The Year of Finishing Dangerously, or Something Finished This Way Comes

Nope, it's not too late to start framing New Year's resolutions. And for this one, we have Ravelry to thank...

I made the mistake of printing out a list of all my queued up projects - all the things I've identified both pattern and yarn for, most of them already bagged together. Yipes. Nineteen things. Some of them have been sitting in those bags for two years. And those 19 don't include the mmph-teen projects currently identified as works-in-progress. Double-yipes.

So who do I thank for this resolution? Let's blame it on the affliction known as KADD (knitting ADD), which is closely related to being a startaholic ("Hello, my name is Meg, and I cast-on three new projects this week..."), which is unfortunately usually diagnosed with its corollary Evil Twin of finish-itis. They're the ones responsible for those little plastic bags of promise-y goodness stuffed in the craft room and forgotten. Until Ravelry, that is.

So, here goes... 2008 will be the Year of Finishing Dangerously. Emphasis on danger, I might add.

I can cast on only from queued projects or project bags (I'm assuming there are still bags of Things I'll Make One Day that aren't yet found and entered on Ravelry).

Purchasing yarn is A-okay. But man, what a bummer it would be to buy fresh new pettable yarn and not be able to cast on!

The goal is to get down to only two un-knit projects by the end of 2008.

If all my identified WIPs get made, it's time to go shopping in the pattern books and work through some stash.

Naturally, there will be exceptions (there have gotta be exceptions, right?):

- Store samples for classes, swatches for display, and items for demos are exempt. Hey, it's a business.

- Rockin' Sock Club shipments are exempt. Totally. Don't even think of arguing with me about this one.

- Oh hell, all socks are exempt. (If it's true for this year's yarn-diet KAL, it can be true for The Year Of Finishing Dangerously, too!)

- Pre-identified KALs are exempt (seriously, it wouldn't be cool to plan a knit-along in 2008 and not be able to knit-along now, would it? Especially when I'm the organizer, I mean, c'mon!). So far, there are 2 KALs: the Eunny Jang entrelac socks, and an as-yet-unidentified-item with my Monday and Thursday groups. Maybe I can convince them that the second KAL should be one of my pre-bagged projects!

- Other items which may seem like a good idea to cast on at the time. (Don't look at me that way; even the Constitution has a "and other laws that may seem reasonable" clause, too.)

I'm sure there will be more rules (and exceptions!); I'll work them out going forward.