Year of Projects - Progress Report

In July I began this adventure know as A Year of Projects.  The premise is to choose a goal (or several as the case may be) that you wish to achieve over the course of one year and then track your progress with blog posts.  Support and camaraderie are found in the Ravely group Come Blog-A-Long where participates share their posts and chat about their successes (and failures) in various threads.

It seemed an intriguing way to bring some structure to my otherwise random crafting, plus many of my blogging buddies participated last year and had a really good time.  I had the advantage of their experience when I put together my list of goals. The main point taken to not be too lofty in what I think I'm capable of accomplishing.

Now that we've just begun our second quarter of activity it seems that a progress report is in order.  Let's take a look!

What I've Done

• Learn Tunisian Crochet
  My first project was to take on Tunisian Crochet.  For those of you who don't know, it is a form of crochet done with a very long hook.  A series of stitches are "cast on" the hook in one direction and the "worked off" in the other.  The result is probably as close to knitting as you're going to get with crochet!  While I can't say that it is my favorite technique I was encouraged by all the comments you left and may consider giving it another go (someday!). You can see my progress here.
  
• Explore the world of Granny Squares
  When I wasn't sure what to do next I put it to a vote and you decided for me! And so The Granny Square Project was born.  My experience with granny was very limited and I wanted to learn as much as I could.  It turns out this seemingly simple square is really quite complex! I've written five installments so far with plans for two more to complete the series.  There are links for each in the sidebar in case you missed them.  Being this close to the end, it makes sense to think about...
  

What I'm Doing Next

I've decided that it's time to

• Improve my sock skills
  This received the second highest number of votes.  Looking at this picture of the first (and only) socks I ever made it's clear that I am in need of improvement!  Luckily there are plenty of books available to lead me on to sock success.  I know that crochet socks are not nearly as popular a knit, but after looking at the patterns I'm not sure that it has to stay that way!  We'll see how it goes as I plan to get started shortly!
  

What I Still Have (Want) To Do

• Make a sweater (that really fits!) from Custom Crochet Sweaters by Dora Ohrenstein
• Learn Painted Crochet
• Dye my own yarn
• Make something with up-cycled materials
• Crochet a rug
• Design my own wrap
• Learn a new lace technique (ie: Hairpin, Bruges, or Filet)
• Make at least one sewing project from 101 One Yard Wonders
• Give double ended hooks a try

What do you think? Does it seem manageable? Giving it careful consideration I remain optimistic that I'll be able to accomplish everything between now and June. I imagine that my biggest hindrance will be getting involved in projects that aren't on the list. In hindsight I realize that I should have chosen a sweater from Dora's book instead of starting the Marlo cardigan, but I like Marlo and I don't want to abandon her - or frog all the progress I've made!

There you have it! One quarter down, three to go!  I'm having a great time working on my goals and seeing the progress that my friends are making.  You can check out what they've been up to here. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and spending a bit of your day with me!
Until next time friends,
Be blessed and stitch & read with love!

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