New Year Thoughts

 I haven't made New Year's Resolutions for several years, it adds too much pressure to my life I find, and they always get discarded sometime before I plant my spring garden so they add nothing to my life. What I have done for many years is to make some fiber plots and plans for the coming year. I always did this on Ravelry where I spent a lot of time and energy as part of various online communities. With the new user interface causing me migraines and eye pain after even a few minutes of time I deleted my Ravelry profile and have not been back since the change. It was an adjustment for me, but I found that I enjoy the time I spend on zoom or in real life with fiber friends immensely more since losing the fiber communities I was a part of, and with viewing things on instagram and twitter I also get to see the amazing work textile folks are creating. 

What I miss though, is the accountability and clarity that having a public list of annual fiber goals and the discussion that happens around them. In order to have a place I can refer back to I will list out my fiber goals hear and review 2021's accomplishments. 

In 2020 I pushed my boundaries and hand sewed several garments; two shirts and a vest with commercial fabric and one vest with handspun, handwoven fabric.

I spun and wove two tablet woven bands, which was a particular pleasure for me, as in the past I had always failed when attempting to warp and weave anything tablet woven outside of classes where the teacher was available for questions and problem solving. I wove a shawl with singles handspun wool which I had dyed using natural dyes and explored natural dyeing much more extensively than I had in the past, continuing what had started in 2019.

 I also proposed and wrote webposts and articles which were published, furthering the writing goals I have had since attending an arts based highschool for writing. 

Looking forward into 2022 there are several goals i have for the year. 

• Weave handspun linen singles into fabric and make household textiles with it
• Complete a project using Ramie handspun yarn
• Complete a sewn garment using handspun and handwoven fabric
• Continue to write and seek out opportunities to be published and to teach

The biggest goal for the year, however, is to ENJOY MY SPINNING. Everything I do with textiles confirms that at heart I am a spinner. I enjoy weaving most when doing it with my handspun, I love knitting with and spending time with yarn I have spun. Even with the longest slogs of spinning for large projects where I get bored, I still enjoy the actual process of spinning, the tactile feeling of the fiber turning into yarn in my hands, or at the very least the satisfaction of seeing the yarn build up on the bobbin or a pile of skeins get larger. Nothing has brought me more calm in the years of the pandemic and some considerable personal social upheavals than time at my wheel(s) or with my spindle creating yarn and dreaming of what it will be used for. Currently I am loving the time I am spending with my antique super-slanty Norwegian wheel which I picked up at a local antique shop on my birthday for only $60 and dreaming of the warmer weather when I can spin in my favorite spot on the back patio, as pictured here. 

What are your fiber goals or aspirations for 2022?