New Year Knit Intentions and intentional knitting

New Year’s Knit Intentions, are you ready? I can’t believe it’s already 2023! For me, the past year feels like it flew by in an explosion of activity. Unfortunately, for my knitting, it seems I chased all the bright shiny new things. My finished object pile is really small. 

Before we get into all the things, be sure to download the workbook and follow along to set New Year’s Knit Intentions.

I’m not sad about it because I did accomplish some amazing things in the past year. I came out with my first ever pattern collection, hosted my first KAL featuring the Snow Celebration trio of patterns, created a challenge, and introduced a couple of new courses. Overall, I think it’s been a good year, for business knitting anyway. And while, yes, I’m using this topic for my business (hello – it’s a blog post for you to read!), the focal point of this exercise, for me, is my personal knit life. 

My personal knit life suffered at the hands of my business knit life. I need more of a work/life knit balance. Just because I CAN knit during my down time for my work stuff doesn’t mean that I necessarily should. Especially if doing that is going to leave me feeling like I didn’t knit what I wanted to. 

And that’s exactly how I feel. And actually the reason behind my setting knit intentions. I don’t want to do what I did last year and make a list of things I want to knit to check off my list. What if work knits get in the way again? I’d rather just be intentional with my knits. That way when I do knit for personal, or work, I can incorporate the things I want to do and weave them all together in some beautiful knits for 2023.

That’s the hope anyway. 

Knitting resolutions, goals and intentions

Have you ever set new year’s knitting resolutions, goals, or intentions? I’m a New Year’s resolution kind of gal. I love new year’s resolutions! I always make my resolutions, and I usually last a good 6 months. That’s when I realize my plans probably need to change with the year. My life isn’t static and my goals can’t be either. 

For my business, I guess you could say I did make 2023 knit goals or resolutions. I do have a calendar of events (you can check out the blog post and grab a downloadable PDF calendar here). But again, for my personal knitting, I decided to use the word intention because it feels more flexible. It is my intention to do these things, but life happens, as we all know. And I may end up doing something else. 

Wherever you are at with your knitting, maybe you want to make goals, or resolutions, or intentions – it doesn’t matter. You can join me on this process. I hope you will gain some insight into your own knit life, like I did. And that will help guide you in your knit intentions for 2023, so that you too can be more intentional in your knit life. 

You know, if that’s what you want!

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Phase 1: Before we make NEW knit intentions, we reflect on the past year

I’m a leader for a small group of 7th and 8th grade girls. Each week we do a “roses and thorns”, otherwise known as our highs and lows. We like roses and thorns better, it’s prettier. 

I think it is so important for us to do some similar reflection of 2022 knitting. We want to really recall what we enjoyed knitting, what we didn’t enjoy. What was our favorite and which was a pass for the coming year. 

Honestly, as I went through the reflection phase of this exercise I was surprised by some of my insights into my own knit feelings. It’s really helpful to take a look at knitting from this different angle, because for me, knitting is a relaxing, comforting, meditative, fun, expressive, creative activity. If it’s not bringing me joy, something is wrong.

Knit Summary 2022

How can we summarize our knit journey for 2022? Take some time to reflect on each of the questions below. It’s ok if this takes you a long time. Maybe even read the questions, think about them and then come back later with your answers. Be sure to download the workbook to help you keep track of this exercise 

Just a note, I will be sharing with you my personal thoughts and feelings through these exercises. Remember that these are just an example, or a possibility, but you may feel and think completely different – that’s ok! We are all different people and knitters. What I hated in 2022 may have been your favorite knit of the year. Don’t be persuaded by my thoughts and feelings. They are here to inspire thought for you, but not to guide your answers. You do you.

How did 2022 begin? 

The year kicked off for me with big lofty goals of knitting a sweater each quarter, kicking off knitting courses and publishing a bunch of patterns. My list of “to knits” was lengthy and exciting. But was it reasonable? Attainable? Apparently not.

What about you? Were you feeling ready to knit All. The. Things.? Or were you more casual? How did that start of the year impact you throughout the year?

How did you want 2022 to end?

Well, I was hoping to be wearing a hand knit sweater, and having one on my daughter and hubby too. Maybe I could convince my son to wear one of those sweaters and we could get a family photo! I was going to have hats to hand out to everyone I met in the winter. Then I would create one of those fun “here’s what I knit” videos showcasing all these amazing hand knits!

Did you have any high hopes for the end of 2022? Did you have a huge list of knits you were hoping to have finished by the end of the year? Maybe a new skill learned?

