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I had a bit of a cliffhanger in my last Year of Projects update (you might have missed it since it was hidden between pictures of yarn): would I be able to take the Basic Dropspindling class at the North Jersey Fiber Arts Festival? It turns out that there was room for me. But, um… well, you can be the judge.
Clearly, I have a long way to go before I can actually spin some yarn that anyone (myself included) would ever use. While I did resist the urge to buy a stunningly beautiful hand made drop spindle from Hearthwise, I couldn’t stop myself from getting some super cool roving. You know, for that day when I’m an accomplished spinner and stuff.
So from here on out, I’ll be relying on these spinning teachers: Abby Franquemont (via Respect the Spindle
If these don’t help, there’s always Drucilla Pettibone‘s Craftsy class. I think spinning is something I’ll need to set aside a fair amount of time for (since a 90 minute class was definitely not enough!). That probably means that my next self-guided spinning lesson will take place over Thanksgiving weekend or the break from work between Christmas and New Year’s Day. This seems as good a time as any to share an update on my general YOP progress so far.
1) Crochet 52 granny squares for charity. I’m furthest along here. I have 25 blocks finished (I made 26 but one was frogged).
2) Knit my first complete pair of socks. It appears I’m not a sock person. My socks have stalled since the end of the Ravellenic Games.
3) Make my mom a special bedspread for her milestone birthday. I might need a little help here. I already started working on these squares… 
… and then I realized there’s a Tree of Life crochet pattern. I started thinking maybe I should switch to a Tree of Life project? What do you think? (If it helps you decide, the yarn is a little more cream and less yellow than it appears in the picture.)
4) Learn to spin. See above for update.
5) Design my own Bruges lace pattern. Done! I released Visit to the Kantcentrum this week. If you’ve never done Bruges lace crochet before, there is a photo tutorial inside. As a thank you to all my YOP friends for your support, you can download it for free on Ravelry with coupon code BrugesYOP (or by following this link) through October 31.
6) Learn overlay crochet. No progress yet.
7) Create my own hairpin lace pattern. No progress yet.
8 ) Try double knitting. No progress yet.
9) Try domino (modular) knitting. I’ve looked over the book, and even had a false start. Perhaps I should make a charity domino square?
10) Make a small project inspired by Pop Knitting: Bold Motifs Using Color & Stitch
11) Learn knit entrelac. No progress yet.
12) Design a crochet lace shawl pattern or recipe for my DC 37 crochet class students. As I’ve mentioned before, this is actually finished. The design has even been tested and edited. You’ll just have to wait until it is ready for release…
For more Year of Projects posts, visit Come Blog-a-long on Ravelry.
