Written on January 8, 2007 4:51 PM
Now that the holidays are over, a new year stretches ahead, full of promise. Ideas for projects to try and crafts to learn pile up all year, along with unfinished projects and works in progress. Suddenly it's the end of the year and I'm surrounded by lists, scraps of paper, fabric, yarn, and more. Now is the time to gather them up, put them in order, and set myself a few crafty resolutions. As always with resolutions, they are overly ambitious and assume more productivity in each second of the day than is entirely realistic.
This year I've put all of my various abandoned works in progress into a single shopping bag, and for each one I finish, I can start a new project-- "out with the old, in with the new" in practice!
My burgeoning works in progress bag
My very first commercial pattern dress cut out, then abandoned *ten* years ago finally made its way out of the bag and on to my body-- perfect for spring!
While blogging is a great way to keep track of finished projects, a crafty resolutions journal is my preferred method of dreamspinning, planning and plotting out my creative missions for the coming year. I sketch ideas(badly, no surprise that one of my resolutions is to try to learn to draw properly!), paste in inspirations, and keep lists of goals, resources and "need to know" information. By the end of the year, I hope my journal will be bulging with pictures, clippings and ideas, some realised and some ready for me to take on next year.
I'll share a few resolutions in progress for those of you thinking about starting your own craftolutions journal:
Sewing
I've caught the "make your own clothing" bug, so my brain is full of plans for skirts and dresses for spring. My skill level is not necessarily up to the level of detail that I'm after with some of them, but the journal helps me puzzle out basic construction issues, as well as materials I should be on the lookout for when I find myself in a fabric or thrift store
Embroidery
I also have a few crafty embroidery projects in mind, and after years of embroidering from other people's neat line drawings(sublime stiching or wee wonderfuls anyone?), I'd like to try some of my own. But they need to be just right (see drawing resolution above)
Gardening
My apartment boasts a tiny terrace, and I'm determined to break out of my bad history with plants by planning, planting and nurturing a lush terrace garden this spring and summer. I'm starting from scratch and seeds, so using the space and sun wisely, as well as picking the right plants, will take some work
And of course I have an extensive(ever-expanding) list of crafts I plan to learn this year, as well as projects I've meant to make for at least a year but haven't gotten around to. These take pride of place, in shocking pink pen:
My most important resolution? To share what I learn! Every other month I'll learn a craft that is brand new (to me), and explain the process in detail in this column-- from materials cost, to time commitment, to whether the results were worth the effort. When it makes sense for the project, I'll also post original patterns, so stay tuned, and Crafty 2007 to you!