How did 2022 end?

No sweaters, very few hats. I do have a bunch of knits I could make a year end video of, but most of them are washcloths or dishcloths and that just doesn’t feel very exciting to me. Honestly, I feel disappointed by my knit life in 2022. I gave away no knits. Never even made my mother socks. Yeah, it just didn’t pan out how I hoped. It’s ok. It’s always a learning process when you want to improve an area of your life.

This is where we compare what we wanted with what we got? Maybe we feel good about how it ended. That’s awesome! How can we repeat those good parts for 2023? If you’re like me though, it wasn’t super awesome. And you know what? That’s ok too! Because I can still reflect on what I liked, didn’t like, and be more intentional with my knit life for 2023.

Is there a word, phrase, or sentence that you can use to summarize your 2022 knit year?

For me, I would say knitting for me was “unfinished and scattered”. I started SO many things and put them in hibernation either temporarily or forever. It was not a good FO year for me. I had wanted to knit four sweaters this year. I started two. Finished none. I wanted to knit one beanie a month. I think I knit a total of four beanies. If I had to select a word or phrase to sum up my knitting for 2022, I would say “unfinished and scattered”. 

Now you don’t have to make a graphic for how you felt about 2022, but I thought mine deserved a graphic. I purposely made the graphic look the way I felt about 2022. Scattered and unfinished.

What knit accomplishments are you most proud of in 2022 and why?

Definitely my Snow Celebration set. I’m so proud of the set, I love the way it looks. I love to wear it. I love it. Not only is it a beautiful knit that I did, but I designed the patterns. That fills my heart with so much happiness. I get so many compliments on the set, and honestly it’s always fun to say I knit it. But even more so when I can say “I designed and knit it.” That’s a good feeling. 

My second favorite knit is the MarlyBird Gameday KAL from 2022. It was a lot of fun, and the stranded color work beanie is fun to wear and show to others. Not affiliated or sponsored, just had fun.

What mistakes are you still holding on to from the past year?

Having so many UFO’s (Un-Finished Objects). It’s been a rough year with me trying to balance my personal knit life separate from my business knit life. I think because of the unbalanced portion I did end up with more UFOs than I’d like. 

Spending too much time chasing things and not enough time finishing. The bright and shiny was definitely my downfall for 2022. And not just the bright and shiny, but also just the large amount of items I put on my “to knit” list. I did end up creating 11 new patterns for 2022. Now, eight of those were dishcloths, but they still take considerable time to write up, knit, have tech edited, test knit and released.

What knit skill or technique did you learn in 2022? 

At the very very beginning of 2022, I taught myself how to enterlac knit (and gave myself another UFO). It was fun and I loved the way it was looking. I also leveled up my two-at-a-time magic-loop method on socks, but again they became UFO’s as I never finished.

What did you not knit this past year that you wished you had?

A sweater! I wished I had finished at least one sweater. Just one!!! 

What did you knit this past year that you wished you hadn’t?

A blanket/blankets. Blankets are such a knitting drain for me. They take forever, I always get bored of them. I get too ambitious and end up throwing it in the hibernation bucket. If I hadn’t started so many blankets, I may have actually finished one or more sweaters this year.

Reflections done, now what?

if you’re like me, I tend to be much more in the now than I realize. So sitting down to actually think and reflect on these questions about 2022 made a huge difference in how I set my knit intentions for 2023. 

I recommend that you actually pause in reading this blog post and work through each of those questions before you continue. Be sure to grab the 2023 Knit Intentions workbook to help you process through this. You can download and print it. Take some quiet time and space to reflect, sip some cocoa (or your favorite beverage), and answer each question.

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Phase 2: Knit Intentions Begin Here

Knit Intentions begin with your “why” and “what”

Your “why” has become such huge buzzwords in every single area of life, and here I am putting it in the knitting world. But, as I look at my “why” for things, it seems only fitting that I should also consider my “why” for knitting. I think it’s important to think about why we are doing what we are doing. Otherwise we can lose sight of that thing we once loved and turn it into a chore. Another thing to check off our list for the day. I don’t want that for my knitting, and I bet you don’t either. 

This section is going to feel similar to reflecting on the past year, but this time we are going to be turning our focus to the future. Taking the good knit parts of 2022 and seeing how we can bring them into 2023 for an even better knit year. 

And I’m going to let you see my answers to maybe help spark your thinking. I know sometimes when we ask these tough questions our minds can go TOTALLY blank. So, I offer my answers to help get your brain juices flowing. Your answers may be completely different from mine and that is awesome! This is your knit intentions, it should reflect your thoughts and feelings. 

