Rules for Feeding the Stash

Friday, December 30, 2016

Onward


With xmas knitting behind me, I'm back to work on my Filled With Secrets for the Early Check In KAL. I'm almost done with the body-just a couple more inches until the bottom ribbing-and hopefully I'll be able to bang out those sleeves real quick (right, because when have I ever banged out sleeves real quick??). This KAL goes through January 9, so I really gotta get a move on so I can finish in time. I'm also doing Andi's Selfish Sweater KAL this year-more on that when Filled With Secrets is done, but I have cast on and I am loving my project so far. 

After my wrap-up post I debated setting knitting goals for 2017, and so far I don't think I'm going to. I got tons of knitting done in 2016, and I love all my projects, but they didn't really line up with the goals I had set for myself. And it turns out that I kinda like being able to change up my knitting at will, and work on things as I feel the drive and desire to. Knitting is my calm, and setting goals (for me, at least) takes some of that calm away and turns it into a task. And yes, sometimes I have projects that feel like tasks (gifts, samples, sleeves), but there's a difference between plowing through a huge sweater to give to my mother because I love her and knitting eight pairs of socks in a row because "my goal says I need to."

I'm still trying to find my balance here between knitting and fun stuff and political stuff, but 2016 was a really rough year for most of us. And as much as I can't wait to see 2016 vanish in the rear view mirror, I know 2017 is probably going to be rough as well. I hope that 2016 was a wakeup call, not a harbinger, but in light of all the pain and despair and uncertainty that we have surrounding us, I want my goals for 2017 to be less about how many hats I  can knit and more about how kind I can be, how much I can give, and how loud I can make my voice. 

This is kind of a meandering post to end the year on, but it feels fitting. I'm still trying to make sense of a lot of things, and part of my response is to stop trying to shove knitting into a checklist of accomplishments. Knitting doesn't make everything better, but it makes a lot of things easier to process and cope with, and it can't be that for me if I try to force it too much. So here's to a 2017 filled with love and light. Peace to you all <3 

1 comment:

  1. This is great! Excellent goals for the year - we should all take part!

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