After writing a summary for last year(s), I can not miss listing my new year’s resolution either. In the past few years I have learned that I should not make promises a year ahead, because I never know what will happen tomorrow. So my resolutions are made carefully. I am not promising to publish 5 patterns though I would really love to… These are only guidelines for the future based on my past experience.

Clear yarn stash

When you choose yarn for knitting and selling handmade hats, you are usually looking for bulky and chunky weights because the heavier the yarn weight and the larger the needles you use, the quicker you finish knitting a hat. Which means you are able to knit more hats in a given time period, so you make more pieces you can sell. Which means more money for your small business.

I was selling hats for 3 years, so I have piled up quite a few bulky and chunky weight yarn in my stash. Now that I closed my webshop, I don’t need them any more. I don’t like to knit with those heavy weight yarns and large needles and I find more technical challenges in the lighter weight yarns.

All in all, I have to clear 3 huge boxes of bulky and chunky weight yarn that is taking huge space away from other things in my office.

I also went through my lighter weight yarn stash and found some colorways that I regret buying. I will never use those for designing and photographing so they have to go, too. Fortunately my daughter is now starting to play with dolls, and we all know, a doll can never have enough clothes, so my plan is to knit as many doll sized sweaters and rompers as I can.

Buying new yarn thoughtfully

I will only buy yarn after considering my needs carefully. I see how hard it is to clear all yarn from my stash that are don’t needed anymore. I fall for yarn sales all the time but that is a huge mistake to make. I always end up with cheap but unnecessary yarn. I know, I have really written that down… I am really happy to have a workspace but that workspace is quite small so I have to be cautious of what to purchase and what to let go.

Keep consistency in posting content

This is true for the blog and for social media too. I am very guilty of forgetting to post to social media which is obviously not beneficial for someone who has a small business based on Instagram… So I will try to be consistent.

Keep learning, keep studying

If I want to be honest with you, I am not only loving knitting but I have always gravitated towards the science behind it if that makes sense. Creativity is not enough for designing, I realized I have to see the correlations between the different kinds of yarns and the design itself. I have to know more design elements. My current knowledge is all self-taught, based on some knitting books and on the internet (except for the very basics which I have learnt from my mother when I was a child). I was always telling everyone I am so sorry there isn’t any school for this but there is, actually… So I have signed up and I am really excited to start this journey.

Publish my designs that are already sampled

This is another thing I am very guilty of. I have many designs outlined in my notebook but I don’t have them written up as a pattern. When I seem to have an idea, I take notes, create charts, make swatches, knit a sample, and somehow I stuck there. My goal this year is to write, test knit and release as many of these designs as I find worthy of publishing before I come up with a new one from scratch.

Basically that is it for 2022. It doesn’t seem much for the first time but looking at the pile of yarn I have to clear away, the books I have to read and the designs I have to publish, I will not stop until next Christmas… Good thing it is only January…