Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013

It's that time again - the time of the year when everyone is invigorated with goals and new to-do lists for the incoming year.  The crafting goals though - those just keep getting better and better. 

Before I take a look at this year's, I think it is time to revisit the 2012 goals.  They were:

1. Finish the Adeline blanket.
• Finished!  The Adeline Blanket wrapped up in April 2012 and I couldn't be happier with it.  It's currently residing on my couch and is a perfect size to cover your lap while watching TV.
2. Complete the Sky Scarf project.
• Completed!  On December 31, 2012, I knit the last few stitches and wove in the ends.  The yearlong progress on the scarf seemed slow at times but in the end, it was worth it.
3. Continue my self imposed sock club.
• Completed!  While not on time for every project, I did complete all 12 months.  Whew.
4. Knit more items that I've had marked for years! I keep post-it noting, printing, and storing the patterns.
• This was kind of....a fail.  I organized, cleaned, destashed a bit, and got most of my crafting life physically in order this year, but failed to use many of the patterns that I earmarked on my "To Do" list.  Since they didn't make the cut, I must not have wanted to knit or crochet them that badly. 
5. Try to knit more patterned socks.
• Another fail.  I didn't knit a single pair of patterned socks!
6. And finally....Knit/Crochet/Weave 12,000 yards in 2012. Any type of project as long as there are 12,000 yards at the end of the year.
• Completed and a success!  All added up, I knit, crochet, and wove 12,514 yards this year.

Overall, I think I did well.  The Adeline Blanket and the Sky scarf were both lengthy projects spaced out in between smaller ones.

For 2013, I have a simpler, more streamlined set of crafting goals.  For the past several years, I made extensive lists for everything - craft goals, personal goals, work goals - you name it, I bet you I had a list for it.  This year, I'm forcing my type A personality to take a break from the comprehensive list of previous years.  As my brother (type B personality) would have said, "Just chill."  As a result, this year's crafting goals are flexible and will allow me to craft whatever I want whenever I want. 

In 2013, I'm aiming to:

1. Participate in the 13 Finished Plucky Objects in 2013 (13Plucky2013, Ravelry link).  During 2013, I will aim to complete 13 different finished objects using yarn from The Plucky Knitter.  This will give me the chance to use some of my club colorways.
2. Stashdown!  I was originally going to set a specific number of skeins, but I felt that would tie me down too much.  Instead, my target is a 20% stash reduction by the end of the year.  I'm going to use the numbers in my Ravelry stash to help guide me.  I think it is doable and not too far out of my reach combined with my first goal. (Last year was a very good stashdown year too, I'm hoping to continue the streak).

After college and graduate school, when I had the chance to get back to crafting, I was more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type of crafter.  When I saw a pattern or project I liked, I gathered materials and started it.  I miss that instant inspiration and spontaneity in my crafting and I would like to get back to that.  I'm going to skip the personal sock club projects every month too and I imagine that I'll come pretty close to the same output with the stashdown goal. 

So, that's it - just two goals this year.  How about you?  Do you have goals or resolutions for 2013?

Almost the end

Over the Christmas holiday, I had a five day break from work.  I packed 4 knitting projects to work on and I did not finish a single one.  I took the Color Affection shawl and made good progress.  I'm working on the border section right now and will have it off of the needles by the time the new year rolls in.

It's almost time to revisit my 2012 goals list and evaluate how the year went.  I should be in good shape.  Naturally, it begs the question: what should my 2013 goals be?  I have a few ideas floating around.  I'm thinking them over and will have them set to share with you next week.

Sky Scarf - September

Sky scarf is completed through the end of September!  Three months to go.  Three quarters of the way done and I'm sure the rest will fly by.

Barn Door Scarf

I finished the Barn Door scarf yesterday.  It came off of the Cricket Loom, got a wash, and then I pressed it this morning.  I used 150 grams = 483 yards of The Plucky Knitter's Traveler Sport in Barn Door.  I was worried about the strength of the yak content on the loom, but coupled with the merino and silk, it did just fine.  The scarf has a lovely sheen and great drape. 

