2017 Kniting Year in Review

[janestarz]

I'll probably not finish another project before the end of the year, so it's time for my 2017 Knitting Year in Review.

I made plans for 2017 and I managed to tick off a few on this list. Some plans didn't work out, and some plans....were kept on hold for a very long time. I declared 2017 Year of the Sock and somewhere in September I sighed to my friends it looked to be more Year of the Frog instead. While compiling the picture I was surprised I did knit as many socks as I did. So here we go:

Part I: What became of my plans?

Stuff I did!

• I did join the Sock Madness in March, although I wasn't quite sure I would. My friends know me best, they all said "of course you will!" and they were right. This wasn't a true New Year's resolution but hey, it's a Thing.
  
• Cast on the Eowyn socks for Kat. And then I frogged them. But then in November I cast them on as Gladys instead and just finished them last night.
  
• I made a pair for my dear Eisirt from the Quick & Easy bundle (the Hubband socks).
  
• "En als ik me écht verveel haal ik mijn Hitchhiker af, en brei ik hem op grotere naalden nog een keer. Hij glijdt nu steeds van mijn nek af omdat hij net te klein is….." -- Of course I started on this right away: in February. Although I can't claim I was bored, I apparantly really wanted to re-knit it! It still needs a GOOD blocking, it's still slightly curly.
  
• "Minimaal 1 groot project, wat waarschijnlijk de Bagtanke gaat worden" -- Nope, Bagtanke is still waiting. I did knit the Bodemloos though!

Stuff I sort-of did but then didn't!

• Skew -- Cast on, but then frogged because it was too loose.
  
• Slip-Stripe-Spiral -- Cast on, but then frogged because it was too radioactive a colour combination.
  
• A pair of Dorothy’s Slip Stitch socks -- still in progress, so they don't count for this year, and will be in next year's review.
  
• Minimaal 1 patroon uit een boek wat ik toch al heb staan -- Cast on Anni from the Op-Art book, but frogged them because it was hideous and too loose and didn't bring joy to my life. *ribbit*

Stuff I didn't!

• Kalajoki -- Never started on this, because it needs a swatch and I was lazy.
  
• "Als er dan nog tijd over is, kijk ik waar ik zin in heb. De Batik, de Daybreak, of misschien zelfs de Strandwanderer." -- Nope.

Part II: Foiled Plans and Frogs
Ripping up your knitting is called Frogging. I did a lot of frogging this year. And frogging can lead to grogging, if you don't type carefully.
Anyway, here's a compilation of the frogged stuff that didn't make it. Or at least, the ones I remember and have pictures of.


(Click for original size)

From left to right, top to bottom:

Cranberry Biscotti -- At a gauge of 9 sts/inch, which hurts my hands and takes forever to finish. I liked the colour combo though.

Invitation to the Dance -- the warm-up sock for Sock Madness. I didn't enjoy the knit/purl section further along in the sock. Frogged!

Slip-Stripe-Spiral -- Frogged because it was too radioactive a colour combination.

Skew -- A very loose sock. I got past the first heel and ripped it all out again.

Streepje Anders -- I didn't like how the two yarns worked together. I frogged back and used the brown-blue-pink yarn for the Hubband sock and combined the lighter pink cotton wool with a purple cotton and did finish these after all.

Anni -- The socks from the Op-Art book. Frogged.

Twisted Madness -- from the Sock Madness. I hate the red-white bits of yarn, they don't match the rest of the yarn. These socks were hurting my hands while I was knitting them (all those twisted stitches!) and they were reported to twist around your foot. After frogging, I tried to combine this yarn in the Slip-Stripe-Spiral but I think it's doomed to haunt my stash to the end of days.

But that wasn't all I frogged, even in the Finished Objects section there are plenty of things that were ripped out or ripped back or changed. So keep reading!

Part III: Finished Objects of 2017

(Click for original size)

From left to right, top to bottom:

Blocked Waves - a gift for Yava'in

Northward (hat) and Bandana Cowl.

Calorimetry - a headband I wanted to wear as Zaphira or Windsong. Never did, though. I did knit a second one as a gift for Kat.

Hitchhiker - Re-knit on larger needles.

Dropping Madness (Sock Madness)- Originally knit a size M and a size L sock for the contest and then I frogged and re-knit the L sock into an M for Howling Moon, as a gift.

Mod Madness (Sock Madness)- for Kat. I had to frog a bit and re-knit the toe so they would fit as her feet are tiny!

Lambs and Bunnes and Chickens Oh My! (Sock Madness)-- These fit me quite unexpectedly. The cuffs are a bit tight, but I manage to wriggle them on.

Symphony Socks (Sock Madness) - My first foray in beaded knitting. As this is a cotton mix, I knit these to fit me, but I dropped out of the race because I misread a chart.

French Can-Can - Still love this pattern! It also got rid of some cotton/rayon mix from my stash. Win-win.

Morgenfryd - A gift for Sigunne, which started out as the Morgenfryd and was frogged completely.

D'andere helft - a simple toe-up pair of socks to finish off a half-skein that was left over. A gift for Eisirt.

Quilted Lattice Mitts - a fun technique with long floats on the right side of your work that cross up several rows. Because hand-knit accessories for all my roleplay characters is still a Thing.

Socks of Joy - a gift for Tyldak.

Something Blue - a gift for my Australian friend, The_Lady_Red.

Harpies for Laurie - another gift for my Australian friend, The_Lady_Red.

