Hello! How is everyone? Have you recovered from the double whammy of Christmas and New Years? I'm not sure I can even look at a mince pie I ate so much over the holidays! I used December as a complete break from having to do anything whatsoever that wasn't essential. My term finished on the 17th December by which point I was so tired I found myself sleeping through the five alarms I set for every morning. Yes five. Yes I slept through all of them. Yes I need a better system! Or more sleep. I had a great Christmas holidays which you will see at the end of this post. By the 1st January I felt recovered from 2017 and ready to approach 2018. I didn't want to rush my goals and reviews for 17/18 and now a week in I'm ready to review 2017. This post is a look back at what happened in 2017 through pictures!
January
January signaled the beginning of my first full year of knitting and crochet! I had my first yarn kit, my first sock and my first crochet swatch. How many times can you say first in one sentence?!
The Attic 24 Moorland CAL yarn kit from Wool Warehouse. It more than doubled my stash and has mainly stayed there up until now.
And this is the blanket itself! Aaaand this is as far as I got this year... It's been staring at me from the WIP pile like a cosy scarf that wants to become more, like a blanket maybe?
February
My second sock! And my new discovered obsession with West Yorkshire Spinner 4 ply sock yarn. This is Rum Paradise using the cable sock pattern by Winwick Mum (her tutorials here). Can you spot the slightly bent DPN? I need to look after my needles better and not vent my frustration on them when the knitting goes awry! But just look at those cables... Mmm yes, very happy with those.
This was one of my only weaving projects from this year. The warp and weft threads are from the amazing Handweavers Studio in London. The woman in charge of the shop when I went in spent ages with me helping choose the right thickness of thread (is that the right word?) for the different heddles I had at home.
February unfortunately signaled the start of a difficult year for Harvey. Just before this photo he was really unwell. All over the carpet. Yuk. Instead of my first trip to Unravel in Farnham we spent the day cuddling in a duvet reassuring him that these things happen sometimes. And at least cats will never experience hangovers.
I completed my first shawl.This is Spindrift by Helen Stuart. It's more of a shawlette and provided the valuable lesson of the importance of keeping track of your stitches and why stitch markers are so awesome. It's the only shawl I have made - am I the only one who isn't sure about them? One of my knitting plans for 2018 may remedy this - stay tuned! Yarn - West Yorkshire Spinners of course! Colourway is Peacock in 4 ply.
March
Not much knitting seemed to happen in April. However I did get to visit an international yarn shop in Barcelona. You know you're with the right person when your boyfriend suggests looking for yarn shops in every city we go to. That's true love that is. We went to All You Knit Is Love in Barcelona. It was down one of the narrow, winding alleys that fill a lot of the city.
The inside of the shop was narrow, long and brimming with yarn.
I think the shop is owned by an English/ Spanish couple hence the English name for the shop. I chose a locally dyed 4 ply yarn as a souvenir for the holiday although I can't find a photo at the moment! I did write a blog post for the holiday here.
I continued my love for West Yorkshire Spinners:
I finished the Winwick Mum cable sock and knit a vanilla sock in Tequila Sunrise. No matching pairs - second sock syndrome is an ongoing struggle!
I had a great hiking trip before my end of year exams with other people from my course. And found the background photo for my blog title.
The group after a two hour rain shower.
But we scrub up pretty well! And this was using campsite showers.
May
Harvey went missing for five days. No knitting as I didn't feel like doing anything while looking for Harvey. Thankfully he was found closer to home than expected (post here). Not the best month! I'm aiming for a better May in 2018.
June and July
June was definitely a better month! Harvey was home and safe. It was the month before end of year exams so everything was on pause while I crammed at least 20 textbooks into my brain. But the summer holidays were calling and I couldn't wait!
I've combined these two months as it's always a quieter time of year. However the main highlight was PomFest!! Created by Pom Pom Quarterly magazine to celebrate their 5 year anniversary. I've written a whole post about it here, so I won't say too much. What I will say is that it was my first foray into the knitting community beyond the internet. And it was wonderful. Everyone was friendly, supportive of new knitters and helpful when I was trying to choose yarn.
There were so many beautiful samples on show from the various Pom Pom Quarterly issues.
My yarn haul from Pom Fest.
I immediately cast on a cabled hat from the Garthernor yarn as my first holiday project. This is 100% Llanwenog wool in DK.
I also tried a little bit of colourwork. This is one of the squares from the Enchanted Cottage blanket which was published in stages in the Knit Now magazine. You can see how it pulls in at the colourwork section. I'm going to try larger needles for the centre bit and re-knit it.
August
I took my hat project everywhere!
In the garden. Cables appearing!
On the plane.
On the beach! This is in Zanzibar. Mum and I took an incredible trip to Tanzania to go on safari.
If anyone wants more photos of the African wildlife I'll happily write a post!
September
I finished my cabled hat!
And I went on my second Great London Yarn Crawl!
It was a brilliant day (post here). This is quickly becoming an annual event for me, having attended for the past two years. There are so many local yarn shops in London so there is always something new to discover and new people to meet.
October
I continued my obsession with West Yorkshire Spinners. Until this post I genuinely hadn't realised how many skeins I had bought! This purchase was inspired by Winwick Mum who produced a sock pattern to accompany the candy cane yarn in the centre.
And I got to meet some real sheep (and goats).
And I finished my first jumper - Tin Can Knits Flax jumper from their free Simple Collection.
And a last minute pumpkin for Halloween :)
The pattern is freely available on Ravelry and is called Pumpkin Pete. It's so cute!
November
Birthday month! I finally got hold of a ball winder and a yarn swift! Best gifts ever!
Jumper number two complete.
Jumper number two complete.
I attended a spinning class which was a birthday present from me to me :) With spinning wheels not bikes! I might even get round to writing a post about it as it was so worth it. It has inspired me to try more spinning when I get the time.
It's lumpy and bumpy but I made it :)
December
By this point, four months of continuous hospital placements were taking its toll and I was so tired! I had two weeks off for Christmas and I spent the first week sleeping a lot and just sitting, not doing very much. It was so needed! Then the second week was spent skiing which was just fantastic. I have a few photos on Instagram of the slopes which full of snow and glittering under the winter sun. Sleep, fun, exercise and time away from studying helped my get my knitting mojo back and I started the candy cane socks while watching my mum have an ice skating lesson. Skiing was not her thing and instead she spent the week on ice not snow. It was great to watch her enjoy herself and also have time away from work.
And that was 2017! When I started this post I didn't think I had achieved much knitting-wise and it has been really good to go through the year. It has made me realize that despite being a heavy year for my degree I have still managed to eke out time to enjoy some creativity and fun activities. I cannot wait to see what 2018 holds for me and for all of you! In my next post I'll chat about my goals for 2018 and what I'd like to knit next.
Have a great week everyone! What have been your highlights from 2017? Have you got a project or something you're particularly proud of? I'd love to hear about them in the comments below!
By this point, four months of continuous hospital placements were taking its toll and I was so tired! I had two weeks off for Christmas and I spent the first week sleeping a lot and just sitting, not doing very much. It was so needed! Then the second week was spent skiing which was just fantastic. I have a few photos on Instagram of the slopes which full of snow and glittering under the winter sun. Sleep, fun, exercise and time away from studying helped my get my knitting mojo back and I started the candy cane socks while watching my mum have an ice skating lesson. Skiing was not her thing and instead she spent the week on ice not snow. It was great to watch her enjoy herself and also have time away from work.
Have a great week everyone! What have been your highlights from 2017? Have you got a project or something you're particularly proud of? I'd love to hear about them in the comments below!
No comments:
Post a Comment