Thursday, January 1, 2009

2008: A Year in FOs...


2008 was the second full year of my knitting obsession, so I thought I'd take a look at what all I accomplished in the world of knit goods this year. I was surprised to find that I amassed a total of 56 finished objects in 2008! That's pretty damn good! Even consider the many small, easy items (hats, afghan squares, etc. - and one catnip mouse), that still works out to over one finished object per week, and that is nothing to sneeze at! (And it also makes those fourteen UFOs still on my WIP list not seem so shameful! LOL)


Pictured in these three mosaics are my 56 finished projects from 2008. You can click through to them on Flickr and read little notes about each, but for actual project details, you'll have to go to my projects page on Ravelry.


And just to satisfy those of you who are crazy like me like statistics, the break down of these 56 items is as follows:

12 hats (including Calorimetry, which is really more of a headband)
11 afghan squares
10 tops (5 cardigans, 3 shrugs, 1 tank top, 1 vest)
8 pairs of socks
5 scarves (including the Athena entrelac neckwarmer)
3 pairs of knitted pasties
2 purses
2 dishcloths
2 baby gifts (1 afghan, 1 sweater)
1 catnip mouse

Of these, at least six were my own designs.

While the year started off slowly with a lot of simple projects, it progressed to more complicated endeavors. As well as succeeding at more difficult patterns in general, I also learned...

...how to knit socks using magic loop.
...how to knit a mitred square.
...how to knit proficiently continental-style (yes! so much faster!).
...how to do entrelac.
...how to hand-sew lining and zippers into knitted garments (I hate doing it, but I learned how nonetheless).

Other learning was a little less specific. I noticed as I was going through and adding notes to the pictures on Flickr is that I was kind of critical about several of the items I made. I was trying not to be negative, so I am instead trying to discern what I can learn from my self-criticisms.

One example would be to try and choose better projects to start out with. Granted, I started a fair few things that got frogged before they got very far. I'm not talking about those things. I'm talking about the things I started and insisted on continuing out of sheer stubbornness. For example, just because I have ten balls of a beautiful, red Sublime Cashmerino Silk Aran, which is enough for a cropped sweater and not a regular-length sweater, does not mean I should knit a cropped sweater for myself out of it because -- really? -- I do not look good in cropped sweaters and no matter how optimistic I am about it as I knit it, it is still going to make me look frumpy and wide when I'm done with it.

That said, I have learned a lot about my particular body shape this year and how to knit for it. Until recently, I've spent a lot of time erring on the side of knitting larger when in fact I didn't really need to...I could have gone for the next size down. I think it is a combination of how I see myself versus what my body really looks like.

This knitting thing...it's always a learning process, which is probably why I love it so. Wonder what I'll learn this year?

1 comment:

pdxknitterati/MicheleLB said...

You and I are on the same path, Girlfriend! As with the Christmas lessons learned, the knitting lessons learned are similar. I used to make my sweaters cropped, because I'm short, and short on top. Now when I look back, I see that just made me look shorter! Longer sweaters create an illusion of a longer torso.

Same with the oversizing and ease. Negative ease can be our friend. Learned a lot this year. Glad we're on the same trip!

Happy new year!