2025 Crafty Ins & Outs

Its finally 2025! I’m a resolutions-loving girlie and decided that it would be fun to set my 2025 crafting intentions with an ins and outs list. I think the best way to approach these intentions is to set goals that are attainable and exciting. Hopefully some of these intentions will resonate with you too!

For a quick refresher, the crafts that I’m most actively bringing into 2025 are knitting, crochet, and quilting/sewing. Knitting is definitely at the top of the list and will be the main focus of my intentions.

2025 INS

FROGGING

This one is pretty straightforward, but this year we are no longer wasting time by continuing to work on things that just aren’t going to fit right! Last year, I started practicing this in my current projects (see this blog post). This is the year I take it to my WIP basket and decide what’s getting finished and what’s going back into stash.

BRIGHT COLORS/COLORWORK

This year I want to make the effort to incorporate more of the bright and fun colors I have lying around in stash into more of my projects. I love bright colors and wanted to work with them when I added them to my collection. Its time to actually use them! I just did this with one of my first projects of the year, the Bitchin’ Cardigan. You can find a free tutorial to make one of your own here. To tie into that, I want to keep my colorwork streak strong and continue incorporating it into my projects, especially my self-drafted colorwork projects!

SMALL GAUGE PROJECTS

No matter how much I love the satisfaction of a bulky weight project, the reward of finishing a small gauge knit/crochet piece is like no other. They create such a dainty and soft fabric that I adore. So this is the year I stop shying away from <4.0mm needles and start making more garments I’ll love. I’ve started working on this with a new dress that I’m freehanding on 3.5mm needles with some Noro yarn and its absolutely delicious.

STASH LOVE/LOW BUY

This goal is 2-fold. First, I want to cycle through the yarns sitting in my stash for years and make space for new yarns to come in next year. Whether that’s through crafting or donating, I want to see those skeins move along! Secondly, this previous year was very difficult for our family. We lost one of our pets to cancer and the emotional and financial fallout from his treatments and passing have meant that buying yarn for fun is no longer a smart financial decision. I’ve previously written in my Ode to Yarn about loving having a large stash. One of the reasons I listed was being able to start projects without any additional cost. This has been taken to a new level throughout navigating the changes in our budget while navigating our pet’s cancer treatment. I am very thankful to the old me who didn’t destash when it wasn’t necessary and I’m excited to get to use what I deemed worth keeping.

USE VINTAGE PATTERNS

I’ve loved vintage and oddities for as long as I can remember, so naturally, I’ve collected quite a few vintage knitting magazines and pattern books. This year I want to go through and actually make some of those designs instead of just using them as inspiration. Hopefully this means leaning techniques that aren’t as popular anymore and growing my knitting skillset through that!

OPTIMIZING STORAGE SOLUTIONS

Ever since bringing back more sewing and quilting into my crafting space, my crafting organization has gone from pretty smooth to crowded and confusing. While I still love my stash organization system, now I need a better way to organize the notions and fabrics that I’ve brought into my space to sew with. Another big goal is designing a needle organization system that is easy to keep up with. I’m tired of having knitting needles all over the house and not knowing where anything is!

Now, for all my fellow haters, let’s get into the outs…

2025 OUTs

It was trickier for me to start thinking about my outs but once I got going, man am I big on these outs.

MOHAIR

Do I still have hearts in my eyes when I look at a mohair sweater? Absolutely! But I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that I simply cannot wear mohair without constant itching. I’ve tried everything from Drops, to Sandnes Garn, even Isager! But no matter how luxe and buttery the mohair is, I itch like no one’s business, even with a long sleeve underneath. So from now on, no more mohair. Instead I’ll be looking to brushed alpaca to give me the mohair look without the itch. If you’re wondering what my favorite is, it’s Drops brushed alpaca silk. With the color range and price, there’s no beating it! The only mohair-containing yarn I can somewhat tolerate is Amano Uma, which is 37% alpaca and 37% mohair + 26% silk.

So this is your sign, if mohair makes you itch, break up with mohair.

PROJECTS I’M NOT EXCITED ABOUT

There’s been plenty of times I’ve finished an abandoned WIP simply because I feel obligated to, or started a project because I bought the yarn for it months ago. Even if it wasn’t a project I was interested in working on. That is a major out for 2025! This also ties into my “in” of frogging. If I’m not excited about working on it, then I don’t have to and I have full permission to frog and use it for something else! This is also part of the reason why I prefer to not do a “make nine” for the year. I don’t want to make myself feel obligated to make something if I’m not interested in it anymore.

TOO-SPECIFIC NOTIONS

Part of picking up or rediscovering an old hobby is making sure you have the tools you need to be able to do the craft comfortably. Since I started making more quilts, I have been exposed to all the handy little notions and tools that quilters have. I would be lying if I wasn’t tempted to start buying those little notions that make things a tad easier. So one ‘out’ that I want to keep in mind this year is avoiding notions that are too specific and only have one purpose. Especially if they could easily be accomplished with something I already have at home! This also piggybacks of my ‘in’ of having a low buy year and focusing on using what I already have at home.

SUPERWASH YARN

One thing that 2024 taught me is that I am 100% a natural wool girlie over a superwash girlie. Once I got used to the hand feel of untreated yarns and the way that they wear, I haven’t been able to go back to superwash. Now superwash yarns feel slippery and for lack of a better word… fake? This is definitely the yarn snob in me coming out but I would be kidding myself if I ever said I wanted to knit anything but a sock in superwash yarn. That being said, if you love superwash, then use it! But maybe give natural wool a try too ;)

BUYING SMALL QUANTITIES

We’ve all done it, buying 1 skein of hand-dyed yarn because it’s all you can justify in your budget. Maybe you splurged and got 2 skeins. Regardless, it’s a quantity that severely limits what you can do! Too much for a contrast color in colorwork, too little for anything bigger than a beanie. And let's be honest, how many pairs of socks are you really going to knit? So no more buying 1 or 2 skeins unless I’m buying it specifically for a pair of socks or an accessory. I’m tired of having one-offs in my stash and from now on will probably be purchasing enough for at least a top.

Did anything here strike a chord with you? Maybe we can work on these together! Let me know what’s on your list this year :)

xo Dani