Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Another Year's End

My goodness! This 2016 year certainly flew by on jet wings! Of course in my case, there was a heap of vacation prep and then we were gone for 2 months so that could be why it feels like such a short year. In checking through my list of projects accomplished I realised that I probably made as many items as I did last year and the year before but the mix was different.

Knitting:

  • Accessories (including socks) = 4
  • Shawls = 3
  • Sweaters & tunics = 6
  • Other = 3

Sewing:

  • Dress = 1
  • Tops = 3
  • Bags = 5
  • Other = 2

Weaving:

  • Placemats = 8
  • Towels = 6

Dyeing:

  • Yarns = 2
  • Fabrics = 3

Carding & spinning:

  • 3000yds

Paper:

  • Lanterns

Still Unfinished:

  • socks
  • woven blanket
  • crochet blanket

I made a lot of sweaters, including 2 from handspun and dyed yarn. And I made a lot of bags, all for specific uses. The single most time-consuming project (a full 6 months from start to finish) was the Flaming Intersect cardigan which I adore and am wearing as I type! Warm.

I didn't sew very many garments. That will change in 2017 since I'm getting somewhat desperate for some new things. I think I'm going to have to assess the fabric and pattern stashes and identify what exactly I need to fill the gaps. I want to make a list of what types of garments and silhouettes I wear most often and am most comfortable in. This will help me avoid wasting time (and fabric) on items I won't be as happy with. I hope. Sometimes sewing your own clothes is kind of a crap shoot because you can't just take it into the dressing room and try it on before you put in all that work creating it. Experience seems to have made me much more successful these days though. **crossed fingers**

Another thing I want to concentrate on in the new year is spinning up some of my vast fibre stash. And not just for accessories but for sweater amounts. For starters I have a project in mind that needs 900 yards of bulky yarn. For me that's elephant-sized! It'll be a challenge not to make rope that would hold back said elephant. I want light lofty yarn. I'm going to have to sample. A lot.

And there will be many more makes because you know I can't help myself, right?

Meanwhile, I repaired the hole in the alpaca shawl:

It does show a little because I had to do quite a lot of duplicate stitch to reinforce the edges of the hole. It's wearable again though and hopefully won't develop any more injuries. I think I might have pinched it in my backpack's front clasp. I'll be more careful in future.

And one last finished object that you haven't seen yet:

A flock of knitted tawashi! They should be enough to keep me washing dishes for the foreseeable future. It'll be interesting to see if they hold up as well as the crocheted ones did. Best use of acrylic yarn, hands down.

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