A Year in Knits: 2015

2015 in Knitwear Design

   

 

   

This year, I released or reformatted 11 patterns:

5 hats - Talus, Camas, Pip, Salt Creek Hat, Cairn

3 shawls - Fireweed, Lupine, Lingon

1 scarf - Blake

1 pair of mitts - Wayward

1 sweater - Sweet Root

2015 was absolutely huge for indie.knits, and I can't wait to see what 2016 holds! Thank you so much for your support, your cool projects, and your awesome feedback this year. I adore connecting with you all - whether through Ravelry, or Instagram, or in person - it makes the work I do feel really meaningful, knowing that there are wonderful folks like you to share it with. <3

2015 in Knits (and a Crochet) for Funsies!

 

So what about my for-fun knitting? Well, I need to get back on that! I've destashed quite a lot of yarn over the last year, with the goal of streamlining my stash and only making projects that I will love to knit and wear. As I've devoted more time to designing, I've had to drastically cut down the number of for-fun projects I knit, so I'd like to become even more careful about choosing great projects in 2016.

So what are the numbers? Let's take a look!

  

3 collars

   

4 pairs of socks

  

3 cowls

   

  

7 shawls

 

2 sweaters

  

2 hats (both Talus, oops!)

1 pair of mitts

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So for the final count, I'm at 29 finished projects for 2015 - many of which are in the design section, although not all the samples have a project page, so I made even more than 29 things. Clear as mud, right?

According to Knitmeter, in 2015 I've knit 12,006 yards, about 6.8 miles, not including the aforementioned extra entries - up from last year's 10,348 yards (5.9 miles.) High five, 2015 me!

I've destashed 90-some-odd yarns in 2015, and knitted up somewhere in the ballpark of 20 stash entries. As we've settled into living in a smaller house, I've become more and comfortable with the idea of owning less - it makes a high level of laziness much more achievable, while still appearing as though I am a fully functional adult (hahah) - so I'd love to continue the downward trend in my stuff in general, and in my stash particularly.

(That said, the stash will never fully go away, because I <3 my stash! Where else would I get my late-night yarn squishings?)

Happy knitting new year!
Love,
Cory

Stashbusting Goals: Sweater(ish Sort of Thing)s

Hokay, so.  I'm finding it really (really really) helpful to list out all of these things I'm hoping to knit this year.  So here's another list, for fun and profit!  (Although not actually profit.  Unless perhaps you count Money Not Spent On Yarn as profit.)

If you take a quick peek at my projects page on Ravelry, you'll notice that I'm not much of a sweater knitter.  I have knit a handful of sweaters and enjoyed it, but I have two major problems when it comes to knitting a sweater project: first, that despite loving clothes, I have very little idea of the type of sweater that is actually flattering to me, and second, I tend to buy in single skeins of things like laceweight or fingering weight, which translates to not that many sweater's worth of anything in my stash.

Which is not to say I have absolutely no sweater's quantities in my stash.  I do.  But they tend to be for little shells, short-sleeved numbers, and such.  I've found that once I have a sweater shape that works for me, I do wear it.  The best bets for me so far are little fitted shells, drapey vest-like layers, and big cozy sweaters.  These are the garments I actually reach for (on purpose!) when I'm wearing my hand-knits.  (On a slightly related tangent: The little vintagey mohair lace sweater that I knit as a shop sample was absurdly fun to make.  Why don't I do this more?)

I am hoping to keep my aspirations reasonable, though, by taking my measly sweater-knitting from last year and tacking on 1 extra sweater.

So, my goal is to knit 4 sweaters in 2012.

1.  Zelda by Joan McGowan-Michael, using 6 skeins Mirasol Tupa (822 yards) (In progress since November 2011)

2.  Dominique (2nd picture of Preview) by Mathew Gagny, from Knitting off the Axis, using 8 balls of Portland Tweed (960 yards) (In progress since December 2011)

3.  Rosamund's Cardigan by Andrea Pomerantz, from Interweave Knits Fall 2009, using 9 skeins of Elsbeth Lavold Chunky Al (738 yards)

4.  Bubble Pullover (rav link) by Norah Gaughan, from Knitting Nature, using 5 skeins of Cascade Lana Bambu (980 yards)

    

All told, that's 3,500 yards,

or

1.9886 miles.  (Can I just say holy crap, here?)

Two of these sweaters I already have on the needles and need to get cracking on.  The turquoise alpaca is deep, deep stash: I bought it when I was on leave from college for a year back in 2006/2007, which is only six months or so after I got really into knitting.  It's hipster alpaca - it was stash before being stash was cool.  I've had Rosamund's Cardigan queued for a long time and had begun to lose faith in my pattern choice, but then I saw a knitting friend's super cute version and my faith was restored.  The Lana Bambu is about the same color of a sweater I used to have and wore literally to death.  I brought it with me to Indonesia and wore it every day I was there, then an unfortunate washing accident rendered it fun-sized when I got home.

I'm really crossing my fingers that I can get myself motivated enough to knit me some sweaters.  Hopefully, the Lists will save the day!

All sweater images copyright their designers and/or publishers.

Stashbusting Goals: Laceweight

6 shawls to knit in 2012 (in no particular order):

1. Harbour Lights by Sivia Harding, 2 skeins of Jade Sapphire Cashmere/Silk in colorway Sterling (800 yards) In progress 1/7/12

2. Trousseau by Carol Feller, 2 skeins Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere 2-ply in colorway Granny Smith (800 yards)

3. Damask by Kitman Figeroa, 1 ball Mini Maiden in colorway Straw (546 yards)

4. The Orchid Thief Shawlette (rav link) by Ysolda Teague, 1 skein Handmaiden Sea Silk in colorway Moss (437 yards)

5. Brandywine (rav link) by Romi Hill, 1 skein Sanguine Gryphon Gaia Lace in colorway Ladyslipper (420 yards)

6. Rosebud Faroese-Style Shawl (rav link) by Margaret Stove, 2 balls Buffalo Gold Lux in colorway Mountain Berry (660 yards)

So the grand total of yardage used up if I complete all of these patterns is.......

3,663 yards

also known as

2.08125 miles.

I'd better get knitting.

All shawl photos copyright of designers/publishers.