The turning of the year is a great time to take stock of where you are: in yourself, in the world, in life – and, if you’re the creative type, in making. When I first learned to knit, about four years ago, I set myself a rule: one project on the needles, one project in the wings. For the first two years of my knitting life, I stuck to that – and it worked, really well. During those first couple years, I also began working on knitted gifts about four to six months before they were “due”. Think Christmas in July. That also worked really well.
Then I learned how to spin.
Within the space of a year, I had more projects going at once than I could hold at one time or could fit into one bag. I also had a wide, and varied, stash of yarn and fiber and tools – all acquired towards the purpose of bringing into being the full queue of projects that had lined themselves up in my mind. I didn’t quite realize the scale of this mountain of projects until last month.
Just before Christmas, in full pursuit of my head down, hellbent rush towards Fiber Arts Master, some call of the universe made me pause, for just a moment. Right there in the middle of our back office, I just stopped and held still for a second. Suddenly, I could see all the yarn I’d created and hadn’t yet used; all the projects I’d started and then put down to knit other things with more pressing deadlines. I realized that I had no idea what was there anymore. I went rooting through bags and baskets, under tables and in corners of rooms, and I wrote down all the half-started items I came across, in one big list. Then I looked at the list (it was L o n g !), and did some math. I mapped projects to specific months in the coming year. When I was done, I had more than half the list left over – alright, way more than half the list left over. So, I took a deep breath, and did some prioritizing and a lot more math. What it added up to is this: The Plan.
The Plan is that in the coming year, I will be working towards the completion of the following:
- 16 spinning projects
- 17 knitting projects, and
- 1 hooked rug.
- and a warped and started weaving project on a rigid heddle loom “in my spare time”
There are loads of other projects, actual and theoretical, that I have floating around – these are just the ones I’ve decided to tackle this year. How did I prioritize? This year’s projects are those that are literally in progress. They are physically on needles, stitch holders, bobbins, spindles, looms, and, in the case of the rug, backing. According to the current version of the schedule, there will be about two and a half projects going every month. I’ve even planned for starting next year’s Christmas gifts in July!
Keeping at something is usually harder than starting it; so I’ve decided if I’m very good at following through on this plan through January and February, I may give myself a tiny bit of leave to work on a colorwork project that I cannot get out of my head. It would be a worthy challenge and even appropriately themed as my project for the Iknitarod during the first week of March – and, since I’m itching to knit some kind of colorwork right now (but I’m not, because of The Plan), it would be a great treat. I have also promised myself that I will not add spinning the yarn for it, to my to do list. See? The Plan is already working.
Here we go, 2016! This is going to be the year of finishing a whole lot of works in progress. Ready – go!
