Sunday, December 30, 2018

2018 Roundup

I seem to have hit my knitting stride this year and finished 27 projects. I attribute this to an effort to replenish my dish cloth stash and to the desire to keep current in the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup, which requires turning in at least 9 finished items per year.

I knit 12 dishcloths, 3 pairs of socks, 1 hat, 2 kids sweaters, 2 stuffed animals, 2 shawls,  2 pair fingerless mitts, 1 produce bag, 1 door hanger, and one adult cardigan. I had initially set 10 items as my goal and then had to increase that several times as I exceeded the goal. I may end up finishing an additional adult pullover by midnight on New Year's Eve.

Overall, I knit approximately 6948 yards (not counting the 2nd adult sweater) while purchasing 8465 yards of new yarn, for a net gain of 1517 yards of commercially produced yarn.

2018 was a big spinning year for me. I put my e-spinner to good use. I made a total of 2582 yards of finished yarn. All but 194 yards of this was 2 ply yarn. (not counting the green lace weight finished on 12/30). (Update: the new lace weight added up to 592 yards, bringing the total to 3,174 yards spun in 2018.) I primarily spun wool, but there was also some silk hankie and some hemp roving in the mix. It was my first concerted effort at spinning silk hankies. I separated out the layers, then poked a hole in each and drafted into pencil roving. I knew that little drafting would happen while spinning, so tried to get the roving to a thickness that would yield the yarn thickness I wanted. Drafting the silk was hard on the hands, but the end result was beautifully soft and shiny. I was surprised that the overall color ended up being orange. The hankie was more acid yellow/green/pink.