Fiber Focusing for 2025.
Keeley Richardson
Founder and Chief Fiber officer
At this time of the year my thoughts always turn to my yarny hopes, dreams and aspirations for the coming twelve months. It’s naturally a time to review fiber achievements from the past year and think about plans for the coming months. My 2024 fiber life was a joyful whirlwind and when I look back I am filled with happiness at all the people I have met through The Woolpack, classes I have taught and yarn projects I have completed. I adore being busy, but if I am honest, at times I have felt more than a little overwhelmed, so I have been thinking about how I would like 2025 to shape up.
I’m not one for new year’s resolutions. I don’t enjoy feeling restricted or under pressure, but this year with the help of a lovely bullet journal I am laying down my top three “intentions”, that I can refer back to from time to time when I lose my fiber focus.
My knitting process and flow can be a bit erratic; one fabulous new pattern release on Ravelry or a quick scroll through Instagram can have me reaching for my knitting needles to cast on, or jumping in the car to head to the nearest yarn stockist to make another purchase. Who’s with me?
2025 will be as busy as last year. I am teaching a number of classes at The Nifty Knitter (each class requires a project for me to teach/knit along with), I knit a small project each month for the yarn test kitchen and there are also sweaters I want to knit for my loved ones this year. If there is time left over I may even manage a sweater or two for me. I am excited and know I will put a lot of love into each and every one of these knits, but this is going to require some serious organization!
Hello project planner! This rather lovely book was a holiday gift from a dear friend and I am thinking it may be the key to organizational success in 2025. The My Year in Yarn journal is the creation of Summer Day of Summer Day Crochet fame and it’s a rather lovely linen bound bullet journal. I am one of those people that still has a paper calendar/planner, so this is right up my street. I find it satisfying to feel the glide of pen across paper and I love to look at handwriting – the words are so much more intimate than those that are typed.
I have already written my name on the first page and added my top three goals for 2025.
My intentions for the coming months have been whirling around in my head for a few weeks now, and whittling them down to three has been a useful process for me. I decided not to go BIG with these goals and they are all achievable. So here are my top three:
- Knit from Stash – I should add here that I am not known for my will power, and this is not my first endeavour to hold back on yarn shopping. When I pledged to only knit from stash two years ago I made it to January 8th without buying yarn. See? No will power whatsoever. However, my yarn stash has grown even more since then so it is time to be strict with myself. I have a number of sweater quantities in various yarn weights bought with specific projects in mind that could easily be adapted if new pattern temptation presents itself, and there are oh so many tourist skeins that are just waiting to see the light of day. I’ll let you know how it goes.
2. Knit Patterns From Books.
If I were to compile a list of things I love, books would be near the top spot. Many moons ago I worked in book publishing and I have been an avid reader all my life. So, when I am on a self imposed yarn buying ban, I buy sometimes books. Knitting and crochet books have come a long way in terms of design and content over the past few years. Turning the pages, admiring the evocative photography and reading about the designers’ inspiration are all a real treat for me. They also look great sitting on my bookshelves. The issue is that they can sit on my shelves for a little too long without being used, so in 2025 I plan to change that. Nothing too ambitious, but I would love to knit at least five or six of the beautiful designs that can be found amongst the pages of my book collection.
3. Knit Sweaters for My Sons.
Ever since Chris Evans wore “that sweater”, in the first Knives Out film, the men in my life (husband and three sons), have been asking for something similar. To knit four is no mean feat – if you haven’t seen the film, it’s an aran cable knit sweater, completely beautiful, but very time consuming. Thankfully, having seen me knitting throughout all of their lives, my sons appreciate the amount of time it takes to create a hand knit and they are all willing to wait. I would love it if this is the year, they all get the sweater of their dreams. Time will tell, but for now I have agreed patterns and yarn with two of them, so watch this space, 2025 could be the year!
I am feeling excited about my yarny intentions for the next year and also more relaxed now that I have a little focus for my year of knitting. I look forward to filling the pages of my lovely journal over the coming months, but if you can’t get your hands a Year in Yarn Journal any notebook will do, and if you are like me, maybe you will enjoy getting project plans out of your head and on to paper.
I’ll let you know how things go, and it would be great to hear your knitting plans – be sure to share them with The Woolpack on our socials. Wishing you a Happy 2025 and hours of fulfilling fiber adventures!
