2005 Wrap Up

To clean up the sidebar, I'm going to do a year-end-wrap up now.

I completed 27 projects in 2005 -- roughly a finished object every other week. I have 5 FOs in progress at the end of the year: the lace sundress from the cover of Summer IK, my argyle socks, the circular knit pullover I started last week, Carlotta from Rowan 36 and the cross-strap tank from VK, which is actually left over from 2004. Ooops.

Actually, the Hourglass sweater is technically in progress too. I've worn it a few times, but I haven't done the ruffles yet. Still. So it goes on the UFO list because it's not blocked yet and not trimmed.

The smallest project was probably either the arm warmers from January or the flower pins in December. The largest is definitely the Great American Aran Afghan that I finished in July, though the VW cozy comes close, however I only did a part of that.

Pattern sources

I'm surprised to find that my largest source of patterns for the year was myself, with 9. Some of those had help from existing patterns, but several were entirely from scratch. Next up as a source was knitty.com, which I knitted 6 patterns from. Vogue Knitting and Interweave Knits each gave me 2 patterns, and the rest were from various books and websites.

What I love the best

By far my most worn FO was Bad Penny, which was off to a rough start when I ran out of yarn less than halfway through, but which turned out well enough that I wore it all the time. Including one time when I was actually recognized on the street during Gallery Hop because someone had seen it on the Bad Penny KAL blog.

The slouchy hippie beret is also one that gets a lot of wear, as is the clapotis.

I also love the Noro Shinano Vest I finished last week, but I need to block it before I wear it much more. I think I did wear it for three days straight around Christmas, just to show it off.

Yarns this year

My favorite yarn to work with this year was either Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb or Alchemy Silk Purse. I love the silk! The Lion and Lamb has pilled a lot in the form of the clapotis, but I think a good washing and once over with the sweater shaver will help it out. I also very much enjoyed Rowan Kid Classic, although it tended to leak dye all over my hands.

My least favorite yarn was Jaeger Chamonix. It's oh so soft and luxurious, but it doesn't hold a shape very well. Perhaps that's my problem for using it for a hat and armwarmers, but it annoyed me to no end. Plus, the ends I wove in won't stay woven in, so I don't use those items as much as I should.

Miss-steps

There was an FO or two that was frogged completely in 2005. Most notably, the biggest disaster ever, the x-back tank from knitty. Seed stitch in Rowan Cotton Tape yielded a tank top that could have fit two of me, and seemed to grow by the minute. I also frogged a 2004 FO, the honemoon cami from knitty, as it was in a size that was just far too large for me. I need to learn how to fit tanks to my body better.

The biggest disaster that still needs fixing was the back of Carlotta. I discovered far too late that I wasn't placing beads correctly on the back, so I had to rip back 5 inches of knitting in fingering weight wool on size 2 needles. That scarred me so badly that I've only knitted a row or two on that project since. I need to get cracking on that, because I would like to wear it at least once this year.

And oh yeah, I totally forgot to photograph the slippers I made my grandmother for Christmas. That was kind of silly.

Looking forward to 2006

This year, my knitting goals are to finish Level I and start Level II of the TKGA's master knitter program, to finish Carlotta and enter it into the state fair, and to get at least one pattern published, whether it's on the blog, or somewhere else. That's it. I'm keeping it simple this year.

Projects completed during 2005

Noro Shinano Vest from VK[pic]

Gifts: Kureyon Fuzzy Feet for grandma

Gifts: flower pins [pic]

Gifts: journal covers [pic]

Classic Cloche from Knit One, Felt Too [pic]

Crusoe socks in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport [pic]

Clapotis[pic]

Zeeby's Bag [pic]

Trunk for VW cozy [pic]

Double Basketweave Scarf for Scarf Me Pal [pic]

Slouchy Chunky Beret [pic]

Boho Garter stitch scarf [pic]

Women's Fancy Rib Socks [pic]

Boho Loop Scarf [pic]

Great American Aran Afghan [pic]

Twist Front top from Summer VK out of Berroco Denim Silk [pic]

Drawstring bag from Meadow & Pearl Kidsilk Haze[pic]

Bad Penny from Beige/White Binario and Maroon Rotunda [pic]

Sitcom Chic out of Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Orangeade[pic]

Hat from Lamb's Pride & Mission Falls 1824 Wool [pic]

Legwarmers from Cascade 220 & Ironstone New Wool from Weekend Knitting[pic]

Secret Pal Gift[pic]

Cricket capelet from Mission Falls 1824 Cotton, my own pattern[pic]

Rosedale II from Noro Kureyon[pic]

Magic Stripes socks[pic]

Nearly Gloves armwarmers from Jaeger Chamonix[pic]

Hat from Jaeger Chamonix[pic]