Looking Forward Looking Back

2014 was an outrageously productive year here at chez Woolly.
  

One of the main ways that I use the tagging features that Ravelry provides is to tag my projects with the year as I finish them.  (I don't worry about the year I started a project, mind you, just the year I finish it).   I have my projects organized by year of completion, and down at the bottom I get this neat little notice that tells me how many yards and how many projects are included.

In 2014 I knit 8,682 yards and 30 projects.  Dude.   Some of those projects are as small as 40 yard afghan squares, and the largest is my Alice sweater at 1100 some odd yards.

To offer some context around this, in 2012 I knit 2,743 yards in 9 projects.  2013 was better with 7,320 yards in 29 projects.

Anyway, I bet that's all pretty boring to anyone who isn't me.  The key take-aways here are that I knit a lot and that Ravelry is cool.   My 2014 list of finished objects is view-able here.

If I had to pick a favorite project for the year I would really struggle between choosing my Harvest sweater, Multnomah (knit at Multnomah falls, out of yarn spun for me by Jess!), or these mittens that I just finished up for Rhiannon for Christmas.

The Pattern is "How Cold is It?" by Drunk Girl Designs.
I used Palette yarn, and size 3.0 mm needles (size 2.5 in US terms).

Yeah, I am that mom.  Hashtag No Regrets.

Looking Ahead

I have big plans for 2015.  I know that I will be finishing a project (casting off) and starting another (casting on) on January 1.   Begin as you mean to go on, and all that.  I will finish things, I will start new things.  Also, I'm being very deliberate in choosing what I want to cast on.  I will be casting on one of the following projects  (this is Nurmilintu, the Denver Cowl, and Brickless.  The yarns pictured on the right are from my stash and what I will use.  The photos on the left do not belong to me).

I'm looking at two different themes for my 2015 knitting.   First, my motto is going to be "Wear what I knit, and Knit what I will wear."   My underlying theme is:  Intention.

I will be approaching my crafting decisions with Intention.  I will buy yarn because I actually want that specific yarn for a specific project (not just because it was on sale, or because "yarn good."  I will knit projects that bring me joy, and that I actually want to knit (not just choosing projects that will get crap yarn out of my stash).

It's going to be about consciously making the right decisions about how I spend my precious crafting time.

What are you planning for 2015?  Do you have any goals or themes for your year?  What did you do last year that you're most proud of?

GNOMES!

So this is mostly a ta-da! post about the Gnome Mittens by Spillyjane (if you don't know Spillyjane and like fair isle or happiness then you are seriously missing out).

Anyway, I promised my niece Sarah that I'd make her these mittens for her 24th birthday.  For those of you keeping score at home that momentous occasion took place in April of 2013.  Road to Hell, good intentions, etc. etc., yadda yadda.

I cast them on in March of 2013, made it as far as about here:

...and then I bailed on them.  I don't know what happened.  Maybe it was the rows that involve three colors at once (damned gnome beards) or maybe it was the parade of other knits that caught my eye.  I'm not sure exactly what it was but as the months went by Sarah was getting less and less patient with my bullshit.

Me:  ::posts picture of finished scarf::
Sarah:  Hey that's nice!  You know what else is nice?  Mittens with gnomes on them.
Me:  ::posts picture of finished sweater::
Sarah:  Wow,  you're really cranking out those knits!  Feeling like a little mitten knittin'?
Me:  ::posts picture of fourth finished sweater::
Sarah:  FOR THE LOVE OF G-D, WOMAN!

So anyway, last Saturday I picked up the first mitten and by the end of the night, it was done.  "Well," I thought to myself, "that was embarrassing."

I cast the second mitten on the next day and did a bit here and there during the week.  Yesterday, I sat down, put on some podcasts, and finished it up.   BOOM.

Gnome Mittens by Spillyjane
Needles:  Knitpicks size 3, 16" circs
Yarn: Various colors of Knitpicks Palette, raided from my bestie Koren's stash
Yardage:  184, estimated by weight of 40g

Next up, I'm working on finishing up a shawl that I'm lovingly referring to as "Not Socks Then," knit from a Patons sock yarn that stubbornly refused, through three tries and four years to become socks.

(And a quick update to follow-up my last post, all buttons have been sewn on, and I've worn all the sweaters I knit this summer except for Ardys.  I don't have the right outfit for that yet, or haven't figured out how to wear it or something.  I need a white Oxford button down.  I ended up buying new buttons for Myrna, as neither of the options I found pleased me.)