New Year Goals 2017

A few weeks ago I wrote a year end review, and I’ve been thinking about my goals for the coming year and how to achieve them. I didn’t reach all the goals I set last year, and while that’s disappointing, I don’t think it’s a total failure. I don’t think my goals were unrealistic, but there were some life circumstances that got in the way. I still made progress, and going into my third year as an independent designer and tech editor I feel like I know what I’m doing most of the time, or at least everything isn’t new to me anymore. I feel more focused. So here are my goals for the year. Feel free to leave a comment, or join the discussion in my Ravelry group and tell us about your yarn-y goals for this year!

The Storm Clouds shawl is my latest finished object for Friday’s theme; #FOFriday

Be More Consistent

I got this one from Tara Swiger. “Be more consistent” is really too general to be an attainable goal, but I’ve tried to incorporate the idea of consistency into all my goals for this year, starting with this blog. I’ve set a schedule for myself so you will be sure to find something new and interesting here every week on Friday at noon. If you subscribe to my blog (use the button at the bottom of the page) you’ll see a new post in your email inbox every Friday. I’m also trying to be more consistent with my Instagram posts, but I haven’t gotten more specific than “post 5 times a week.” I’m going to try following a theme for each day of the week and see how that goes.

Knitting and a movie

Knit more

My specific goal is 100 yards a day, which could be anywhere between 1 and 4 hours of knitting. I like to watch a movie and knit at night, so that works out just about perfectly. I tried keeping track of how many yards I knitted on Knitmeter, and I’ve been trying to keep my wips up to date on Ravelry, but I’m not actually measuring 100 yards to make sure I reach my goal everyday. Maybe I should change this to a more measurable goal, like two hours of knitting every day.

2017 publishing schedule

Publish More Patterns

I fell short of the mark last year and only had eleven new patterns published instead of my goal of sixteen. This year I’m planning on twelve independently published patterns, that includes re-releasing previously published patterns as the rights return to me. It’s actually more than last year because I’ll be doing all the photography, layout, and promotion myself. I have a few patterns scheduled to be published in magazines, but I’m not counting those towards my goal. I think one pattern a month is just perfect, but if I can squeeze in a few more I will!

Gorgeous white alpaca yarn from the now-closed Frog Tree yarn company

Stash Down

I have a massive stash. It’s great to be able to “shop my stash” whenever an idea strikes my fancy, or I need a quick gift, or a specific type of yarn to try out an idea on a swatch. These are all good reasons to have a yarn stash, but my stash has gone beyond reason. Some of it just has to go. I haven’t quite decided how I am going to reduce the stash this year, but just knitting it won’t be enough. I may have to put some of it up for sale on Ravelry, or give it away in my Ravelry group. (All the more reason to join the group if you haven’t already!) Recently I have been taking more photos of my stash and adding them to my Ravelry notebook, so at least I know what I have, but this has only convinced me that I have too much!

These are my big knitting goals for the year. What are yours?

 

Thank you for knitting!