Happy New Year!

It has been almost a full year since I last posted to this blog.

2015 was a busy year for me. I was diagnosed with a chronic illness (details if you are interested can be found on my more personal blog Everything Gwenny) and spent pretty much the entire year sick and in pain. I missed a lot of work and realized that at some point I might lose my job and so therefore needed to look at other options.

Being the yarnie that I am I decided to open both a retail online yarn store, Serenity Yarns, and an Etsy shop (also named Serenity Yarns) for my hand-dyed yarns. So far it has been a lot of fun. It's still not enough to support me full time, and maybe it never will, but it's very enjoyable, and it makes me happy...which is the most important part.

As such, I am going to be using this blog to support both those outlets as well as continue using it for my own personal crafting as well. I will feature product reviews, both yarn and accessories, as well as contests, special deals, and more!

I didn't get a whole lot of projects completed last year, partially due to the illness and being in an almost constant fog of pain and painkillers, and also partially due to my love of constantly starting new projects.

The first project I completed wasn't until June, almost half way through the year. It was a test knit for an indie yarn dyer and designer I adore, Pandia's Jewels. I think it was the fastest I ever finished a project like this as well, taking me only 6 weeks to knit the entire shawl. I used one of her themed colorways, Gamora, based on the character of the same name from Guardians of The Galaxy.

Other than that I mostly did knitting to sell on Etsy including various cozy cowls and hats. Active listings for my hand knit items can be found on Esty, here.

My goal for this year is to finish more WIPs. I am running a Knit The Bin KAL (an awesome idea from our fabulous group member REJ) over on my Ravelry Group Page. Come on over and join us and we can encourage one another to finish our WIPs. I mean just look at this picture of my desk right now...I obviously need the help...

My other main knitting goal for this year is to learn double knitting. It is something I have really wanted to learn for quite some time, and some new patterns that have come to my attention require this skill. So it is definitely a must!

What are some of your crafting related goals for this year? Fell free to comment on the blog and/or join us over on the Raverly page.

[YOP] Year of Projects - 2014 Year End Wrap Up

I have lost track of what week number this should be. I am going to move to a fiscal year tracking instead as it makes it easier.

Last year was a year of great illness for me. I spent almost just as much time healthier as I did sick and in pain. I have a new specialist and hope for 2015 to be a much healthier year, and therefore a much more productive year as well!

Below is a short list of projects I completed over the course of 2014.

Pioneer Cuff (not blocked) completed February 22 2014.

Sleeveless Sweater completed May 28 2014.

Lace Bookmark completed June 4 2014.

Simple Armwarmers completed July 5 2014.

Simple Hat completed July 20 2014.

Show-off Stranded Socks completed August 17 2014.

Saundra's Mitts completed September 30 2014.

My goal moving forward to is to focus on less projects at a time and complete them, buy less yarn and use up my stash including WIPs previously started.

Currently focusing on my Boo Knits Wintersweel MKAL and my Americo Mulberry Pullover.

[YOP] Year of Projects - Year 4 - Week 2

Welcome to week #2 of a year of projects! I am pretty excited with my progress this week!

First off, I finished a project that had been languishing in my WIP pile since September 2013. And I don't even know why I was putting it off! It was a breeze to finish. I completed the second armwarmer of the pair in about 4 hours while re-watching Doctor Who! Awesome right?

I also finished the first sock of the pair I am working on for my Nerd Wars Dissertation project. This means I have made the 50% check-in period with time to spare! And doesn't it look stunning?

My son loved it so much he asked me to make a pair of socks for him. Since one of my goals s to use up some stash yarn, and I want to do this Canadian Designer KAL, we agreed to make the Vinovia Socks in the Schachenmayr Regia Ffluormania Color since I had 6 skeins in my stash. My son chose the Neon Ocean colourway. This should be fun!

In summary:

• I finished one project (Simple Armwarmers from my list)
• I did not start any new projects (but plan on starting the boy's socks soon)
• I did not use stash yarn (but again, plan on doing so with the boy's socks)
• I did sort of buy new yarn as I placed a custom order for T12's dissertation
• I took some of my unloved yarn to my mother's house this weekend and placed still more in a charity donation pile
• I added some stash to Ravelry, mostly the Fluromania (6 balls) as mentioned above
• I did not get any work done on my stash room, but the hubby and I worked on the other half of the basement now that the sister is gone (it is not a pantry/library/work space)

Specific Project Goals

• My Nerd Wars T11 Dissertation project - show off stranded socks
  (50% completed July 13, 2014)
• New Life Building Blocks Baby Blanket
  (50% completed block 6 of 25 July 13, 2014)
• The second Simple Armwarmer
  (Completed July 5th 2014)
• The West Linton Cowl
  (25% completed July 13, 2014)
• Smock Coat
  (This is my travel knitting project right now, did a few rows this weekend)

[YOP] Year of Projects - Year 4 - Week 1

Wow! Where the heck have I been? No posts since November 2013? Shame on me! Well here's hoping this changes all of that!

I decided this year to take part in "A Year of Projects" which is run by a group over on Ravelry. I am hoping it will (a) help me be more productive (b) helps me finish more projects and (c) help me blog more often... Fingers crossed!

As this is week #1 of 52 our first assignment is to simply post a list of what we hope to achieve this year. Easy right? The hard part will be checking in every week to see how I have progressed with this list...

General Overall Goals

• finish more projects
• start fewer projects
• use more stash yarn
• buy less new yarn
• sell or donate stash yarn I no longer have any interest in
• add stash I plan on keeping to Ravelry for easier tracking
• organize stash room
• sell some of my finished items

Technique Goals

• double knitting
• toe up socks
• toe up socks two at a time
• more complicated lacework
• clothing items

Specific Project Goals

• My Nerd Wars T11 Dissertation project - show off stranded socks
• My River Song inspired book/tablet cover
• My Tabitha Cocoon Cardigan 
• My Sherlocked Sockies
• New Life Building Blocks Baby Blanket
• My Dragon's Rest Shawl - Smauglock
• My Game of Thrones Shawl KAL - Mother of Dragons
• My Boo Knits KAL - Ocean Breeze - Es-cah-pay
• My Rose Annie
• My All The Shades of Truth - 50 Shades of Awesome
• My Skywalker
• Season 12 Doctor Who Scarf for the hubby
• My son's sweater
• The second Simple Armwarmer
• The matching Simple Hat
• The West Linton Cowl
• The sleeves of my Simple Cardi
• The sleeves of my Mothed

I have many other WIPs and I cannot list them all. I will add more as I dig them out and actually touch them again to make sure they are real... As you can see I have a real starting problem...actually it's not starting that's the problem...it's finishing!

But I did finish something this year!!!

See! It can be done! ;)