Every year I like to set a few goals and review the goals I had for the year before. There’s something about getting them written down that helps me be more mindful as the years goes on.
Here were my 2015 goals and how I did with them:
1. Focus On Sweaters – I didn’t have as much time for self-published design work last year, but almost everything I knit was a garment of some sort. They’re what I love to knit the most, so it was easy to focus on them when I had less time in general.
2. Sew At Least Two Dresses – I sewed four! They all fit pretty well, and I think my sewing skills improved nicely.
3. Read More Professionally Edited Writing – I kind of managed this. I started the year off really well and read a lot of books until I moved and my bus ride became a little too bumpy for reading. For my online reading, I read more polished articles and less random garbage.
4. Rush Less – Basically the opposite of this happened. Oh well. I didn’t set unreasonable deadlines or anything like that, but I piled on so much work that I had to rush around to get everything I wanted to do done. 2015 flew by because I was so busy, and it feels a little like this fall never happened.
5. Finish My Granny Square Afghan – Done! I finished it right away and use it all of the time.
Here’s what I’d like to aim for in 2016:
1. Get Pickier About Color – I love color a lot, and there are very few colors I really hate, but there are some colors that feels more like “me” when I have them on. Vivid reds, yellows, and blues with some orange, turquoise, and hot pink thrown into the mix. The clothing I feel best in are in those colors, and they’re what I always pack when I travel. I really enjoy jewel tones, purples, and greens, but they just don’t give the same satisfactions as my brighter, warmer colors. About halfway through last year I started getting pickier while shopping for fabric or looking for stuff at the thrift store and cut back on buying things that didn’t work with my ideal color palette. I’d like to keep that up and extend it to my knitting color choices, with the exception of yarn in my stash and current WIPs.
2. Figure Out Where I Want to Live – Early last year I got really fed up with my apartment and decided I was going to move out after my lease was up at the end of August. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to live, so I moved in with my Aunt and Uncle and decided to figure it out when work was less hectic and the holidays were over. I’ve been thinking of moving back to Tacoma where I went to college because Seattle has gotten so ridiculously expensive in the last couple of years, but I work part time in downtown Seattle, so there’s the commute issue. Both cities have their upsides and downsides, and I need to make a decision.
3. Plan Less – Oh, I have such a hard time with my impulse to plan new things! I just keep piling on more and more without taking anything off my to-do list. I’d like to get better at just filing away good ideas and not scheduling something new in just because I happened to have a free minute or two. I need more lazy days or I’m going to get burnt out.
4. Less Season-Specific Sewing – We had a heatwave and a drought last year, and that had a bit of an influence on my sewing. I made a linen dress, and a cheerful strawberry print one. I like both, but they’re not as versatile as some of the other things I’ve made. I’d like to make more cotton dresses that are easier to wear all year round and don’t feel out of place when it’s no longer hot out.
5. Share More Handmade Outfits – I love participating in Me Made May and always get a lot of positive feedback when I share my outfits, so I’d like to try to do that more. It’s not a lot of work for me to share them because I wear handmade items almost everyday, but I’ve never really done much of it outside of Me Made May because I just don’t think about it without the structure of an event. I’m going to aim to share an outfit once or twice a week on Instagram, and I might do the occasional roundup here.
Do you have any goals for the new year?
Leave a Reply