Crafting Goals 2011

Over the past two or so months I have been contemplating my crafting goals for this New Year. In one of my previous blog posts, I mentioned wanting to actually follow through with my promises. I think in order to fulfill this, (and for peace of mind) I would first have to take into account my current fiber WIPs (work in progress projects), expose them, and figure out if I want to finish them or set them aside. I’ve decided to finish most of them.



List of WIPs obtained from my ravelry notebook:

 

Robotic Love

Pattern: Mr. & Mrs. Robot by NeedleNoodles

showcased in Crochet Today’s Jan/Feb 2009 issue

85% complete

I plan to take some photos once they're complete & gift to my true love.



 

The Cold Ones

Pattern: La Push, Baby!

by Shelly Salinas

via ravelry.com

80% complete

Copy of a hat worn by the character Bella in the Twilight film.

  



   

Ruffled

Pattern: Waves of Ruffles Purse Pattern by Bella McBride

via a lovely swap pal from The Swap Stop group on ravelry.com

5% complete

'Pimp My Queue' swap package included pattern, yarn and button with other goodies

  

  

 

Lovely Luna

Pattern: Luna Lovegood Scarf by pinkleo

via craftster.org
85%

My intention was to wear this scarf to the HP7 premiere.

   

It may seem like a short list because I am constantly working on something – primarily easy projects like dishcloths for a swap group. Along with these WIPs, I have a few projects that are “hibernating”, essentially WIPs but placed on the snooze button. To me my list feels like a never ending story (love that movie!), especially because over the last year I have retained so many patterns and yarn but technically, have not started the projects.

If you’re into crafting, then you’ve most likely experienced some form of compulsive WIP status. This is exactly what has happened to me last year. As well with the above list, here is a list of some of those promised projects that I, well, promised to friends and family members.

Promised projects:

 Ring Toy for Baby Luke

Pattern: Similar to the classic Fischer Price Rock-a-Stack toy

Gifting to my friend Heather's baby boy. It will be of my own crocheted design.

Yarn: Lion Brand’s Cotton Ease

 Anniversary Scarf for MrMobileWill

Pattern: to be determined – I might want to try and knit one

I wrapped two skeins and gave them to him for our anniversary with a note reading “soon to be scarf.”

Yarn: Malabrigo worsted in a gorgeous deep blue

 Big Baby Slippers/Socks for MrMobileWill

Pattern: to be determined, but was leaning towards these: Globe Trotter Socks from stringsandyarn.com

This request was placed two winters ago! I love the fact that he brings it up ALL THE TIME. Seriously, it really keeps me motivated. As you can tell, ha!

Yarn: NHKM Sport Yarn (now Sunflower Yarns) in a really neat Graphite colorway, shades of grays, blacks and silver

 Crochet Seed Stitch Cowl requested by my Dad

Pattern: a variation of my own design which I’m hoping to write out

My Dad really liked my Biting Love Cowl so he requested that I make 2 more for the wives of his biker friends, plus one for my Mom.

Yarn: undetermined

 Sackboy for my friend Emiliano

Pattern: Little Big Planet Sackboy by Emjay Bailey

Emi saw a crocheted Sackboy tutorial posted over at kotaku.com and demanded I make him one. Yes, he really did demand it.

Yarn: I started it with Lion Brand’s Cotton Ease

Along with these lists, my other goals are to work with most of my stash and patterns before I purchase anymore of either. My plan is to 'bag and tag' yarn to patterns so that they become easily accessible. It's kind of like putting together kits. The only question is which bags to utilize, if I even use bags at all. This, I will have to ponder.

Currently, I've been busy clearing out a lot of my crafting supplies, reorganizing my new shelving units and snapping photos of my yarn stash. I'm planning to post some of these photos soon, along with my newest dyeing project. Hopefully, I can get back to my current WIPs and at least start on one of my promised projects.

 What are some of your goals for this year?

with peace, love, unity & respect,

Sunny Side Up

As I was listening to the John Tesh radio show the other morning, he began to quote some good New Year’s sayings. One of them was a quote by Bill Vaughn. He quotes, “An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.”

For the most part, I consider myself to be optimistic. Sure, there are moments when I can sometimes view things from a negative standpoint, but my general outtake is usually sunny-side up. Though, I’m not the greatest at cooking eggs this way but that’s a different story.

So with resolution lists in the air lately, I began to think about the previous year. One of the things I noticed is it is not how I view things, but of how I’m consistently saying I cannot do things. For those who know me well, they can attest that I do this and I do this a lot. You know the saying, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, and try again.” How many times have I attempted to use a drop spindle? Better yet, learn to knit a pair of socks? What about all those cute things I promised to make for others? (Okay, now I totally have the Once in a Lifetime song by the Talking Heads playing in my mind.) “And you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?”

I got here because last year I overwhelmed myself with too many crafting projects. Looking back, most of these projects were placed on a back burner because for reasons of “I just can’t do the certain technique a pattern requests” or “I don’t know how to granny square to save the life of me” -therefore I can’t make those super cute granny slippers. Oh and my personal favorite, “Oh! I totally wish I could knit those cute ::insert object here:: but I don’t know how to knit with DPNs!”  Yep. You can easily see how overwhelming it can become. Top that off with a pattern & yarn addiction plus O.C.D. and well, you start to blog about it, ha!

Seriously though, resolutions are about reflecting on the past year, looking at the things you’ve done, goals you've accomplished, etc. and making changes or new choices and kicking old habits in the New Year.

That being said, I would love to start by listing some simple crafting goals and starting off 2011 with,

“I CAN DO IT!”

At least I think I can.

What are some of your reflections from last year?

with peace, love, unity and respect,
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