New Year’s Eve and I’ve finished all my crocheting goals: 75 baby hats, 15 hat and scarf sets, and 75 scarves. The original goals had to be adjusted from 60 baby hats and 50 scarves. I work faster than I thought.
I restarted a few of the items, because I didn’t like them. In 2019, I intended to do less post work, but I discovered that I really like it. Using different colors makes the basket weave stitch and other variations of it really stand out.
The new year begins soon. I haven’t set goals for 2020 other than I want to make a couple of things for myself. I got yarn for Christmas for items for projects for me. Tomorrow, January 1, 2020, I’ll start making afghans again and some small portable projects.
This past year was a sabbatical and I didn’t make any afghans. I miss working on them and have already planned the first couple that I want to make. I’ll still make hats and scarves but likely only 50 scarves and 50 baby hats. They are portable, unlike afghans, so I’ll need some small projects to carry along with me. In this past year, I learned a lot about technique and personal preferences. I also learned that I prefer to only make things to give away, not to sell. If I don’t finish an item or choose to work on six things at a time, it’s my choice. There are many deadlines in other areas of my life. I don’t need a deadline in my pastime.
There’s a lot of yarn that I plan to use up in 2020 or just donate. Superbly yarn isn’t my favorite. I thought I wasn’t a fan of light worsted (#3 weight) yarn. It’s not bad. Doubling it, or using it two strands together isn’t difficult to use. For the last scarf of 2019, I planned to use some random balls of super bulky for a quick and simple scarf. Even on an S hook, I didn’t like working with it, so I put it in the donate bag. Another lesson learned this sabbatical year: not all yarns are what you want to use. Work with what you like, there’s enough yarn to go around.
A new year is upon us, may crocheting, knitting and other crafts keep you sane, and give you joy and peace.
definitely cheer myself on when I get the math right or plan the correct number of stitches for a new project. [Thanks to the practical use of algebra.] When it comes to finished projects counting is where the difficulty comes in. I’m sure I’m not the only one who gets excited when the math works out for a pattern repeat. I get more than a little excited especially when I have decided to combine a couple of different things and don’t have to restart a project after the first try. I know I can count and in other aspects of my life, other than my own personal budget, I have to make sure I can count.
While working on my original goal of 10 hat and scarf sets, I lost track of what was finished and greatly underestimated what was done, because I hadn’t counted in a while. The temperature dropped in Chicago and was been below freezing just after Halloween, so I figured out a time to take some things to a local organization. I thought I had only completed eight sets and I like to give away round numbers when I make donations – weird quirk, but whatever. Thinking I had 8 sets I was going to drop off five. Well, I had eight completed in one part of the house, another two in my work room; plus four partial sets (hat or scarf complete, but not both). Including the partial sets, that’s 14 sets.
As I finish items, I stash them away. I thought I still needed to complete more to meet my goal. On a recent road trip, I finished a set and hat for another. Eight plus two equals ten; plus four sets in progress is more than ten. I have gotten better in determining how much yarn to take on a trip, it is the speed of completion that I lose track of. When I finish a project, I just start something new, or if something is too large to transport, I start a new project. The same way I treat a book, if I only have a few pages left, I don’t’ want to carry two books, I start a new one.