End of 2018 knitting roundup

[cimorene]

From here on knitting.

• Favorite knitting project this year: the Bonny Royal Sock Monkey, which I posted about recently



• Your least favorite knitting project this year: This reversible fingering-weight hat - I just didn't like it when I tried it on. I haven't worn it out of the house yet.



• The number of knitting projects you completed this year: 8 (and one crocheted BB-8), but nothing very long term. I didn't knit at all from April to October.



• The number of knitting projects you started but have not yet completed this year: 2 - though one is just waiting for a pom-pom.



• Your biggest knitting project of the year: I knitted a That Nice Stitch scarf for my dad that was about seven feet long.
  



• Your smallest knitting project of the year: By size, a little cabled cover for my pocket notebook. It was cute, but the layers of yarn added so much bulk that I couldn't carry it anywhere so it was a failure. Also, I knitted the entire thing TWICE because of failed gauge swatch the first time, so it was a really dramatic disaster.



• Your favorite yarn of the year: I finally ordered some Jamieson's of Shetland Spindrift. I've been meaning to take up Fair Isle knitting for years, and this is the classic Fair Isle yarn, and so beautiful and heathery.



• A new-to-you technique you tried and liked this year: Susan Rainey's "It's Not About the Hat" (on Ravelry and YouTube) details a technique for taming long floats on the back of stranded knitting by knitting them together on the back of the work - a technique Rainey says she reconstructed from examining vintage Scandinavian stranded sweaters. Nobody seems to have been using the technique online before though, and nobody seems to know what else it might be called. Back knitting? Float knitting? Anyway, it's brilliant.



• Favorite yarn source: Not exactly favorite, but there's a new yarn boutique downtown called Ilo (on Linnankatu) that sells a bunch of candy-colored hand-dyed sock yarns. I love working with those, so I look forward to buying some more of them.



• The first knitting project you plan to start in the new year: I desperately need some more zip-up cardigan jackets that are around worsted weight. I only have two, and they're by far the most convenient sweaters in the wintertime. So maybe Monte Rosa or Tinder.

Comments

[tripleransom]

Hah! I have that hat pattern in my favs. I've been meaning to get around to it for a while. the technique sounds great. Have you actually done it?

[cimorene]

Yep, on the Deep Woods Toque.

[northern]

Those cardigan pattern suggestions look great. I hope you have a great 2019 knitting year!

[cimorene]

I've been looking forward to making both of those for years! It's hard to get around to projects of that scale... and thanks, likewise!