2008: Year in review

Since I love numbers, some stats:

• According to the Ravelry notebook, I finished over 28 thing in 2008. There are probably more, since I don't put small, quick stuff on Ravelry.

• The first was the Koolhaas hat. I have yet to wear it out of the house. The only time I have put it on recently was right after the cat attacked my head (long, weird story). It ruins curls, so it has to be worn on select occasions, none of which has come up yet.

Yarn: Berroco Comfort, 1 ball in some sagey color
Needles: US size 7
Pattern: Koolhaas Hat by Jared Flood from Interweave Knits Holiday 2007

• The last completed knit of 2008 was a Cobblestone for me, finished Christmas Day. Funny that the first and the last are both Jared Flood patterns. The dude is pretty talented.

Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend, 6 skeins of 3110 (I think that's the color) - early X-Mas gift from my MIL
Needles: US size 5 and 6
Pattern: Cobblestone Pullover by Jared Flood
Modifications: Made the smallest size which turned out about 32" at the chest. Added a little waist shaping. Started the sleeves with 40 sts instead of 52, but worked up to the same number. Reduced the number of stitches decreased over the yoke to end up with...shit, can't remember now. I think it was something like 90. Had to leave off the last pair of short rows, for fear of running out of yarn, but worked even for an extra inch or so after the last decrease round. I ended up using every bit of yarn except what was used for the swatch.

That yarn is soooo soft and light. It is a very comfortable sweater.

• Project that took the longest: Venezia, at approx. 6.5 months (see below)

• There were tons of short projects, including some white baby socks - great for using up leftover sock yarn so you don't go on a bender at the yarn shop (well, you can delay it at least). The socks are now being worn (I hope) by a friend's baby.
  

Pattern: Better-than-Booties baby socks by Ann Budd.

• Most expensive project: Venezia again. It wasn't very expensive, maybe $60 for both yarn and needles, I'm just really cheap when it comes to knitting. If you are going to make 28+ things per year on my salary, you have to be cheap. And I didn't pay for the yarn for my cobblestone, which would have come out at around $70.

Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss in Woodland Sage (3.5 balls) and Dolphin (2.5 balls)
Needles: US size 2 and 2.5 (3mm)
Pattern: Venezia by Eunny Jang from Interweave Knits Winter 2006
Modifications: Scoop neck.

The truth: I'm not sure I'm that fond of it - still has big shoulders, which I'm very self conscious about. I'll give it one more blocking before it gets tossed in the back of the closet.

• Most expensive on a per inch basis (I guessed, I'm not that much of a number lover): Cherry Tree Hill Socks. But they are really lovely.

• It's too hard to pick a favorite knit of the year, but I do know my least favorite:

I hate you, Surplice Bodice Top

Let's face it: I hate Cotton Classic. No drape, very stiff, and this stuff is an absolutely awful virginal white (I think the bleaching, done by Tahki not me, contributes to the stiffness). This is the second sweater I have made with this same yarn - I hated the last one too, so I took it apart and made this thing. When will I learn.

Count:
6 pairs of socks (1 baby pair)
5 pullovers
3 pairs of bootees
3 shawls
2 bags
2 tanks
2 toys
1 adult cardigan
1 baby cardigan
1 shrug
1 scarf
1 hat
1 beret
1 pair of gloves
1 hankie

• Amount spent on yarn and needles in 2008: $442 (not including use of leftovers), or less than 2% of my gross earnings in 2008. Not bad.
  

The challenge continues

So a while ago, I decided to do some things by the end of the year. Mind you - this was before I started working full time again, so I haven't accomplished quite as much as I had hoped. But here are the strides so far.

1. Toe-up socks.

No Name Socks

Toe up socks are not bad. I have come to the conclusion that they are not really any better than cuff-down socks though. It's still a bit tricky to try them on, though it would be helpful if you wanted to use up all the yarn.


2.2. Steeks.

Venezia

Um, yeah, steeks are stupidly bulky on shoulders. Curiosity satisfied, don't feel the need to do that ever again.

5. Gloves.

Knotty Gloves

Pattern: Knotty Gloves by Julia Mueller
Yarn: Lana Grossa Seta Cashmere sock yarn, 1.5 balls, silver
Needles: US size 0 dpns
Modifications: Just reversed the cables so the wrists are mirror images. Really nice pattern.

These are great, I have been wearing them for a few weeks now. Quite practical.


6. A bag.

Damask bag

I still need to felt it, and put a handle on it, but it is currently in bag form. I'm waiting to buy the handle until I see how well it turns out - then I will know how much $ I want to throw at a handle. I did not particularly enjoy knitting this thing; it was a weird combo of fair-isle and intarsia, and required looking at a chart all the time. I'm hoping it will be functional though.

7. Entrelac.

Entrelac socks

Does a half of a sock count? I did try Entrelac, and I liked it - it just didn't fit my foot.

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Still to go:

2.1. A large fair-isle project. With more than two colors.

Possibilities:
Road to Golden
Fair-isle U-Neck (Ravelry link)
Mirepoix Bodice (Ravelry link)


3. Writing up a pattern with multiple sizes that involves set-in sleeves.

I think I could do it, but the garment I was planning to write a pattern for turned out to be much too complicated for anyone else to ever want to make. Trust me. There was a lot of complaining about the twisted rib on Honeycomb, so I can imagine the hate e-mails from knitters on the current sweater already. (Remember, I'm a product knitter, not a process knitter.) It is still in progress, but I will show it to you at some point.


4. A Shirley Paden project.

I'm now leaning toward Cable Chic. Not using Noro though.


8. Double Knitting, as in reversible.

I think this might be a fun intro project.