Hey everyone! It’s been almost a year since I first shared my crafty goals for 2017, so I thought I would share a crafty goals end of year update on how I’m doing. A lot has happened since January, so let’s take a look at how I’m doing. (Check out my first post about my 2017 crafty goals here)

GET ORGANIZED

My first goal was to get organized with both my crafty goals and personal goals. I purchased a planner to help keep track of all my upcoming blog posts, tutorials, and deadlines as well as any upcoming events in my personal life. This has helped greatly! I tend to have a lot on my mind so keeping everything written down in one place has helped me stay organized. Once I completed something, I crossed it out. For me, seeing something crossed off makes me feel accomplished. I highly recommend getting a planner to keep track of everything. The hard part is picking one out as they’re all so stinkin’ cute! (GOAL-completed)

I also wanted to keep my yarn stash organized. At the beginning of the year I had yarn everywhere in my craft room. It was in the closet, in different boxes and bags, and of course in my storage cubby. What happened is I received a lot of yarn from my birthday and Christmas last year and didn’t have any extra space to put it. One day, my husband Tony and I were feeling motivated and we starting organizing our condo and getting rid of things we didn’t need anymore. We cleaned out my craft closet, got rid of all the boxes and bags and now have most of my yarn in my storage cubby. There are still a few skeins in the closet (mostly extra yarn to restock when something is purchased), but at least they’re not in bags on the floor anymore.

I have been able to go through my yarn stash and organize by color. I put each separate color into the different storage cubes. You can find these storage cubes on Amazon, which you have many colors and patterns to choose from. Organizing my yarn by color is easiest for me. I was able to keep my yarn organized this way throughout the entire year. (GOAL-completed)

Going one-step further, I separated my yarn into open skeins and unopened skeins. For the open skeins, I plan on using up that yarn and making hats and pet mats to donate. With two bags full of open skeins, I think I’ll be busy for a little while. I had no idea I had that much open skeins floating around! Update-I’ve gotten this down to a half bag full of open cotton skeins. (GOAL-completed)

Would I continue this goal?

For the most part, yes, I would continue with this goal. I love staying organized and on top of things as it works for me. I plan on continuing with a planner and writing different things down that I need to keep track of. As far as keeping my yarn organized, I did a great job doing that throughout the year, so I feel like I would continue this going forward.

WORK FROM MY YARN STASH

I’ve grown quite a yarn stash over the years. I wanted my next goal to find ways to use up the yarn I already have rather than keep adding to my yarn stash. I included a few sub categories for this goal.

• Current and Future Etsy Collections-right now I have two collections in my Etsy Shop, which is the mint collection and pretty in pink collection. I haven’t added any new collections just yet, but I’m slowly adding some new items here and there. However, I’ve been good about keeping just enough extra skeins on hand without going overboard on buying more of this type of yarn.
• Orders-I’ve gotten some orders over this past year, but luckily I’ve been able to use up some of the yarn I had in my stash already. However, I did have to purchase a few skeins to complete some orders.
• Good Yarn Sales-for the most part, I’ve been good about staying away from yarn sales and not purchasing yarn just to purchase it. I know there are always going to be sales on yarn, but I’m really trying to work through the yarn I already have first. However, there have been times where the yarn was on sale for a really good deal (and I had coupons), but I am working through that yarn and coming up with different patterns.

Overall, I have gotten much better with working from my yarn stash rather than going out and buying new yarn. I’ve still bought some yarn for specific projects or orders, but for the most part I’ve tried to stay away from purchasing more yarn. As of right now, I have used approximately 127 skeins, which equals to 45,252 yards. Wow! In the past 6 months alone, I went through 36,516 yards of yarn alone! I was a crocheting machine! (this was due to an increase in Etsy sales) (GOAL-completed)

Would I continue this goal?

Yes, I would. I feel that it’s important to give all my yarn some love and try and work it up into different projects. After all, I bought it for a reason. I’m amazed at the amount of yarn I used up throughout the year! I definitely plan on keeping this goal for next year as I really want to work through all of my yarn and not let any of it go to waste. Plus, it would be interesting to see if I use up more yarn next year as opposed to this year.

KEEP UP WITH BLOG POSTS

My goal was to keep up with some sort of a blogging schedule as I didn’t have one before. Personally, I feel it’s better to have a schedule because then your readers will know which days they’re more likely to see a new post from you.

