planning part 2

Now here comes the knitting plans...

   I recently went on a bit of a yarn acquisition spree, ok really it was a binge, where I picked up my Hue Shift Afghan kit, the yarn to knit a pair of stranded mittens that have been in my queue forever, and some of the yarn needed to knit another pair of stranded mittens that I've made before.  And Cyber Monday is just around the corner!

   Since my WIP confession in October, two more items are now on the needles bringing my total number of WIPs to 13.  Ideally, I'd like to have a maximum of 3 WIPs going at one time with no hibernating projects.  So, for the remainder of this year and in 2013 I'd like to aim for paring down my number of WIPs.  For the moment, I'm trying to work only on the project closest to completion.  Keep in mind that I haven't had a knitting FO since JULY!  So it will be good to get a few finishes in the near future.

  I have several sweater quantities of yarn that have mostly been knit then frogged and a few sweaters lying around that I've been meaning to frog and make into something else.  I don't think I regret most of these yarn purchases since I could afford them at the time, and in exploring and trying out a few new yarns there are bound to be a few duds.  No harm no foul.  I would however, like to match up some of these yarns to patterns that might be more appropriate.

   As far as new yarn purchases in 2013, I'd like to severely limit my impulse buys but leave some wiggle room for things I make that get a lot of use.  Sock yarn is not (yet) a problem and I actually use the socks I knit, so I won't limit my sock yarn purchases including "vacation" yarn that I can't usually find in my LYS.  I'll also leave it open for things I need to buy in order to finish queued items especially ones that I already have some of the yarn needed.

   For the rest of 2012 I'm going to try to get my Ravelry queue in order and match the yarn I already own with the pattern I plan to use.  I will also revisit some of my WIPs and make some serious decisions as to what should be frogged and what will get finished up.

Here are some of specific goals and projects I'll be trying to finish in 2013:

• Hue Shift Afghan
• Miss BB
• Norwegian Rose Socks
• Peerie Flooers Mittens
• 6 pairs of socks (from free patterns or patterns I already own, and preferably from yarn I already own)
• At least two sweaters in addition to ones already planned from existing stash
• Bring the number of hibernating WIPs down to 6 or less

   This year I think I really want to stick to the plan more than have tons and tons of finishes.  With all the cross stitching I'm planning on doing as well, I'll have to stick to the knitting plan to see my WIP situation improve by this time next year.