After reviewing my progress in last week’s post, I decided to revise my list for the last half of the Year of Projects. This may not seem as ambitious as my original list, but for right now it works for me.
I’ve been purposely vague about the exact numbers of projects, etc. because I would like to keep my Year of Projects participation fun and not obligatory!
So without further ado, here’s my new list.
1) Continue to reduce my yarn stash and track my yarn consumption. I’m an active member of the Surmount the Stash group on Ravelry, but I’m always looking for new ways of tracking my yardage. I started using KnitMeter yesterday, and I think this will be quite helpful. I’ve already learned a lot from entering the projects I completed (and didn’t unravel) in 2012!
My goal is to have one less plastic bin of yarn by the end of 2013, so I guess I should be about halfway there by the end of the Year of Projects. I have no idea what that represents in yardage!
2) Make more projects for myself. I never seem to focus enough on projects for myself. I’d like to make myself a pair of crocheted socks and a full winter accessories set (hat, scarf/cowl, and mittens or convertible gloves). If I could do this by the end of June, I’d be pretty pleased with myself.
3) Learn at least one (hopefully more) new (to me) knitting technique or skill. Some options I’ve been thinking about are entrelac, efficient use of DPNs (the horror!), circular knitting that starts with a small amount of stitches and increases rather than a large amount of stitches and decreases (like some of the great motifs from Knitting in Circles
4) Host at least 2 CALs or KALs in my Ravelry group. I had a lot of fun with the Ripple Mania CAL last year and the Chubby Sheep CAL going on now in the Underground Crafter group. I’d like to be more organized about how I approach these, though. Maybe I might even write up a mystery project for a fall CAL…?
5) Donate crocheted (or knitted) projects to charity. Crochetlist is a Yahoo group that I’ve been involved with on and off for years. I’ll be hosting the September challenge this year (pet blankets for Bideawee again), and I’d like to donate my own projects to at least one of the other challenges.
Some possible projects are
- Cotton washcloths and hand towels (a great way to use up some cotton stash) due at the end of April for Mothers and Infants Striving for Success (MISS Inc.), a shelter for women and children.
- 6″ squares (and I think we all know that I love to make grannies) for Casting Off the Cold by the beginning of June. But I’m not sure about the cost of shipping to Canada…
I could also participate in a charity drive through the New York City Crochet Guild or to send some 8″ squares to Sandy for Bridge and Beyond. And I’m actually hoping to find a charity that accepts crocheted toys. I know that I can look charities up on Bev’s Charity Links or Lion Brand’s Charity Connection, but if anyone has a suggestion of a US based charity that accepts crocheted toys that don’t need to be made in any particular colors, please let me know!
Right now, this list seems incredibly ambitious since I have two samples due next Friday, another one due at the end of the month, and I’ve just volunteered to help out Crochet Happy with her January CAL. But I’m sure once February arrives, I’ll be amazed at the small size of my list. I can always add more things to it if need be!
For more Year of Projects posts, visit Come Blog-a-long on Ravelry.