I’m a devout goal setter in life, but rarely make resolutions. Is that weird? To me, goals are very specific and measurable and resolutions are nebulous, but maybe they’re really the same and I’ve just been doing it wrong! Regardless, after a few years of my broad “resolution” being to choose projects wisely and make better things for myself (successfully!), this year I’m making some more specific resolutions about my knitting and sewing—
1a. Knit from stash
I’m not a big stasher. Sometime over the past few years, I developed a policy of not acquiring yarn unless I had a specific plan for it and intent to cast on — or unless it was truly very special and would not survive a waiting period. (E.g. the Junegrass Batch One I’ve just been knitting with: I knew I wanted a sweater in it, just not precisely which sweater or when. But had I waited, the limited batch would have been long gone. These purchases are rare.) It hasn’t been hard — I don’t knit that many things in a year, mostly all sweaters, so I get the yarn when I’m ready to cast on, plain and simple. The only other yarn that finds its way in are the odd special balls here and there, which mostly get cataloged in Yarns in Waiting. Nevertheless, I have four plastic bins, a narrow shelf and a large basket, all full of yarn waiting to be used. Holdovers from when I used to buy yarn without a purpose. It is nice yarn, good yarn, yarn I love. And I want to knit with it. So I’ll be focusing more attention this year on small projects and other stashbusters — like log cabin! — that make use of lesser yardage. I’m not in a hurry to plow through my stash, mind you, but I do want to bring it out into the daylight and into service, one or two balls at a time.
1b. Sew from stash
My fabric stash is sort of the opposite — good fabric is hard to come by, so when I have a chance, I cave. Especially when that chance takes the form of an Elizabeth Suzann garage sale and I can buy good quality fabric for $2/pound (as it was at the most recent one, last summer, my haul from which is pictured above). I have much more fabric than I have shelf space for at this point, and essentially no excuse to buy any more. I have linen, wool, jersey, you name it. So whereas I’m not committing to knitting only from stash — just saying I want to dip into it more — I am kinda sorta vowing to only sew from stash. At least, trying really hard to do that.
2. Try new things
This is my overarching MO — always be learning, stretching, failing, improving — but there are specific knitting skills or techniques I talk about often and still have yet to try. So this year I will knit something mosaic and I will steek.
All totally doable! How about you — any resolutions for 2018?
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PREVIOUSLY: 2017 Knitting year in review and Sewing year in review
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