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There’s just one month left in 2014. How am I doing with my goals?
Crochet 14 Different Pokemon. I did 12
1. Snorlax
2. Pikachu
3. Squirtle
4. Eevee
5. Charmander
6. Cleffa
7. Drifloon
8. Cyndaquil
9. Espeon
10. Camerupt
11. ludicolo
12. luvdisc
I will, most likely, accomplish this one. I don’t see myself NOT crocheting two more different pokemon this month.
Buy 14 handdyed skeins of yarn – I bought 4. Ain’t no way I’m buying 10 more by the end of the year, lol.
1. Hearthside Fibers Vanilla Sox Electric
2. Hearthside Fibers Vanilla Sox Groovy
3. Leading Men Fiber Arts Show Stopper No Good Deed
4. Leading Men Fiber Arts Show Stopper High Tech Mayhem
Though actually, I did buy at least 3 more, but they were for swaps so I’m not counting those since this was more a goal to stash-up.
Complete 6 Afghans and start 1. I completed 2 and started 3. Oops.
1. Tigger Lovey DONE
2. Red Heart Checkerboard Textures Throw CAL DONE
3. Finish Groovy nyan Cat Vs Tac Ghan – Made some parts, but nowhere near finished.
4. 2014 Block A Month & Crochet Sampler Square CAL Afghan 4 blocks/squares done
5. Xmen Afghan 1 block/square done
6. the beekeeper’s quilt 32 hexipuffs done
Actually start Granny Square Mario Bedspread STARTED
“Get Out of the Country on a Star Blanket” STARTED
“Daily Dose Chevrons” STARTED
Okay, so that’s how I’m doing. And I already started planning my 2015 Goals:
2015 Goals
Donate 15 items
Knit 15 different patterns of hats
Finish 2014 afghans.
Buy only 15 patterns (other than patterns from a list of certain people)
Dye 15 skeins of yarn
Buy 15 skeins of handdyed yarn
Now let’s break it down;
Donate 15 items
I recently saw Quiltoni’s putting-together video of the Spritestitch 2014 Child’s Play Charity Quilts and it reminded me; I wanted to do some donating! Back in May I bought the eye sets to make two Paschas and never got around to doing it.
I also recently discovered Wool-aid which is great for me because I have had a hard time finding places to donate hats I actually want to make. Groups always want acrylic yarn in patterns I’m not going to do with acrylic, but Wool-aid – which accepts nothing BUT wool – opens up so many possibilities.
And lastly I want to donate something elaborate to the Penny Arcade charity auction (where one of the Spritestitch quilts go). Maybe a Magikarp hat, or a giant Pikachu… I’m not sure yet.
Knit 15 different patterns of hats
There’s several groups doing 15 hats in 2015. In 2014, I have knit at least 30 hats so far. So 15 hats isn’t really a challenge for me. But 15 different patterns? I think this is a great way to add some fresh hats to my etsy store, and this can overlap with the donating!
Finish 2014 afghans.
Well, I mean finish the afghans FROM 2014. That’ll be 7 afghans, assuming I don’t finish any this month, which I probably won’t.
Buy only 15 patterns
Okay, I have a LOT of patterns. And honestly, whenever I go to use a purchased one, 95% of the time I change so many things, and take so many aspects from free patterns, and do so much of my own math (because I tend to want to change the pattern to match my guage, rather than changing my gauge to match the pattern lol) that in the end I’m not using the paid-for pattern at all. The majority of patterns where I actually use the patterns are free ones! I think I mentioned earlier this year that I was spending too much money on patterns – and I’ve done great with only buying patterns with money I made from knitting/crocheting. But I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t really NEED patterns anymore, so paying for them is silly.
I do have a personal list of certain people who I think do really amazing things that I’d never think up on my own. These are people I support, and want to continue to support. That is why this isn’t a “stop buying patterns” goal. But I’m only going to buy from those people. Other than that, I already own way more patterns than I could knit in a year.
Dye 15 skeins of yarn
I’ve got yarn, I’ve got dye, I just need to set aside some time to combine the two! In order to have this time, I need to NOT participate in swaps (Except Reddit Secret Santa and Arbitrary Day).
Buy 15 skeins of handdyed yarn
I think I said this last year (if I didn’t, I thought it), and while I did it a bit, I need to work on it some more. Rather than participating in swaps, I need to not feel bad about treating myself.
I feel bad/guilty when I buy something for myself. So I use swaps as a way to get something, while buying for someone else. But I end up spending too much time and stress picking out stuff for the swap, making sure I have money to ship, and making a handmade item. It just isn’t worth it. And sometimes stuff arrives for the swap and I’m like “Man, I really want to keep that for myself. But there’s not enough time to order something else.”
Why not just skip all that and buy stuff for myself? There’s no reason to feel bad/guilty. I deserve it. I work hard. I earn the money for this stuff. And if I’m not buying patterns, there will be even more money for yarn.
So. off I go to crochet those last two Pokemon!