Honestly there isn’t anything that’s “already done” except for a little crocheted bag and some prep for Sundered Doctrine, Destiny 2’s new contest dungeon, but I wanted to make the title longer than just “What’s coming.” Technically not false advertising.
Anyway! My year is looking to be full of fun activities and events, and I’m looking ahead today to remind myself of my personal goals and also to be mindful of my project load – I’m already looking at more projects than last year, projects that are much bigger than my usual scarves and hand warmers, and I need to be careful that I don’t dig myself into a hole that stresses me out and results in nothing getting completed at all.
On the sidebar I’ve added a list of upcoming events (this is old news, I added them months ago in anticipation). Every event has a related project (or an idea of a project) and I’m eager to finish those projects to wear or bring with me to events, and also to try out new projects on stream and in my downtime to further my goals of just being really fast at crochet.
This is a brief list of the upcoming events (and the days I’ll be attending), which will all be expanded upon later:
- NETA Spa – March 1
- PAX East – May 8-9
- Maine Fiber Frolic – June 7
- Pride – July [location, date unknown]
- Fiber Festival of New England – November 1-2
There will also be a few virtual events in the works, starting with Sundered Doctrine this coming weekend and continuing with my Twitch Affiliate Anniversary in March. I only have a few planned at this time as I usually think of things to do the month before they are scheduled, but a few big events are hopefully going to be yearly.
- Sundered Doctrine stream – February 7-9
- Twitch Affiliate Anniversary stream – March 7-10
- Extra Life dungeon marathon stream – Date TBD
NETA SPA
NETA SPA is an event put on by the New England Textile Arts network every year that I didn’t know existed until about 2 years ago. It’s a weekend in Freeport, Maine where yarn enthusiasts can descend upon local hotels and spend a weekend away from home working on their various crafts. They don’t have any speakers or presentations, but they do have vendors and a place to give away unused yarn and tools that may have been accumulating (I have some yarn from the Yarnables subscription box that may be finding a new home there, but that’s for another post). Education is person-to-person and everyone is invited to find a cozy corner and work on their projects while being surrounded by and socializing with people in this crafty circle.
I don’t yet have a project planned for NETA SPA, but honestly it will likely be a bag to shove all my purchased yarn in. I bought a bunch of cotton from Joann’s yarn sale and am racing through new bag patterns to find The Perfect Pattern (and the Granny Rocco Bag might be it), and I don’t really have any other projects planned for it. I have a multitude of hand warmers that I’ve made over the last couple years, and I might get fancy and pull out the Queen Lucy’s for it. But I also want to make something just for this event, so I will probably be making a larger granny square bag out of fun colors and using it for both a project and shopping bag. I still have a month to decide!
PAX East
#Goals, tbh. I finally decided that this was the year I would leave my comfort zone and finally attend something on the scale of PAX East. I’m an experienced convention goer (for horse events), I can handle a little gaming convention. The hotel is booked, the tickets are bought, and I’m going to have a 4-day vacation in Boston. I’ve already set eyes on the aquarium on Saturday, and a leisurely drive down the coast on Wednesday to start my vacation.
While it’s not exactly gaming related, I am making the Everdeen Huntress Cowl to wear to the event. It will be early in May so we might still have some cooler temperatures, and the yarn I’m working with is bulky but airy. I found a lovely green-purple-pink variegated yarn for the project, and I’m eager to finish it in time for the event. It’s sitting in my della Q hatbox (I love della Q too much, honestly) and already well on its way towards completion. Because I’m starting 5 months in advance, I have no concerns about running into a time crunch with this as I’ve been picking away at it weekly to get it finished in time.
Maine Fiber Frolic
The Maine Fiber Frolic is something I’ve attended for the past few years. I’ve attended in the rain (multiple times), in the heat, and once we even had good weather! It’s a fun little fair attended by various vendors (I discovered my dearest love, Shirsty Cat, at my first Frolic), and it has a used equipment sale as well as some small exhibitions, such as showing herding dogs and various craft intros. I don’t know what I’m bringing to this year’s Frolic, mainly because it hasn’t been announced yet!
Every year there’s a knit-along (KAL) and a crochet-along (CAL) to make a bag for the show, and I’ve participated every year I’ve been able. I’ve unfortunately lost my original bag, but the bags are free patterns from Ravelry that they share on their forum. Everyone is invited to participate and show off their bags, and they can get a button at the Frolic to show their participation (I’ve had to search for them a couple times, but they’re usually located at a table in the barn with the used equipment sales).
Last year I didn’t care much for the original pattern shared, so I made the pattern, and also made an additional bag that was much bigger and I later used to haul 24 skeins of yarn from Rosemary’s Gift Shop in Maine (another love of mine). There was nothing wrong with the pattern itself – it just was a bit smaller than I expected, and I wanted to buy a LOT of yarn.
Pride 2025
I don’t know how I’m attending Pride this year. I don’t know where, or when, or what, but I know that this year I’m going to finally attend and see what it’s all about. I don’t particularly identify with pride though I fall under the umbrella, but I thought I would attend and see if I could have some fun. I’ve been scouring Etsy for fun accessories and pins to adorn myself with, but most of my excitement towards it is the project that I haven’t even started yet, and that I don’t have the yarn for.
