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Here we are at the end of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week already! Feels like it went by really quickly this year. Guess I must be getting used to this blogging thing. :-)

Today’s prompt asks us to look forward. What new skills, projects and experiences do we hope we might have conquered or tried?

I have three skills I’d like to have incorporated into my designs by the time Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2014 rolls around.

First, short rows. They are a special kind of knitting magic. You can use them to shape shawl collars, as I did in this little Baby Sophisticate I knit for a friend:

You can use them for bust shaping, which is nice for those of us who are well-endowed but prefer to avoid the giant-sack look. The Shapely Tank by Joan McGowan-Michael is a great example of this:

And you can also use short rows to knit top-down, set-in sleeves in the round, which I think is especially cool. You can see an example here in the FlyAway Hoodie pattern by the phenomenally talented Joji Locatelli:

The next thing I want to incorporate into a design in the next year is steeking. I’ve never done any steeking before, but the idea both terrifies and intrigues me!

And finally, I’d really like to try out the contiguous method of top-down sweater knitting, as developed by Susie Meyers (SusieM on Ravelry). If you’re not familiar with this method, do check it out! It’s an ingenious way to knit a set-in type of sleeve in one piece with the body of a sweater. Here’s an example, Papillon by Svetlana Volkova:

Keep an eye on my blog to see if I manage to incorporate any of these design elements into upcoming patterns!

Thank you all for making Knitting and Crochet Blog Week so much fun. I found several new blogs to follow and have really enjoyed reading all your nice comments. :-)