Thursday 18 January 2018

2017-2018 Knitting review and plans!




It's nearly the weekend! And over halfway through January and I have finally put together my creative goals for 2018.

It's a bit of a long post so grab a hot drink and a snack to keep you going - here we go!

2017 marked my first full year of knitting. And it was a great year! You can see the full details in this post (here). I knit a hat, two baby jumpers, a shawlette and four socks including an actual matching pair. And a small crochet pumpkin called Pete. The other highlights were the Great London Yarn Crawl (post here) and PomFest (post here). 


And what about my 2017 goals? I'm glad you asked! My full 2017 goals post (goal post sounds like football doesn't it...) can be found here.

2017 Goals Review

1. Declutter

I threw away 30 magazines! I still have loads to go through but it's amazing how much space those 30 took up. I have lots of stuff stowed away for different hobbies and I have gradually been throwing away or donating anything I haven't used in over a year. My room is slowly looking tidier and tidier. 

2. Blog more

This has been a big success! In 2016 I posted a grand total of six posts. In 2017 I posted 39 times! And I was pretty happy with what I posted as well. 

3. Do more creative things in 2017 such as classes, events and projects

I completed four knitting projects, started a crochet blanket and knit four socks. And I even gifted two knitted items which is not something I thought I would do for a long time. I also went to two great events as already mentioned. And I attended two classes - a toe up sock class and a spinning class. Neither of which I have written about but I am planning to! 

4. Plan my creativity 

I didn't make a monthly knitting plan for 2017. I did want to complete the Moorland blanket which halted fairly quickly. The Tin Can Knits Simple Collection went well - two baby flax jumpers and I'm nearly finished with my own. Not all the projects in the collection appealed to me such as the shawl so I wasn't planning to knit all of them. I would still like to knit the cardigan and have the yarn ready for it. The Box 'o' Socks KAL also didn't happen. I think it was a bit of a mountain task considering I knit my first ever sock in January 2017 let alone 12 pairs in 12 months.

2018 Goals!

Can you read my handwriting? 



1. Plan my creativity 

I want to plan my knitting more carefully this year, I have found that I am both a process knitter but I also love the feeling of finishing a project. The new Challenge tab in Ravelry will definitely help with this. If you haven't seen it, go to your projects page and there should be an extra tab that says 'challenges'. Click on it and you can set how many projects you want to complete this year. 

Although I had a rough idea of what I wanted to knit last year, I am going to try and have aims for each month. So for January I want to complete a pair of socks for the Box 'o' socks and for the Grocery Girls Sock Bash combined. And the Jodi Shawl for the Grocery Girls shawl KAL. These two projects lead me nicely to:

2. Decrease my stash/ Mindful buying

The above two projects are from stash yarn. Lynne from the Woolnest has written a really good post on how to decide whether to keep or throw away stash (here). She's calling it Use it or Lose it 2018 and I think there's a hashtag along those lines as well. As I am going to be moving house in July/ August, reducing the amount of stuff I own can only be a good thing! Combined with this is mindful buying, to only buy craft items for a planned project rather than on a whim. Admittedly if I buy a skein at a yarn show without knowing what to do with it, it's not that bad! But I want to decrease overall not increase.

3. Try other creative outlets

I am combining all the weaving, sewing and crochet here. Although knitting seems to be my main hobby I would like to try other things. Revision and work dependent, this will be fun! 

4. Continue to declutter and be more organised

As above. I have a feeling this will be a lifelong goal!

5. Enjoy yourself

Go to events, classes, be social. Need I say more?

6. Continue to blog

I have really enjoyed my little corner of blogworld in 2017. I hope to continue it for as long as possible. I have my final year exams on the horizon and I will be away travelling for two months but I'll get some posts on here as often as possible!

To anyone who does read this blog - thank you. Every time I see the stats and see that someone has read a post of mine it makes me incredibly happy. To another year of blogging!

Have a great weekend everyone x

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