No Longer Goal-Less

With January almost complete,  today's  declaration of my 2012 knitting goals is far from  a New Year's statement.  But for some reason, this year,  a clear vision of my knitting goals has eluded me.  Still, even though I am ready to declare that I do have goals and to tell you what they are, the vision blurs

Unlike 2010, in which my goal was to knit only Elizabeth Zimmermann patterns or if not her patterns, then at least to use her methodology, the 2012 goal(s) include more variety - or less focus - depending on your point of view.  There are multiple goals.

Number one is  to knit enough sweaters on my LK 150 to become comfortable and easy with machine knitting.  I want it to be a viable choice for each and every sweater I knit.  If carpal tunnel or time constraints interfere with my hand knitting, I do not want to be left outside  of the world of fibre.  It was Sandra, with her Sunday Afternoon Sweater that twigged me to this goal.

Number two is to knit enough sweaters using the Contiguous method, developed by Susie M and seen on ravelry, to become comfortable and easy with this new-to-me, top-down method of knitting.  Susie's contiguous method knits top down,  but,  has  set-in sleeves.  Fake set-in sleeves that is.  With this method, striping or patterns run across both the body and sleeves at the same time -  as they would do in a raglan.  But the Contiguous sweater,   with it's fake set-in sleeves, has a more tailored look.

Number three is to be more creative.  Whether that creativity involves  colour, texture or self designing, my goal would be to think outside of the box, use multiple yarns in one garment, use fewer commercial patterns and just generally march more to the tune of my own drummer.

Number four - Holy Doodle - maybe I have overdone it - is to complete the task of repairing or re-jigging any of my current sweaters that don't please me 110%.

With this public declaration, I hope you will hold me to a high standard.  Well, any standard really, as my normal way of approaching things - with a lack of commitment and even  less self-discipline mean without someone watching over my needles, I won't do well on my own.   Performance review in eleven months.