52

52, that’s the number of finished knitting projects I made this year! That is 20 more than last year and 17 more than my all time high in 2011. Because there are so many I decided that I am only going to hit on the top two of each of these categories: most interesting, most annoying, most enjoyable, and most used and well loved things that I made.

First off, the most interesting:

The color craving!

This was my first ever mystery KAL and first ever Stephen West knit. This shawl really pushed me and made me step out of my comfort zone. It was rather exciting not knowing how it would turn out and it was even more exciting to see it finished. This pattern probably had the most interesting construction, which is why it is my number one most interesting.

One more shot of it.

Next most interesting would have to be the mandeville. I haven’t really talked about it yet because the pattern hasn’t been released yet, but I had a lost of fun with it and it too had a very interesting construction.

I will talk more about the madeville one it gets released.

Now for the most annoying:

Coincidentally they are both Christmas gifts. First up are the sock monkey booties. The reason they are so annoying was because the pattern that I bought was not very well written so I had to rip them out and mix two patterns to get this finished object.

The second would have to be the afterglow, but that was because I made stupid mistakes in sizing, I wrote more on the  sock monkey and afterglow patterns on my ravelry project pages so to save space you can visit those to find out the problems.

Now for the most enjoyable knits of 2014, in first place is the tonic water by babycocktails!

The tonic water was actually a gift for my cousin that I just finished yesterday just in time for her Birthday which was yesterday. The reason this was so enjoyable is because it is incredibly well written (which is to be expected I mean it is from babycoctails), but it also looks way more complicated than it really is! I just couldn’t be happier with out it turned out and I loved knitting it up because it had just enough going on the I was always interested, but never overwhelmed. Plus the pattern is pretty easy to memorize.

In second place is the thorough bred by Alicia Plummer.

These mitts were so enjoyable the pattern was so much fun, easy to memorize and oh so simple. Also the yarn I used is just wonderful.

Now on to the most used and well loved things of this year. This section is quite difficult because I love all of my hand knits, but if I have to choose they would be the grace and the chocolate stout.

I wear both of these cardigans a lot! They fit so well into my wardrobe and they totally are by go to sweaters for outfits.

While looking back through my list of categories and seeing all of the pictures I am reminded of what was going on throughout the year while making those knits, it’s been a long year and I can’t decide if I am sad to see it go or not. A lot of things have happened and it’s funny how things have changed, but it really doesn’t seem to be a big change.

And now I will leave you with the most recent finished Christmas gift, my sisters holden, modeled by my sister.

My mom is still patiently waiting for her present which will get finished after the new year. I’m also sad to report that I have at most 6 WIP’s that will be following me into the new year, hopefully if tonight goes well it will only be 5, but those except for my dang helix scarf will get finished within the first two weeks of the new year so I can start some new stuff!

Happy New Years Eve everyone!

Christmas Won

Well you know how in my last few posts I talked about all of the knitting that I had left and that it would take a Christmas miracle it get it all done, well no Christmas miracle happened. The realization hit at 4:00 am Christmas morning when my eyes wouldn’t stay open any longer and I had two unfinished Christmas gifts left. The gifts were for my mom and sister, both of which knew I had a lot to do and had told me that it was okay if there gifts weren’t finished in time.

But I have to give myself credit I did get a lot of gifts done, so here are the pictures of all the finished gifts (not modeled by the people they were made for)

I will post pictures of my moms and sisters one they are fully finished and my cousin kit’s birthday gift when it gets finished, but until then, I have more knitting to do.

 

Best Mail Day Ever!

So I don’t think any day of receiving mail can top this mail day. Just recently I made a large Webs order (I probably shouldn’t have, but well I couldn’t resist) and I received that in the mail, plus I got my package from my secret Santa. The Northbound knitting group on ravelry held a secret Santa  gift swap and I could resist, I just had to participate and boy am I glad I did!

Well here is a picture of the semi unopened packages. I was so excited I almost forgot to take a pre-opening picture.

Here is a shot from afar of all of my presents.

Here is a close up of the snow-globe card thing. Which is super cute!

Here is a close up of the shawl she knit for me (she also spun the yarn herself). The pattern is mariposa.

A shot of me wearing it!

The button pins she got me! I love these things!

