Not long after setting myself some knitting and spinning goals at the beginning of the year I also decided I wanted to be more organised with my knitting/crochet time so I sat down and thought about what I’d actually like to make over the course of the year. I went through all of my pattern books and Ravelry queue and wrote out what finished items I would like to have by the end of the year for me, for the crafty girls, for the house and for gifts. This is what I came up with along with what progress (if any) I have made towards achieving what I set out to do.
For the girls (crafty toddler #1 and #2):
The Avery Pullover and the Joseph Cardigan by Nikki Van De Car from the book What to Knit – The Toddler Years.
- I have 1 Avery pullover on the needles using some deep stash acrylic (a brown 4ply held double as the pattern calls for DK), however the yarn choice, needle size and cable twists along the raglan increases have not been kind to my already shonky wrists so this is waiting until things improve before it sees any more progress.
- I’m now in two minds about the Joseph cardigan, I still love the pattern but I might pass it over to my mum to knit at some point instead. My knitting for the girls tends to be practical knits for wearing whilst messing about at the allotment or generally grubbing about outside which means that pullovers are more useful. All their cardigans have generally been knitted by my mum using girly yarn for when they need nice “going out” outfits.
Lace Vest and Warm Vest by Vibe Ulrik Sondergaard from the book Labour of Love.
- I can’t see these happening. I have become obsessed with the Milo pattern and I think that is going to be my go to vest pattern for all babies and small children that I knit for from now on.
Pixie hats such as Quynn by Woolly Wormhead or Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap by Gro
- I had planned on making these for the girls as Christmas presents but Crafty Toddler #1 has decided that the only hats she wants to wear are those belonging to her Dad and trying to get her in to anything else (unless it is for playing around the house in) is too much like hard work. That just left Crafty Toddler #2 but y sister knitted her a hat for her birthday just a few weeks ago. As my sister is a very new knitter and must have put a massive amount of time and effort in to making her the gift I didn’t want to discourage her by not using it in favour of one I had knitted myself. I don’t think her hat will fit for much longer though so I may be able to get away with making one in the new year without causing offence.
Aviatrix hats by Justine Turner x 2
- See above for general comments on hats but I have knitted 1 of these so far for my nephew as part of the package of baby knits I made when he was first born. Given the speed at which he is growing and the vast amount of bright ginger hair he has to keep under control I will probably end up making him another one, quite when depends on the wrists but perhaps this time I might knit it in a colour that doesn’t clash quite so much with his hair!
Milo vests by Georgie Hallam x 2
- I’ve actually knitted 3 of these already this year and am yet to tire of the pattern. I might not always knit the cable detail but I can see my using the basic construction principles to make lots more and just tweaking the pattern to add texture or colour work details. If I could do the maths to work out how to make one big enough for me I would be very tempted to cast one on right now.
For me:
A colour affection shawl by Veera Valimaki
- Despite having the yarn for this project already balled up and waiting I never got around to casting it on and the longer I procrastinated over it the less I wanted to knit it. I thought a lot about the colour combination I had in mind and the more I thought about it the less it seemed to work with the colours I had in my wardrobe – or at least that section of my wardrobe that I wear now that I am a stay at home mum. I also spent the majority of this past year being projectile vomited on by a small child with food allergies so wearing big swooping shawls made from expensive yarns that needed hand washing also meant that this was out on the back burner. I plan on knitting it some day but probably in a different set of colours and at a time when I am wearing something other than sports casual clothes covered in food and baby sick.
A crochet sweater with a yoked construction similar to The Pluto Pullover by Linda Permann
- I improvised this sweater back in May but I’m not loving it and haven’t actually worn it since I finished it. The shaping isn’t quite right and I’m not sure I’m a fan of crochet garments, especially seamless ones as I get eh impression that it would very quickly lose its shape and structure.
A lace weight yoked tee similar to the Crown Tee by Jenise Freid
- Lace weight knitting and 2 children under the age of 3 what on earth was I thinking about?!
For gifts:
Socks – using my standard vanilla sock pattern but with jazzy yarn.
- Well I have 1 finished pair and 3 half finished pairs on the needles so I suppose this is almost a success, assuming I can somehow manage to finish the remaining pairs in time for Christmas (or in one case before then end of the month).
For my house:
I had planned to make a crochet franken blanket by which I mean using up all my odd scraps and part balls of DK weight yarn (just the acrylic scraps I’ll save the wool and wool blend scraps for a different project) to make a granny square blanket.
- The bag of scraps for this is still waiting patiently as I got sucked in to a CAL with the Little Bobbins Knits podcast, still making a scrappy crochet blanket but this time using leftover 4ply sock yarns and the weekender blanket pattern by Sandra Paul. As I am still a relatively new sock knitter the speed at which this blanket is working up is relatively slow, I keep having to put it to one side whilst I knit more socks to generate more scraps. I can safely say it will be a very long term WIP.
Reading back over that it wold appear that my knitting plans have gone slightly off track over the course of the year but I am knot going to beat myself up over it as the things I have ended up knitting instead have been very well used and well loved and mostly from existing stash and patterns from my library. This was an exercise in being more mindful about my knits as well as being more productive with my knitting time so I think being flexible enough to change my plans as I came to realise that the things I had planned weren’t actually going to work with out current life style or circumstances is a good thing. Being flexible about my plans also allowed me to pick up and cast on the odd fun project just for the joy of it which is pretty important too, I’m crafting for the fun of it after all.
themanyknitsofnadine 