Yarny Resolutions
I’m not a fan of new year’s resolutions, mostly because I never keep them. Loose weight, eat more veggies, clean more, etc. The usual suspects.
This year, I’m only making resolutions of the knitting type. I’ve done this before, and it worked pretty well. My last success was to finish my unfinished projects, or—gasp—frog the ones I know I’ll never finish.
So, I’m going to make that resolution again. I have two knit-along projects, the Kayleen Tee and the Zuni Cardigan, to finish, and as of last night, I’ve got all of the pieces done for the Vera Cardigan, so I can put that together for my mom.
There are countless other projects on my needles, too. This winter, we’re going through each room in the house and organizing it, so my stash and knitting stuff is on that list, soon! My plan is to gather all of my unfinished projects and made some hard decisions.
For instance, I have a vest on the needles, and I’ve run out of yarn. This project has been sitting in a bag for months, maybe over a year, in hopes that I’ll find some yarn of the same dye lot. No can do, though. I got some of a different lot just to see how it would work, and there was no matching it, even knitting every other row with the new dye lot. It was just too light and left a stripped effect. This morning, I took the pieces off the needles. Sigh. I’ll unravel it and look for another knitting project for this yarn. (Although, if anyone has some Cascade Greenland in color 3529, lot 2218, let me know!)
I’ve got several of these types of exercises ahead of me, and I’m looking forward to it. It’s always a great feeling when you get that UFO monkey off your back. I have a couple more plans up my unfinished sleeve, so here are my yarny resolutions:
1. Weed out UFOs.
2. Finish UFOs that are worthy.
3. Knit a lace shawl.
4. Organize my stash.
5. Donate or sell yarn I’ll never use. Same with needles and project bags.
That’s it. Sounds easy enough, but we all know it’s not. For me, it’s because I fall in love all over again with projects that I’ve forgotten about. I just need to put my big girl panties on and tuck into that UFO pile!
I haven’t mentioned resolution 3 yet, although I have written about lace shawls on Knitting Daily a couple of times. This one hit home on Christmas when I didn’t have a red shawl to wear. My friends and family were flabbergasted; no handknitted item on Kath at Christmas dinner?! I was ashamed, my friends, and there’s no place for shame in knitting!
Hence the resolution. I have some beautiful red Malabrigo yarn; I just need to settle on a pattern. This is worsted yarn, and I have just one skein, so I’m hoping I can get the shawl done this winter. A few patterns have poked their heads up from the group.
I’m thinking that the winner will be the Pembroke lace shawl. It calls for bulky yarn, but I’ll go forth with the worsted and just have a smaller shawl. I’m aching to cast on something quick and pretty, and I think this is it. (I have to put that Vera cardigan together first, of course!)
If you’re in the market for something pretty, too, check out the Firehawk Shawl by Heather Zoppetti, shown below. She’s such an inventive designer, and this pattern is no exception. Its beautiful sunburst design will add a shot of color to dreary winter weather.
The really cool thing about this pattern is that it’s part of a knitalong video. Yes, you read that right, a knitalong video! Heather taped a video that guides you through every step of this beautiful project, from choosing colors to knitting the borders to blocking your finished shawl.
You can knit along with Heather on your own schedule, as you make this beautiful shawl (the pattern comes with the video). Get your Firehawk Shawl Knitalong Video today, and make this project part of your yarny resolutions!
Cheers,
P.S. What are your yarny resolutions for 2016? Share some with me below!
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