The sweater linked above is not rainbow. It is probably also not appropriate for what will undoubtedly be a sweltering weekend in July. But I want it. I want to make a cocoon sweater with a black skull and rainbow stripes emanating from it, and I want to make it very, very badly.
Fiber Festival of New England
The Fiber Festival of New England has been a goal of mine for years, and I never found the time or the motivation to attend previously. This year that changes. I’ll be grabbing a hotel room near the Big E grounds and attending both days, with a shawl that I crocheted myself. One thing I knew when I decided to go was that I wanted to wear something I made. I want to show everyone that I can crochet, I can keep up, and I am worthy of greatness (and I kept seeing people make sweaters for Rhinebeck (another goal for next year???) and I wanted in on that). So I made the Everest Shawl. And it’s gorgeous.
I finished this in November in anticipation of this year’s Fiber Fest, and I couldn’t be happier. It fits easily over the jacket I’m planning to wear to the event (also bought at the Big E, but during the Equine Affaire), and it’s a gorgeous color and a fun show of skill. It’s a simple design with a classy look, and I’m dying to show it off to others that play with yarn.
But what about those virtual events?
The virtual events are, to me, just as important as the physical events even if I don’t have to make anything for them. Kind of.
Sundered Doctrine
February 2nd is my birthday (happy birthday to me) and for the entire week I’m planning fun activities, both on stream and off. I make a point of enjoying my birthday week so I’m not dependent on other people remembering, so that means sushi and movies and video games and my rarely-enjoyed grilled cheese sandwiches. Luckily, Bungie decided to bless me with a new dungeon to finish out my birthday week so I’ll be hopping into contest mode on February 7 with my fireteam and we’ll be completing the dungeon (we don’t try, we do). The week of February 3rd, I’ll be doing various Destiny-related streams, such as crocheting a duskfield shank from the game and starting the new seasonal content, making sure to unlock some of the necessary artifact mods so we can have those perks for the dungeon. I’m currently working on a giveaway for the dungeon (to start today in my community Discord), and updating some graphics for the stream to add some fun numbers (how many times will I die?) that people can follow. It’s not an entire week of streaming, but it is an entire week of me relaxing and enjoying myself, with some hard content tossed in at the end, so I’m looking forward to its beginning (in like 9 hours).
Twitch Affiliate Anniversary
I’ve never done anything related to my affiliate anniversary on Twitch (I think I streamed on it once without realizing?), and this year I was struck with some inspiration. Why not actually celebrate it? My community has grown this last year into something I’m truly proud to be a part of, and I want to celebrate getting here.
My actual anniversary is on Monday, March 10, so I’ll be taking the weekend to stream. Starting on that Saturday, I’ll be streaming for hours each day (to be determined), from CS2 to Destiny 2, and likely some crochet as well. There will be giveaways for community members, such as a body horror bunny bear (in my pastel purple and mint green colors) and a Steam gift card as we usually do for giveaways (I don’t want people to feel excluded because they’re uncomfortable giving out their home address). I’m currently looking at fun incentives for the stream, if people feel inclined to sub, including things such as badger redeem discounts, the much wanted Gonster redeem, and the unfortunate goal of leveling a Titan in Destiny 2 (and then hopefully deleting it in front of a titan-enthusiast clan member).
We’re also going to have new badger redemptions, but more details about those will come out in another Streamer.bot and VTube Studio post. There will be dancing and expressions and more music, it’ll be great.
For one of these events, I’m planning to do a dungeon crawl. Every dungeon, solo, back to back (within reason time-wise), for the entire weekend. I’m not sure if the dungeon crawl will be part of the affiliate anniversary or my annual Extra Life fundraising weekend (maybe if it’s towards the end of the year, it’ll be solo flawless attempts?), but I’m planning to do fun activities that people can judge me on and maybe try out the Tier 2 “Haha you died” emote if they’re feeling extra giving that day (lol).
Everything extra
I do have other projects planned, though their completion isn’t top priority. I’m working on a Lizard shawl with some yarn from Weird Sisters, a friend wants to commission a purple and green fish for their stream background, another friend wants to see what I can do with a monstrously large mushroom child. My mother is in love with the idea of a sparkling waffle stitch scarf that I’m half done, I’m working on a Corvus Bandana shawl during the few black light streams that I have managed to start and complete, and I need to make myself another hooded balaclava since I gave mine away. Then there’s the dragonscale hood from Regina Weiss that I want to finish to match my dice bags, and this lovely hooded cape that I just bought too much yarn for.
My year is looking to be a bit more fruitful than last year and we’ve just started the second month, and I’m very excited to get back into (continue?) crochet and achieve some more goals. My goals last year were just to make a bag every month and have something to share at the end of the year, and I far surpassed that goal; so this year I want to maintain my activity level and continue to make things that I can be proud of and share with the people that I appreciate and call my friends.
