A quick note before we start: None of the links included here are affiliates. I’ve added them simply to provide information and support independent shops/dyers.
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2025 is just getting started, and with it comes the influx of manifestations, resolutions, and goals that always seem to accompany a New Year. I’m not huge on the “New Year’s resolutions” gimmick, but I do like to set a few knitting intentions every year that are basically the same thing with a less obnoxious name, which somehow makes them cool. I guess.
Over the holidays, I received lots of craft-related Christmas gifts that I hope to put to good use in 2025. Among those wonderful gifts is not one, but two Making Treasures Maker’s Notebooks, one of which I have already filled with a few future knitting plans and started a page for my first project of the New Year — a pair of socks that I should have knit in December but ended up not casting on until January 1. The delay in that cast-on is thanks to my unusual slowness in finishing a custom, handknit cardigan for a relative, who unfortunately has to wait just a little bit longer to receive that particular Christmas present. This leads me to my first 2025 knitting intention.
1. Finish 2024 WIPs
I’m entering 2025 with a few WIPs still on my needles, the most prominent being that pesky Christmas cardigan. In my defense, it’s a men’s cardigan that I’m half designing, half following an existing pattern for, and the wearer is 6’4″. Still, that cardigan is top priority.
I also have a Wool & Honey sweater for myself to finish. This one shouldn’t take me too long once I’ve completed the cardigan; the cardigan is the whole reason it got set aside in the first place. I love Wool & Honey so much that this will be my second version of it, so I should have zero issues completing it in 2025.
I also have a very long and very rustic scarf I need to finish for my dad. I technically started this in June 2023, which sounds terrible, but one of the reasons for the delay is that I started teaching my mom to knit and let her borrow the needles for a while. The stitch, yarn, and tension I’m working with all also feel horrible, but I’m in it for the long haul to make sure my dad gets exactly what he wants (and deserves).
I have one other WIP from the start of 2024 that I put in hibernation way back when. It’s a colorwork yoke sweater that honestly just needs sleeves, but I think I’d rather frog it entirely. I pulled it out a few days ago to add said sleeves and discovered that the project no longer sparks joy for me. I don’t like the look of the collar or hem and no longer want to support the designer who wrote the pattern, so in 2025 I hope to frog this one and use the yarn to make a Halibut Cardigan instead.
2. Stash bust sweater quantities
I have a few sweater quantities of yarn that I’ve hoarded in my stash for a while now, and 2025 is the year I make a point of using from the stash before I allow myself to purchase yarn for new garments. I’ve got enough in my stash to knit a few different patterns:
Pressed Flowers Cardigan — I’ve made one of these before, and I have a Magpie Fibers kit in my stash, ready to go for another! I plan to make this version a roomier, comfier fit for myself.
Umbria Summer Top — I bought a few skeins of Sandnes Garn Tynn Line from Rich Mountain Fiber Co during the 2024 Arkansas Yarn Crawl, all with this top in mind. I don’t make summer knits very often, so I’m excited to try this pattern!
Nook — I’m still iffy about this one and may switch it out with a different pattern if I find a better fit, but I love the subtle cable detailing of this sweater. I’m hoping the Cloudborn Fibers Alpaca & Highland Naturals (discontinued) I have in my stash will pair well with the pattern.
3. Knit at least one sock a month
Preferably a pair of socks, but I’m being kind to my future self. This intention was inspired by my desire to knit all of the charts in Summer Lee’s ongoing Colorwork Cuff Club series. It will also help stash bust a lot of sock yarn. I hope.
4. No more variegated sock yarn!
Somewhat related to Intention No. 3, I want to practice some self-control in 2025 and stop buying every beautiful hank of variegated sock yarn I see. I always buy it with the intent to make socks and then never choose it from my stash because I don’t like the way it knits up out of hank form. Tonals and self-striping are where it’s really at for me, so I’m saying no more to variegated (for socks specifically)!
5. Support more yarn shops and dyers
I am lucky to live within a reasonable driving distance of a few good local yarn shops, and I want to continue supporting them whenever I can. That said, I’d also love to expand my horizons a bit and find other independent shops and dyers I can support from afar, with the power of the internet. The lovely folks of Threads have kindly supplied me with indies to check out, so I’ll list a few of those here alongside my favorites.
- Rich Mountain Fiber Co (Mena, AR)
- Arkansas Yarn Co (Malvern, AR)
- Maps Yarn (Lexington, KY)
- The Knots Bayou (Baton Rouge, LA)
- Cat Tails Yarn (Etsy)
- The Yarnery (Saint Paul, MN)
- Dandelion Fiber Company (Minneapolis, MN)
- Fillory Yarn (San Jose, CA)
The Arkansas shops are local to me, and although I try to visit in person as often as I can, they also offer online shopping!
Bonus: Learn to sew
My parents got me a sewing machine for Christmas, which I’m really excited about. I haven’t used a sewing machine since junior high when I made a pair of pajama pants for my mom, so I want to use 2025 to relearn the basics and make my own curtains, oven mitts, pie holders, sweatpants, etc. There’s a lot I want to do, but my plan is to start small and slowly work my way up.
Fox & Fleece 