7.5” x 70” without fringe
7.5” x 78” with fringe

Since it's the end of September, it's time to revisit the 12,000 yards in 2012 goal.  I'm not doing bad, but the last 3 months will have to be a bit of a push.  Totals so far stand at 8,133 yards completed and 3,867 yards remaining - which averages out to be 1,289 yards each month until the end of the year.  I'm estimating that the sky scarf will use around 1,000 yards and I can add that to December's totals.

Sky Scarf - July Recap

Sky Scarf is still progressing!  The Olympics and Ravellenic Games were a bit distracting, but I'm happy to report that I'm caught up on this project.  Lots of blue this month.  Like most of the country, we have not had a lot of rain so the grays went quite unused.  Extra skeins of white and cerulean blue arrived last week.

Sky Scarf Update

 

The Sky Scarf is coming along nicely.  This picture shows it through the end of June, so I am halfway!  I can't believe that its 50% done.  I have to say, it will be nice to have the space back in my work basket, but I like the way it is turning out.  I wish that we had a bit more rain, the past few weeks have been mostly full of sunshine, so there are huge sections of the big blue sky.

Revisitng Goals

At the beginning of the year, I set the following knitting/crochet/weaving goals for myself.  Halfway through June, I thought it was time to check in and see how I am doing. So far, not bad.  I'll have to push a little bit to get through them though.

So far,

1. Finish the Adeline blanket.  Done!  Finished!
2. Complete the Sky Scarf project.  So far, so good.  I'm caught up on the scarf and on track to have it finished at the end of the year.
3. Continue my self imposed sock club.  I've managed to meet this goal too!
4. Knit more items from my queue.  Fail!  I haven't knit that much from the queue - I haven't knit that much in general after finishing the blanket.
5. Try to knit more patterned socks.  Again, fail.  I have reverted back to plain vanilla socks.  Maybe I can try to do this for some Christmas presents?
6. Knit/Crochet/Weave 12,000 yards in 2012.  Not bad.  So far, I have used 4,984 yards and have 7,016 to go!

Sky Scarf: May Update

The Sky Scarf is coming along nicely and weighs 100 grams.  The two colors that I am going through the fastest are the medium blue and the white; I weighed them as well and I am almost through 50% of those skeins at the beginning of June.

Adeline Blanket Completed!

The Adeline Blanket is completed.  Whew.  A little over a year and a half later, it's done.  I started in June 2010 and thought that it would be a quick project - ha!  I finished it Friday and have been testing it out - and it sure is cozy.  I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out.  I think that my grandmother Adeline would be proud. 

 

I started with 1,096 grams (10 skeins) of The Plucky Knitter's Superwash Merino Fingering.  Two skeins each of the colorways Madeleine Elster (gray), Father Goose (green), Hey Cupcake! (pink), En Suite (purple), and Indiscreet (blue).  The finished blanket weights 928 grams and I have 168 grams remaining leftovers, which means that I used approximately 3,712 yards total.  Ironically, less than I thought I would.  The finished size 50” by 50” - just large enough to curl up with on the couch.  It is 81 rounds, including border, which translates to 81 colors changes and 162 ends to weave in.  I'm very, very glad that I wove the ends in as a I went.

On to the blanket border

I am happy to report that I am on to the blanket's border!  With recent traveling, I haven't worked on the blanket as much as I would like.  (It is not a very portable project at this stage in the game.)  I can't believe that this project is almost behind me...maybe I should start another.  Or not.

Still here, still working

You see, I am still working on the blanket.  This leads me to share:

1. I am making good progress. 
2. I wish that I could share the news that it was complete, but it is not.
3. It is already larger than a lap blanket.
4. This is good news! 
5. I hope to share the news that it is complete in the next few weeks. 

Adeline Blanket Update

I'm working on the Adeline Blanket slowly.  Each roud is taking close to 2 hours right and taking around 16 grams of yarn to complete.  I had two skeins of each color, and I am close to halfway done with the second skein of each color.  I have decided that the border will be the silver/gray color - since I have a third skein of it available.  The goal is to have it done by the end of the March.  We'll see how it goes!

