2015 Roundup

In 2015, I finished 9 projects. Most of these were socks, plus there was one small ghost, a baby sweater and a scarf. The socks all fit and I really like both the Drogon socks and the Girl on Fire socks and wear them a lot.

For most of this year, I put myself on a yarn buying moratorium. I broke it a few times while traveling and I kept receiving the yarn club deliveries. Overall, my stash still grew faster than I knit things up, but the pace of that growth was much slower than it has been in past years and I only purchased yarn with a project in mind.  This yarn became part of a Therapy scarf by Laura Aylor.

WIP Progress:
I started two adult sweaters this year, only one of which is still in progress. The other was frogged since my gauge changed after I knit and blocked the swatch, resulting in a sweater that was too small.  I also frogged an older sweater in progress that was too large, also likely due to changes in gauge, post swatch. I am intending to get back to that one.

While driving across the country, en route to a new city and new job, I happened to pass through Canton, OH on a day that the KnitSpot boutique was open. I elected to buy myself a pattern and sweater quantity of their new yarn.  I chose the Mayan Puzzle sweater and Kent DK in Tide Pool.

For new projects, I cast on the Leonore socks by Caoua Coffee in an intense turquoise blue Jitterbug. I'm at the heel of the first sock.  I also cast on the Elementary Watson socks in light blue Tosh Sock. My mindless knitting project is a plain stockinette sock in purple self-striping yarn. I should be able to knock out the 2nd sock fairly quickly.


At some point during the year I got on a finishing kick and started working my way through the WIP queue. Two of these projects ended up frogged. I finished the first Randiriel sock, but it was too small to be comfortable, so I frogged it and will find something else for that yarn. This is, I think, the third attempt to find a pattern suited to this yarn. I may just make a hat with it and donate it.

The All of My Ducks In A Row socks just weren't exciting me. The pattern wasn't doing the yarn justice and I also found the bobbles to be excessively fiddly. So to the frog pond it went. Eventually this will become socks for me.

I finished the first Lacy Arrow-Patterned Sock. I initially started these socks in or around the year 2000. I struggled to follow the pattern. It's not complicated but I seemed to frog everything I knit whenever I worked on this project so eventually just set it aside. Now it seems to be going along just fine. I still love the color of this yarn and look forward to wearing them.

Plans for the Coming Year
I've been on a bit of a sweater kick in the past year. Most of the knitting I've always done has been socks. I'd like to have some handknit sweaters in my wardrobe. I've had mixed luck getting sweaters to fit me properly, so have generally avoided knitting them since I frog them more often than not. I'd like to get past this stumbling block and be able to successfully produce a sweater that fits me well.

I have decided that I'm not going to knit stuff for co-worker's babies. At the moment I don't actually like or know my co-workers well enough to decide if that effort is worth it, so I'm going to skip it this year.

Knitting queue priorities:
Tea. Earl Grey. Hot. socks
Brienne socks
Cheery Littlebottom socks
EZ Green Sweater
Nymphalidea scarf
Jedi Mind Trick socks
Wyrt socks
Book Exchange cardigan
Color Affection scarf

Spinning:
I brought my e-spinner and my wheel with me when I moved. I only brought two batches of roving though. I've got some gray coopworth and some dark shetland. There are several pounds of each so that I'll have plenty to keep me busy. I need to figure out what yarn to produce from each of these. I'm leaning toward a 2-3 ply DK to sport weight for a sweater, but this will take some thought.