Trying to keep myself accountable to my Year of Projects 2025-2026 list and my HRCYED 2.0 reading list, here’s what I worked on, finished or read this quarter (July-September 2025).

You can see my Year of Projects plans overview here.

Knitting/Crocheting: I have completed the Asterie Sweater and the Sailing School Socks off the original list, and have worked a bit on the Painted Plains wrap, as well as completing an add-on, the Dyad sweater. I also removed the Earth, Wind and Fire Shawl from the list, frogged what little I had started and put the yarns back in stash as I wasn’t in love with the project. That leaves me with the following from my original list. Realistically I probably won’t get all of those blankets done but it’s good to keep them at top of mind.

1. Painted Plains Wrap
2. Bloom Your Heart Out Shawl
3. Geode Blanket
4. Birlinn Blanket (in sockweight yarn)
5. Mini Bean Stitch Blanket

Spinning: My goal for the 12-month YOP is 48 ounces, and I spun quite a bit up in July towards that goal with four 4-oz braids (total of 16 oz) spun up. I’ve been focusing more on other crafts right now, but I will likely pull out a braid here and there over the cooler months.

Sewing/Cross-Stitch: I had the following on my list of plans
1. Aviary Quilt (started and about 35% finished)
2. Winter Quilt (not started but I have supplies)
3. Autumn Garden Cross-Stitch
4. Holiday full-coverage Cross-Stitch (this is a bigger project and probably not one I can finish this year but I’d like to get back to it and make some progress on it).

I haven’t tackled Aviary yet, but I have started my Winter Quilt (that’s the snowman one I’ve shown blocks of, and is about 50% complete), and I also started the Autumn Garden cross-stitch. I have hopes of getting this latter piece finished up between October/November and then I can work on my holiday project over December.

In addition I started and finished the Birds and Bees quilt top, and then fell down the quilting rabbit hole hard, so I’ve started a handful of other quilt tops that I’m working on right now. I finished the garment top I wanted to make last month, and I have the fabric cut out for a jumper/pinafore which will be on the list to make for the winter.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with the things I’ve gotten finished this quarter and the fact that I’m rotating through some different crafting options which makes it feel more relaxed than the pace at which I usually do these sorts of things.

Not part of YOP, but for Q3, I’ve read 23 books for the Hardest Reading Challenge You’ll Ever Do (HRCYED 2.0). I’ve really been enjoying this challenge this year. I went into it with no expectation to read books for every single prompt but I’ve also found new titles/authors I would not have picked up if the challenge hadn’t prompted me. I really like that the challenge has a dedicated prompt for BIPOC authors, titles in translation, nonfiction, and other less frequently seen prompt groups that push you to step outside your comfort zone (or rut, as the case may be.)

Looking forward to Q4!