Wednesday, January 1, 2014

New year, new goal

In 2013, I set some rather willy nilly goals, and as a result, didn't really stick to any of them. This year, my knitting goals are going to be a little more firm.

I like what some knitters do, where they take a pattern book and commit to knitting some or all the patterns from the book throughout the year. I don't have a pattern book that I want to do this with, so I went through my queue and chose 12 patterns I'd like to complete this year. Some are big, some are small, but I think it'd be fun to knit them all! I also want to use stashed yarns for them, whenever possible.

In no particular order they are:


A Better Bucket
It's been in my queue pretty much since I joined Ravelry, I think it's time to get it done, don't you? I have a couple of yarns in mind for this one - both MadTosh - Vintage left over from Tea Leaves, or Heritage leftover from Eileen.

I've long wanted to knit a rectangular shawl, but I tend to get bored with scarves, so I figured a rectangular shawl would be a billion times worse. I think the construction of this pattern will help with that.  I have a whole box of green shawl yarn that could be used on this one... but I think I'm leaning towards to some lace I have from the Sanguine Gryphon. This would satisfy my long-standing goal of knitting a shawl in lace weight too.

SmokingHotNeedles gifted this pattern to me on my birthday. I absolutely love it. I love the colour it's knit in there, but I don't have anything like that in my stash. I do however, have some copper cotton, or some burgundy cashmerino that would work. (Though I'd love to knit this in a warm brown... but I'd have to dye something)

Another one I've been meaning to do for ages. I actually started it once with some Top Cat but they were short skeins and I realized I wasn't going to have enough, so I frogged it. This is one of the few that I probably won't knit from the stash - I want to dye something up special. 

This is probably the most ambitious project on my list. But it's something I've wanted ever sine I first saw it. I tried to convince Mom to make it for me, but to no avail. Now that I'm better with stranded colour work, I think I can do it. I am going to cheat a little though - I'm going to dye a gradient, so I don't have to keep track of the colour sequence - it will just happen. This pattern will also give me a new skill - steeking!!!

Another one in the queue forever. I've got some lovely Cascade Indulgence set aside for this (in natural white). It's a mix of alpaca and angora. Though... I am a little tempted to dye up some Top Cat Aran in a soft grey....

Another one I fell in love with when I saw it. When we got Desert Cat in, I squirreled away three skeins in Dormouse, a colour very similar to the above picture. I can't wait to have a Desert Cat cardigan. 

I'm ashamed at how many times this shawl has ended up on my goal lists and still hasn't been knit! Well 2014 is the year! I have some white recycled silk set aside for this one, but I may switch it out for the Tanis Fiber Arts Red Label Cash Silk Single in Shadow that I have in my stash.

After gushing about this one a few posts ago, I couldn't leave it off my list. It's knit in DK too, so should be a nice quick knit for the list. I have some beautiful Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in wine that would work well for it. 

Pirate Danger
Who couldn't love pirate socks. And in a wicked deep red House Cat? To die for!

Susie Rogers Reading Mitts
Another one I'm incredibly ashamed I haven't knit yet. Seriously... they are fingerless mitts - how hard is it to get around to them. I have some Zara in Stone that matches my Wildwood beret.

Watershed
A cute, quick little cover-up that will help extend my sundresses into the cooler seasons. This one I will have to dye something for - I don't have anything in the stash for it. Any suggestions on colour?

Of course, none of this can be done until I get my remaining Christmas knits done, as well as Sweet Dreams... and lets not forget LeStrange.... I've got a busy year ahead of me!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Loved seeing all the doll clothes you made, as well as the other knitted pieces. Great beret, by the way!! And now you have mitts to match. How great is that! And fabulous jewelry too! Hope you had a wonderful New Year's Eve. Happy 2014. And now to get busy on one of your new projects...you've picked out some pretty fancy patterns!!

Delusional Knitter said...

Cool, you just inspired me to update and reorder my queue for the new year. Happy Knitting!

Samantha said...

You are inspirational. My knitting goals are the complete opposite. I'm planning nothing. Just knitting on a whim. I DO see some stuff on your list I've been meaning to knit so maybe we'll have some projects in common. :)

Happy New Year sister friend. Love you.

Minding My Own Stitches said...

What a great list! Lots of variety. Can't wait to see you work through it. That satchel is particularly cool, but I'm not sure I'm up to it. Yet.

elns said...

Can we talk about how awesome your knitting goals are? Crap, my goal was to not try and get too ambitious and set myself up for disappointment blahblittyblah, but now I'm going to have to add a Hitofude to the year's agenda. I hope you are happy, lace and fingering weight in a sweater, it's like I'm asking for a butt-kicking ;)