New Year: A Look Backward and A Plan for the Future

Hi there. First of all, wherever you are in the world, happy 2015. I wish you and yours a safe, happy, healthy year.

Now...down to business. First, a little look back at 2104.

I know I've been pretty bad about blogging regularly, and there were a lot of things I wanted to share with you that I simply didn't make the time for. I hope to get better at that in the future (see the plan for the future section), but for now, let's do a little recap of the year and then talk about what I have planned for crafting and blogging in 2015.




I kicked 2014 off with not one, but TWO 4th Doctor Scarves...something I still vow to never do again. Which isn't to say that I don't enjoy a little autopilot, zone out, I can and have literally done this in my sleep knitting, but it is to say that it's nice to give myself a break sometimes. The scarves were a learning experience from me, but I'm happy I undertook it as they enabled me to refine the yarns I'll use, refine my pricing, and get comfortable with how much I can knit in a day (important!)

I'm not going to recap EVERYTHING I knit in the year, but I will say that this was sort of a year of knitting hats, in a way. I never did post about my month of knitting four hats (I meant to), but I knitted and/or crocheted 11 hats this year. In tandem with that, I learned to become a designer of sorts and have become almost a master at creating an intarsia sigil and making it happen.

I became a non-monogamous knitter for the first time in my life and learned that I hated it. I also knit the first ever sweater that actually fit me. In fact, I knit FIVE of them. Not bad.
If you followed the blog this summer, you heard about my series of knitting firsts, many of which I'm hoping to continue. Foremost, however, I admit something I said I would never do...I have become a sock knitter. That doesn't diminish my love of sweater knitting, but I've been converted to the ways of the handknit sock and have a plan to become a better sock knitter in 2015...if for no other reason than the T.A.R.D.I.Socks are in DESPERATE need of a re-knitting so maybe they don't actually fall down.

All in all, here's some stats from 2014 that I think are noteable.

1. I finished 35 projects for a total of 16,329 yards (14931.2 metres). That's an average of 466.54 yards (462.61 metres) per project. I don't have weight figures for these, but as the challenge I'm doing in 2015 includes weight measures I'll need to be better at figuring this out in the future.

2. I added 31,541 yards (28841 metres) to my stash in 2014, 8070 yards (7379 metres) of that AFTER I said I would stop buying yarn which just goes to show that I have no self control and Jonas isn't the best enforcer in the world.

3. I learned how to hand dye my own yarn and have since sold 11 skeins via my Etsy store. I have big plans to increase that in 2015.

4. I wrote a total of 68 blog posts in 2014.


And now...we move on to my goals for 2015.

For starters, a bit of an overarching theme. Inspired by something that Jasmin of the Knitmore Girls podcast did way back in I think 2007 or 2008, I'm going to try to capture the spirit of what she called the "social pressure experiment". The basics of this as Jasmin undertook it was that she could only bring in the equivalent amount of stash that went out (either via finished objects or destash). The goal of the project was to get herself to think more carefully about her buying habits, which I think is an admirable goal and something I could use in my life.

I'm hoping to start graduate school in 2015 which would mean at least a temporary move, if not a permanent one, and even if I don't end up moving, my flat has far beyond exceeded capacity anyway, so I could do to have less stuff in general. In addition, I'll need to start saving money since I'll have to drastically cut back on my work hours for at least part of the time I'm in school, so I'll be earning less. Because of both of these factors, a general goal of mine is to acquire less and spend less and use what I have. This applies to pretty much everything: yarn, fabric, books, clothing, food, etc., but I want to talk about it in terms of yarn.

 Basically, my yarn stash plan for 2015 is to end the year with approximately half the stash I have now. I'm starting with 55,081.4 yards (50308.7 metres) of stash. My goal for 2015 is to end the year with 25308.7 metres of stash, otherwise known as knit, destash, or otherwise 2000 metres of yarn per month. If I move, it will be in June, so I'm hoping to have 40308.7 metres of yarn by moving day.


Another goal is to get my yarn dyeing business officially up and running and to start building a brand identity and doing some marketing. As part of this, I want to try to have at least one dedicated dyeing day per week. I'm also (as soon as I finish writing this post) going to be purchasing myself a Squarespace domain and starting to build a proper web presence and eCommerce site that will run in addition to my Etsy site. I'll also try to increase my social media marketing via Twitter and Instagram as well as Ravelry, reach out to some of the podcasters, and perhaps try to get a vending booth at at least one convention or festival. Lofty goals, but this is my new passion and I want to do it correctly.


A third goal is to be a more regular blogger. I have set myself a goal of trying to blog here at least three times a week, with one post dedicated to WIPs and/or FOs, one post dedicated to yarn dyeing, and one post dedicated to general crafting or yarn reviews or some other thing. If I'm going to have a blog, I feel as though I should maintain it and spend the time on it and I've set myself a goal to do that.


Lastly, I want to make an effort to sew more. My fabric stash isn't nearly the terrifying size of my yarn stash, but it's substantial and I don't want to move it and I do love sewing. So I've set myself a goal to try to sew at least one project a month (big or small) from my current fabric stash and set aside at least one day a month as a dedicated mending and/or alterations day since the box I keep my clothes that need mending and alterations in is beyond overflowing.


So there you have it. A little look at 2014 and a hopeful plan for the next year. If I stick to this, we all should be spending a lot more time together and hopefully there will be exciting things on the horizon! Thanks for sticking with me through my first year of craft blogging. I hope we can go even more fabulous places together in the next year.