So we’ve talked about the top posts of 2014, my favorite New Favorites of the year, and my paltry but meaningful list of FOs. That leaves only the matter of the resolutions I made for 2014, which, um …
1. Knit less, crochet more. If I crocheted a single stitch this year, I don’t recall it.
2. Give it away. Sum total: one pair of mitts.
3. Specifically, knit my husband a sweater. Fail.
5. Publish more patterns, here and elsewhere. Sum total: zero.
But what about number 4, Continue to push myself? That one I feel pretty good about, although the new skills I tackled weren’t the ones I specified in that post. But I’m definitely knitting on a much higher level than I was a year ago. As evidence of this, I offer the fact that I’ve been knitting a cable sweater while watching a Netflix series that features a steady stream of subtitled Norwegian dialogue. My definition of “mindless knitting” now encompasses 40-row cable charts. Easily memorized, as cable charts go, but still — subtitles!
As for failing on the other four — in my defense, life and Fringe both took off in directions I couldn’t have predicted a year ago. The growth of Fringe Supply Co. is the absolute highlight of my year, but it left me with less knitting time, for sure. And then there’s the fact that Bob and I decided to move ourselves and Fringe from Berkeley to Nashville, an enormous undertaking, and one that derailed all sorts of other plans, not just my knitting list. The new Fringe HQ is a about twice the 200 square feet I had in CA, and my trusty shipping manager, DG, now works with me five days a week — and we’ve already outgrown this space and are looking for a new one. I have hopes of paying myself some semblance of a living wage this year, if not of having any more knitting time than in 2014. But that’s a pretty wonderful “problem” to have.
So my goal for this year is to choose wisely. I feel like I’ve gotten much better about picking projects and materials that are worthy of my precious making time. I want to make better, not more. And now that I have the space to do it, I want to really, truly sew. The biggest personal shift for me this year was the crystallization of a desire to know where my clothes come from, whether I’ve made them myself or bought them from small-batch producers. But most of all, I want to make them — to the extent that life will allow.
And I also have goals for the blog in 2015. There’s a roundtable idea I’ve been talking about for over a year that I vow to launch this year. And for those of you clamoring for more knitalongs, there’s another idea that’s gone from a simmer to a boil in the past few days, so expect an announcement about that very soon. It’s lovely that you guys apparently enjoy the sound of my voice, but I want to make sure you hear from others here even more than you have in the past — meaning more installments of Our Tools, Ourselves, the aforementioned roundtable, and more people writing about subjects that are beyond my skills and knowledge. I’m so grateful to everyone who contributed to making this blog what it’s been in 2014, most notably the Amanda panelists, who’ve so exceeded whatever I imagined when I first cooked that up.
It’s been such a pleasure to knit with you all, so here’s to much more of that in the new year!
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