In The Next Year of Knitting, I Want To...

The very last assignment for my Masters is to develop a five year professional development plan.  We are to come up with goals we want to accomplish in the next five years, and the steps and supports we will need to accomplish our goals.  My plan mostly involves finding a full-time teaching job.  I thought it would be fun to come up with a plan for knitting!  Five years is probably a little too long to think about, so below I present my one year professional development plan for knitting (and other yarn crafts):

Melanie's 1 Year Crafting Plan:

Cutting a steek.  [ Source ]

• In the next year, I want to complete a project with steeks.  Steeking occurs when you knit a project in the round, and then cut through your knitting to attach sleeves, or open up a cardigan.  Cutting through knitting sounds terrifying!  I really enjoy learning how to do new things when I knit, and I think steeking will be fun.  I'll definitely need to find a pattern I like, and consider using non-washable yarn.  Although hand washing is a pain, the stickier yarn will hold steeks better.  I'll also need to research the different methods of steeking, and decide which one to try.

• Create, write up, and post an original pattern to Ravelry.  The next step in my knitting career is definitely to develop my own pattern.  I'm incredibly jealous of those who come up with their own patterns, and I want to give it a shot!  I'd probably start with something small, like socks.  And I would need a lot of patience to undo and redo parts of the pattern to get them right!

• Get my loom in working order.  It's been about nine months since I bought a small table loom.  I ran into some difficulties getting custom reeds to fit the loom, and haven't been able to use it yet.  Luckily, a family friend is pretty adept at woodworking, and is doing a small alteration to the loom so my reeds will fit.  I hope to get it back soon, and get weaving!  I even found out that a new friend I coach with majored in weaving, so I have an excellent resource if I run into problems.

Mystic Pullover [ravelry.com]

• Successfully alter the neck of the Mystic Pullover sweater I'm working on.  I'm not a huge fan of having fabric around my next (I hate turtlenecks!), so I want to make this sweater into a v-neck.  Or maybe a crew neck?  I'm not sure yet!  Keep track of my progress on the ravelry project page and see what I come up with!  Fun fact: The yarn color I'm working with is calling Swimming Pool, so I'm combining that with the Mystic Pullover to call my project Swimming Poolover.  Too silly?  Or just right?!

Will I accomplish all of these things before next December?  Let's find out!