First: the obligatory “I can’t believe it’s almost 2018.” How did the year go by this quickly?   I know it’s not December 31 yet, but I thought I’d write this post while I had the time. 🙂

For the past two years I’ve been setting craft-related goals for the New Year. I suppose you could call them New Year resolutions, but in my experience, those tend to die out pretty quickly (we’ve all heard of the gym memberships that fizzle out by the end of January!). So these are more of an ongoing goal that I want to accomplish…and posting them here helps me keep track! Last year I did a “year in review” for the first time, which was enjoyable, so I might make that a tradition. Here’s the link to 2016 if you’re interested.

2017 Goals in Review

1) Look into publishing Unraveled. 

This was the scariest goal on the list, but shockingly, I did accomplish this one. I rewrote it, retitled it Magical Thinking, and submitted it to Swoon Reads to be considered for publication. It gave me a lot of anxiety, but I’m really happy I did it. I’ve gotten a lot of helpful feedback from readers there, in addition to all of you lovely followers. When it comes down from the site, I’ll put it through another round of editing and figure out what to do with it next.

2) Crochet the shawl from Unraveled.

There’s a crochet shawl in the aforementioned novel. Last year I had a few requests for a pattern, and I’ve been putting off for ages. I actually did crochet the shawl, but I haven’t posted the pattern yet. It’s on my list of things to do. But the goal was to crochet it, not post the pattern, so I guess I’ve accomplished it. 😛 I don’t have any finished photos yet, so you’ll just have to take my word for it, but here’s a WIP photo!

3) Post once a month. 

Yep! Once-a-month isn’t much to aim for, but better than nothing! It’s hard to maintain a blog while being in college. I don’t know how people can post consistently.

4) Build up my Instagram following. How about 300 followers in a year? 😛

I started a #bookstagram account, which is basically pretty book photos, and it has about 370 followers right now! Granted, most of those are people who followed me back after I followed them, but that’s fine with me. 🙂

5) Open an Etsy shop. 

I did indeed open an Etsy shop! I had a whopping four listings, and made a grand total of zero sales. 😛 I ended up closing it because I just didn’t want to put the energy into marketing. I want to spend my energy designing and making things for people in my life. I really admire people who run a successful Etsy shop. At this point in my life, it’s not something I want to pursue, but I certainly am not ruling it out for the future. I’m still glad I did it, though, because now I know it’s not as scary as I thought!

2018 Goals

Some of these goals are not strictly craft-related, but that’s because my blog is changing focus a little. I intend to post book reviews and writing-related things in addition to the normal crochet patterns and crafty adventures. So these goals relate to that. 🙂

1) Expand my knowledge of knitting.

I learned to knit before I learned to crochet, and I’ve barely knitted since. I’ve always admired knitting, though, and am amazed (and envious) of people who can do both crafts. They both have so much to offer! I realized, though, that there’s nothing stopping me from learning to knit. I taught myself to crochet with the good ole Internet and there’s no reason I can’t do the same with knitting. It’s always humbling to learn something new because there’s just so much to learn. I think it will be an excellent challenge to try and grow more comfortable with knitting.

2) Knit a sock. (Two socks, preferably.)

I’m delighted to say this one is underway! My mom and I, both crocheters, are knitting socks and motivating each other. This ties into the goal about learning to knit: I really want to make several pairs of socks, because knitted socks are the best things ever!

3) Post free crochet patterns here again.

I really miss sharing crochet patterns on my blog. I just haven’t been finding the time to design and write them up. One of my favorite crochet designers, Mrs. Micawber, used to post a free crochet pattern every month on her blog. I would love to do something like that.

4) Write a novel.

I didn’t win NaNoWriMo this year, which means there’s an unfinished novel loitering around in my head. I also have a good four more ideas ready to go, so my goal for this year is to write at least one of them.

5) KonMari my life.

This refers to the KonMari method in “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” It’s a radical method of tidying that can help you achieve your ideal life. I’ve noticed that when my room is tidier, I do more crafting, writing, reading, and feel better in general. I think this will help me achieve my other goals for this year by putting me in a better frame of mind. I also intend to blog my way through it in hopes that others may find it interesting. 🙂

2017 in Review

My blog has changed throughout the years for sure. I started blogging when I was fourteen, and now I’m in college. It’s pretty cool to look back on it and see how different things are in some ways, yet they haven’t changed in others. For instance, I am still an avid fangirl who crochets things from books and movies. 🙂

A lot happened this year. To name a few, I started my second year of college and got a job at a bookstore (!!!). This did not come without anxiety. I hope to talk more about anxiety here on the blog sometime. But it was a really good year. Here are some moments from the past year that made me happy.

A commemorative amigurumi for the 2017 Solar Eclipse.

Amigurumi made for my final project in English 103. (Still can’t believe I got to crochet for a college class.)

My third crochet sweater, and the first one fit for everyday clothing. (The other ones were cosplays.) 😛

Sarah J. Maas book signing with amigurumi Feyre in tow!

Being a nerd for Comic Con. (See what I mean about the sweater for cosplay? :P)

Doing the A to Z Challenge and posting almost every day for a month. I loved this challenge and intend to do it again this year, if the fates allow.

Welcoming Maisie into our family! She’s the most amazing puppy we could’ve asked for. She’s curled up next to me as I type this. <3

I think that’s a good note to end on. If you read this whole thing, thanks for sticking around! I’d love to hear how your 2017 went.

Have you set any goals for the new year? I’d love to hear about them!