2014 Knitting New Years Resolutions

Last January I posted this about my 2013 knitting goals.  I wanted to:
1. Knit more sock yarn from my stash
2. Keep my stash under 30,000
3. Card and spin my alpaca fleece
4. Knit a hexipuff a day
5. Finish up some UFO's

So, how'd I do?  Well, one out of 5 ain't bad:

654 hexipuffs! I knit my goal of 364 in 2013.  I got a bit behind with the holiday knitting, but I caught back up on my 5 day Christmas weekend.  Now it's habit, I'm going to keep it up.  It's possible I might even finish my BeeKeeper's Quilt this year, depending on how many more I need. I guestimated 1000, but basically I'm going to knit it until it's the size of the white comforter underneath.  However many that is!

And I didn't do too bad on my other goals, either. I barely touched my fleece but I did knit from my sock yarn stash. I didn't buy ANY sock yarn for myself in the past year.  I don't need to as I still have plenty to keep myself knitting socks for the next couple of years.  And I barely bought any yarn for myself, either. Almost everything I bought was stuff I needed for projects for craft shows or for other people, mostly my nieces.  Or I dyed the yarn myself.  And it really wasn't that much, either. My stash is over 30,000, I'm sure, but I'm not really keeping track anymore. It's still (mostly) contained. I'm trying to work my way through my Ravelry queue, which is all projects I already have the yarn for, and only buy yarn when I need it for something I want to make for someone else (since 90% of my stash is for ME ME ME.)  I've pretty much weeded out all the yucky yarn out of my stash. I will look again, but at my first perusal, I couldn't find a single thing to donate to our knitting group's annual yarn swap.  I'm kind of proud of that. I don't buy stuff I regret later.

I have made progress on some UFO's, but not anything substantial. I'm going to try to work on that again year.  But, since I really didn't do that great in 2013, I'm going to try to keep thing simpler this year.  So, my 2014 Knitting Resolutions are:

1. A hexipuff a day! 
2.  Bind off 2, cast on 1. 

The second is a new thing I'm going to try. I'm not allowed to cast on a project until I've finished 2 first. Maybe this will help with the UFO's.  I know it's pushing me to finish some things I have on the needles now because I have a serious case of castitis and really want to start a new project.  Like the Thinking of Spring Mittens I have the yarn for, but haven't been able to start yet.  They have robins on the hands.  Robins! I must knit these! But seeing as how NONE of my knitting Christmas presents are done yet and I'm having a sweater slog...

I'm going to extend BO2CO1 to spinning, too. I can't buy more fiber until I've spun 2 skeins.  Hopefully, it'll help me start to tackle my beautiful alpaca fleece. 

What are YOUR knitting resolutions this year?  And how did you do in 2013?

More Christmas Knits! And Tinking. :(

I thought I had finished the Cloudy Day hat I'm making, but it turns out I need to add another pattern repeat to it to make it bigger so I had to tink back quite a bit.  This is what happens when you make changes to a pattern.  In this case, I'm knitting it in fingering weight yarn instead of sport because I have a tiny head and it'd be too big if I did it in sport.  As is, it's more like a beanie than a beret, but it'll soon be fixed.  And once I block it out on a dinner plate I think it'll be just right.  I had hoped to get it done today, but I guess it'll wait.  BTW, I'm knitting it using Mad Tosh Light in Silver Fox that I overdyed to make more silver grey.  It's the same yarn I used for my Cladonia shawlette that I adore and get so many compliments on. I think they'll look great together! 

So, to console myself for all my wasted knitting time, here is a picture of the Pint Sized Pine Trees I made for a Christmas gift for my boyfriend's father, who makes his own wines.  They're quick and adorable knits that can go over a wine stopper or cork to add a bit of festivity to a bottle of wine, or they can stand alone. I loved them so much I want to make a whole forest of mini tree ornaments for Christmas next year!

(They are also a great way to use up bits of yarn in your stash, those wine bottle corks that inevitably find their ways into kitchen drawers and beads.  I have lots of random beads.) 

Happy Knitting,

SereKnitty

Christmas Knitting

I know it's mid-January, but I'm finally posting pictures of some of my Christmas knitting.  I made snowmen ornaments for my co-workers.  They were fun to make and I enjoyed dressing them up using bits of yarn from my stash.

They were big hits in the office.  Aren't they adorable?  The pattern is called Lumpy, Rosy and Slim, found for free on the KnitPicks website.  It's easy to adapt and make your own. 

Did I just give you an idea for next year?  :)

Happy Knitting! 
SereKnitty