2022: FO, Cast-on and KNITTING PLAN REVIEW – Happy Dance!

Before I get to my 2022 knitting plan review, I’m happy to share I ended the year with an FO. These socks are winging their way as a New Year’s surprise gift. Also I casted on a hat for my son with “his” Christmas yarn. I’ve only knit one other hat so fingers crossed.

2022 KNITTING PLAN REVIEW

I write my knitting plan on the calendar year so as 2022 comes to a close it’s also time to review my 2022 Knitting Plan and see what I’ve learned. My plan is a combination of specific projects I want to knit as well as knitting goals. I view my knitting plan as a guide rather than a strict schedule. I’m happy to replace patterns or projects based on special requests or circumstances. I like to review though at the end of the year to see if I can learn from the changes I made.

PROJECTS

2022 was the year of the sock/cowl. My goal was to knit a pair of socks or a cowl/shrug every month. I started the year planning to knit 8 pairs of socks, 6 sweaters/tees/shawls, 3 shrugs/cowls, 2 baby items, 2 miscellaneous projects, and 4 WIPs for a total of ~585,000 stitches. Here’s how it worked out:

JAN 1	DEC 31
SOCKS I planned on 8 pairs.	YES Completed 9 pairs!!! I did not knit the gift socks but knitted a new to me bamboo yarn and a pair of stash bust yoga socks. I also started a colorwork pair of socks which is now a ’23 WIP.
SWEATER/TEE/SHAWL I planned 6 including a brioche, colorwork, and advent mini project	YES Completed 6. Although only 2 were on the original plan! I did knit the Stephen West Spiraling Cable shawl I planned and hubby’s sweater. I’m happy with my changes to the original plan – a second Spiraling Cable shawl my stepdaughter requested, participating in a test knit for Anne Hanssen, and my first Ranunculus. I did not complete my brioche online class so that sweater has moved to 2023.
SHRUG/COWL I “planned” 3 although 2 were tentative.	YES Completed 3!! 2 were on the original list. I added the colorwork autumn cowl. That allowed me to meet a goal of knitting a colorwork project and I got to wear it a lot this fall.
BABY I “planned” 2 projects but both were tentative.	YES Completed 3!! I did knit a baby sweater as planned but replaced the knitted toy with a Christmas stocking and had to add a baby blanket.
MISC 2 were planned with 1 “tentative”.	NOPE I didn’t do the tentative Christmas ornament project nor did I do the advent mini project in 2022. Only thing I regret is still not doing an advent mini project so I’m really motived in 2023 to do one. I’m going to drown in minis if I don’t set some projects started!!
WIPS 4 2021 projects got carried into 2022	YES Completed all 4!! I had a top, 2 pairs of socks, and a baby blanket that had to be completed.

GOALS

I believe back in 2020 there was this idea in my knitting group to have a 20 goals for ’20. I decided to try the idea in 2022. While I like the idea of setting goals in addition to specific patterns/projects, 20 is way too many!!

