2007 Year in Review

Before I start posting about what I have done so far this year, I did want to take some time and review what I got done last year. I made a bunch of resolutions last year and posted them here. I was pretty good overall, although I tanked in some specific areas.

Stash Reduction:

My sock and general stash reduction goals were not met. At all. I was great about this for the first few months of the year, but then I the whole 'dieting' thing got to me and I broke. I am happy that my stash did not get bigger at least - my new acquisitions roughly equal my yarn used. I am okay with that. But this year, well...my resolutions are going to look a bit different.

Organization:

I had pledged to make a database for all things knitting. I started it....and then Ravelry came along. They incorporated everything I wanted and way more. I am absolutely in awe of their vision and execution of this personal database + community + ultimate reference site. Thanks for completing this resolution for me, Jess & Casey!


Want to Learn:

This didn't get much checked off. Overall, I think I improved my knitting abilities, especially in the finishing and colorwork areas. But - most of the specific areas (steeks, cardigans, improving spinning, and entrelac) I didn't end up working on at all. This year I will see what I can do about this.

Projects to Knit or Finish:

Of the 12 sweaters I wanted to knit or finish, I completed 6 of those listed (Hourglass, Erin, Cheesy Puffs, Zara, Rogue, generic grey turtleneck) and subbed Cobblestone for Joseph. While not meeting my goal of 12, I am pretty happy with finishing 7.

All in all, I finished 39 projects in 2007:

7 sweaters
21 pairs of socks
4 hats/head covering stuff
3 scarves
1 kitty pi
1 pair handwarmers
1 bad juju doll
1 pair of warshcloths

I have many of these projects up on Ravelry, but I am still working on getting better about photographing my projects. Especially with my socks. I will try to get better about documenting FOs, and Ravelry is a good incentive to do this. So this is my pictureless, verbous, year end round up for 2007.

Next up - what I have been doing this year so far and resolutions, smesolutions.....

Christmas 2007 FOs

I was able to get most of what I wanted done gift-wise....although some of the gifts should be more accurately named New Year's gifts, rather than xmas gifts. But, to finish off the year, I wanted to document the final tally for xmas '07.

I was able to finish the second Brigit sock, and the sparkly socks for my mom. Some cardstock, a printer, a few rubber stamps , and some markers and you have four nicely packaged gift socks (brigit socks not pictured):

For my friends in CT, I already had the armwarmers and 1 hat done, and just had to finish these slipper socks. The pattern is Log Cabin Socks. I used Rowan Cork in Delight, and followed the modifications from doggedknits to make them a bit thicker.


All 3 of my LYSs were out of the Fibertrends full soles, so I had to use the 2 piece set. It was okay, but I would have preferred the full soles. Ah, the perils of waiting until the last minute....


I also was able to finish a hat for my sis. This was actually done, washed, and wrapped for xmas eve. I gave her a hat for xmas last year (it was lovely, a wool and alpaca mix), but she felted it accidentally (!). She is a postal worker and I wanted to keep her warm, but I am also no dummy. So, this year, she gets Mission Falls superwash wool.


I found the snowflake chart somewhere on the web, and just winged a pattern from there. I was almost sad to give it up.

So, to tally, for Christmas '07 I gifted:

4 pairs of socks
2 hats
1 pair of armwarmers
1 pair of slipper socks

This is much down from last year, and I am glad I paired down. This was a really busy semester, and it was stressful enough.

And, last but not least, I want to give thanks for my wonderful husband. He got me all sorts of fantastic stuff for xmas, including knitting stuff that I have been coveting for a looong time. Including:

4 balls of Classic Elite Waterlily in a lovely deep brown
2 hanks of Claudia Handpaints in Summer Fields (so excited.....)
2 balls of Lang Jawoll in charcoal and 1 in a blues and dark reds variegate
and 1 ball of SRK On Your Toes which has aloe in it.
He also got me some addi turbos, size 15 bamboo straights, some great books, and some fun games (including Zombie Flux and Zombies: School's Out). I am giddy. Thanks, babe!