Goals: January 2007 Archives

I've made a big effort to be reasonable in my goals for this year -- not just in knitting, but for my whole life in general.

For several years I've told myself that I'll clean the basement and organize it -- a very lofty goal. Instead, this year I promised myself I'd deal with 10 objects in the basement each weekend -- put them in their proper place, donate them, give them to a friend, recycle them, or throw them out. This is only the second weekend but I'm closer to 40 objects than my goal of 20.

The smaller goal actually made me progress more.

So I'm hopeful that the same will happen with my knitting goals.

There's The Pact -- knitting enough yarn to account for the yarn bought at festivals last year.

I'm doing OK on this one -- I finished a scarf and mitt combo and am more than halfway through 3 pairs of socks -- Railway Socks, Lattice Socks, and a pair of knee highs in STR.

Even though 2 weren't bought at festivals in 2006, they'll count for 2 hanks of socks yarn. I'm OK if I swap out one yarn for another -- the point is to limit the accumulation of new sock yarn. I can't control which yarn inspires me to knit it -- the yarn for the Railway socks and the Lattice socks have been in my stash for 1.5 and 2 years each.

I'm also doing well finishing up some old projects.

There's the Crazy Colors socks that were started back in early 2004.

And then, one of my favorite FOs ever -- Little Man Blankie.

In the past week I've had the urge to work on a warmer weather sweater for myself. I was SO tempted to buy some new yarn. But I've been so busy at work that I haven't been able to hit a LYS. So I pulled out Saffy instead. I lost steam on her last year when I realized I had built in too much negative ease for the denim yarn. It simply wouldn't fit. I've just gotten through the ruffle again, but my interest is renewed and I'm looking forward to wearing it this spring.

To help keep me in check I've joined Rebekah's Yarn Focus Challenge #2. It's a modified "don't buy new yarn" knit along.

In other words, it's reasonable as well.

It starts tomorrow and runs for 3 months. During those 3 months I have 1 free day per month to buy yarn. I think this plan is ingenious -- I can't randomly buy yarn for 3 months, but if I want something special I'll have a chance to buy it. It's like the difference between going on a liquid diet and making a goal of losing 2 pounds a week.

We all know which one wins out in the long run there.

YFC 07 also has a charity component to it. We all need to knit one chemo cap by March 1st. It's a very reasonable goal and good for the soul too.

I'm enjoying my knitting as much as I ever have, I'm meeting my (reasonable) goals, and I'm giving a little to charity.

Getting older certainly has its advantages. I never would have written this kind of post in my twenties. And yet, it's exactly what I had in mind when I wrote this year's goals.

Another new year, another fresh start.

I try to learn from each year's goals and make more reasonable and better thought out goals the following year. So let's get to this year's goals.

1. Less stash enhancement, more stash knitting - I'm getting better at this, but I can always improve. I wrote about The Pact back in October, but I only have one FO to show for it. If I'm going to enjoy Maryland I best get going on this one.
2. Less deadline-focused knitting - I don't have a lot of free time, so knitting on deadline creates a lot of stress. Hobbies aren't supposed to be stressful.
3. Knit What I Love, and Love What I Knit - I wrote about this back in November when I was working on a sock pattern I really didn't enjoy knitting, and then Scout wrote a similar post yesterday. There are a few old UFOs that I have that I'll never finish. I'll be frogging them soon. I sure don't need that weighing me down.
4. Go to Rhinebeck, again - Rhinebeck 2006 was probably my favorite girls' weekend ever.
5. Knit more socks, again - I only finished 3 pairs in 2006. If I'm going to make any sort of progress on The Pact then this shouldn't be too hard.
6. No Knitted Christmas Gifts - I did it this year and it was so liberating. If I want to give a gift I'll just knit something for someone. None of this holiday craze.
7. Garden more - I used to love gardening, but the garden really suffered once I got back into knitting. Starting this spring I want to spend a little more time in the garden. I started an herb garden in 2006, and I want to finally have the vegetable garden I dreamed of starting when I bought the house in 2000.

There are a few goals that I was tempted to add but didn't. I'd like to try a large stranded project, and I'd really like to publish a few patterns. But I'm not putting them on the list. If they happen, great. And if not, it's just a hobby. It's OK not to do everything.

As for today, I'm making sure I start off the year right. I "slept in" (until 7 AM), I'm watching the Monk marathon, cooking some good food, sharing the day with my closest loved ones, and of course, knitting.

Have a great 2007!