	Knitting Goals – 20 in ’23	Set less goals!! Max of 10.
1	Aver 1800+ stitches per day each month	No – I only ended up with an average of 1650/day. I love/hate the daily stitches goal. Meeting it creates a sense of satisfaction but missing it is disappointing. I don’t need that. I’m going to focus on an annual stitch goal instead of daily in ’23.
2	Make something Brioche (Newspaper)	Nope – but I do like this goal so it’s a carryover to ’23. I’ve already contacted my LYS and they have someone that can give me brioche lessons when I return in April.
3	Knit something Continential	Yes – While I can’t knit a whole item in Continential, I did knit most of hubby’s sweater Continential so I’m going to consider this met.
4	Yarn Out > Yarn In by 600 gr	Epic Fail!! – I ended up +1400g instead of down 600g! That 75% off sale last summer didn’t help. Also buying 3 advent calendars busted this goal although one is being saved for ’23 so does that yarn really count? Ending the year buying 700g of Fixation yarn because some colorways were being discontinued didn’t help.
5	Make something with colorwork (Clifton Crop)	Yes – I did complete my colorwork autumn cowl, just not the colorwork sweater I originally planned.
6	Review stash- queue into projects on hand	Yes – This was a good exercise just to appreciate how much yarn I already have on hand and how it will take me 6 years to knit it if I don’t buy any more yarn (hahaha).
7	Knit Baby Sweater	Yes – Actually did a test knit too!
8	Knit JoJi Pattern – new designer (Newspaper)’	Nope – I never finished the brioche online class hence I didn’t start the sweater. Still want to knit brioche and this sweater so it moves to a ’23 goal
9	Calc estimated stitches when start project	Kinda – not precise but an advantage of tracking my stitches per day by project is I have a lot better estimate of how many stitches it will take to knit a pair of socks, sweater, tee, etc. So while my original intention was to literally count the stitches following the pattern would require, I’m happy using an estimate.
10	Learn crochet – make baby blanket	Nope – wasn’t a high priority. I am working (minimally) on a crocheted prayer shawl instead.
11	Make Emma Pattern – new designer (Clifton Crop)	Nope – but I still want to knit this pattern so it’s on the ’23 plan.
12	Learn to knit without looking	Nope – I’m not going to set this as a goal in ’23 but I plan to still work on not looking at my knitting during my Florida morning walks.
13	Get mini Advent Calendar and knit Dec project??	Nope – Well, I got the “get mini Advent Calendar” part!! I bought 3!!! The knit a project with the minis will be on my ’23 plan.
14	Sew Charlie Harper Project Bag	Yes – I did finally use this fun material and I’m very happy with the little sock project bags I made with the fabric.
15	Knit animal toy??	Nope – this was questionable since my granddaughter is so young. I think this year will be a better age for a knitted toy so it’s on the ’23 plan.
16	Knit a pair of socks/shrug per month	Yes – I knit 9 pairs of socks and 3 shrug/cowls plus I completed 2 carryover WIP socks.
17	Make Stephen West Shawl- new designer (Spiraling Cables)	Yes – Actually made two.
18	Learn new technique – Portuguese Knitting	Nope – this wasn’t a high priority. Not sure at this time I need to set a “learn something new” goal. I’m still learning just from the projects I knit.
19	Track days worked on project	Yes – I modified my excel knitting plan so that I track the days worked on a project as well as the number of stitches I did on the project. This is working great to better understand how many days it takes me to complete a project and how many stitches the project entailed. I use this to set realistic expections for the following year’s knitting plan.
20	Make sweater by Petite Knits – new designer	Nope – I still want to knit a pattern by Petite Knits but it’s not really a goal.

I only met half my knitting goals. Clearly I have too many and the wrong ones. I need to focus on what’s most important. Even the important ones got missed as I took advantage of opportunities and special requests. I did learn that there are going to be days/weeks when I don’t get much knitting done. Thus I’m going to focus on the total year stitch goal in ’23 rather than a daily goal.

IN SUMMARY

I’m super happy with 2022. I basically met my planned projects although the actual pattern knit often changed. I got to take advantage of opportunities when they presented themselves. I wanted to do a test knit and I ended up doing 2. Now I know I don’t like the time pressure. I love the projects I added and have no major regrets for projects/goals I didn’t complete. The brioche sweater, colorwork sweater, and advent mini skein sweater will move to my 2023 plan as I still very much want to knit them.

A review of my stitches knit per month not surprisingly showed that the wedding months of May and September were low. Weddings will likely not be a factor in ’23. November and December were also low. In November a lot of time got spent in prepping for heading to Florida and having the house ready for our short Christmas return. December has been low as we settled into our condo and I picked up many more activities in our condo complex. Plus traveling home for Christmas.

I will set less “goals” in ’23 and try to focus on only ones I really want to meet. Tune in next week for my 2023 plan with specific projects and goals. I’m sure they will change over the course of 2023. Man plans, God laughs.

This is a year of projects (YOP12) update. YOP is a Ravelry Group – make a plan for the year ahead for all your fiber activities, then update your blog each week. Plans can be calendar year (like mine) or mid-year start (like many). Following the plan is optional and creates some of the fun of posts.  YOP started it’s 12th year in July and I’m starting my third year in the group. I’ve been knitting for six years.

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2022: Wk of 7/17-23; Shawl and Shrug FOs

FOs!!!!

Happy dance time!!! I finished both the Stephen West Spiraling Cables shawl for my stepdaughter and the Ladybird Shrug for me. I’m very happy with both.

