Year of Projects...

I've recently decided to join again with a group on Ravelry called Year Of Projects (aka YOP).  I had completed seven YOP years before dropping out a couple of years ago.  Hand issues were hampering my ability to do my favorite hobbies, but I'm back at it, and I think the creative camaraderie of the YOP group might be good for me to join in again.

Since I suspect most of my readers are not Ravelry members, I thought while I'm explaining Year of Projects, I'd also explain a little about how I use Ravelry.

First, Year of Projects (YOP):

The active portion of the Year of Project group on Ravelry consists of a small number of fiber crafters who like to share their love of craft on their blogs.  Each YOP year run from July through June, though some YOPers choose to follow a January-December year.  Personally, I love having something brand new starting in July.  The first Sunday in July, each YOP participant creates a blog post stating his/her goals for the YOP year, then each subsequent post is simply a follow-up on those goals and whatever else the blogger wants to share.  

I missed posting last Sunday, so this is my official first YOP post for the year 2024-2025.  Since I tend to lose interest in my goals once I've declared them, I keep any specific goals fairly loose and to myself.  That said, I have managed to come up with a list of two goals I am happy to share:

1)  Make things.

2)  Use materials in my stash.

Now, I don't forbid myself from purchasing new materials, as you will see, but I do "shop my stash" first.

All that means for you, as a reader here (especially, if you're not a YOPer), is that I will likely post more regularly (on Sundays, specifically) about my crafty hobbies.  And, if you are a fiber-crafter and you ever want to join in on the Year of Projects, hopefully I will have shared enough information here that you can jump onto Ravelry and join up if you're interested!   And to be clear, while being both a member of Ravelry and being a fiber craftsperson is the gateway into the Year of Projects group, many YOPers are multi-craftual, and we often share other, non-fiber crafts, as well as things made with yarn and string.

Now, for Ravelry:

Ravelry is an online world-wide social network of fiber crafters.  There are various groups within Ravelry to suit a variety of interests - whether a member is a seasoned pro at their fiber craft(s) or a beginner.  I used to be more active in a few groups, in fact, I helped moderate two groups at one time, but now my main use of Ravelry is as a database of helpful-to-me things.  

At this point in time, I use Ravelry mostly as a resource for knit and crochet patterns (both paid-for and free), and a place where I store a pictorial record of my completed projects, as well as a pictorial record of all the yarn I own. It is a simple thing to search through my yarn on Ravelry to remind myself of what I have, instead of digging through boxes to see if I still have, say... that one weird purply-blue color of bamboo yarn from a particular manufacturer. 

Inside my personal database, I can use filters to sort through my yarn hoard collection efficiently.  I can filter my stash by fiber, color, and other attributes that help me envision what yarns to use for a project I have in mind.  It was a lot of work several years ago to create my own record using Ravelry's database system, but at the time I decided to consider that activity to be a hobby unto itself.  Slowly I built my personal database, and I continue to update it as I accumulate or use up yarn.  

I also sometimes download from Ravelry a spreadsheet telling me all sorts of things about my yarn stash - when I do this, I'm mainly curious how many skeins I own, our how many yards or meters of yarn I have taking up space here.  I use this spreadsheet to determine how well I'm meeting Goal #2 above.

If you're a fiber crafter and a blogger, feel free to check out the YOP group on Ravelry.  While July is the start of each new YOP year, people can (and do) join in anytime. 

Okay... enough of about that.  I'll be back with a YOP post on Sunday, but for now, here's a sneak peak of a new project I'm currently working on:

I've had a real hankering for working with tiny hook and thread again.