It’s been a while, I know. But there was quite a bit going on here at the Moley headquarters (or hatquarters, as my husband likes to say). And I didn’t really feel like posting a new post, to be honest. My holiday season was quite stressful because I kept on finishing Christmas presents for the whole family. I gifted five pairs of socks (one stranded knitting pair and one pair in size EU 48/US 14!) and a hat. Perhaps I should try the gift-buying thing next year, it might bring some peace to the pre-holiday season.
Ever since 2016 started (and my mind still hasn’t caught up with that fact!) I have been having regrets about 2015. About not finishing enough things. About not doing enough stuff. About life in general I suppose. But this is a knitting blog, so I try to keep it on topic.
I guess up until now I measured my “knitting progress” in amount of finished garments per year. The reason must be that my initiative for knitting in the first place was custom fit sweaters. In 2014 I knitted 6 garments for myself, 3 of which were so successful that I wore them every time it was cold enough to do so (or even if it wasn’t).
So thinking about 2015, I felt like I hadn’t accomplished a single thing. I hadn’t finished six garments, not even four. I knit two sweaters, a semi-successful cardigan and a vest, and I fixed up one from the “reject pile” of 2014, so I could wear it. So not very much to wear in my wardrobe. Imagine my surprise when I rounded up my handknits of 2015 for the photo below and realized that I had started 22 projects of which I finished 18, frogged two and the other are still WIPs.
And there are 11 shawls in that pile, of the 13 I knit last year (more like shawl-like neck-thingies but most of them actually shawls). That means I knit more than one shawl a month, which is quite a feat where I’m concerned. Apparently, when I mentioned to my friend M. sometime last summer that I was “on a shawl-kick” I didn’t realize how right I was.
What makes me most happy about this pile, however, is that there are four of my own designs in there. I know, none of them have actually been released yet. And M. keeps reminding me of that, too. I need to change that ASAP but I am too much of a perfectionist to release just some written up pages. I want a proper style sheet with good pictures of my designs, so it will look like an actual pattern to me. I will get to it, it just takes a bit for me. It is more of a process than I realized when I started out and I am teaching it all to myself.
One more hiccup is that back in 2014 I changed to a unix-based system, away from the Windows PC I had been using since my childhood and finding decent software for layouting and, finally, being able to use it are two different shoes.
Anyway, I am not here to whine about computer problems. I am actually quite happy with my progress in 2015 and very much look forward to what 2016 has in store for me.
It already brought me two finished pairs of socks (yes, really!) and I started knitting with this beautiful yarn:
It is Kettle Yarn Co. Islington Fingering, a delicious BFL/silk blend that was dyed in the shibori technique using real indigo. It was a one-off colourway and I was able to snatch up two skeins when I saw her post on Instagram. Unfortunately it makes the tips of my fingers very blue while knitting but I really like its smell somehow. It is a really special experience to knit with it and I am trying to do it justice with a new design.
Hopefully, your 2016 was off to a wonderful start as well and you enjoyed your holiday season! I leave you on the ominous note that there are some great news coming up next week that I have been waiting to share for aaaages.