The shrug color doesn’t go with the initial dress I was planning to wear it with but I think it looks nice with this dress. Now I just need an occasion to wear the dress. Probably Christmas Eve since the dress is velvet. The pattern calls for creating a ribbed border that would run around the neck, down the front sides, and across the lower back. I decided I liked it without the ribbed border.

WIPs

So that just leaves me with the Spiraling Lace socks. Need to finish the ribbed cuff on this one and the leg and cuff on the other. Should be done today or tomorrow. That will catch me up on a pair of socks or a shrug per month. (More happy dancing.)

NEXT…

Cast-on Time!! (Still more happy dancing. I know, I know, I should get back to knitting my hubby’s sweater.) I will cast on a Ranunculus for me this week. I’m using Emma’s Yarn in the 10 Questions Colorway. No idea why it’s called that. To me it is fall colors hence my desire to cast-on now.

This will give me both the Ranunculus and the pair of socks, Dragonfly, that I took on the schooner trip but didn’t knit on, for my trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina the end of this week. I already have the toes knit. I think I’ll take some leftover Fixation yarn to make a pair of yoga socks as a third project. This trip will be the opposite of Maine – very hot. But the house is right on the beach so I’ll have the breeze while at the beach and air conditioning while at the house. No motion sickness! I’m looking forward to 10 days with our friends and their daughter and fiancé. They are getting married in September. We even get to be part of the taste testing of the wedding caterer. I’m giving my daughter a hard time, not really, because we didn’t get to be part of their wedding caterer taste testing (something about being a 10 hr drive away!!)

Hope you have a wonderful week of crafting. 

This is a year of projects (YOP) update. YOP is a Ravelry Group – make a plan for the year ahead for all your fiber activities, then update your blog each week. Plans can be calendar year (like mine) or mid-year start (like many). Following the plan is optional and creates some of the fun of posts.  YOP started it’s 12th year in July and I’m starting my third year in the group. I’ve been knitting for five years .

2022: Wk of July 3-9; Shawl and Sailing WIPs

SPIRALING CABLES SHAWL #2

So close but not quite finished. I have a little more rows of trellis to knit and then to knit the roughly 1″ of border. This will have to wait until I return from my trip. I’m super happy with how it looks. Blocking will stretch it out very nicely to better show off the stripes and the trellis section.

SPIRAL SOCKS

Apparently I’m into spiraling at the moment. My Simple Spiral Socks got a lot of attention on my flights to Maine. The pattern is a very simple lace pattern that I could easily memorize and follow making it perfect for knitting during my long day of flying to Maine.

I also plan to get a lot done on my Ladybird Shrug. The schooner has a beautiful table in the middle of the deck under a shade canopy which will be perfect for knitting!!

LETTING GO

I definitely suffer from sunk cost syndrome or “if I bought it, I need to use it”. 3 years ago I liked Patty Lyon’s Roselle Tee so I bought the pattern, bought the yarn, and put it in my Ravelry Queue. Now I have to admit there’s a reason I never got around to knitting it; I don’t like it so much. I want to wear more fitted tees. The yarn is not “wasted”. I already have ideas for the basic cream color yarn I bought. It would be great paired with colorful minis for the Sea Glass Tee I want to knit or by itself in the Breakwater Tee. So I need to let go of my despair for buying a pattern I probably won’t knit. I need to be okay with buying a new pattern that I’m happier with. Rip the band-aid off. I deleted the project from my queue!

MAINE

I’m “schoonering” this week. I arrived safely Saturday afternoon with no major flight delays. I got to enjoy my first lobster roll with my friend and his wife. I’m sending this post with my phone Sunday morning. My friend’s wife is a knitter so we are visiting a local yarn shop before we board the schooner tonight and depart Monday morning. MUCH cooler here than Cincinnati so a nice break from the heat. I’ll be getting to wear some of my hand knit sweaters and socks!! Feels weird to be without my hubby but he would not be able to tolerate Maine’s colder temperature. It got chilly while we ate our dinner outside and he would have been in pain. Absence makes the heart grow fonder right!?

Ladona (stock photo)

Hope you have a wonderful week of crafting. 

This is a year of projects (YOP) update. YOP is a Ravelry Group – make a plan for the year ahead for all your fiber activities, then update your blog each week. Plans can be calendar year (like mine) or mid-year start (like many). Following the plan is optional and creates some of the fun of posts.  YOP is starting it’s 12th year. I’ve been knitting for five years and I’m starting my third year in the group.