Happy new year! It’s January first, 2022 and first thing this morning – before the sun was up – I had old and new knitting patterns scattered all over my bed.

Yesterday, I finally got the Carbeth Cardigan off the needles – just in time for the new year!

I was looking for information about my Lopi wool order, to see how much yarn I used, and ended up with this mess! So I went with it, and continued to organize my printed knitting patterns.

Although all patterns are kept on file on Ravelry, I like to print them out. If the power goes out, or the internet is down, I won’t have access. I also like to make notes on my printed patterns, like the date I began and ended the project. Also, what I changed, liked or disliked about the pattern itself. Sometimes I make a note of which yarn I’m planning to use on patterns not knit yet.

Today, I left old patterns in my big sheep binder and put newer patterns in a green file folder. They are organized by project, such as “hats”, “cowls”, “sweaters”, etc. I threw some old patterns away because I decided I would never knit them.

My sheep binder (Zazzle affiliate link) is something I created and put up for sale in my Zazzle shop. The wording on the front is customizable. Then I bought plastic expandable folders (this is an Amazon affiliate link) to fit inside where I slid my printed patterns. They were filling up and expanding to the point of overflowing.

A few weeks ago we took boxes of things to Goodwill. My bookshelf is now more sparse and I can more readily find my knitting books. With my patterns sorted out, I am ready to knit new things!

Knitting Project Plans for 2022

I also had the chance to group my most recent pattern printouts into a folder “to be knit”. Sometimes I will buy and print a pattern and it gets lost in the shuffle. As I sifted through my patterns I came across some Brooklyn Tweed hats which had been filed and forgotten.

The Tillage cabled beanie, by Jared Flood, would be perfect for my daughter. Also Solstice Glow hat, a chicken beanie by Bunnymuff (Mona Zillah) is a must because my daughter plans to raise chickens this year…!

For the boys (maybe for next Christmas) Hirombe and Treefolds, also by Jared Flood. Both are solid color hats with interesting designs. I’ve missed knitting hats.

Last year I knit 4 sweaters, 5 hats, 2 pair mittens, 2 pair fingerless mitts, 4 socks, 2 boot cuffs and 1 cowl. How do I know all this? If you have a Ravelry account, go to your account projects page and click on “challenge” in the top bar. It’s where you choose to challenge yourself with an amount of projects to complete, but then it lists all the crafts that were completed in each year.

Decided: My January 1 cast-on was for the Solstice Glow Chickens Hat.