I made it a goal to post twice a week. This seemed to be what worked for me without becoming too overwhelmed. You will see a new blog post from me every Wednesday and Saturday. On Saturdays, I’ve started my Crochet 101 series, which you can check out from the very beginning here. On Wednesdays, I talk about different crochet related topics, which include yarn reviews, crochet book reviews, patterns, and many more.

I also enjoy scheduling future blog posts. This helps me stay on track because once it’s scheduled and ready to go, I can focus on other things. I try to stay at least one month ahead of schedule, so I can focus on new ideas or working on other business related tasks. I try to sit down once a month and come up with new topics I would like to include in future blog posts. This system seemed to work for me this year. (GOAL-completed)

Would I continue this goal?

While I was able to complete this goal, towards the end of the year, it became more difficult to keep up with this goal. Working full-time, it’s not always easy to find the time to do everything I want to do. That’s why going forward, I’m going to cut back a little, but still produce quality blog posts. I plan to do things a little different in 2018, so stay tuned!

DONATE TO CHARITY

This crafty goal will also help with my previous goal of wanting to use up more of my yarn stash. I donated over 100 pet beds to Comfort for Critters last year, so I want to make it a goal to donate 100 more this year. Well, I haven’t worked much on this goal at all. I think I made about 10 pet mats in total this year, which isn’t much. However, I made use of my scrap yarn and made about 20-30 hats that I have donated. I also donated some blankets to Warm Up America for the Hurricane Harvey victims. (GOAL-while I didn’t make 100 pet beds like I wanted, I did donate a lot of other items to charity, so I’d say this goal is completed.)

Would I continue this goal?

I don’t think I would make it a set goal for next year. I always want to try and help out and do my part, but having a set goal in mind of how much to donate would be too hard.

TRY NEW CROCHET PATTERNS

I’ve been crocheting for over 10 years now. I wanted to branch out and try some new crochet patterns. At the beginning of the year, I wrote down a list of some new patterns I wanted to try. I didn’t know if I was going to like them or not, but I at least wanted to test them out. Some of the new patterns include: Glacier Cowl, Coffee Cup Keychains, Crochet Bag, Envision Cardigan (paid), Cookie Crumble Shrug, and Cable Beanie Hat. I’ve enjoyed trying out these different patterns as there is always something new to learn. (GOAL-completed)

Would I continue this goal?

Yes I would. I plan on trying out more free and paid patterns next year, as it’s fun learning a new skill or stitch. I also enjoy trying out new patterns and coming up with my own color combinations. There are so many patterns out there that I haven’t tried yet, so I’m eager to continue with this goal next year.

DESIGN MY OWN CROCHET PATTERNS

I’ve always been interested in designing my own crochet patterns, but was too chicken to start. I thought I would give it a go this year. I made a goal to come up with at least 1-2 patterns of my own. I’m pleased to announce that I completed this goal and have gone above and beyond in designing my own patterns! You can find all of these patterns below or by clicking on the Crochet Pattern tab on the top of my website. You can also purchase some of my ad-free patterns on Etsy for only a few dollars. My most popular pattern this year was my Rainbow Waffle Stitch Blanket. (GOAL-completed)

Here are all of the patterns I have designed so far:

• Single Crochet Coaster
• Half Double Crochet Pet Mat
• Double Crochet Dishcloth
• Floating Squares Blanket
• Cozy Stripe Blanket
• Bunny Graphgan
• Basic Hat
• Rainbow Blanket
• Granny Square Blanket
• C2C Dishcloth
• Back Loop Hot Pad
• Watermelon Coasters
• Watermelon Dishcloth
• Caron Baby Cakes Blanket
• Grit Stitch Dishcloth
• Shell Stitch Scarf
• Trick-or-Treat Bags
• Iris Shawl
• 3 Button Cowl
• Bulky Scarf
• Waffle Stitch Scarf
• Winter Hat w/Pom

Would I continue this goal?

Yes, I plan on continuing this goal next year. I enjoy designing my own crochet patterns and would like to come up with more ideas. I asked what patterns you would like to see, so I’m hoping to fulfill those requests in the coming year.

That completes my crafty goals end of year update! I hope you enjoyed seeing my progress and where I’m at with each goal. I plan on continuing a few of them, but I also want to try some new things as well. Stay tuned!

Did you set any crafty goals for yourself this year? Were you able to complete them all? Leave me a comment below. I’d love to hear from you!

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