Gladys - a gift for Kat. These started out as the Eowyns but were frogged.

Bodemloos - My Big Project (like the Morgenfryd doesn't count ^.^). The cowl was frogged and replaced by a round 2x2 rib neckline instead.

Kseniya's Nalebound Mittens - An unexpected foray into nalbinding again! It was fun to figure out these mittens, and my knitting knowledge helped a ton.

The Hubband Sock - a gift for Eisirt at a very tight gauge of 9 sts/inch. These took forever to finish, but I hope they will last forever as well.

Streepje Anders - Most fun to knit, got featured on the pattern page and it's a cotton mix as well. Still love these shiny unicorn-colours!

Zaphira's Kettle Valley Shawl - started life as a big blue blob of boredom, got frogged after four months of ploughing on, and then re-knit in just two weeks to a shawl of awesome. Bonus snow shoot FTW!

Final tally: 21 finished projects, 12 of which are pairs of socks!
(Actually... 22/13 but I'm not counting the pair of Sock Madness socks I frogged after finishing)



Part IV: Knitting Resolutions for 2018
This is the hardest thing. I've come to a couple of conclusions lately, so finding good resolutions will be hard.
The first conclusion was: itchy jumpers suck. I knitted at the Bodemloos for roughly a month (dedicated knitting, so not the pauses in between) and there's nearly 75 euro of wool in it, and then it turns out I can't wear it because it's so itchy. I hope to have fixed it with the new round neckline, but it really takes the fun out of such a big project.
I still have the Bagtanke kit lying around, but the risk is that it'll also be an itchy wool -- I'm not 100% sure Geilsk cotton & wool will be soft enough. One itchy cardigan is quite enough (my old Harvest Cardi), so I'll try and sell the kit.
And the Cascade Fingering I've got for the Batik shawl is not going to work either.

The second conclusion I came to is that my stash will probably never be empty. There's always friends giving me skeins, and the temptation of shiny yarns. But I shouldn't spend money so easily anymore, my days of shopping sprees in sock yarn are finished (*cough* All of 1 whole spree this year). This is also because of increasing allergy-like reactions to wool. I love that Eisirt wears his hand-knit socks daily and that he really enjoys them, but I don't think I should knit myself any more wool socks. I've got a few pairs I can wear to larp, but I'll have to layer them over cotton to be sure I don't die of the itchies. The cotton-mix socks were also itchy! I might mess about with merino to see if that works, but the initial test on the Quilted Lattice mitts are not very positive.

And finally, there's a fun revelation. Around November or so, after the fotoshoot was done and other stress factors fell away, I realised there's no pressure anymore. I used to want to knit and it was almost production-knitting. Always knitting towards a deadline or because I wanted so badly to have a warm jumper or a new pair of socks. Maybe the promises I made to friends also put pressure on me, I am not sure. But I am currently working on a crochet shawl for myself (Erigineia) and I realised how utterly relaxed it was. I actually only pick it up when Eisirt is home and we're sitting on the couch together after dinner. It's so much fun, and it's great to realise there's no pressure any more.

So these are the knitting resolutions for the coming year:

• Oldies but Goldies, and I think this should be included on my list every year: at least 1 pattern from a book. I'm kind of sad I didn't get around to any of the Op-Art socks, so I'll probably spend an evening trying out colour combinations and knit a wonderful pair for Eisirt.
  
• Start a Jar: I'm going to make a Jar of Savings where I'll put all money from birthdays and tips I get. The Jar will have a label, so people can choose what cause they want to donate to and there will be multiple jars. This year I spent birthday money on a set of leather scabbards for a pair of daggers I've had since forever. My first Jar will be for a very soft sock-yarn like Malabrigo Rios I can knit a new jumper from. I'm not sure if it's going to be a Poema, a Tempest or an Ink yet though! But the resolution is to start saving money for a purpose, not actually knitting the thing unless I have a massive windfall.
  
• Edited to Add: While making the Jars (ok, so we started Right Away!) we found so many envelopes with cash contributions, I ordered a skein of Malabrigo Sock so I'll have enough for a cardigan (I already had three other skeins, in purple and navy). That makes Tempest an Actual Item to Knit for the coming year!
  
• Bonus objective: Anemoona really wanted to visit a big fair again, so with my Jar I can actually shop around for the best softest yarn for a sweater there!
  
• I have some Drops Big Fabel from the thrift store that is begging to be a Miranda. I wear vests and no-sleeve tops to work a lot, because Sigunne is always cold and I'm always hot. This will be cast on as soon as the current projects are close to completion or not fun anymore. It's not going to touch any bare skin even though it's wool, so I'm confident I can make this work.
  
• Weaving! I've got my old rigid heddles back from Breiboek, so I plan to use some of my sock stash for weaving trims and belts. I can even sell them if I want to!
  
• At least 1 more pair of socks for Eisirt, because he loves his wool socks to bits. I still have a ton of baggies next to the couch with pre-determined colour combinations and sometimes even a pattern, so this is an easy one.
  
• And "I told you so!" -- my friends were right. I'll probably join the Sock Madness again this year. How else am I going to get around to knitting socks?

Looks to me like very few resolutions for the coming year. Just: have fun, let's have relaxed projects and love all the yarn I'm using to bits.

Comments

[anemoona.livejournal.com]

Zo! jij hebt echt veel gedaan dit jaar! Netjes hoor.