stash-busting 2014

“If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.” ~ Virginia Woolf

So I started to tell the truth about myself in the first week of the year (Jan 1 – 7th). I honestly told the truth that I am tired of health issues. I honestly told the truth that I’m tired of looking for professional changes — either in my current environment or another. I honestly told the truth that this is not a year that I can sit passively but one where I have to take action. I honestly told the truth that when the year is over, I’d like my blanket to be representative of contentment, excitement, refreshing and happiness rather than the moodiness / sadness which I’ve experienced during the first six days of the year.

This project already has the makings of being something big — tangibly and intangibly.

Here’s week one:

Orange: Energetic

Magenta: Moody / Sad

Lemongrass (green): Excited

Purple: Happy

Teal: Refreshed

Border & Separation

Pastel Yellow: Tired/Sick

Red: Upset / Fearful

Violet: Content

One of goals this year is to make a blanket and I think I’ve found one. While reading Hazel’s blog on Saturday, I found out that on Instagram @mummy_stacey came up with the idea of creating a mood blanket for 2014.

The idea is to create a key that correlates a yarn colour to a feeling I might have during the year. I can either do a block a day, or 52 blocks (one per week). The one block a day is too much for me and I want a blanket a little bigger than the 52 block one. So I’ve decided to tweak the rules a little bit.

What I’m going to do is this:

Record my mood every day.
At the end of the week, see which mood is the predominant one for the week
Based on the number of days the predominant mood is felt, that’s the amount of rounds I’ll do on my blanket for the week. For e.g. if I feel contented 4 days of the 7, I’ll do four rounds on my blanket to represent that week. Every “week” will be separated by two rounds of beige. At the end of the year, I should have a gigantic blanket representing how I felt every week of the year.

The pattern I’m using for my blanket is the Giant Granny Square Blanket by Purl Bee.

My key is attached to the images posted above. If you hover your mouse at the bottom of each tile, the colour and feeling attached will pop up. But just in case it doesn’t, from top to bottom, left to right, here’s the key:

Orange: Energetic
Magenta: Moody / Sad
Lemongrass: Excited
Purple: Happy
Teal: Refreshed
Beige: Border and Separator rounds
Pastel Yellow: Tired / Sick
Red: Upset / Fearful
Violet: Content

I didn’t want to use dull colours to reflect “negative” feelings that’s why my colour scheme is so bright. LOLOL!!!

I’m already a little late with getting started but I can’t wait to work through my year on this project. This year, rather than 52 years of blessings, I’ll be chronicling my 52 weeks in feelings and yarn! 😀 This baby is going to help me stash-down a nice chunk of the acrylic yarn that’s in my stash. A beautiful blanket and a great stash-down project, I’ll say that’s a win!!!