I recently joined Ravelry and immediately found a group that spoke to my heart and to my newly acquired and rapidly growing sock yarn addiction. The goal of The Year Of Stash Socks or YOSS is to knit a pair of socks a month, only using yarn from your stash. Each month there will be two new sock patterns to choose from, along with an option to make a plain vanilla sock, knitters’ lingo for the basic toe up or down pattern.
For January I’ll be knitting plain vanilla in red and yellow, the twins to my Christmas Joy Socks, out of Supersocke 100 by Online. I guess I’ll call these my Happy New Year Socks.
Of course the purpose of the YOSS is to knit with what you have. Which goes hand in hand with my main intention for 2011, to cultivate an attitude of gratitude for what I have in my life in the present moment, to let go of yearning for what I don’t have, and to stop worrying about outcomes.
For me, YOSS could also stand for the Year Of Socks & Silence, since my other main intention for 2011 is to attend a ten-day silent meditation retreat. I wonder if they will let me knit…
What are your intentions, aspirations, goals for 2011?
I used to knit a lot, don’t have time now and find wool so expensive! My goals and aspirations are to grow my Au Pair business and my blog coaching so that I am half way to my goal of earning the same as my husband by Oct 2012.
Louise Edington
Facing Fears For Freedom
http://louiseedington.com
Sherri- Your knitting reminds me of Hermione in the Harry Potter series when she knitted and knitted hats and socks and scarfs for the house elfs, and one of the elfs took them all and wore them all at the same time. I can see you with 12 pairs of beautifully colorful socks on at the end of the year, one on top of the other!
What a fantastic picture you will have with all your socks based on that great picture you have now.
I love your simplicity of your gratitude statement. I think we all can use some of that and I am going to be more conscious of being grateful for what I have not what I don’t have.
From an attitude of gratitude- Candace Davenport
http://www.ourlittlebooks.com ~ Little Books with a Big Message
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Hi Sheri, I love the names of all the socks. And I imagine it must be so relaxing to sit down and knit in peace and quiet. I wish you the best on your aspirations for 2011.
Hi Sherri,
So did you mend those jeans for a Christmas present? That patch was probably less colorful than these socks! I bet wearing them is even more fun than knitting them. But I’m not a knitter, otherwise knitting might be more fun after all.
Speaking of fun, what a wonderful philosophy you have, aligning your knitting with your annual intentions.
My grandmother taught all her grandchildren how to knit and crochet, and the habit stayed only with my youngest sister. She still knits small pieces by hand and uses a knitting machine to make gorgeous outfits.
For me, I hear music everywhere, and I’m continually finding more musical irons in the fire. As far as my intentions for the year, one that I’ve stayed with for years is to keep simplifying my music, to make it more accessible to the people we entertain. I aim to touch their heart, and let their brain take care of itself.
Stay tuned for the jean patching. My boyfriend got a promise card and some bright red corduroy for the patch, but he wants something more sedate. Patching jeans is also on my list for 2011. Thanks for your comment Robbie and may you be true to the spirit of your music this year!
Let’s see, where to begin…I love your attitude of gratitude for sure; Love retreats in silence; love your image; love your commitment to using what you have.
You go girl.
My goal…get my book published! and work with some amazing new clients. My family and my spiritual practice go without saying.
Happy New Year to you!
Year of socks and silence, that is a wonderful idea. I have never knitted, I learned to crochet many many years ago but can not remember how to do it know. Your photo is gorgeous, I love the colors you have. I also love the ideal of having an attitude of gratitude. Thanks for sharing
Julie Labes the…Fierce over 50 feels much younger, point and click junkie, loves to travel, does not use a jogging stroller, and before you ask, this is NOT my granddaughter..Woman
I love your photo – the colors are so vibrant and inviting! makes me want to stay on your page for a long time.
Good luck with your year of socks and silence. My year may be the opposite – mine would be a year of bra related products and yapping my mouth to market them.
Rachel
I love the photo in this post. The colours just pop and make you feel good all over! I clicked on your link and saw the socks you completed for Christmas. Cool. Your intentions for this year are great and I wish you every success. I’d love to hear more about your silent meditation. I’m sure knitting socks wouldn’t be going against the grain. What a wonderful energy you have. Keep bouncing and sharing!
Fiona Stolze
What lovely imagery and such a universally appealing goal that you have shared with us! I, too, would like to see this year be a year of less stress, less striving, less anxiety, and more gratitude, peace and joy. I love knitting as it brings back such sweet memories of my grandmother, who taught me to knit when I was a teenager. Unfortunately, I have not knitted since she passed away over 25 years ago, but reading your post makes me feel as though maybe I should make it a goal to revisit this skill this year. I wish you much success with your goals and hope that your retreat brings you all you are anticipating plus much more! I am looking forward to your future posts to hear about your experiences!
What a wonderful goal!
I am looking to listen and love more. To publish a few books (mine). To publish a series of artists books. To give back more to my community and the world. To do some public speaking. I re-learn calligraphy. And meditate more.
Oh I so love this! I wish I were a knitter! I actually learned how to knit as a child and knit a few things here and there through college (mostly scarves–things that only went in one direction!)
Your image of knitting, and of using/accepting what you have, is so beautiful. It speaks to me completely. I think with any kind of art there is such a temptation to think we are missing a piece that is “out there” (if only we could find it…) That “if only” makes us forget what we have in front of us and inside us, which is what counts and what will, in fact, create the art.
