NEW YEAR, NEW INSPIRATIONS
2020 was a crazy year. A lot of bad things certainly happened (even on top of pandemic issues), but for my family personally, it’s ended relatively well – my husband and I bought our first house, we have two extremely entertaining and troublesome kittens, and my dad is in pretty good health again.
And now it’s that time of year again – the time where everyone is making resolutions. I find it inspiring to read what everyone else has planned, but I don’t usually make any of my own because I know they’ll be too ambitious and fall apart a month in. But this year I started this site and I actually do have some crafting goals for 2021, so I thought I’d write them down for some minor accountability (let’s be real, it’s really so I don’t forget lol!).
01
Tech Editing
I enjoy test knitting but I don’t always finish my tests, and I think what I really like is looking over the pattern for issues and inconsistencies – it really turns on my editing and engineering brain. So, tech editing has been on my mind for a while as a way to dive into the knitting design community. I think there are certifications and such, but there doesn’t seem to be one particular certificate that’s ‘the one’ to get… I may just take an online course and see how it goes. If anyone has advice on this, I’d love to hear thoughts!
02
Pattern Design
You might have gathered from #1 that I’m interesting in designing knitting patterns, too. I actually have some yarn saved for a design that I’ve had for a few years, but I keep changing my mind on what I want to make and what techniques I’d like to use. Plus, I just haven’t had enough time to sit down and try things out. I’ve finally finished up my second time in grad school, though, so I think this year I’ll have some more free evenings to play with ideas. Putting this on the list so I actually do it!!
03
Level Up in Weaving
I haven’t mentioned on the blog yet, but I have a Schacht Cricket rigid heddle loom – the larger of the Crickets, so it weaves 15″. I’ve made a few scarves and even a large panel of gradient cloth that I plan to sew with, but this year I’d really like to make household items (see above, first house!). I just ordered a few colors of cotton warp since that was lacking from my stash, and I think I’ll start with kitchen towels. I can always use more of those, and I think it’d be simple enough to line up a few plaid or striped towels to get back into the flow of weaving! Of course, after that, I’d like to get into more advanced colorwork techniques, like krokbragd or other pickup patterns, maybe even a double heddle pattern. We shall see! Looms aren’t cheap, so I’m determined to try and make the most of the rigid heddle until I’ve really exhausted it.
04
Work on this website!
I have some ideas for content, but they’re all kind of half-fleshed out. It seems like there’s someone already writing about any kind of knitting tutorial you’re looking for, so I’m not sure how useful it is to try and put my own spin on these things. I definitely want to make a couple video tutorials, and maybe blog about my design process – once I have an actual process, that is. What’s out there that you haven’t seen in a knitting blog before? Any ideas would be great.
What are your general 2021 goals?? I’d love to hear about one!
P.S. I realize I’ve turned into ‘that person’ that’s just all about knitting. When I was a crocheter-only, I hated that kind of blog because it was just full of pretty things I couldn’t do yet. So I’m sorry to past Shelly, but I’ve definitely gone over to the dark side!! (That’s not to say that I don’t crochet anymore – I’ve done a ton of crochet over the last two months and I hope to post about it soon!)