What do I enjoy about knitting?

• The soft texture of fibers in my hands
• The act of making a thing with my hands
• The rhythm of knitting and purling
• The ability to make something for someone
• Delightfully squishy fabric
• The memories that I share with an object that I knit and how it may remind me of special events in life
• The reactions of others when seeing my knit items
• The research for patterns, skills and techniques to try

What is my favorite thing to knit?

• Sweaters
• Beanies (hats)
• Fingerless mitts
• Socks
• Cowls
• Headbands
• Scarves

What kind of projects do I enjoy knitting and why?

All levels. 

Easy projects are for sure my go to. I like to have something to relax with in the evenings and do while I watch tv, or have conversations with family and friends. 

Complicated projects make me feel like a knitting magician and can bring me a level of satisfaction unmatched by those mindless knits. For me the perfect balance is knitting easy knits and then complicated and then easy again. I actually call the easy project after my complicated project a “celebration knit”. 

Medium projects are also fun because it gives you that feeling of, “I can knit this anywhere – as long as I remember to pay attention on rows 20-30” vibe. Do you know what I mean? These are projects I usually do take with me on the go, and then set aside focused time before bed to knock out those “pay attention” rows. 

What Knit Objects Do I Want to Avoid?

• Blankets (I always cast-on a blanket it’s a total drain of knit time! They always end up feeling like a chore project that I have to do)
• Dishtowels (I’ve knit a lot of those last year gearing up for Knitting Basic Training. Time for a break!) 
• Obligation knits (When people hear you knit they want you to knit them something. This is flattering, but here’s the thing. I only have so much time. I want to knit for me and my immediate family. If I can fit in something for someone else, we’ll see. But it’s not going to be a friggin blanket.)

New skills/techniques I want to improve or learn?

Intarsia seems to be an under-used colorwork technique, when actually it’s pretty dang fantastic. You can actually get some really neat designs that are reversible using intarsia. I have not knit intarsia in some time, so I’m looking forward to brushing up my existing skills and improving too. 
Cables are all the rage with my subscribers, and I’d love to knit some more cables. I’ve done some pretty cool cables, but I want to do some super intricate celtic cablework. I just think it would be so fun to knit something truly intricate like that. 
Brioche. I have knit swatches of brioche, but I think it’s time I tackle this technique and knit up a cool hat with it. I love the way some of those hats look. In my ravelry favorites I’ve had a brioche scarf that I haven’t knit, but it looks so lovely. So maybe that. I don’t know. Let’s see where 2023 takes us. I’m excited!

Do I want to knit gifts for anyone and who?

My daughter is my biggest knit fan. I must knit her at least 2 hats, some fingerless mitts, and I’d like to make her another sweater. She looks cute in everything and I love her to bits. Having her wear my knitting and tell me how she brags to everyone that her mom “made it” gives me so much joy. It’s fun when you can do something to make your kids brag on you.

Knowing now that I definitely want to knit these things for my daughter will help me be more intentional when I pick up that next project. I think it’s going to be a hat….

And remember, when you are thinking of gifting that it’s good to be flexible with yourself and your schedule. Check out my blog post on setting reasonable knit timelines here.

Is there a must knit item on my bucket list?

Sweater!! I must knit a sweater this year. I have 2 in process and I’d like to get the one I worked on most recently done by spring. I’m more than halfway done, so it’s definitely doable.  I also like to knit other peoples patterns in my personal knit time. So I’m always looking for something new and interesting.

Phase 3 Knit Intention Summary & Catchphrase

We’re coming to the end of setting our knit intentions. We have learned so much about how we felt about our 2022 knits. How we feel about knitting in general, why we knit what we knit and what we hope for 2023. We’re going to begin bringing all these ideas together to create a 2023 knit intention summary and catchphrase.

2023 Knit Intention Summary

Now that I feel like I understand my why and what, I can use that information to answer what purpose I want my knitting to serve in 2023. Listen, if you’re answer is it serves the purpose of helping me relax at the end of the day – that’s awesome! But if you aren’t sure what purpose you want it to serve, here’s my answer (for personal knitting not blog knitting). 

I’d really love to have a collection of giveaway items when the cold weather comes back to us in October/November 2023. With that thought in mind, I want to knit some smaller knitwear items each month. It could be a cowl, fingerless mitts, beanie or headband. Just something that I can easily give away to someone in need or want. 

