January is the time when many of us set ourselves goal for the year. But before I set my goals, I like to look back at what I’ve achieved the year before. Here’s the thirteen creative goals I set myself at the beginning of 2016 and how I got on with them…
The ones I achieved:
- 85% of my yarn purchases will be 100% British wool.
- Only buy yarn when i know what I’m going to use it for – I stuck to this, if sock yarn counts, because one knows one will knit socks with sock yarn.
- Attend at least two workshops – I attended three 🙂
- Experiment/learn something new each month – I have totally lost track of how I did with this goal! But I’ve definitely done a lot of experimenting for the DYC, so overall I think I’ve achieved it.
- Learn more about dyeing wool with plants and other natural products – A tick for this when I attended Jane Deane’s Natural dyeing workshop.
Mitt in Misty Water
Beanie in Baskerville
The ones I didn’t do so well on…
- Make something for Christmas each month – Did this for about 4 months? – two being November and December!
- Each weekend, when we’re not away or have visitors, I will make/do something for the house or garden- Definitely didn’t happen!
- Knit Lovely Husband a Christmas Jumper – I’m 2/3 of the way up the back – opps!
- Learn 6 new ways to knit a sock by knitting six different pairs of socks. I leaned three before I got bored with knitting socks…
- Post at least six patterns on Ravelry – I posted three.
- Crochet regularly – Haven’t crochet in months.
- Eliminate the UFO pile – Not very big, but there’s two things on it that were on it this time last year!
- Think thoroughly before I take on any new project – Broke this rule when i very impulsively decided to knit an advent calendar of Santa sacks.
Five out of thirteen goals achieved doesn’t sound great, but to me the most important thing about setting goals, is not achieving them, but learning from them. So I’m going to round up the reasons I didn’t achieve 8/13 and see what I can learn.
Hope you learned a lot from any goals you set for last year!
Dartmoor Creative 
What did you think of the Neko needles?
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Not keen. I wrote a review here https://thedartmooryarncompany.com/2016/08/26/neko-curved-double-pointed-sock-knitting-needles-review/
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Thank you…I might get some if I see them anywhere (I have fairly small hands), but I won’t be rushing to buy a set.
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Hope they work for you if you do 🙂
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You’ve achieved so much in 2016! 5 out if 13 is great when you’ve done so much… 🙂
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Thank you. You’re right, there’s a lot I achieved that i didn’t put here. But it’s interesting to see what gave and why and what I still ran with.
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Absolutely! 🙂
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🙂
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Yes – don’t set any!! Seriously, a few goals with elastic time constraints are fine for me as I lose the love otherwise. Sunday Sevens and Minerva keep me blogging regularly – anything else is a bonus!
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I totally approve (not that I think for a second that you need my approval.) Knowing what works for you and not worrying about what works for others it the most important thing 🙂
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Instead of setting goals I told myself I wouldn’t allow my fear to hold me back from trying things and that I had to trust my knitting skills. I ended the year with 68 FO’s and learned a lot this year. The only thing I’ve said I want to do this year is finally tackle learning colorwork!
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WOW! That’s a a lot of FOs. Sounds like you definitely embraced your plan to feel the fear and do it anyway 🙂 I always think the great thing about knitting is you can always unravel it and start again – so what’s to loose? Have fun with the colour work!
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Sock yarn purchases are definitely bought for a purpose, don’t worry about that 😀
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🙂
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Personally, as well as many others too I imagine, think you’ve had a fantastic year 🙂 I’m sure you’ll enjoy 2017 creatively too!
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Thank you. I think you’re right, but I also find it very insightful – and sometimes amusing – to see how what I planned actually compares with what I achieved 🙂
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I think if truth be told, and we all took a look at ourselves, pretty much everyone would be the same too 😉 Carry on the great work!! 🙂
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Thank you. Yep, it’s much easier not to look. But far more rewarding if you do 🙂
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Launching a new business was such a big thing I think you achieved big time last year!. Learning from things we don’t achieve or struggle with is helpful. Like I learned that knitting is relaxation for me and struggling to concentrate on patterning was not relaxing!
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You’re right, it was and definitely impacted on this list of goals. It’s interesting to hear about your knitting – although we may love something, working with it in a different way may not be so much to our liking. I’m definitely keeping an eye on how much and which bits of the business I’m enjoying and finding relaxing vs those I’m not. Wishing you many many relaxing knitting hours in 2017 🙂
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Ah thank you. I am looking forward to knitting my sheep, hopefully in January.
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Looking forward to seeing him/her 🙂
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I think you did accomplish your 12 months of Christmas knitting, only you did it in two months, one month that you shared with many with your advent Santa Sacks 🙂 Keep up the great work!
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Thank you. Hadn’t looked at it like that 🙂 Still sad about hubby’s sweater though.
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Yes, but as an adult, he won’t outgrow it before you finish it! Maybe for Valentine’s Day?
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With a reindeer on it?
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LOL, why not? We see regular deer around here year around!
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Ha ha! So do we, but you still haven’t sold the idea to me 🙂
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I like the idea of learning from what we didn’t achieve by asking why, Sounds like a really good way of focusing on the important things.
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