Today is my two-year blogging anniversary. As I reflect on 2006, my inclination is to compare it with 2005. From that perspective, I am disappointed with what I see.
In 2005, I felt like I really pushed myself hard to grasp new knitting techniques. I moved past scarves and learned how to knit sweaters and socks. I knit in every spare moment and spent tons of time reading about knitting on blogs and forums. Granted, 2005 was my first full year of knitting, so there was quite a learning curve, but I am far from being experienced and still have so much more to learn. Yet in 2006, I didn’t have the same drive to conquer new knitting territory. I did try fair isle, learn Magic Loop, and do toe-up socks, but all of that was done during January/February 2006 and December 2006. For all the months in between, I felt truly stagnant. My needles went untouched for some of those months as I wasn’t motivated to work on anything. Many of you reminded me that my interest in knitting would rekindle one day, and I am so happy that it did. But the bottom line is that much of the year was unproductive on the knitting front.
On the flip side, I branched out to other crafts. I tried my hand at spinning and fell in love with it, if only briefly. I took two sets of classes and purchased a beautiful wheel. Sadly, I sold it three months later because I used it all of once — for 20 minutes. Which indicated to me that spinning would not be a passion as I had hoped. I learned how to sew and started my own little online shop. I became interested in cooking and baking and experimented with a number of delicious new recipes. Although I achieved some diversity in my crafting, I would not categorize it as a success because I didn’t excel at anything. I guess I like depth more than breadth.
As I’ve been mulling over this post, I’ve been asking myself – where am I going with this? If I am dissatisfied with my crafting accomplishments (or lack thereof) in 2006, what do I aim to change for 2007? The unfortunate answer is – I don’t know. I am not ready to set new goals, and yet generally I am a goal-oriented person. I dislike being in a space where I am unhappy about a situation but uncertain of how to change it. And I wouldn’t say that I am unhappy exactly – that seems too strong – but just sort of lost. Where am I going with my knitting and sewing? I don’t know. Can I be content in these areas without striving towards specific goals? Maybe my focus this year should be on simply enjoying the comfort that crafting brings?
The one thing I am confident about is that I still enjoy blogging immensely. The community and support are truly amazing. I have enjoyed existing friendships, made new ones, and discovered wonderful blogs. Thank you for reading, commenting, and sharing in my crafting journey.
