Happy New Year

This year, I am not making large resolutions at the beginning of the year. In general that has always just set me up for failure and who needs that kind of pressure in their lives? With all the twists and turns that 2022 threw at all of us (and 2021 before that, and 2020 before that…) I’d be a fool to think I could come up with a plan now and stick with it for a full year. I am not even going to attempt to make predictions about what 2023 will look like. I think my official “resolutions” are just to stay flexible and resilient in the face of whatever the universe decides to throw at us as we complete another circle around the sun and hope for the best.

All that being said, flexibility does not come naturally to me. I thrive with routine, I like schedules, and goals keep me motivated. So of course my first iteration of this post was a long list of all of my concrete plans for what I will accomplish in 2023, with monthly goals and ways to track progress to make sure I am keeping up with my own expectations. Then I read through that list and thought, “what am I setting myself up for??” I want my crafting to stay fun and stress-free. I want to be able to change course when a new idea comes to mind, and I want to create space in my crafting so I don’t feel burdened by deadlines or guilty if a project takes longer than expected or gets set aside. Creativity can only occur when imagination has room to play. After all, in June of this year, I had no idea that Spring Creek Textiles was going to come into existence. In June of last year, I had no idea that I was going to purchase a floor loom and learn to weave. (Heck, in June of last year we didn’t even know we were going to move to North Carolina!) I miss out on wonderful life (and crafting) adventures if I say no to new ideas because my current plans are too rigid. So again, flexibility is key in 2023. I do still have some goals for next year about the direction I want to take my crafting and things I would like to accomplish, but I have revised then to simply be guiderails, a suggestion of where to start and together we will see where I end up. These are some areas I would like to focus on next year:

Spinning – I don’t use my spinning wheel or drop spindles very consistently, and I would like to do more of it. The project I have on my spinning wheel right now was started last December before we moved, and I haven’t really touched it since. So goal 1 is to simply finish that project and get it off the wheel. Goal 2 is to spin more often. That’s it. Just, spin more than I did in 2022. My original goal was to spin at least 4oz of fiber every single month, and I would pre-plan which braids of fiber I would work with and put them in ziploc bags to have everything ready to go and that way I could easily keep track of my progress and make sure I was staying on track. But no sir, not this year! Spinning will happen when the mood strikes, and as often as I feel like doing it.

Handspun – This one goes hand-in-hand with spinning more often, and it is simply to knit with my handspun yarn. Even if it is just one project. I have a whole bin full of hand-spun skeins that are just sitting there getting older and older because I never think to use them. I started spinning on a drop spindle in 2008, fourteen years ago, and I can only think of three projects I have ever made with handspun yarn. The most recent of those projects was a pair of fingerless mitts I made in 2013, so it is definitely time for me to dig into that bin and pull out some yarn. I think part of the trouble here is the way I choose knitting projects. I usually find a pattern I like first, and then either buy the exact yarn the pattern calls for or (and more often) I already have the same or very similar commercial yarn in my stash to use. I think in order to use handspun more often (or at all), I need to start with the yarn. Pull out a skein I like, and then find a pattern that will highlight the qualities of the yarn itself. Much like above with spinning, my original goal here was to knit at least one project a month using handspun yarn, but the more I thought about that I knew it was excessive. I don’t even know if I will knit one project a month period. If I knit one project in all of 2023 with handspun yarn, I will be happy.

Fleece – This third goal is also spinning related. Over the years I have purchased 4 or 5 beautiful raw fleeces from shepherds at wool festivals. Really gorgeous wool that I was so excited about and could not wait to use. A few of them I have even gone so far as to wash some or all of the fleece, comb or card some of the wool, and sample them on my wheel. But I have not processed an entire fleece, nor have I completed a spinning project from a fleece I have purchased. The whole process of starting with a raw fleece, sorting, washing, combing/carding, spinning, knitting/weaving sounds so enjoyable to me and I really want to do some of that in 2023. It is returning to the root of my love for my crafts – wool, in its purest form. Working with a fleece through the entire process would give me such intimate knowledge of my materials and would force me to take a step back, slow down, and enjoy the process. I used to be a process knitter – simply enjoying knitting for the sake of knitting. Trying out new techniques. Swatching new stitch patterns. I could have 9 projects on the needles and it would be no big deal because knitting was the goal. It was exploration. I was learning, and expanding my understanding, and diving deep into a craft and techniques that connected me to generation upon generation of crafters before me. People who knit to keep their families warm, wove traditional patterns as a symbol of their culture – a way to communicate important stories. People who processed fleece to make a living, created cloth for sails, developed stitch techniques that married art with function, to serve the needs of the people who used them while also being stunningly beautiful. Eventually I became a product knitter, and a monogamous knitter, working on just one project at a time because that gave me the best chance of finishing a project as quickly as possible. When I started knitting samples as a job in 2008 or 2009, that really cemented my “product knitter” mindset and now I would like to return to a more balanced approach in my crafting. “Slow fashion” was such a buzz word a few years back – maybe it still is – but I really appreciate the concept and want to spend more time honoring the process and time it takes to create sustainable clothing rather than spending so much time focusing on the end product. I believe it was Judith MacKenzie (a very wonderful and knowledgeable fiber artist/spinner/instructor) who said that if you’re concerned about time, working in the textile world may not be right for you. And she’s right – quality product takes time, and you need to enjoy the process of creating. So 2023 is going to be about enjoying the process for me. To give myself a bit of a push here, a friend gifted me with a giant bag of Shetland fleece for my birthday last month from a flock of sheep she cares for and I am really looking forward to pulling it all out, assessing what I have, and getting started on the processing. (Spinning wheel for scale).

