1. Reorganise stash
I'm usually pretty good about buying yarn just as and when I'm needing it. This year my husband treated me to three balls of variegated wool which I didn't necessarily need but which I thought were pretty. I did however need the numerous 500g balls of wool I bought for making his Temperature Scarf. Of course I didn't use all 500g worth of yarn in that project so now I have a fair bit of yarn just waiting for me to get through it.
I store my stash in an 80l tub in a cupboard and then in a 30l knitting bag (in whichever room I'm doing the most knitting at any one time). Due to the aforementioned four or five giant balls of yarn this space has become a bit tight, so now I've got an extra carrier bag which is stuffed with wool as well. This isn't the best way to store things so I'm hoping to either do a lot of knitting to run down some of these supplies, or sort through what I have and donate some of it to people who will use it (to make more room for the stuff I actually want).
2. Try to learn something new from each pattern I try
It doesn’t have to be a big lesson, maybe just which yarns I shouldn’t use in the future, but I’ve recently knit a proper sock for the first time and have got to grips with magic loop, picking up stitches and Kitchener stitch in a very short space of time. I’ve really enjoyed stretching myself and it’s opened the door for more patterns that I’ve previously avoided; I want everything I knit to make me feel this way!
3. Buy the Beekeeper's Quilt Pattern
This relates to the point above. I always loved the idea but put it off because of the need for DPNs, now I’ve got the hang of magic loop that shouldn’t be a problem so I’d really like to try it now because it looks like the sort of thing I could take to work to keep from snacking in my breaks.
Ironically, after posting this as one of my resolutions, as part of a Random Act of Kindness, someone treated me to the pattern. Now I can't wait to get it started. Normally I try to stick to one project at a time, but I'm coming to realise that having more than one thing on the go at a time isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it's nice to have something you can work on a little bit at a time, and then go to something simpler which you can do when you want some mindless knitting.
4. Keep adding to my knitting library & actually knit things from these books!
I really enjoy knitting Jean Greenhowe's patterns so I've developed a habit of sticking almost exclusively to her booklets. There’s nothing wrong with that but it’s fun to try new things so that’s what I want to do.
After Christmas I bought myself four new knitting pattern books, one of which is a toy knitting book but which requires patterns to be knit in the round (I wanted it for ages but figured I'd never be able to do it). I also collect vintage knitting books and I really have to stop neglecting those, it can be time consuming modifying the patterns into modern terminology but what’s the point in collecting them if I’m not going to use them?!
5. Play with more variegated yarn
This year I’ve discovered a love for variegated yarn and I want to do more with it in the new year. I mainly make toys and I think this will be a good way to break from following the pattern instructions for the colours and learning to just go wild. Sooner or later this’ll probably help me to learn an important lesson about colour (see point 2).
6. Ask for more knitting-related gifts
I’ve really gotten into knitting in a big way this year but only asked for knitting related gifts for Christmas as an afterthought. When people ask me what I want this year I want to ask for things that will be useful for my hobby, from storage supplies to needles. That'll help me to resist the urge to go crazy buying stuff for myself!
Do you have a particular hobby that you're setting New Year's Resolutions for?
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