2014: A Look Back

Hard to believe it, but the last hours of 2014 are upon us (or me, anyway -- it might already be 2015 where you are). I'm typically not one to do a whole lot of end-of-year navel-gazing, but it's a day to blog, so that seems the most natural thing to do.

It's been a busy year. In terms of my design work, I blew away my original goal of publishing 10-12 patterns for the year and published 15, including one in a magazine. For next year, I've set a somewhat lofty goal of publishing 17, which would get me to 50 designs total. That might seem like a lot, but I already have nine or 10 that are in varying stages of readiness. I think that if I can keep on top of designs in progress and take advantage of my free time, it's doable.

My theme for the past year was meant to be "Love the One You're With" -- in other words, I was supposed to have been appreciating my stash. I won't lie to you: I didn't avoid buying new yarn. I will say, though, that very little was bought just for the sake of buying it. For the most part, I bought yarn with specific projects or designs in mind, and most of the yarn I bought was used up fairly quickly. From the spinning side of things, most of the fiber that came into the house was spun up in short order (though I did get a little behind with my Fat Cat Knits club shipments toward the end of the year as I was working on finishing up gifts). I am planning on continuing to subscribe to that club, but I'm also going to make a concerted effort to catch up with the backlog once we're back home.

If there was one significant accomplishment, it was that I did use a good amount of my handspun. All three of my completed Gift-a-long projects were done in handspun. That is a trend I hope to continue next year, and I'm also hoping to finally spin up some deep stash fiber.

To get back to more recent events, I've been very productive while we've been on vacation. I finished three pattern samples (all of which I predict you'll see in the next two or three months), and that meant that I could finally cast on for my long-planned Color Affection. I'm not going to finish it tonight -- not by any stretch of the imagination! -- but I should at least get to the two-color section.

I'm using a kit from Miss Babs with three colors of her Yummy sock yarn (Peony, Impatiens, and Lilac) that I purchased at Maryland Sheep and Wool several years ago. I have eight rows left of this first section, and I'll be working on it this evening while we celebrate.

As this year draws to a close, I want to thank all of you for continuing to read the blog. I know that blogging has fallen somewhat out of vogue in the past couple of years, but it's still a valuable practice to me and one that I'm not likely to stop anytime soon. I hope it has been a good year for you, and I hope that 2015 is even better. I wish you all a happy, healthy, prosperous new year.