I actually belong to a group to which people often bring knitting, and one person offered to help me learn. Maybe that will be part of 2011!
My intentions for 2011 are for time and quiet–cut the time wasters, cut the noise, be present to myself and my work.
Judy Stone-Goldman
The Reflective Writer
I don’t knit but I do garden…and I think a lot when I garden. I guess it is the same with knitting…and I love the journey you took from knitting to introspection. My focus for 2010 was simplicity…I simplified an overly complicated life all last year and now am ready to move into 2011 focused on health (exercise mostly) and FUN! Can’t wait to see your socks…maybe a monthly post about them?
Darcie Newton
My Wealth Spa
Yes – I’ll have monthly updates on the socks – I hope I can keep up – it’s a sock every two weeks – yikes.
Hmmm…knitting socks as a metaphor for gratitude, renewal, etc. I really do like it!
My “big” goal for 2011 is letting the fear go. I found myself many times over the last year worrying about “What if.” That’s a place I’m tired of being. So time to remove the fear and remind myself that I can handle whatever comes.
Rob
“cultivate an attitude of gratitude for what I have in my life in the present moment, to let go of yearning for what I don’t have, and to stop worrying about outcomes.”
I am stealing these words to become part of my goals for 2011.
They express perfectly how I’ve been feeling lately.
Thanks for the post, and best of luck with the sock club, it sounds fun.
Lisa Vitale
http://lisawifemom.wordpress.com/
I love the colorful socks and the idea of knitting from your stash. And having an objective. So while you wind down your stash, you create objects of simplicity beauty and usefulness. Very profound. People have told me that knitting quietens the mind, and I can believe it. I also connect to your wish to enjoy who and what you are in your present. The truth is sometimes we just need to sit in another chair, or move the furniture around to really understand that what we yearn for truly is right beneath our noses. I have seen this repeatedly with my clients, after I move their rooms full of stuff around – they rediscover all their treasures they forgot.
Jennifer Duchene
Home Makeover Mixtress
Beautiful post, beautiful imagery.
Thank you for sharing.
Debbie
FreshBrothers
Shari, I see above where you are not settling here. Have you looked over here where I live for a place to land? You have me addy from the coffin project-Google my address and then see where I am. We have units going up for sale and even for auction all the time. I hate to see you run out of this area by bad elements-some of us are good and friendly
I am starting to look for a live/work space in the east bay. Not going to buy but looking to rent my own place. SF to expensive!
I just love knowing the deep thoughts all these dear people are thinking, and how humble and sweet they are. May we all grow this 2011, and especially feel in our own hearts the peace we yearn for, the peace the whole world deserves.
Hi Sherri and all, my new year’s resolution is “no disappointment” — not in myself, not in my life, not in other people. I spent 2010 shrouded in disappointment, so it’s time to shed it, and shred it. I have noticed that I wake up to it, and now I’m taking the time to not just reject it, but try to see what’s behind it. I’m finding that it’s generally anger, which contains more movement. Where anger moves, disappointment oozes and sticks like Karo syrup. So, here’s to movement! If any good sewing project ideas come to mind associated with my new resolution, fill me in!
Gosh Allyn – this is really good. I hope some of my thoughtful readers will post their suggestions too.
Improv quilt making or improv anything is a good way to work with no disappointment – no mistakes – no worry about outcomes… but what to do about the anger and the movement … how about creating an improvised costume out of lots of old clothes – maybe a many armed effigy – then dance around in it
Or are you looking for a daily quiet practice to help you dissolve the goo of disappointment? Some sort of unraveling perhaps?
Anybody else have ideas for Allyn?
hmm, i think that learning to knit socks might make it to my list, if i wrote one… but my newest choice is to trying actually NOT to make lists – of things to do, of intentions – because it seems that these often just amount to tallying my anxieties, or making a record of what i haven’t accomplished. List-making for me seems to put off into the unreachable future the time when I might deserve to feel happy and at peace, you know – the time when the list has been reduced to a tidy row of check-marks. So I’m just trying instead to focus on what i can do right now, in this moment… we’ll see how this works out. Regardless of if I ever learn to knit my own, your socks are beautiful – so joyful and bright. I like how each stitch is its own tidy little check mark…
Thanks for this valuable perspective on lists and their pitfalls Anna. AND you can learn to knit socks – if knitting is something you basically like to do. They aren’t so hard once you learn a couple of little tricks. I knitted my first sock last January and I taught myself from books and from internet tutorials. Best wishes!
Interesting post, I love when a post makes me think.
I chose the word ‘journey’ for 2011: I want to pass from a state of a kind of disorganisation (both mental and physical) to a safe place where I feel protected, where my roots can grow deep (I just moved). Uncertainity makes me frail and fearful, I need to rebuild the solid base that I have lost in the past months.
But of course gratitude is important for me, too. Without gratitude for what I have, for the gifts that I received, there can be no serenity.
I can so relate to this! I’m so uprooted right now and it’s driving me insane, but I’m not settling down here, and am not sure where I’m going! So all I have is gratitude right now. But as soon as I find my home I’m establishing the roots. What an essential. May your roots take hold in 2011 Blandina!
Hi Sherri!
These colours are so alive!
My intention for 2011 is to NOT think about the past. To accept that everybody is on one´s own – always – and to enjoy this. Not to fear being alone is a good way to live relaxed and to be aware of other people´s needs and dreams.
Have a joyfull YOSS in 2011!!
♥
Karin
Those are awesome intentions Karin. I might try practicing those as well in 2011.