Monday, January 6, 2014

Looking forward

It's always a bit of a struggle getting back to blogging when I've been away for a while. I don't know where to start, or what to focus on, or what direction to take. But what with the beginning of 2014, I've been thinking about what I want to accomplish over the course of the next 12 months, in my own knitting and with designing.

I listen to the Knitmore Girls podcast fairly regularly (if not always in a truly timely fashion), and one thing I like a lot is that they choose themes for the year instead of doing specific resolutions. It allows for focusing on one thing, but with the opportunity to find different ways to fulfill that goal. I like that a theme allows me to find new ways to address an issue, and perhaps will lead to new approaches or strategies that reach beyond the knitting and spinning world in to the rest of my life.

I have a large number of designs that I've been thinking about or working on in one fashion or another for quite a while now. But I've been frustrated with my inability to bring any of those ideas to fruition, whether in a print magazine format or as self-published designs. It always takes so much longer to get things ready then I think it will, and I find it very easy to get distracted along the way. So things flounder, unfinished. So my theme for the year is going to be Consistency.

Initially, that is going to mean a more consistent design output - I've drawn up a schedule with at least one design coming out every month this year. Most are accessories, but there are a couple of bigger projects in there too. The first up will be this set, which I wanted to get out before Christmas - sadly, as it does, life (and technology screw ups) got in the way.

The last sticking point is getting the blankity-blank charts to show up correctly in the final pattern pdf. It will be available by Friday at the latest.

So that's my very vague and general plan for 2014 - consistency. Consistent design work, consistent forward progress, consistency. We'll see how it goes.

So what are your plans for the upcoming year?

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