Alanna’s Knitting Year in Review
January 2019: Open the closet door, gaze at my yarn stash and the knitting priority was obvious: Finish those WIPs (works in progress)! Thus began a humbling yet joyous year.
Scarf Ornament 
My riff on Hanabira 
Crochet chain necklace 
Stripes for sailing 
Peppermint Lounge Mitts 
Sequential knit scarf 
Light Waves 
Harjo 
Still more yarn!
There are still several projects yet to complete, but I let myself off the hook. Remember, this is a hobby! Then again, there are two sweaters that just need piecing. Not teaching in yarn stores during most of 2019 helped keep temptation at bay. However, I didn’t completely abstain from yarn purchases.
Cardizen 
Sibella 
Myrtle
For that late winter stir crazy moment, Cardizen was cozy, easy knit and there was no super bulky yarn in my closet….
Late spring sent me to Marblehead for the Women’s Sailing Conference gave me the perfect chance to detour to Circle of Stitches to indulge in a bit of Mericash fingering from Skeinny Dipping Yarns to knit Sibella.
In August, Mom sent me the yarn to make the Myrtle cardigan for her. This lace, fingering weight cardigan is knit in one piece. Casting on at the beginning of our sailing vacation wasn’t my best life choice. Poor lighting at night, full concentration and flying pattern pages gave me a rough head start. I could really only knit on it at night below deck. Progress was slow for several months. In mid-November, I ripped back 5″, starting the lace pattern again. Note to others: start complex sweater patterns with the sleeve – it gives you the chance to learn the pattern with smaller repeats! The Myrtle cardigan is making progress and will probably be on the needles for the first quarter of 2020!
Also during the autumn, a gorgeous teal gradient pack of Dirty Water Dyeworks Lillian emerged from my stash with the plans to become a scarf using Sequence Knitting techniques. Fingering weight yarn just doesn’t do the patterning justice. I do recall Cecelia mentioning that. BTW: Cecelia will speak at the Greater Boston Knitting Guild in March 2020!
Ripped back and cast on Canady by Bristol Ivy. The pattern requires much more yarn than what I have, but I will deal with that then. Stephanie’s teals are always a popular seller, so I imagine it will work out.
Knitting hopes for 2020!
What I need to knit? Mittens and hats. What I’ll probably knit (after I piece together those two sweaters)? Well, there’s a pattern I designed with concepts from Knitting on the Diagonal to finish then knit. Plus, I have a couple sweaters worth of yarn for lighter season cardis. One will be Flaum.
Reviewing my 2019 knits was a worthwhile exercise. It’s easy to get carried away with the possibilities for 2020, but it’s time to enjoy my stash and not accumulate more. My last stash free moment was 2005. Running tours for knitters in Italy and New England, plus living in a fiber lovers’ heaven made accumulation a joy. Five years of working in two yarn shops meant I bought and knit much of their yarn, but none of yarn I’d discover on my travels. Now it’s time to pull out those joyous moments and create!
Do you have any knitting goals for 2020?
