Knitting Goals for 2014

Earlier in January I was watching the Stockinette Zombies podcast and they were talking about knitting goals. Do you make them? Do they present a welcome challenge, or drive you crazy during the year? Or, like me, do you write them down and promptly forget you made goals in the first place? The SZ created a knitting goals challenge for this year, and I thought it was time to set some for myself (which also caused me to fish out the list 2013 and post them last weekend).

Even though I tried to keep the list small, I easily hit ten items and cried STOP! That's probably enough. I will post updates when I remember and maybe my Babette blanket will come out of deep hibernation...

2014 GOALS:

1. knit 2 hats for charity knitting
2. finish my first adult size sweater (Pont Neuf for myself)
3. knit a pair of socks two at a time (first pair of socks with sock yarn)
4. organize and cull out stash for donation/swap
5. make progress on my Babette blanket complete at least 2 squares a month)
6. reduce my stash by 10% (starting out with 245 skeins)
7. participate in the Ravellenic games
8. reduce hibernating projects from the current 8 to no more than 5, either through frogging or finishing
9. finish spinning my Tour de Fleece 2013 project during this year's TDF
10. carry knitting with me and work on it during longer commutes and waiting-around times

Also participating in a knitting goals challenge via the Stockinette Zombies podcast. 

Knitting related goals for 2013 - A Review

Here are the Knitting goals I wrote out January 10, 2013:

1. Knit a sweater
2. Sew my own project bags
3. Eliminate all long term hibernation projects (either by bring them back into active rotation or frogging)
4. Reorganize knitting storage area - stash, patterns, projects - this one is tricky, as I still have a few other things mixed in to this area, such as a drawer unit housing felt sheets, cross stitching fabric, and printouts of a now defunct cross stitching magazine. I think I have the magazine on CD, but I'm not sure about all the issues. If I took the time to color print them then, I should hold on to the copies for future use, yes? Or should I sort through them and recycle all the pages that don't have patterns, and reorganize it so that the parts of serial patterns are all together? *Off topic - get back on track!*
5. Take a hard look at my knitting/crochet books and see if I can eliminate any of them, then set those candidates aside for the next yarn swap.

How did I fare over the course of 2013?

1. I started two sweaters for myself and both are about halfway finished. I've been consistently plugging away at Pont Neuf, a top down, seamless, 3/4 length sleeve sweater with a lace front panel. With any luck I'll have it finished by May 1st, when it might be too warm to wear it! I did knit an entire baby sweater.
2. I sewed one project bag for myself! Not sure I want to keep making these, as I find sewing very frustrating. Maybe I will try and make one a year.
3. Hibernating projects, now that's a challenge. I started the year out with more than 10, and now have 7, having eliminated quite a few, but replaced them with other projects...hmm...
4. Reorganize - I've started a few times and never finished. Finding evidence of moths definitely stops me cold, and then I'm not sure how to continue. Still dealing with some moth activity now, but I think *hope* that it's residual evidence and not real live moths.
5. Didn't do this one at all. I did sort out some stash and trade/give it away, but it's time again to look hard at the stash and come up with books, tools, and yarn that are ready to leave.

Knitting accomplishments:

• Taught my little sister how to knit
• Knitted a mother bear for charity
• Gifted multiple well loved knits to friends and family 

Reading goals 2014

I've been seeing a lot book challenges out there. A librarian friend wrote this post, Reading Challenges for 2014, for the Robbins library blog, and outlined 11 reading challenges.

I like checking things off of lists, having a goal in mind, or reframing my current participation with an outside challenge to get me involved in a different way. Sign me up!

I have chosen these challenges:

1. Tuesday's Wednesday  2014-reading-challenge (read 24 books from 24 different categories) 
2. Roof Beam Reader's TBR pile challenge  (read 12 books that have been on your to-read list for over a year)  My list
3. Goodreads 2014 reading challenge (personally set goal of 60 books read)

The first two challenges capture nicely what I've been contemplating on the reading front. I'd like to have a little more structure in how I pick what I read and branching out a bit from my normal choices. I also want to make a noticable dent in my to read list (and not just continually scrape off the top layer). Ideally I will do this by reading the books, but eliminating books from my list that I will never read is fine too.

I used to be really concerned about the rules of this thing, but who cares? If I read the book (ebook, paper, audio, children's, non-fiction, whatever) from cover to cover, then it counts. If I don't finish something, fine. I'd like to still keep a list of books I remove from the to-read list, so in a few years when I forget that I tried to read Lolita, I can look in my list and see why I didn't continue with the book. (Can you tell I love lists?)

Current Goodreads tally? 561 books

You know I will be adding title to the list. I'll take some work, but I'd like to get the list down to 500 by the end of the year.

I have participated in the Goodreads reading challenge since 2011.

2011 52 of 52 read
2012 34 of 40 read
2013 55 of 55 read
2014   2 of 60 read and counting!

Phat Fiber Sample Box: Shades of Light silk yarn giveaway! (take two)

Phat Fiber giveaway for Shades of Light!
I wrote a really great post about this giveaway and the shop, but it didn't post and is missing from my drafts. Darn! Here's my second try on it.


Shades of Light etsy shop in Greece that produces amazingly brilliant hand dyed colors of yarn in different weights and fiber blends.
My favorite is this bold mumbai colorway. When I checked out the listing, I can order it EIGHT different ways!



 
I think I might need to buy some to get me through the winter blahs, even though I'm trying to knit down my stash, not add to it.

More posts coming soon: a 2013 recap, 2014 goals including a plan for more consistent posts, knitting, and more!