New Year, New Projects: Tips for Creating a 2015 Crochet Plan

Make the most of crafting in the new year with an organized plan for your crochet work. More than just a set of New Year’s resolutions, this is a method of being intentional with your crafting so that you can expand your skills and create the items that you’ve dreamed of making.

A good 2015 crochet plan will include crafty intentions, stash organization, project planning and skill building.

Step one: Crafty intentions

The first step in creating your 2015 crochet plan is to sit down and write out your intentions for the new year. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What role does crochet play in my life?
• What do I want to accomplish in crochet in 2015?
• What are some projects I’ve always wanted to crochet?
• What crochet techniques would it would be wonderful to know?
• What are some problems with your crochet that you’d like to eliminate this year?

You may find it useful to journal about these questions. Once you’ve considered your answers, it may be helpful to write out a simple statement that you can post in your crafting space to remind you of your goals for the year. An example of such a statement is:

“Crochet helps to heal me, provides me with a creative outlet and offers a way that I can create gifts for others. I want to do more meditative crochet and charity work in the new year. I’ve always wanted to make a crochet mandala and I’d love to know how to read crochet diagrams. In 2015, I want to stop taking crochet requests from others and make more items for myself.”

This is just one example of a well thought out crafty intention. You could also rephrase it in the form of an affirmation that you review periodically throughout the year. This is a way of helping you to get clear about what you would truly like to experience from crafting in 2015.

Photo via Craftsy member Kimberlie

Step two: Project planning

After setting your intentions for the year, you are ready to plan out some projects. This can be as simple as writing out a list of things you’d like to crochet or as detailed as creating a calendar and a deadlined plan for completing each project. Use whatever method works best for you.

Image via Craftsy member FlowerMoon

Here are some tips to keep in mind:

• This should be an aspirational list of all of the projects that you would like to make in the new year.
• You might want to include projects for yourself and your home, your children and spouse, gifts to others and charity work.
• Consider the seasons and holidays as you make your plan. What would you like to crochet in spring versus in winter? Do you like to make crochet costumes for Halloween or decorations for Easter?
• Include a list of techniques that you would like to learn. This may be within your project plans or separate. In other words, you may want to learn to crochet in the round and your list may have that as a separate specific goal or it may be that you want to complete a crochet hat project worked in the round.
• You should not hold yourself accountable for making every item on your list. Don’t use the list to beat yourself up for not getting enough done this year; use it as a guide to keep you on track with your personal crafting goals.

Looking for some visual help for getting organized? Check out our collection of free crochet printables, include a project planning template and a PDF daily to-do list!

Step three: Get organized.

Image via Robbin Firth

Once you’ve set your intention for the year and planned some projects, you are ready to get organized. You will ask yourself two core questions: “What do I need to get rid of in order to accomplish my goals?” and “What do I need to add in order to accomplish my goals?” The answers will vary for everyone but here are some common organizational strategies:

• Haul out your complete yarn stash and go through it. Re-organize it based on color, fiber type or amount.
• Get rid of any yarns that clearly aren’t going to be a part of your 2015 plan. For example, if you have a goal to only crochet projects that are pleasing for you to work on and you know that you hate working with mohair then de-stash all that mohair yarn that you have. Gift it to a friend, donate it to charity or at the very least pack it away into deep storage so that it’s not crowding your inspiring crafty space.
• Create project bags for each project on the list you made in Step Two. A good project bag includes the crochet pattern, the required yarn, the right crochet hook and any other materials needed to complete the project. This all goes into a sealed plastic bag so that it’s ready for you to work on.
• Purchase the supplies that you need to create your projects. You may choose to do this monthly or seasonally if you will require a lot of new supplies this year. It’s especially important to purchase new tools that you’ll need for learning new techniques. For example, if you would like to learn Tunisian crochet then you should purchase Tunisian crochet hooks.
• Plan out your first one or two projects and get started. This will help get the momentum going for your crafty new year.

Step four: Skill building

Improve Your Crochet Essential Techniques is a skill-building Craftsy class taught by Edie Eckman

Finally, you will want to make sure that you’ve set yourself up for success by making a plan for skill building in the new year. What new crochet techniques are on your list? How will you learn them? What projects are going to be best for practicing those techniques?

Of course, Craftsy classes are a great way to build your skills. In one of the above examples a desired skill was learning to read crochet diagrams so it would be smart to sign up for See It, Crochet It: Reading Diagrams taught by Charles Voth. The person who wanted to learn to crochet in the round might learn from Crocheting in the Round: Mix and Match Hats by Stacey Trock. If you simply have a desire to expand your crochet skills in general, you might find it helpful to take the class Improve your Crochet: Essential Techniques by Edie Eckman.

Once you have mastered a new skill, you can search for crochet patterns that use that skill in order to really perfect the technique. You may want to focus on learning just one or two new skills in 2015 or if you’re ambitious you could learn a new skill each month. Use whatever methods work for you to meet the goals that are unique to your crafty life.

What is the number one thing that you would like to learn in crochet in 2015?