2010 on Tuesday

There's no official Ten on Tuesday topic as far as I know so this seems the perfect opportunity to recap the year that was and make a few plans for the year that will be.

Knitwise, the high points of the past year would have to be Bruce's scarf which he wanted and loves, the kipot for DQ's Bat Mitzvah, , the socks for my grandfather, the NaKniSweMo sweater for DQ, and finally finishing That Damn Vest. All of those represented challenges or made the recipient really happy or both. They'll stand out in my memory for quite some time.

I completed other stuff too. Among the gallery of 42 items I finished in 2009 are 5 hats, 2 lace shawls, 3 baby dresses, and 14 pairs of socks. Not bad but I also added to the list of UFO's. I'm not super happy about that but I'm not obsessing over it either. Better to look ahead to the knitting that will be.



Here are a few goals for 2010. I'm trying to be realistic.

1. Finish more UFO's - I don't promise to finish all of them but if I could bring 3 or 4 to fruition it would be good. I'm sure that Bruce's socks and blue & yellow blob will cross the finish line soon. Loppem and my beaded Juno Regina are likely as well. Beyond those we'll see.

2. Do a little Fair Isle - I've done it before and I'm no good at it but I know that practice would help. I'm thinking that mittens might be good. Small and not intimidating.

3. Try steeking - This kind of goes with #2. KP had a kit for a steeked laptop cover a while back and I'm still kicking myself for not getting it. Steeking plainly scares the shit out of me but I think that being able to do it would open up possibilities for some cool knitting.

4. Make more socks - I think that 18-20 pair would be cool and do-able too. In all fairness there are multiple reasons for this lofty goal - family, family, family. Suddemly my girls would like to wear nothing but handknit socks (Stinkette even tries to sneak the same pair onto her feet over and over until I wash her others - ewwww, stinky.) Not only that but a few family members have been dropping hints and making direct requests. I'm happy to oblige!

5. Be more careful about my pattern/yarn choices - I really need to become more of a thoughtful knitter. This is especially important since I'm feeling a sweater knitting vibe lately.

6. Design a wrap - I don't care for triangular shawls and I find that most wraps are just one motif from start to finish. I want wraps with a bit of excitement. I've been thinking about this a lot and the Alpine Lace Shawl that I made in 2008 is one of my most favorite pieces. Keeping track of the motifs and having no rest row made it so engaging. I want to feel that challenged again.

The next goals are stash related. As usual, I find myself looking at the stash and feeling like it's a little out of control. I'm not sure that I can realistically see myself reducing it much. I know myself better than that. But I do think I can get it under control a but.

7. Try to limit most purchases to events - visiting a new yarn store on vacation is an event. Rhinebeck and MDS&W are also events. I can't say that I won't buy anything on other occasions but I want to try to limit the just because I want it purchases a bit.

8. Buy with a purpose and write it down - I really want to limit my purchases and stop the impulse buys but I know that they're going to happen. There will always be yars I can't resist. A more realistic goal is to limit my purchases of heavier weight yarns to what is needed for a specific pattern and when I make those purchases I need to catalog them and the intended project in Ravelry. Use the tool for all it offers.

9. Spin some of the accumulated fiber - I just need to get back to spinning in general.

10. Knit more of the stuff in my queue - I've already bought the yarn for most of the projects in my queue so if I knit from my queue it ought to reduce the stash in a really satisfying way.

That's it. A loose list of goals for 2010. What are your goals?