And We're Off....

To a good start for the new year. New projects were started, old ones finished, and decisions made for direction a new year of crafting will go.

ON MY NEEDLES:

January first was the start of a month long sock knit-along in Hufflepuff House in the Hogwarts at Ravelry group (yes, I'm a Hufflepuff and proud of it!). There are no prizes for participating in The Great Hufflepuff Sock Fest, just Badges and a feeling of accomplishment, both of which I love.

I cast on two pair of socks. The first pair is a cuff down afterthought/forethought heel sock in Biscotti & Cie's self striping Felix base yarn in the Monsieur X colorway. I've the first sock (minus the heel) done and am almost halfway through the leg of the second sock since this picture was taken.



The second pair was cast on, frogged and re-cast on. It will be toe-up socks with Fleegle's no flap heel (a first time for me) pattern, and will incorporate the Hermione sock stitch pattern on leg and instep. The yarn is Panda Cotton, a holiday gift from a friend.




2014 GOALS:

This year I will be concentrating on charity knitting and finishing UFOs/WIPs, and also pattern writing. I will also try not to buy anymore yarn until the fourth quarter (and then only as gifts for others). Ideally, I'd like to go an entire year without any stash enhancement, yarn or fiber. For spinning, I will try to spin through as much of my fleece and fiber stash as possible, with an eye towards selling some of it (either handspun yarn or hand processed fiber). An adventure for sure.

I have lots of UFOs/WIPs on my needles that don't seem to be getting anywhere. So the plan is to concentrate on one a month (more than one if they're small like hats or socks). So far, January is a hat and a pair of socks; February will be the Hexipuff Baby Blanket; March, the Charlotte Bronte shawl. The schedule will be reevaluated every quarter as projects get added to or removed from the UFO/WIP list.

The two charities I will concentrate on are first Socks For Soldiers and then Bundles of Joy. Both have been sorely neglected over the last couple of years.


OFF MY NEEDLES:

My first Finished Object of the year is the other Holiday Stocking. I guess technically it's a Re-Finished Object since I frogged the original finished stocking back to the heel beginning and redid the heel and toe. I'm still not entirely satisfied with the toe but it looks a lot better than it did, and frankly, I'm sick of it.