A Year in Review

 At the beginning of 2019 I made a knitting New Year's resolution. My goal was to spend more time knitting and have at least six new knits by the end of the year.

As we are rapidly approaching 2020 I thought I would take a few moments to reflect on this resolution. Long story short I did reach my goal and so much more. Throughout this year I have pushed myself to do things with knitting that I never really thought about. For one I started this blog. It has pushed me to produce more. I love that it gives me a space to share my projects and what I love to do.

I also created a couple of original designs that I have posted online. Whether or not people ever use them it is nice to know that they are there. This is something that I would not have imagined doing when I first made my 2019 goals. These patterns go hand in hand with the blog. I would have never taken the time to type them up without having a place to put them. However, I wouldn't have made a blog if I hadn't been working on an original idea that I couldn't find elsewhere. Check out my post This Tie had Me in Knots for the pattern that got me started on this blog journey.

To get a better idea of my knitting and what I have done throughout the year I went back and a list of the projects that I have made. With this list I also added a few questions about the projects. With the help of Google Forms I was able to take this information and get some charts that visually show my year.

Throughout this year I have completed nineteen projects. More than doubled my initial goal. Although I did end up unraveling two of them. Sometimes you like the yarn more than the end result. It is also therapeutic to rip out something that just doesn't look right.

Of these nineteen projects, nine of them were gifted. This is a better percentage that I thought it would be. I can be a bit selfish when it comes to my projects.

I have also focused on mostly short term projects. Ones that take a month or less to complete. However, this might not be the most accurate since I am doing this by memory. I only did three projects that took me multiple months to complete.

    

   

I decided that I would be more detailed in my 2020 knitting resolutions. However, I don't want to focus on a number as that is subject to a lot of factors. Instead of six projects I will focus on the following six goals. 

1) I will design and post one original pattern.

2) I will gift at least 50% of what I make.

3) I will work on at least two large projects (sweater, blanket, etc).

4) I will post at least once a month.

5) I will work on a new skill (Brioche, Fair Isle, or Mosaic).

6) I will keep a better track of my knitting as I finish each project.


It will be fun to see the progress that I make throughout this up coming year. This post will help to keep me accountable.   

A Little Christmas Angel

A few weekends ago I was enjoying a lazy morning and was spending this time looking through patterns on Pintrest. I must have been in a Christmas mood because I quickly found myself scrolling through patterns of Christmas decorations and ornaments. When you save something on Pintrest the more it shows you similar items. After a few minutes for cute snowmen patterns, I decided that this would be my next project. Now I just needed to narrow down what seemed to be an endless list of snowmen. Who knew that there were so many knitting patterns for snowmen?

Looking through all of these patterns I stumbled across another pattern. A little angel pattern called "Christmas Cherub". Having just looked at a dozen or more snowmen this pattern stood out to me. It was also from one of my favorite pattern websites DROPS Design®. I had been debating over so many snowmen, but the second I saw this pattern my mind was made up. Without looking up the pattern requirements or even going to the original website I knew what yarn I was going to use.

Back in the summer one of my mom's friends was getting rid of some yarn and ended up giving a lot of it to my mom. Not long after that it became my turn to sort through this stash. As I was looking through all the yarn a few stood out to me. They were begging me to take them home. Two that I happened to pick out of the stash would work great for this angel project. One of these was a Lion Brand® Wool-Ease® in Frost White and the other was a white I Love This Yarn! with a metallic thread woven through it, appropriately named White Sparkle.

One evening after work I started on the project and realized that the Wool-Ease® would be thick enough to be used on its own. It also has some fuzziness that catches the light and allows it to shimmer without any added glitter.

This pattern works up very quickly and by the end of that evening I had a small angel ornament. As I was working on it I starting having vague memories of other Christmas angels. One that stood out to me was made out of a clothespin and was wearing a lacy crocheted purple and white dress.

Decorating a tree was always one of my favorite parts of Christmas. But, it was more than the pretty lights, the decorating, or the finished project. My favorite part was the special ornaments. The one of a kind hand made treasures or the ones that were for a special occasion. The ones that got a place of honor on the tree. I loved the stories behind the different ornaments. This was a gift from so and so. This was made back when you were so old. We got this the year that such as such happened.

This is something that I have continued on my own tree. Sure I mostly have massed produced ornaments. But, each year I try to get a new special ornament. One that evokes a memory and can be placed on a special place on the tree. Like the wedding ornament that my sister gave my husband and I the year we got married.

As I was finishing up this angel I decided that although it was a great little angel, that could be in a place of honor on any tree, it could still be better. Anyone who knows me or has read any of my other blog posts knows that I cannot knit a pattern without having a few adjustments. I have to make it my own.

The first adjustment that I made was to the size. This was a cute little angel and there was nothing wrong with the size. However, I decided that it would be even better as tree topper. For the most part it is the same pattern. I just added more stitches, used both the metallic and the wool, and larger set of knitting needles. Although I added more stitches I kept the decreases per row the same and did more pattern repeats.

I also changed the way that I did the angel's head. The way that the pattern works the head leaves it looking a bit more oval, but that could also be because it is hanging. This looks fine for an ornament, but I wanted the tree topper to have a more rounded head. I did this by doing less decrease rows. I did two rows of decreases and then threaded the yarn through the remaining stitches.

I also rethought the way that I stuffed the head. I wanted it to be round, so I made a ball out of yarn and then put it into the angel's head. I also realized that I needed to make adjustments to the wings, so that they were proportionate to this larger angel. The only difference in the number of stitches and how many stitches were knitted each row. I may have also knitted a few more rows to help it fit on the back of this new angel.

All in all I love the way that this tree topper turned out. It looks a lot better than the dollar store star I have been putting on the tree the last few years. I am sure that this is one of those tree decorations that I will bring out year after year. Its place of honor will be the top of my tree for many years to come.