A Fresh Start Making Challenge 2025
And it’s back! This new year challenge I started in 2023 is returning again for 2025! I love planning this every year. It gives me an excuse to create something for the community I built in these online spaces. A little challenge on Instagram to get us connecting, with our craft and with each other while figuring out how to lay out the year in a meaningful way.
This making challenge is not meant to put pressure on ourselves to post on IG for every prompt. It’s just prompts to get us thinking. No need to post every single prompt either! And if you’re late to post one, post anyways! I just want us to connect, discover new people we might not have had a chance before to meet (because algorithm), see what you are all working on and just nerd out on our favorite making things.
Doing things a little differently this year. Instead of every day prompts, some prompts span 2 days so you have time to reflect and/or post! Reels, carousel, story, whatever you want to share. Just tag me on IG (@tina.say.makes) or add the hashtag, #AFreshStartMakingChallenge2025, so others can see you! If I get tagged, I can repost!
Easier to read format version
Easier to read format version
So let’s get down to the 18 prompts in 31 days to get your making spirit flowing.
Here are the prompts explained!
Day 1: Cast-On or Carry on!
Starting off 2025 with a cast-on OR you can share a WIP you are bringing into the new year. Start the month-long making challenge celebration with something new or continuing on with something old, bringing with us good intentions. Maye share why you are making that project or if that yarn you’re using has special significance or just that you love it!
Day 2 + 3: Intro/Making Story
A classic. Tell us who you are! What’s your making story? A must to any month-long prompt in the making community, what’s your making story? I love learning who people learn from or how they learn. I love hearing about that moment when making with your hands becomes a click in the brain like, “wow this is fun, I love it, I’m obsessed”. Like your first project, or that yarn or fiber that inspires you, or an end product that pushes you to go, “oh, I can make that”. All those feelings, those making sparks, I want to hear about them.
Day 4 + 5: Word of the Year
This one has been important for me to get the year started. I’ve done it since 2019. This can be as personal as you want or as relaxed as you want. What it does for me is helps me set my intentions for the year of what I want to work on. Now, usually half way through the year, it changes but that’s okay!! It’s about setting something to have a starting point but it’s about the journey so don’t be hard yourself when things change, because things always change!
My word for 2024 was PURPOSE. This was a hard one, not gonna lie. Halfway through the year, I lost sight of this word. Our Diana, one of our cats, passed away in July. My first pet loss. It was freaking hard and I fell apart and lost sight of a lot. I didn’t expect this grief to take over but it did. I miss her so much. All this to say, I have no idea if I achieved this word “purpose” or reflected on it enough but it feels like it wasn’t a word I carried with me all the way through 2024. All this to say, it’s okay to not be perfectly aligned with your word of the whole year. It’s just a start, to get us thinking about our intentions for the year.
Day 6 + 7: Color Palette Inspo
As a designer, playing with combinations of colors are my joy. This prompt could be about your favorite color or it can be about what colors you are feeling lately. Or it can be about a color you want to try and incorporate more into your projects. Inspire others to explore more colors for their wardrobe or projects or see a color combination they didn’t think of before!
Day 8: WIP(s) Check
Share your current work in progress! More than one? Even better! We want to see them all!
Day 9 + 10: Fave Me-Made Outfit
Grab your favorite finished objects and come up with an outfit around it! If you haven’t made garments, let's see your favorite projects. This can help us examine what made this our favorites and maybe lead us to put more projects in our queue that align with these. Perhaps, consider the elements that made it our favorite and recognize what we gravitate towards when it comes to clothes we make for ourselves or the projects we want to spend time on.
Day 11 + 12: Support Small Business
Shout-out some of our favorite small business makers, whether they are yarn dyers, stitch marker makers, pattern designers, craft book authors, etc., so more people can support. A little bit like a online word of mouth recommendation.
Day 13 + 14: Crafting Space
What does your crafting space look like? Whether it’s cozying up on a couch with your fur babies or in your studio, where do you make? How do we make space for ourselves? How do we want to keep creating spaces that bring us comfort and surround ourselves with the tools to make it possible? Whether your crafting space is exactly as you want it or you’re still working on it, share your current space to inspire others or get inspired of how to create your own spaces!
Day 15: Mending/Upcycling/Repurposing
Implementing practices of using what you have, repairing what is still usable, making something new from something old. I find when we are less quick to discard something, we move slower, move intentionally, think more critically. Not just in making but about life and the world we live in too. Whether you’ve tried mending, upcycling, or repurposing before or not, hope this prompts helps you reconsider what some might see as trash as an opportunity to give something new life to reduce waste and overconsumption.
Day 16 + 17: Favorite Stitch/Technique
We all have one, or two, in each of our crafts, knitting, crocheting, sewing, spinning, etc. Share one or more of your faves! Inspire someone to try something new to them or get inspired to try something new!
Day 18 + 19: Tina Tse Knits WIP or FO
IT’S MY BIRTHDAY! To celebrate, share a WIP or FO of a Tina Tse Knits pattern design. If you don’t have either, maybe you’d like to add one of my knitting pattern designs to your making queue from my Pattern Shop! Or share a Tina Tse Knits you have been wanting to make but haven’t yet. *wink wink*
Day 20 + 21: Stress/Anxiety Relief
I put this prompt in this time frame for a specific reason. If you live in the United States, I think you get it. But in general, share how you handle stress or anxiety. All kinds of making with my hands help me relax and un-clinch jaw (or fists). Knitting, crocheting, embroidery, cross stitching, many crafts, have been known to help with stress and anxiety. Are there other ways you find are helpful through a stressful time?
Day 22: Use Your Stash/Scraps
Flash us your stash, tell us what you’re planning with them. Or share a project that will use up your scraps or show us your scrap collection! Let’s encourage each other to use what we have! Living in a world riddled with overconsumption, let’s think intentionally about our purchases by evaluating what’s already around us and support businesses that we value if we need/want something.
Day 23 + 24: Favorite Project
Easy! I hope! Share your favorite project. Tell us why it is your favorite! Does it have a significant meaning or is it a pattern or yarn you enjoyed or maybe the method of making is what made it your favorite? Maybe you’ll inspire someone to make the same or you’ll find a new project to add to your queue!
Day 25 + 26: Support Small Business
Shout-out some of our favorite small business makers, whether they are yarn dyers, stitch marker makers, pattern designers, craft book authors, etc., so more people can support. A little bit like a online word of mouth recommendation.
Day 27 + 28: Current Obsession
Sometimes with making, I find inspiration outside of this space. Whether it’s a fandom, a book, a favorite character, a favorite toy, a movie, a cartoon, art, music, the 90s, whatever it might be outside of our making sphere, what are you inspired by or obsessed with? I have many! Can’t wait to share them and see if we have more things in common!
Day 29: WIP(s) Check
Share your current work in progress! More than one? Even better! We want to see them all!
Day 30 + 31: New Year Making Goals
We have got to the end of the making challenge! With all we’ve discovered through this challenge, what are your new making goals for 2025? Whatever you got out of this making challenge, hope you feel motivated and inspired, found something new, supported a small business, or met a new making friend!
Thank you for joining! See you again in 2026!