A Week Late

The calendar year turned without my posting a year in review for 2013 ~ I suppose right now, I'm more about looking forward than looking back, but this also means that I'm now a week late in sharing my goals for the not-so-new year.  Then again, 10 days isn't so bad, right?  I'm keeping my goals really simple this year. In fact, I only have three:

(1)  Color(work).  Not only could my wardrobe use some splashes of color, but my knitting skills could be stepped up by working with a variety of colors in one project.  High on my list of must.knit.now patterns are My Favorite Things Infinity Cowl and the Pine Bough Cowl. I've been wanting to knit both these projects ever since they were released (December 2012 and February 2013, respectively).  It's time ....

Photograph:  Jill McGee

Photograph:  Diana Walla

(2)  Stash.  I'm truly going to knit from my stash as often as possible and a project like My Favorite Things Infinity Cowl is a great stash buster. I have a lot of worsted weight so I'm pretty sure I'll be able to knit this cowl strictly from stash.  On the other hand, I'm a little tired of poorly substituting yarns and would love to knit patterns in the yarns they were designed with. For example, I've never knit with Hikoo's Kenzie yarn before, and I want my Bough cowl to look just like the original.

(3)  Design.  I'm planning to design small accessory projects throughout the year mainly to satisfy the creative side of my brain. The challenge here won't be so much the designing but everything that comes after.  Having written a couple of hat patterns in the past, I know how much patience it takes to knit (and test knit) a new pattern to then be able to actually write it out. Still, I have so many ideas floating around that my needles are ready!

I'm really optimistic that 2014 is going to be a growth year for me in so many ways, and I'm looking forward to this little blog going along for the ride.