A look ahead

2007 was an interesting year for me in many knitting related ways. I started working at the yarn store (yay!), I knit more sweaters, I joined a sock club, and I had cast-on-itis with the kitchen stress. This is especially reflected in my current WIP list.

2008 will be different. I did not rejoin the sock club (since I've only just cast on one of the pairs, and don't have plans to knit all of the patterns), and I will not have cast-on-itis this year (hear me now, believe me later). I do want to get the WIPs down to a more manageable number, and try not to cast on for any more socks until I get the current ones pared down.

Okay, enough rambling, time for some lists.

Goals for 2008:
Knit more.
Make my knits count - less whimsy stuff, and more things people want (including me).
Knit more gifts and more sweaters.
Try out different sock constructions. Including toe-up socks.
Knit more lace.
Become a more literate knitter. I have lots of books that I haven't read - books about sweater and sock construction, about fixing mistakes, different techniques for casting on and finishing details. I'm going to look more into them tomorrow, but I'd like to assign a book to myself for each month and share some tidbits with you all.

Speaking of those tons of books, I've got lots that I haven't knit from. While I don't have a defined plan, I am kicking around the idea of one project from a previously unused book each month. I'll have to spend a little more time with my Ravelry queue to suss that out.

I'd also like to try to use up some stash. Thanks to the greatness that is Ravelry, I exported my stash (after updating it this morning with stuff that hadn't made it in), I learned that I have a lot of yarn. Last January I had 604 balls of yarn. Right now I have 821 balls and 166,195 yards. I did toss or trade 140 balls. So really, that's only a net gain of 80 balls or so. That's much better, right? I do really want to use up some stash that has been hanging around for a while.

In 2007 I also stayed away from KALs and swaps, and stopped making monthly goals. I feel that the absence of both affected my productivity this year. Swaps I didn't really miss too much (and did a few), and while I didn't ever keep up well with KALs, they did provide inspiration and direction. My monthly goal lists also helped provide direction, and keep me accountable for finishing things. While I won't go over the top joining KALs, I will lurk around a few for inspiration. And I will resume my goal lists.

Whew, that's a lot! I do have more to say about what I want to do, but it is still a little jumbled in my mind, so I'll sort it out as I clean up the knitting corner/stash/pattern binders tomorrow.