Watching the ‘Daybreak’ on 2012

Just a warning: this is a long and semi-personal entry. I’ve been thinking about it for close to a month so it is long and I talk a lot but it explains where I have been and where I am going 🙂 If you don’t feel like getting the details, look at the pretty pictures.

When I first started knitting, I knit scarves for a bunch of my friends. It was my freshman year of college and “fun fur” was cool. I knit a lot of fun fur that year. I wouldn’t have called myself a ‘selfish knitter’ by any means but I tended to split my knitting time about 50/50 (except when it came to socks. I’ve knit baby blankets, baby hats, booties, sweaters, hats and socks for other people. It was kind of just what I did.

2011 was a very eye opening year for me. Over the summer I took on some knitting for some friends who needed some baby knits and I knit for my amazingly beautiful new niece. In the midst of it I threw in my wedding knitting. Overall my knitting time was limited. I was trying to figure out my career, working a bunch of extra hours, planning my wedding and facing some tough realities that I wasn’t ready to deal with.

In the end 2011 turned out to be the best and the worst year of my life. I married my best friend and I lost my dad.

In the midst of the stress with my dad being sick, switching jobs and getting married I kind of put my knitting aside. I took on too many Christmas knits (and failed to get some done) and left people hanging who I owed presents for their children and other people’s children. I hit a point where I just didn’t care about my knitting. None of it was for me so I didn’t care about the deadlines.

Let’s just say December got stressful and in the end I kept putting my knitting down after casting on a bunch of new projects. The first week of January I spent with my mom and my husband planning my dad’s funeral and dealing with the fact that we walked in the hospital to say goodnight and had to say goodbye without even realizing it until it happened.

That week I decided to set my knitting goals for 2012. A number of podcasts were talking about it so I decided why not. That’s when I decided to change it up. This year I’m going to be selfish. 2012 is all about me when it comes to knitting.

There are projects stored all around my house that need to be finished. There are blankets from 5 years ago that need to be finished. So I decided that 2012 is the year I’m going to do that. (okay one blanket is my goal… two is pushing it!)

Each month I’m going to focus on one or two projects that were cast on prior to December 31, 2011. This may be socks, this may be shawls, this may be blankets and there is even a sweater in the mix. They are to be finished up by the last day of the month.

I need to get some of it finished up. I decided not to participate in the Rockin Sock Club this year. It is the first year in 3 years that I’m not doing it and while I’m sad, I need to get some of this stuff knit up before I can justify joining. Next year 🙂

Let’s talk about January

For January I decided it was time to finish the shawl I cast on while in Cleveland for Content Marketing World. I LOVED this shawl when I saw it hanging up at stitches but it took everything in me to get my wedding stuff done before casting it on. Then I put it down.

The first part of this shawl was frustrating. There’s a lot of “knit to middle of X.” Then I got to the stripes…. oh the stripes. That was the moment I fell in love with Stephen West (his designs… not him… but he’s pretty much awesome at writing knitting patterns). It was one stripe after another…

I finished tonight just in time for the end of the month. It is blocking right now. I’m not sure it is supposed to curve at the top but I think my edge stitches were a little tight and I don’t care. I’m in love with this shawl. He did an AMAZING job and I can’t wait to get to wear it!

The details:

Pattern: Daybreak
Yarn: Wollmeise 100% Merino Superwash in My Old Blue Jeans & Art Yarns UltraMerino 4 in 132.
Needles: US4

What Else?

In the midst of my Stephen West Daybreak obsession, I did knit a hat for a high school friend who is going through chemo right now. It is made out of Cascade Chunky Baby Alpaca and it is the Starving Artist pattern. I love this pattern and the yarn and I hope she is able to get some good use out of it.

What does February Bring?

In less than an hour in central time zone February starts. So what does that mean? It means more blogging, more updates and lots more knitting.

My motivation is back and I’m having fun knitting again. This February I plan on finishing up two pairs of socks, one literally has 4 inches and a toe to go and the other pair has a little longer. I miss knitting socks so I figured I would pick them back up. I also have another hat to make for another friend getting ready to undergo chemo. Cancer sucks (just in case you were wondering).

One of my goals this year outside of knitting is to write every night. Right now it consists of letters to my dad but at the same time I do plan on writing more in my blogs. I have to move my other one and get it back up and running but I plan to make my knitting blog a more regular thing. Now that my life is starting to calm down (and stays that way for a bit) you will hear more from me. I also am hoping to get this blog slightly more interactive in the future. So please subscribe for regular updates 🙂

With that being said… What are YOUR knitting goals for 2012? Leave a comment, I want to know what everyone else is doing!