July 2015 – Kino Knits

July 5, 2015

2015 Goals: Pit Stop

Like every other blogger and their aunts, I set some goals for myself for the year back in January. Now that 2015 is halfway done (what what?), it seemed like a good idea to check in. Cause, umm… I don’t remember everything I wrote.

Since I can click back to and review my goals post and goals addendum post, here we go…

1) Spin More – done. I bought a new wheel at the turn of the year, specifically an Ashford Kiwi 2. This was after test driving several brands of wheel and deciding the Kiwi just felt right. My first big project was some mistreated Cormo (post about that process coming sometime in the future). Right now I’m working through some practice fiber that came with my wheel before I dive into the good stuff in my stash – namely Unwind Yarn Company and Hobbledehoy fiber.

Handspun Cormo - complete with a Gusler Designs Mother of All Tags (available on Etsy) — Handspun Cormo – complete with a Gusler Designs Mother of All Tags (available on Etsy)

2) Knit with Handspun – nope. I thought I had two sweater quantities of my handspun in my stash, but when I actually washed it and measured it, it turned out to be about half an adult sweater in blue and half in pink. Since it’s not superwash, I don’t want to use it for sweaters for my sons. I can’t escape the feeling that the blue would look nice with a chocolate brown in nice, wide horizontal stripes in a very basic crewneck sweater. This means I need some brown. I *think* I have some naturally brown alpaca fiber high up in a closet somewhere? However, I also have houseguests in that room, so no searching until they leave and life gets back to normal. The challenge, of course – at least for me – will be making sure the yarns are the same weight. The alpaca might also need washing. Sigh.

3) Complete the “My Library” Section in Ravelry – done! There may be a few Interweave Knits magazine sprinkled around the house that didn’t get added, but it’s nice to look in my Ravelry library and know that I have 2,678 patterns readily available to knit. If SABLE is Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy, maybe I’m at PABLE?

4) Continue Designing – done. I’ve released four patterns since writing that post: the Circuits hat, the Sweet Faux Hawk baby blanket, the Sailor’s Warning cowl/scarf, and the Four Points socks. When I wrote the goals post, I had submitted Circuits to the Knit Picks Independent Designer Partnership – and it was accepted! I’ve been submitting some so-far secret patterns for actual publication and have gotten some rejections, as must happen, but I’ll keep plugging away. If all else fails, I’ll continue to self-publish. It’s ridiculously satisfying to wake up and tell my husband, “I made $3 in my sleep last night!”

5) Participate in a KAL – done! This has been so much fun. Part of the fun for me is to be part of the group. The other part of the fun is to try to figure out just how many KALs you can say apply to the same project. Sneaky, sneaky! In fact, I’d say I smashed this goal to smithereens, since I even hosted my own KAL, the Graduate Your Stash KAL. I sort of finished my own project 3 days late (ahem), but I was just wearing my completed Green River Shawl in the garden, and that 10-year-old yarn is gone, gone, GONE.

6) Test Knit Someone Else’s Pattern – nope. And I’m not as excited about that anymore. Even though I’m very goal-oriented as a person, I have no problem letting this one go if that’s how it works out. I have so much on my to-knit list that I’m not sure I want to take this on.

7) Continue This Blog – done. Obviously.

8) Knit the Fish Lips Kiss Heel and the OMG Heel, Then Use Lara Neel’s Sock Architecture Book – done, done, done. Here are the Fish Lips Kiss Heel socks (though not in the yarn I planned), the Mystik Spiral Socks with the OMG Heel, Afterthought Heel socks, and, just last night, I started the Bootstraps Socks from Lara Neel’s book.