying stages of just CO to nearly ready to complete!  hurrah! I can feel myself rewarded by looking ahead to future projects!?

waiting to go OTN's
 which ARE:
  1. Rams & Yowes blanket and sheepheid tam kit including yarn/pattern
  2. Highland Tweed socks for me in red, and no.2.son in grey
  3. Regia College socks for no.1.son - for Easter holiday
  4. Ripple Cowl a lovely xmas gift from knit-night-pal-Brenda
  5. and Spriggan Cowl a lovely swap-pal from Ravelry group Peggy
Frogged
 OFF the needles, unpicked and rewound include:

  1. Portree a fairisle tunic releasing a circular needle and 9 balls of felted tweed dk
  2. Nan a stripey cardigan from Jaeger book releasing 16 balls of three Rooster Amerino dk colours
  3. Rebecca shrug releasing 6 balls of aran weight GGH yarn in soft raspberry
Apart from the knitting of projects my other plans for 2013 productive knitting include making sensible choices of matching up a pattern to a yarn I already have both in my stash before buying either.
I have looked through my books and apart from two or three out of Rowan Magazine 53, these are my patterns and books I want to knit from :

  1. Colours of Shetland 
  2. Knits Men Want
  3. Hitchhiker
  4. Lace shawl with beads from Craftsty class
  5. Alfur hat from woolly-wormhead that I started and discarded as I didn't get the pattern! but its such a CUTE design I am resolved to knitting it at least once.
In addition there are techniques I want to learn or explore, some of which I have purchased ebooks for and/or signed for Craftsy classes and they include:

  1. Toe up socks - Craftsy class
  2. Steeking!  (gulp!) - Craftsy class and use on Rams and Yowes pattern
  3. Top-down and/or "in the round" garment - I took Portree off the needles for reasons otherwise this would be ideal
  4. Crochet! yes! I want to learn HOW to crochet sufficiently to follow a pattern and say I CAN CROCHET!  I am following Staci's "crochet for knitters" series of video tutorials.
  5. Intarsia.  Ever since discovering how "easy" it is after doing a couple of projects I am looking to knitting something using this style.
 I have pages and pages of lists of my YARN in stash - I am not going to list patterns but I will try and manage my patterns electronically and through Ravelry but writing out a list of my yarns and the needle size/tension of each SHOULD make it more efficient way of matching a favoured pattern or yarn to each other as I go through the year.

I am not going to make grand plans to not BUY any more yarn, indeed I could live to 300 and still not use up half of it, but it IS now mostly packaged up and sorted and my list should make it easier for me to remember WHAT I have and how MUCH of it.

To manage my projects I unpicked a few but I have left 4 garments OTN's to hibernate for now, I want to knit these but not right now.  I need more garments so I will be casting on for these separately from above, but I will pledge to ONLY cast on ONE at a time and complete it first before next one.

In my folder on the pc I have created a file for my projects and I will update a monthly review of what I have achieved, where I have succeeeded and hope to continue this throughout the year but whether I will or not remains to be seen.

2 comments:

marysews said...

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but who am I to talk? I have a few good intentions of my own!

SewIknit2 said...

my good intentions usually last about a week, but I am resolved to make some changes at least I hope to make a try at it!
good luck with yours!
Sue x