Still chugging along...

The Adeline Blanket is stilll chugging along.  I have added several more rounds to it.  I feel like I am making slow progress though.  Completing each round now takes around two hours and I then I weave in the ends before moving on to the new color.  It is surprisingly warm though!  I'm glad that I am attemping to finish this during the winter months.

When it is completed, I am hoping that it will be large enough to use as an adult size lap blanket - big enough to curl up with on the couch.  I'll be washing it and blocking it out as well, so it might grow a bit more during that process.

I have yet to decide what the border on it will look like.  Of all the colors, I have the most remaining of the silver (a whole extra skein to be exact).  Right now, I'm leaning towards a simple scalloped edge on it - using the extra silver color.  I thought about leaving it without a border - just having the last round be the end - but now I wonder if that would be too simple or too unfinished. 

Thoughts?

Sky Scarf

Back in December, my friend K suggested a Sky Scarf KAL (knit along) for the upcoming year.  It idea and pattern was dreamt up by Lea Redmond of Leafcutter Designs and tackles the idea of conceptual knitting.  Her Sky Scarf project involves knitting two rows each day to match the color of the sky in the area you live.  I love looking at all of the scarves being assembled on Ravelry.  I started on January 1, so mine is rapidly approaching the size of a dishcloth.  It looks good though.  I'll share a snapshot when we get to the end of the month.

For my yarn, I chose The Loopy Ewe Solid Series so that the yarn base for all of my colors would be the same.  In the old library catalog box, you see:

• #01-39 - White
• #19-43 - Dove
• #20-44 - Smoke
• #47-60 - Colonial Blue
• #48-69 - Cerulean
• #57-61 - Slate Blue

The Adeline Blanket

The Adeline Blanket has been an ongoing WIP for some time now.  I started it in summer 2010 when I was looking for a crochet project to tide me over a non-knitting spell.  My family has several inherited crochet blankets and I wanted to make an updated version.  I've named it after one of my grandmothers who was the creator of several of the original blankets for our family.

Digging into the stash I found (unsurprisingly) that an astonishingly large number of sock yarn skeins had been accumulating, so I decided to put some of that fingering weight yarn to good use.  I spent several days soliciting feedback on color schemes (thanks girls!) and finally settle on the five that you see here.  The yarn is The Plucky Knitter 100% Superwash Sock.  Each skein hovers around 400 yards.  So....

10 skeins (2 of each color) x 400 yards = 4,000 yard project

This fact is exactly why this is still an ongoing project in 2012.  It is, however, listed on the Fiber Goals of 2012.  I hope to have it completed this year.  Not only do I want to use it, but I want the space in the WIP basket to start a few new things!  Since it is now halfway, I think this is a do-able project....

 

....only 2,000 more yards to go!

Knit / Crochet / Weaving 2012 Goals

At the beginning of the year, there was much discussion in my knitting groups and on Ravelry about goals for the coming year.  Last year, I tackled 12,447 yards of yarn with knitting, crochet, and weaving projects.  There were times when I was scrambling, but overall the year went pretty smoothly. 



I participated in The Knit Girllls 5K over the summer and that got me halfway through the yardage requirements alone.  I've also been doing my own self imposed sock yarn club with a few girlfriends in which I have completed every month.  We were inspired by the one that the Yarn Harlot created for herself two years ago. It's worked out; I'm finally making a dent in the sock yarn stash.  I met all of my goals last year.

To make myself more accountable and to share what you may expect to see here over the next 12 months, I thought that I would share my 2012 goals.  Without further ado, they are:

1. Finish the Adeline blanket. (More on that project soon!)
2. Complete the Sky Scarf project. (More on that project soon!)
3. Continue my self imposed sock club. (Every month!)
4. Knit more items that I've had marked for years!  I keep post-it noting, printing, and storing the patterns.  There is no time like the present.
5. Try to knit more patterned socks. Seriously, I don't need more plain vanilla socks.  Patterns, even more stripes, would be nice.
6. And finally....Knit/Crochet/Weave 12,000 yards in 2012. Any type of project as long as there are 12,000 yards at the end of the year.