This year's knitting goal
I like to set myself a knitting challenge each year, last year's was to knit Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac, which project kind of fell apart midway through the year (health crises and depressive episodes will do that to you, but I did wind up with some nice mittens and hats and things).
This year's project is pretty ambitious and might result in some personal growth especially in the arenas of persistence and overcoming boredom and frustration. The goal? To finish all my unfinished projects.
So I spent today collecting all of said projects. This step was, in the words of Rose Birkett, too foully dispiriting. As I turned up remembered projects, repressed and even supressed projects turned up as well.
Here they all are:
From top to bottom, left to right:
The sweater that taught me why fair isle garments are traditionally knit in the round (because knitting them flat makes no fucking sense and is irritating and stupid). The blanket I've been knitting on for almost a year without it getting appreciably larger or using up all the yarn. The red aran sweater I set aside because I couldn't make up my mind about how I wanted to do the sleeves.
Next row: That same stupid fair-isle sweater. My traveling scarf (which only needs to have a row finished and then be bound off so that's not too discouraging). A Queen Anne's Lace shawl that actually is further along than I remembered although I have no idea where the pattern is.
And below that: 3 lonely socks (one of them was a finished pair but the mate disappeared at the laundramat). Underneath I just need to finish the second hand-warmer so that's not too bad.
The indigo blue thing to the right of the socks is a pattern I was testing for a friend except the pattern wasn't finished and it turns out I'm not so good at crocheting anyway and so it went into a long term time-out. The gray thing is a super secret pattern I'm testing for a rav friend and is coming along and really needs to be priority.
Below that are 3 unfinished hats, 2 of which could easily be finished (one needs cords on the ear flaps and the other needs a brim and the purple and gray one needs, well, most of a hat basically). To the right of it (the purple and green thing) is a scarf which is coming along nicely except that I will need to spin more yarn to make it a suitably scarfy length, so that's kind of involved. And above THAT is a swirl shawl that I cast on at 3 a.m. one night when I couldn't sleep and well, that was a bad idea. Then there's a felted snowman that is pretty much done except it needs to be sewn together and stuffed but since Christmas is over I'm not so motivated to do so.
And FINALLY, that cute mitten? The most discouraging project of them all. First off, the pattern chart printed out in barely discernable shades of gray and when I emailed the designer her response was basically "Huh, that's weird" but I loved the pattern so much that I colored in the chart myself. But then the dog got a hold of it and ate the knitting needles so a bunch of stitches are dropped and I'd have to get new needles and who knows where the fucking chart has gone off to and I'm no longer sure I love it that much.
So, those are my projects for the year. Looking at them in their totality makes me want to hide under the bed. If you see me knitting on a project that is NOT one of these, snatch it out of my hands and speak to me sharply.
ETA: I have other goals for this year too, but they are personal. These are just my knitting goals.
ETA2: I just added it up and it is 18 projects. That is just ridiculous! I'm pretty sure they are plotting something and are going to gang up on me.
This year's project is pretty ambitious and might result in some personal growth especially in the arenas of persistence and overcoming boredom and frustration. The goal? To finish all my unfinished projects.
So I spent today collecting all of said projects. This step was, in the words of Rose Birkett, too foully dispiriting. As I turned up remembered projects, repressed and even supressed projects turned up as well.
Here they all are:
From top to bottom, left to right:
The sweater that taught me why fair isle garments are traditionally knit in the round (because knitting them flat makes no fucking sense and is irritating and stupid). The blanket I've been knitting on for almost a year without it getting appreciably larger or using up all the yarn. The red aran sweater I set aside because I couldn't make up my mind about how I wanted to do the sleeves.
Next row: That same stupid fair-isle sweater. My traveling scarf (which only needs to have a row finished and then be bound off so that's not too discouraging). A Queen Anne's Lace shawl that actually is further along than I remembered although I have no idea where the pattern is.
And below that: 3 lonely socks (one of them was a finished pair but the mate disappeared at the laundramat). Underneath I just need to finish the second hand-warmer so that's not too bad.
The indigo blue thing to the right of the socks is a pattern I was testing for a friend except the pattern wasn't finished and it turns out I'm not so good at crocheting anyway and so it went into a long term time-out. The gray thing is a super secret pattern I'm testing for a rav friend and is coming along and really needs to be priority.
Below that are 3 unfinished hats, 2 of which could easily be finished (one needs cords on the ear flaps and the other needs a brim and the purple and gray one needs, well, most of a hat basically). To the right of it (the purple and green thing) is a scarf which is coming along nicely except that I will need to spin more yarn to make it a suitably scarfy length, so that's kind of involved. And above THAT is a swirl shawl that I cast on at 3 a.m. one night when I couldn't sleep and well, that was a bad idea. Then there's a felted snowman that is pretty much done except it needs to be sewn together and stuffed but since Christmas is over I'm not so motivated to do so.
And FINALLY, that cute mitten? The most discouraging project of them all. First off, the pattern chart printed out in barely discernable shades of gray and when I emailed the designer her response was basically "Huh, that's weird" but I loved the pattern so much that I colored in the chart myself. But then the dog got a hold of it and ate the knitting needles so a bunch of stitches are dropped and I'd have to get new needles and who knows where the fucking chart has gone off to and I'm no longer sure I love it that much.
So, those are my projects for the year. Looking at them in their totality makes me want to hide under the bed. If you see me knitting on a project that is NOT one of these, snatch it out of my hands and speak to me sharply.
ETA: I have other goals for this year too, but they are personal. These are just my knitting goals.
ETA2: I just added it up and it is 18 projects. That is just ridiculous! I'm pretty sure they are plotting something and are going to gang up on me.