Sewing Thoughts for the New Year

I gave up making New Year's Resolutions around the 3rd grade.  I realized quickly that I had a list way too long, and most of those wonderful things on that "to do list" were not completed or maintained past the first week of the new year.  So, I got more practical about those kinds of things.

There are things that I would like to accomplish throughout the coming year; I suppose I would consider them goals for the year.  However, I do realize that often life events intervene, and some goals have to be postponed or merely extended.  For example, I had more "plans" for this holiday season, but some of those plans just.didn't.happen.  Three people that have touched my life passed away in this month of December.  I spent more time in funeral homes than I ever expected during this month of December. That is life; I understand all too well.

Nevertheless, I have some sewing "want to accomplish things for the new year."

Note:  these are just a small sampling 

I'd like to sew more of my factory folded patterns--especially those from independent pattern designers.  I have several from Peggy Sagers, Loes Hines, and Style Arc (among others) that are still carefully folded in their envelopes.  I don't want to over extend myself as my regular "life commitments" take up quite a bit of my time.  I hope, in 2014, to sew at least 4 of these "new" patterns.  That won't put much of a dent in my "factory folded indy patterns," but it is a start!  I'm going to try real hard.

I would like to finish up some of the UFO knitting projects I've started at various and sundry times.  I'm one of those that generally starts a "larger" knit project, loses interest, sets it aside and then starts something small - that can be completed in short time - like a chemo cap for my community service collection bag.  Almost instant gratification.  I really.did.like those larger projects I started, so why.don't.I.finish.them?  One of the reasons they get set aside as by the end of the day (when I do most of my knitting), I have few brain cells left to really concentrate on a more detailed pattern;  I NEED mindless knitting - knit 2, purl 2 or knit, knit, knit in the round.  I should set aside some morning time, when I'm fresh, to put some time in on those larger, more complicated pattern projects.  I'm going to try.

I'd LOVE to make a real dent in the stash this year.  While I'm not going to put myself on a No Fabric Buying Diet, I do pledge to curtail the purchasing.  Honestly, I'm running out of storage space.  How long can I go without buying fabric??

To kick this whole thing off, I have pulled out the short sleeved (knitted) partially knitted sweater (the last photo above) and am working on it again a bit at a time.  First trick was to figure out where I had left off.  I finally was able to do that.

I do hope to get off to a good start with my sewing and blogging in the coming year.  AND, I look forward to reading what all of you out there in blogland are doing!