Stitch markers of all colors and sizes!

Soak and some buttons!

Tea, a project bag, and penguin decoration.

And two skeins of yarn. One hand-spun (spun by her) and then Northbound Knitting’s merino silk absinthe color way. The hand-spun is also Northbound knits and it is Shetland colorway force zen.

And here is my not necessary, but totally wanted yarn order. Which is very drool worthy in its own rights, but the secret Santa gifts were meaningful and amazing and picked out totally for me which makes me love it so much more. My partner totally spoiled me!

Madelinetosh colorway composition book grey destine to be the light trails sweater.

Madelinetosh colorway antique lace will become hitofude. And yes it takes a little more than two balls which I have over half a ball left from a shawl test knit that you haven’t seen which will be contributed to the sweater.

Madelinetosh colorway opaline which is destined to be the wheaten scarf.

And this is cascade eco+ colorway burgundy which is destined to be the Little Wave cardigan.

 

 

This valley yarns Sheffield teal and camel are destined to become the Eastwood Cardigan.

And here is a picture of my overall haul from the mail today. Needless to say I was elated because of seeing all of my goodies especially from my secret Santa!

 

 

A time to Reap

So I realized today that I forgot to blog about one of my test knits since it has been released.

So here it is, A Time to Reap

Rav project page here.

Pattern: A Time to Reap

Designer: Melissa Schaschwary, also know as dandiliongrl

Yarn: Zitron Trekking Undyed

I adore this pattern! It is very clearly written and is a fun knit. There is just enough detail to make in fun and interesting, but the pattern is very easy to memorize. Then it has a nice stockinette section to break of the pattern, but it doesn’t stay too long in stockinette to get boring. When I finished I had about 50 grams of yarn left over so it only took half a ball of yarn to make these beauties.

As you can see in the title this yarn was originally undyed. I dyed this yarn up and I couldn’t be happier with it, I hit just the right shade of purple (luckily), because I wanted something that was light enough to look delicate and elegant like the mitts, but just dark enough not to show too much dirt too easily.

And for your viewing pleasure one more picture. There are more pictures on my ravelry project page.

Also an update on Christmas knitting, I have gotten my dad’s slippers done, the sock monkey booties just need the final details sewn on, I have a hat done for one of the little girls I babysit (one more to go), i have started my mom’s slippers and my sisters shawl, and I have dyed my other sisters yarn for her scarf. I also had the meeting with the family friend instead of one sweater it is three shawls, should be four, but she loved one of mine so much I went ahead and gave it to her and she gave me the money to buy the yarn to make myself a new one.

Challenge Accepted

My Christmas knitting is hitting an all time crazy level. It is currently December 2nd and I have two kids sweaters done, so you would think that I was doing pretty good right? Wrong! I still have two pairs french press felted slippers to make for my mom and aunt, nola slippers for my dad, the amy scarf for my sister (which I need to dye the yarn for), a holden shawlette for my other sister, a tonic and water for my cousin Kit, sock monkey booties for my baby cousin Blake, design a baseball pillow for my nephew, and now I have to make a sweater or shawl for the daughter of a family friend (what will be made will be determined tomorrow).  Luckily the tonic and water doesn’t have to be done until after Christmas.

This Christmas I totally bit off more than I can chew, but who needs sleep anyway? I mean that’s why they made makeup and coffee right? So wish me luck and in the famous words of Barney Stinson “Challenge Accepted”

And since I don’t have any finished object picture ready yet here are some pictures of some of my new yarn.

My nephews finished flax by tincan knits. I hope to have to good finished object photo’s by the end of the week.

This is from the fiber fangirl. It is a silk and alpaca mix destined to be some cloudy day leg warmers.

This and the grey/white malabrigo lace below will be a color block featherweight cardigan.

This will be used for the featherweight cardigan.

This will be the bough from the latest wool people.

This will be the main color of the tonic and water.

This was from the last installment of the Bumblebirch fall yarn club. It’s called sly fox.

And well this I got because it looks pretty. It doesn’t have a project yet.

 I have some good news though, my semester is almost over and with all of these projects I should be blogging more, or at least I  hope so! Happy Knitting and Crafting!

What Christmas knitting are you doing? Are you in over your head this year?