2016 Crocheting Goals

I’m going to take a slightly different approach this year.  Last year was the first year that I created crocheting goals for myself. And although there was a lot that I did not complete, I think in the first half of the year I got a lot more done than I may have in previous years.

Instead of going quite as structured as I did last year with laying down what projects I was going to do in which month, I’m just going to make myself a project list of things I want to get done.  I will start this list out with some semblance of the order I want to complete these project in, however, I expect it to be more of a living, ongoing, occasionally changing list – especially with regards to when I get custom orders from my Etsy store. So here is the first draft of the…

Stitched In Love Crocheting 2016 Project List:

1. DONE – Sweet 16 Afghan – This is started and needs to be done soon because it will need to be mailed out as soon as I can.  It’s already going to be late for her birthday.  There’s just so much going on right now!
2. Buddy’s Afghan – I have designed an afghan pattern in honor of each one of my new babies.  As soon as the Sweet 16 Afghan is done, I need to get working on Baby #3’s.  I’ve already done quite a bit of R&D (i.e. Pinterest pinning) and I’m pretty sure I know what I want to do.  I even have the yarn. Now I just need to sit down and start work/writing the pattern.
3. Christmas Stockings for Family – I think I’m just going to continue working on the Christmas items after the immediate projects are wrapped up so that they don’t just get put off until the end of the year and not get done again. I need to finish the stockings for the new baby and myself. Then I would like to do some embellishments on everyone’s stockings, including names and maybe some holly berries and leaves.
4. Christmas Tree Skirt – I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to this one and have not yet decided what I want to do for this exactly. However, I might see if I can get a plain, solid tree skirt on sale after the holidays this year to use as a backing for mine to lend more durability to it and potentially act as a background depending on what design I settle on.
5. Afghan Christmas Present #1 – I have three different afghans that I want to make family members for Christmas gifts.  Hopefully I can get them done in the first part of this year and then just block them and package them come Christmas next year.  These projects are going to be difficult to post about while maintaining the Christmas surprise. I might have to  come up with some creative pictures of extreme close ups and do some fun editing to disguise the true results.
6. Afghan Christmas Present #2
7. Afghan Christmas Present #3
8. Curtains – We have  a great big bay window in the new house and instead of putting up some boring curtains or sheers, I really want to crochet some pretty lace-like curtains that I can just slip onto some tension rods for a sort of 3/4 cover.
9. Rugs – We also have all hardwood floors in the new house which we have refinished with a beautiful dark stain. But we need several rugs in multiple areas of the house. I also want to do a “street and lawn” rug for the kids’ room
10. Happypotamusses for kids – I thought about doing these for their birthdays or for another holiday through the year, but I think I’ll stick with making these and saving them for Christmas next year.  The designer of this very cute stuffed animal has actually designed quite a few others, so I’m actually thinking about making the Hippo for Bubba, an Elephant for Sephy because she loves them, and something else fun for Buddy instead of just doing 3 hippos in different colors.
11. Mitten Ornaments – Another small gift for the family members to make and save for next year.
12. Top for myself – Finally on to non-Christmas items! Hopefully by this time I will have been able to loose some baby weight and can make myself something pretty.
13. Dress for Sephy – I’d like to try again in making a dress for Sephy, this time in a very light weight yarn, or even thread.
14. Parasol – I would still like to try and get this thing made. I have two different umbrella frames ready to use for it.
15. Masquerade Masques – My sister is having a Masquerade Ball for her Halloween party next year and I want to make the masks that my Husband and I wear. I also have a whole Pinterest board for this one!

It will be interesting to see how much of this I will actually be able to get done this year. Fifteen doesn’t sound like a lot on this list, but with 3 afghans plus a tree skirt that is basically a whole afghan itself, it is definitely going to be a challenge.