Every year I designate a theme of some sort. Just a little goal to spur my creativity on and keep my knitting or spinning fresh and new. I have been very satisfied with the results.

The Year of the Sweater (2010) yielded me a nice stack of handknit sweaters.

The Year of the Stash (2011) saved me tons of money, taught me to use some ingenuity when matching patterns to the yarn I had on hand, and still left me with a cabinet full of stash!

The Year of Spinning (2012) was when I added spinning to my fiber obsession, adding a new dimension to my passion for knitting.

Last year could be called The Year of Survival. While I didn’t make any declarations last New Years, I did get some fun things done.

I did some knitting –

I did some spinning –

And I did some knitting with my handspun –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that’s not even all of it! Pretty good for vomiting the first half of the year and nursing a baby the second, huh?

So, now it comes to 2014. What to do? I have a few ideas flitting around.

Knit only from my handspun for the year?

Only have one WIP at a time?

Set some kind of goal for each month. Say, every month I have to knit a sweater, a shawl, a pair of socks, or what have you?

Another stash down? Lord knows I need it!

A Christmas focused year?

Or maybe a mixture of the above.

Okay. I got it. Are you ready?

This year. Twenty-fourteen is The Year of This and That. And it goes a little something like this:

Each month I will –

1. knit something from my handspun

2. knit a christmas gift or christmas decoration (The Blessing still needs a stocking, I want to make each kid an ornament, and the nativity scene needs some sheep, for example)

3. spin one braid (at least)

4. keep my yarn/fiber purchases to the bare minimum (an unofficial stash down of sorts)

and 5. keep my WIPs to a minimum, say….. four. Yeah. Four is good.

That sounds do able but also challenging. And productive.

Ready. Set. Begin.