A Knitter's Guide to Choosing a Word of the Year for 2024

What if a single word could positively impact your knitting practice this year? By embracing the transformative power of a carefully chosen word, you will set yourself up for a wonderful creative journey in the year ahead.

In this post I’ll dive into the benefits of setting a word of the year for your knitting practice and how to go about it. With literally thousands of words to choose from it can seem a bit daunting to have to choose just one, so I’m here to help make the process easy and fun. 

What is a word of the year?

Choosing a word of the year has become a popular alternative to setting New Year's resolutions. Unlike rigid resolutions, a word of the year is more like a theme or mission statement that provides you with an anchor and a gentle reminder to stay on your chosen path.

Why Choose a word of the year for knitting?

The aim of choosing a word for the year is to have a simple yet powerful guiding light for your life. Applying a word of the year to your knitting practice is a wonderful way to set an intention and find encouragement and direction throughout the year.

A word of the year for your knitting will save you time

Do you ever find yourself floundering or getting distracted by ALL. THE. CHOICES? Decision fatigue is a huge struggle for many of us, and the more choices we face, the less likely we are to make up our minds. Having a word of the year for your knitting practice brings purpose not only to your projects but also to the decisions you make regarding patterns, yarn, and colour choices. 

For example, if your word of the year is SIMPLE, you know to look for easy, uncomplicated patterns and harmonious, less busy colourways. On the contrary, if your word of the year is CHALLENGE, you are more likely to seek out more advanced patterns and bypass the easy ones. 

Without this word to guide you, you could easily waste countless hours choosing because you have to start from the beginning of the decision-making process every single time you need to make a decision. When you already know what you want and what you value, you don’t have to keep trying to figure that out.

A word of the year will create a sense of purpose in your knitting projects

As explained above, your word of the year will more easily and quickly guide you to WHAT you choose to work on, but it will also determine your WHY, adding more purpose and meaning to everything you make. When you take action based on your values, you naturally put more love and care into your work and feel good doing it too.

This intentional approach transforms each stitch into a deliberate act of creativity and mindfulness. With your chosen word as your compass, each knitting project becomes a meaningful expression of your aspirations, and the finished pieces carry the essence of your chosen focus throughout. The bond between your craft and purpose deepens, creating a unique and fulfilling knitting journey that goes beyond the needles and yarn.

How to Select your Knitting word of the year

Now for the fun part, choosing your word of the year that is going to resonate and align with your craft and heart.

1. Reflect on your knitting journey:

Take a moment to think about your knitting journey, it doesn't matter if you're an old hand or a complete beginner. What have you enjoyed or found challenging, and how you have felt in the past?

2. Identify goals but a focus on how you want to feel:

Is there anything you’ve been wanting to do, try, or achieve? How will achieving this make you feel? Focusing on the feelings rather than just specific actions is key here.

3 Brainstorm potential words:

Now it's time for a good old brain dump. Write down any and every word that comes to mind. Don’t censor what comes out. If you’re having trouble thinking of words, here are some ideas to get you started.

100 ideas for your word of the year:

1. Acceptance
2. Adventure
3. Aligned
4. Appreciate
5. Aware
6. Balance
7. Beautiful
8. Bliss
9. Bold
10. Breathe
11. Calm
12. Carefree
13. Centre
14. Challenge
15. Charm
16. Cherish
17. Clarity
18. Comfortable
19. Confidence
20. Connection
21. Consistent
22. Cosy
23. Create
24. Curious
25. Dare
26. Delight
27. Dream
28. Empowered
29. Endure
30. Enlighten
31. Explore
32. Flow
33. Focus
34. Flourish
35. Fun
36. Gentle
37. Grace
38. Grateful
39. Gratitude
40. Grounded
41. Growth
42. Happiness
43. Harmony
44. Heal
45. Healing
46. Healthy
47. Hopeful
48. Illuminate
49. Improve
50. Inspire
51. Intentional
52. Joy
53. Kindness
54. Learn
55. Light
56. Love
57. Loving
58. Luminous
59. Mindful
60. Momentum
61. Nourish
62. Nurture
63. Open
64. Optimism
65. Patience
66. Peace
67. Perseverance
68. Playful
69. Powerful
70. Present
71. Progress
72. Radiant
73. Rejuvenate
74. Reflect
75. Refresh
76. Renew
77. Resilience
78. Sincere
79. Simple
80. Simplify
81. Self-Love
82. Serene
83. Simplicity
84. Sincere
85. Sparkle
86. Steadfast
87. Strong
88. Thrive
89. Tranquil
90. Transform
91. Truth
92. Unapologetic
93. Unwind
94. Uplift
95. Warmth
96. Whimsy
97. Wholeness
98. Wisdom
99. Wonder
100. Worthy
     
     

4. Narrow down your choices:

Once you have your list of words, read through them and highlight or circle your top 5, the ones that really speak to you.

5. Pick your word of the year:

Yay, you’re almost there! Now that you have your top 5 words, it is far easier to make a choice than with a huge list. Pick one word from this list which will become your word of the year. Take your time with this part of the process; there is no need to rush it.

So you have a word of the year, now what?

Once you have your word of the year, it’s time to celebrate and put it into action. I encourage you to take a moment to congratulate yourself on taking the time to get clear on what you really want. This is so important for your journey of a more fulfilling and happy year ahead. Take your word of the year, write it down in your diary, pin it on your wall, make a vision board around it or share it with your friends and family. The more you see it the more you will be reminded and it will reinforce the message.

If you’d like to share your word of the year on socials, I’d love to see! Please use the hashtag #KnittingWordOfTheYear and tag me @augustbirdAU so that I can give you a big cheer.

Conclusion: A Knitting word of the year for 2024

Choosing a Knitter's word of the year is a transformative journey, infusing purpose into every stitch. This guide simplifies the process, aligning your chosen word with intention, mindfulness, and creativity in your knitting practice. Beyond project choices, your word becomes a guiding light, making each knitting endeavour a deliberate act of expression.

Celebrate your chosen word by incorporating it into your daily life—write it down, pin it up, or share it using #KnittingWordOfTheYear. Here's to a year filled with purpose, creativity, and the joy of mindful knitting!

Banner photography by Kelly Sikkema