Triksaidekaphobic - Not!

I am not triskaidekaphobic. Never have been.  In fact I usually consider any Friday the 13th will be a great (or at least good) day for me.  And it usually is.  Thirteen is a lucky number:  a baker's dozen anything is wonderful.  So when it dawned on me this was 2013 my brain when off on a tangent. 13 in 13!

13 in 13.  Let's see, I can do 13 pairs of socks, 13 pairs of mittens, 13 hats, 13 shawls, 13 preemie hats, 13 hexipuffs a week, spin 13 pounds of fiber, process 13 pounds of fleece, do 13 projects for Bundles of Joy and 13 for Socks for Soldiers, make 13 sweaters, finish 13 UFOs......enough already! Getting carried away here!

Realistically, while I probably need to do all of that to reach my #40lbStashdown goal, it ain't gonna happen.  My hands alone couldn't handle that much knitting and/or crocheting.  So let's whittle this down a little more sensibly. Maybe

Thirteen pairs of socks was the first one I thought of so that's in (WIPs count).  And I've been chomping at the bit to do some stranded colorwork mittens, so 13 pairs of mittens is also in.  Hats are small so they're in, as are the hexipuffs (at least 13/month) and preemie hats.  The 13 shawls and 13 sweaters are out. I'd like to say I'll try for 4 sweaters and maybe 2 shawls, but I'd also rather not set limits for them at all, so I won't.   Also out are the 13 projects each for both Bundles of Joy and Socks for Soldiers, and the 13 UFOs - they're all redundant if I'm doing all the rest.  

What? no spinning goals you ask?  To which I reply: yes, I have spinning goals for this year, it's just a little tricky working it into the 40lb stashdown goals.  Why?  Because of the whole spinning the fiber just moves it from one stash pile (fleece/fiber) to the other (yarn) thing.  Now processing fleece (scouring, combing, carding) will reduce (sometimes up to 50%)  the original start weight of the fleece, and I am counting that in the 40lb stash down.  But I won't actually reduce my spinning stash unless I use it.  

To that end, my spinning goals this year are (1) to use my handspun yarn in any 13 projects this year, and (2) spin 17,000 yds of singles. I know, that is lowballing it considering how much I spun in 2012, but there's a reason.  Last year I was aiming to knit and/or spin 10 miles (17,600 yds) worth, and I spun over 25,000 yds but only knit under 4,000 yds.  This year I've upped the total yardage goal to 30,000 yds, but split it out at 13,000 (see '13') yards of knit/crochet and 17,000 yds spun.  The spinning is easy; the knitting, not so much. And that's the challenge.