What a difference a bit over a year makes!

It’s been quiet on the blog front as I’ve been keeping busy podcasting in the Give Me A Crown YouTube channel, sewing up a storm in my Etsy shop, trying to keep my projects up to date on Ravelry, and I did a tree-change moving from Sydney to the beautiful countryside of central west NSW, Australia.

But a new year has begun and I want to get back in to writing about my knitting and yarn crafts so I’ll try and post at least twice a month (and if I manage to do it weekly then that would be even better!).

To begin, I look back at my 2016 yarn goals. I set these to give my crafts a bit of focus and I referred back to them through the year. I didn’t expect to reach all of my goals but they provided inspiration when I got stuck and didn’t know what to work on next.

My 2016 yarn goals were:

• Knit 6 pairs of socks including a pair of two-at-a-time socks – I completed 9 pairs, finished off one pair from 2015, and I knit two-at-a-time socks (and then promptly went back to knitting one-at-a-time)
• Brioche project – I knit the Pop Fizzle beanie pattern by Lesley Anne Robinson
• Intarsia project – I made up my own Block socks incorporating intarsia in the round which was fun and I want to knit a similar project soon.
• Lace project – I knit the Maluka shawl with an interesting construction knitting the lace border first and then the body.
• Knit a skirt – not attempted, though regularly researched.
• Knit the Taskutakki cardigan – My large cozy Taskutakki is in progress!
• Take part in a mystery KAL – not attempted.
• Learn to knit longer stretches without looking – I made some progress but not as much as I had hoped.
• Learn English knitting – not attempted.
• Publish a pattern on Ravelry – I wrote up a number of patterns but didn’t polish them up enough for publishing. I’m my worst critic :)
• Buy from 3 Aussie indie-dyers and 1 overseas indie-dyer – I bought yarn from Australian indie-dyers Miss Click Clack, Kathys Fibres, Skein Yarn, Cola Girl Collective, and the House of Wool, as well as overseas indie-dyers Fondant Fibre and Stray Cat Socks. 
• Visit 3 new-to-me yarn shops – moving to the countryside made this a bit difficult but I visited the House of Wool, in Blackheath, NSW,  I visited Adagio Mills in Orange, NSW, and found them at several markets, and I checked out Caboodle of Orange Gifts.
• Spin a fractal spin – I did it (but seem to have forgotten to add it to Ravelry!)
• Spin a thicker woollen spin – I’ve been practicing.
• Try a new yarn dyeing technique – I tried to dye fibre but I haven’t tested out how spinnable the fibre is after the experiment.

And now I’ve set my 2017 yarn goals, in no particular order, and put them on my Ravelry profile as a reminder:

• Track yarn going in and out of my stash
• Publish a pattern on Ravelry
• Try three new sock heel constructions
• Knit a skirt
• Knit a colourwork sweater
• (Buy and) knit from a sock blank
• Order brown and/or grey yarn from three indie-dyers
• Spin and knit a pair of socks
• Knit a project with beads
• Try free form crochet
• Intarsia project
• Lace project
• Steek something
• Spin a cardigan-quantity of yarn
• Take part in a mystery KAL
• Learn to knit without looking
• Learn English knitting
• Visit a craft fair
• Write two blog posts a month about my yarn adventures

All the best for 2017 and your own yarn and fibre adventures!