As you know, it's been a rough few months around these parts. My sister was in a coma for a week. Meanwhile, we found out that my godfather's father (who is the closest I've had to a grandfather in almost 2 decades) has Stage 4 cancer in his lungs, kidneys & liver. This is especially hard because A) his son passed away suddenly 3 years ago... less than a month after learning HE had similar cancer and B) his wife has severe Alzheimers... so she's had to be told about the cancer several times already. In lesser news, my manager has been fairly evil about my time off due to my sister's hospitalization and my father is still not working. So, 2011... not exactly my favorite year.
Then last night my sister re-tweeted this:
with the comment "Hey, this. Literally."
And that's when I decided to stop thinking of 2011 as "the year my sister almost died" and think of it as "the year my sister almost died... but totally didn't".
So, yeah, other things aren't resolved and it looks like 2012 might be kind of a rough year, but there are things I can focus on. Things I can manage. Things I can grasp & control so my ENTIRE world doesn't feel upside down.
Enter Ravelry.
I've been a not-very-active member of the Organized Knitting Club for a while. This year they are doing a lot of Knit-Alongs, swaps and contests. I'm participating in two: The Unfinished Objects KAL, where we finish up all those projects we've had laying around; The Yarnless Swap where we buy patterns for each other to use with stashed yarns; and Stash Down Contest where prizes are given for various accomplishments including using the most stash, adding the least amount of yarn and finishing the most projects.
If you've been around a while, you know I often say I'm trying to reduce my stash.I have failed miserably. I think this is mostly because I didn't have tangible goals or a real idea of what I was working with. Thanks to the Organized Knitting Club I have real motivation for stashing down and they've given me tools to see what I have to work with. For the Swap I've gone through my stash and matched it up with patterns. The yarns I don't know what to do with are marked as such and hopefully my partner will help me find a pattern for them. I've searched the house & my car to find all the WIPs I have everywhere to add them to Rav so I can finish them up. (You can see what I have entered so far on the right tool bar). Finally, I'm hell bent to win at least ONE of the contest categories for the Stash Down. I entered every last skein I had in my stash and came up with just under 60k yards! Eeek! That's really eye opening.
Hopefully these things coupled with my competitive nature will help me get my stash under control and get ahead on baby & Christmas gifts for this year. So far I only know one person who is currently pregnant, so I'm hoping I can turn my stash of baby yarns into a stash of baby clothes!
What are your crafting goals for 2012?
2 comments:
Hi, Lia, I think it's really cool that our group has been made famous on your blog!! A good competition is good for the soul...I hope you win a prize or two, too! I do hope 2012 is better for you than 2011 was.
My crafting goals for 2012...to knit for ME, ME, ME since I knitted for everyone else in 2011. And to use up more of my stash than I add....which is the whole reason behind the Stash Down! I need other people to feel guilty with me, I guess. :-) Michelle
Wow that is a craptastic 2011 for sure. I hope 2012 looks up for you! Stash busting hahaha! It's like the best knitting joke ever!! I don't DARE enter my yarn stash ito Ravelry, it may be small but it could still scare me. I typed up a list of knitting projects to make and divided them into categories. Then I wrote which yarn to use beside them and tried to make sure I listed mostly only stuff I know is in my stash. It's helped a LOT to plan how to use it all up.
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