Old Projects – I mentioned a few posts back that I have a few unfinished sweaters in my closet that have been languishing. These are sweaters that I still really love, and want to wear, but for one reason or another they have just gone unfinished. And I’m not talking about sweaters where I maybe cast on and knit half a sleeve, or stopped after knitting the back. No, I am talking about sweaters that are practically done.

I will share more details about each of these sweaters as I work through them, because that really is my only concrete goal for 2023. These sweaters WILL BE DONE by the end of 2023. It has to happen. Here’s where things stand:

The top sweater is the most recent – I started knitting it in July 2021, and the knitting was finished by December. I just need to block it, set in the sleeves, and sew on the button band/buttons. That will literally take a week, tops. And that includes drying time.

The second sweater from top is a little more complicated. I knit all of the pieces in a week back in 2015 while attending Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camp in Wisconsin. All of the pieces are blocked and sewn together, ready for a zipper and a collar, but I wasn’t completely happy with the saddle shoulders and had planned to rip back the top part of the sleeves, fronts and back to modify the shaping. Clearly I haven’t found the time to do that in the past 7 years, but it is a shame to leave this one sitting there when it is so close to the finish line.

The third sweater with the colorwork yoke was done in 2013. This one is really sad… The knitting is done. I wove in all the ends. I blocked the sweater. I even knit the collar and cut the steek up the front. The ONLY thing this sweater needs is a zipper. Honestly, half an hour of work. I have just been at a standstill (for the past 9 years) because inserting a zipper into a knit sweater intimidates me. Well, 2023 is the year we learn!

Lastly, the sweater on the bottom of the pile is one I knit in 2012. I fell in love with this sweater in 2008 when the designer first teased photos of it on her blog and I spent a few years collecting the different colors of Cascade 220 I would need to knit it. Again, the knitting is done. The ends are woven in. I just need to insert a zipper (do we see a theme forming here?) and tack down the folded hems and this baby is done as well. Four beautiful sweaters all sitting there, practically done, just waiting for the finishing touches. And this year is going to be the year they finally get their rightful place in my wardrobe. I should mention that I also already have the zippers I need for these sweaters – custom ordered to match the color of the yarn, in the length required. I even bought matching thread to go with the zippers. There is literally nothing standing in my way from finishing these sweaters except myself.

Knitting books – If you didn’t notice from my last post, I love love love knitting books. Some have been on my shelf since I first started knitting and I have flipped through them for inspiration over and over and over again. Some are newer to me, but full of beautiful stitches and patterns to explore. I cherish these books for the knowledge they contain, and I am going to challenge myself to do more with them. My goal here is to stop flipping through my knitting books daydreaming about “some day” projects, and instead cast on and knit something! Either a specific project from a book of patterns, or inspired by stitch patterns from my books about traditional knitting, I want to use my books productively and tackle some of the projects I have always wanted to make. My original goal here, you won’t be surprised to read, was to highlight one book a month here on the blog and knit a project using the book as inspiration. I would love to be able to say that I have created at least one project from every book on my shelf (a goal that would take me the rest of my life to accomplish). But we’re taking a step back from that, removing a schedule from this goal because I don’t need that kind of pressure in my free time, and instead I hope to share some of my favorite books with you throughout the year as I knit a couple projects along the way.

Do you make New Years resolutions? Do you have any goals for your crafting in 2023? I would love to hear about them!

Until next time, stay creative.