I would really like to knit a sweater. I always see these designers with stacks of sweaters. It doesn’t have to be knit overnight. One sweater a year will still allow me to have a small stack in no time. Also, I did not knit a sweater in 2022 and I feel sad about that. I should knit at least one sweater a year. Because I said so. It’s what I want. 

Between the sweater knit for me and the giveaway knits for others, I think I have plenty of opportunity to incorporate some of the skill and technique building I’d like to do for 2023. 

I want to be sure that I incorporate the things that are important to me in knitting. Definitely do not want my knitting to become a chore or “job”. I don’t want it to become a checklist. 

Knit Intention Summary in Bullet Form

OK, so I like lists. It helps me really narrow down on the central idea. You can do this too if it’s helpful. Here’s mine.

• Knitting brings me peace, comfort and relaxation. I knit because I love to do it and not because I “have to”. If I begin feeling like I have to knit, it’s time for a break.
  • Knitting movements
  • Meditative knitting
  • Mindless knitting
  • Focused knitting
• Each month I plan to knit someone else’s pattern for either a cowl, headband, fingerless mitts or beanie. These items will be designated as give away items. To those in need or to a loved one who wants them.
  • Brioche knit items Jan – Apr
  • Intarsia knit items May – Aug
  • Cables and who knows ? Sept – end of the year
• I intend to knit at least one sweater in 2023.

2023 Knit Intention Catchphrase

Avengers Assemble!

I’m not a Marvel girl. I’m not anti-Marvel, I just don’t care. And that is exactly how powerful this catchphrase is. Even me, a non-Marvel watching old lady knitter knows that “Avengers Assemble” means, it’s about to go down! The enemy better be ready because these heroes are not messing around. 

And that’s sort of what we want our 2023 knit intention catchphrase to do for us. It’s not to fight the bad guys, but rather be a word or two that we can remember easily and say to ourselves. A “Call to Action” of sorts that keeps us remembering all that we have learned in this Knit Intention exercise. 

Here’s an example from my family life. My family likes to pick a phrase for each year that we use to encourage us as a family to stay on track with our family life goals. Our best year was “Get Out”. We wanted to meet new people, make friends, go on vacation, and just get out. So we would shout it at each other when we waned. (We’re all introverts). We would chant it on our way to functions. Get out was our anthem and boy did we do it! We camped so much. Friends, vacations, events-we did it all. It was the best year ever. 

You’ve reflected on the past year, thought about what you would like to do in the new year, and now, we want to bring it all home to one central idea. You can express that in a word, a phrase or a sentence. Try to keep it brief. 

So yeah, like that. 

My 2023 Knit Catchphrase

My phrase for the year will be “knit matters” to remind myself that when I knit, it’s not because I have to. It’s because taking that time for myself matters. Making things for myself, loved ones, and others matters. I show myself and others that they matter to me through my knitting.

What is your word, phrase or sentence? Want to share it in the comments below? I’d love to see it. Or post on Instagram and tag me @ozzylosiknits

My Final Knit Intention Takeaways

This was a fun journey for me. It really made me think about just saying no to the knit objects I don’t actually enjoy knitting that I always say yes to (I’m talking about you, blankets!). 

It also made me realize how important it is for me to take on a project like a sweater each year to have something to mark my knit year with. I love to gift-away my knit items, and the truth is, I didn’t have many this year that I could gift away. I definitely want to avoid that next year. 

Keeping my skills growing and techniques practiced gives my mind something to look forward to as well. I love learning and growing my skills. Being a life learner, this is an important aspect that I want to make a point of incorporating in the year to come.

What about you? Did you uncover anything surprising in this exercise? Did you have insight into your knit life and what brings you joy or doesn’t? Share it in the comments to let me know!

Making your 2023 Knit Intentions

As you sit down to make your own version of knit intentions for 2023, I hope that you will not be influenced by the things I shared in this blog post. These are just as an example to get you thinking if one of the questions stumped you. We are all different knitters, and what we want to focus on, knit and learn is unique to us. Maybe you want a year off of learning new skills and techniques. That’s cool! Take a year off. 

I guess what I’m saying is…

You be you, boo. You got this. 

And if you do want to do some knit learning this year, or maybe join a KAL or two, check out my 2023 calendar of events to see if anything sparks your interest. Click here.

My greatest hope is that by making intentions for the coming knit year, you get some time to reflect on what you love about knitting, what you like about knitting, and build on a happier New Year knit life.

P.S. Did you forget to download the workbook? Don’t worry, here’s another link so you don’t have to scroll back up! Download the workbook!