16 Things to Knit in 2016

All right, so I had a bit of a bum-session thinking about how little I worked in 2015. I did lots of other stuff, but not a lot of knitting. So I'm going to really challenge myself this year, so I made this little contest for myself. It'd be really fun if other people joined me, but obviously it's not required. :P

Without further ado...

1. Knit something for charity.
2. Knit something just for yourself.
3. Knit something you can finish in a weekend. Then spend the weekend working on it!
4. Knit something that's been in your queue forever. (Can be a Ravelry queue or just something you've been wanting to try.)
5. Knit something and then yarn bomb somewhere! (Be sure to get permission. I'm going to do something on my own property.)
6. Knit something that uses a technique you've never done before.
7. Knit something silly. (There are so many possibilities!)
8. Knit something to give to someone as a thank-you. Everyone has someone that they can thank for something!
9. Knit something useful.
10. Knit something that uses a vintage pattern. 
11. Knit something that uses game knitting. 
12. Knit something from a pattern you tried before but gave up on. I have a lot of these!
13. Knit something from a pattern that you tried before and loved. I have some of these...
14. Knit something that uses indie yarn.
15. Knit something with someone else (through a knit along, mystery knit, etc.)
16. Knit something from a pattern that you buy. Spend money on a book, magazine, or independent pattern!

There they are! 16 things. They look easy, but it means that I need to finish a project roughly every 3 weeks, unless I decide to combine things. Do you think I can do it? I'm nervous, but I think I'll be able to, especially if I keep with my 2016 Knit Goals. 

Free Pattern: Knit Puppycat

I'm so excited to put another pattern out there! I've been obsessed with Bee and Puppycat for almost a year. There are patterns for crocheted puppycat on Rav, but nothing for a knit one, so I made this guy!

This pattern isn't tested. That means that I can't promise that there isn't errata - but if you have any problems, please contact me through this blog or through email and I'll be happy to help.

2015 Year in Review

Wow, it's been a year.

Wow, I don't really have a lot to show for myself on the knitting front. On the other stuff front, I got my anxiety under control, got an awesome new job, and awesome new cat, travelled to Germany, New Orleans, and Vancouver, and quit sugar.

But not much knitting. Still, I love looking at the beautiful collages that people make around this time, so I'm going to make one too! Here it is:

6 things. Yikes! Hopefully next year this post is bigger. I'm a little ashamed. :(

My 6 Knit Year Resolutions

It's the end of the year. Time to look back and forward. At work, we talk about leading and lagging indicators - If you want to make a change, it's better to use leading indicators that will motivate you to do that change. An example of this is setting a goal of going to the gym 3x a week vs. setting a goal of losing 10 lbs.

I don't really goal set a lot of knitting - I have things that I tell myself I want to do, but I don't actually PLAN to do them. I want 2016 to be different, though. So I have 6 things I'm going to do next year.

1. Knit for an hour a day. It doesn't have to be continuous. It just has to be 60 minutes. This time can include: the 2 hours I spend every day sitting in the car while Dan and I carpool; the 2-3 hours we spend each night watching TVon Netflix... etc. During NaNoWriMo I realized how easy it was to add writing to your day. Well, I want to add knitting!
2. Have no more than 3 WIPs going at a time. I used to be really good at this. I used to have ONE PROJECT that I worked on at a time. I was so confused how people could have more than one. Then I discovered that different knitting patterns are funner at different times. I can't knit fancy lace while watching TV. I can't carry around a blanket in my purse to work on in the spare minutes I have. I like having different projects, but they've exploded to the point where I have so many things going on that none of them are moving.
3. No knitting projects in the "dog house" - Why? Because I hit a snag and I set the project aside until I "have time to deal with this." Then... I never deal with it. Poor project sits folded up in a closet forever. Not anymore! I will be dealing with things when they happen. Setting things aside if they really frustrate me is ok, but no packing it up. 
4. 1 WIP must be an original project. I have so many ideas for projects, but I just don't do them! I'm hoping that this rule will help me.
5. Do hand stretching and strengthening every day. I need to get better at this! I do the stretches, but I sometimes forget to do my strength training twice a day.
6. Post to my blog once a week. I don't have to read blogs - that's been a ridiculous time ever since Google Reader went kaput ages ago. But I'm going to make a blog post once per week. Setting up articles to automatically publish counts, too. 

Six is a lot of new rules to have for myself, but I think that they're easy enough that I can do it! Actually, I'm already doing them, haha. The knitting time I'm squeezing in is leading to projects getting done (what a surprise!)

What do you think? Are you knitting new stuff? I'd love to hear people's suggestions for knitting resolutions and see what other people are doing!

Ho! An FO!

I finished my Acorn Stash socks today! It's going to be an industrious vacation. I've already helped Dan make a bookshelf, put up about a dozen photos on the walls, and have strongly contemplated cooking.

Anyway, I'm so happy with how these came out. I'm not happy with the fact that I didn't check for

errata when I was making the first pair, but it all turned out ok in the end!

I added a little detail to the second sock - I finished off the acorn on the toe. I love it! I'm too lazy to go back and do it on the first one, though.

The Goldilocks Ear

This week has been all about ears. Puppycat ears, that is. I've been making a few and trying to get one just right. I eventually went and drew ones out of paper to save myself time and yarn. But you don't want to know about that.

What you want to know is when it'll be done, right? Well, he's going to be done soon! I just have a little sewing to do.

I'm really glad that I took this picture, because I thought his eyebrows were fine where I pinned them. But once I looked at the photo I realized they were far apart. That's a trick to add to the pockets.

And a little bit of notes to transcribe... really, the notes are not very pretty.

Yes, I actually wrote "Screw you future self." I love mean messages from 9 months ago in my notes.

Star Wars: Force Awakens Knit Gloves in the Final Scene!

Ok, so I'm not going to spoil the new movie.

But I need to know - did anyone else see the awesome gloves that Rey was wearing in the final scene!? I want them. I want to make them.

They were in maybe 4 shots, but I managed to get a rough sketch.



Yeah, not very useful, I know.

Luckily Dan doesn't mind going to see it again because I need to see them again to get a good idea of what I'm going to make :)

Just like Puppycat (who is almost done btw) I'm obsessed with making these now.

If anyone can find me a picture, I'd really appreciate it.