Every year, my husband and I set goals for our family—budget, health, travel, business, and so on. This year, I decided to make knitting and crochet goals, too.

When setting goals, there are two questions I ask myself:

1. Are my goals concrete and measurable?
2. Are my goals realistic?

Once I know what I want to accomplish, I break it down, putting start and complete dates in my planner, noting patterns, yarns, and so forth. This makes my goals measurable.

I get so excited when I make these plans, I sometimes add way too many projects. When I put them on the calendar, I realized the amount of projects weren't realistic. I removed some, and now I'm at a place I feel I can manage. Knitting is supposed to be fun, not stressful!

Here are my goals:

1. I want to be able to knit and crochet when I’m 85 years old without joint or hand pain. So I need to take care of myself, which feeds into my overall health goals, but I will also research specific hand and arm exercises that I can do to increase my knitting strength. I explored some exercises to keep me in "knitting shape" in a Facebook Live broadcast earlier this year.

2. Pick projects where I might learn one or two useful tips to add to my toolbox, such as this brioche knitting project.

Channeled Colors Brioche Loop & Scarf by Marcy New

3. I will commit the provisional cast on to memory so that I don’t have to look it up each time. (More broadly, I will memorize one new skill every month.)

4. At the end of 2019, I will have knit three new sweaters that I can wear often. Meaning the right size, the right yarn, the right fit, and projects that fit into my current wardrobe. I will start my first sweater in January, the next in April, and the last in June. I love this colorblocked cable cardigan!

Sisterhood of the Sweater by Katie Rempe

5. I will knit at least one Christmas gift monthly. I will make several baby gift sets right away, two girl gifts and two boy gifts using neutral colors. Check out this darling striped sweater!

Stripe-o-saurus Sweater

6. I will finish at least four pairs of socks this year. One of them might be this pretty, lacey pair!

Shenandoah by Brenda York

7. I will do at least two more double-knitting projects this year. I demonstrated double-knitting in this Facebook Live broadcast.

8. I will crochet at least six projects this year, incorporating new techniques so I can improve my crochet skills. This gorgeous shawl would be the perfect spring project.

Refracted Lace Shawl

9. I will knit at least 3 projects for charitable causes.

Knitted Knockers

I invite you to join me in some (or all) of my goals—we can do it, with thoughtful planning.

Happy knitting, and happy new year!

P.S. Leave a comment and share some of your knitting and crochet goals!