][ in with the new

This is partly a re-post from a Ravelry thread; I wanted to do a 2013 wrap-up here and figured I may as well just use that as a rough draft, add in a few things I forgot, and increase the general level of tangential rambling.

2013 was a good knitting year for me. I think it’s safe to say I knit more this year than the rest of my life put together. I've knit more consistently, more adventurously overall, and with more variety than ever-- it’s quantity and quality and variety all at once.

I did a ton of baby knitting. I made twenty-one small hats for babies at the NICU in the first half of the year, after my twin cousins were born 2 months early. I've also knit 2 hats apiece for them, including a coordinated pair plus a pair of tube socks for each, and a matching hat for dad. I knit a hat and booties for a coworker’s niece, too.

I also knit my first sweaters-- tiny babby sweaters, okay, but I think they count. They were a big hit-- a little too big for the kidlets now, but the parents love them and that gave me all the warm fuzzy feelings ever. Pretty much the only standard baby thing I didn’t knit in ‘13 was a blanket, but that’s okay-- honestly, prior to 2013 I had knit one baby blanket and that was the extent of my baby knitting prowess. (I wish I had pictures, it was a nice one. But I digress.)

My most complex colorwork to date is a 2013 project-- my actually-scannable QR code, which is pretty darn cool if you ask me. It was also my first steek (and as a steek, a great learning experience, but perhaps not the wisest of choices.) I learned a lot abot cotton yarn and why it is not the best idea for certain projects.

I finished what is probably my oldest WIP this year. I knit a pattern in a language I don't speak for my grandfather. I made my first pair of fingerless gloves. I designed and knit three cowls. (Well, I knit four, but the fourth hasn't been gifted yet ;3) I spun on my wheel.

I probably knit thirty tiny pigs-- I've actually lost count of them. (A couple I kept, a couple I’ve already given away; the lion’s share of them have been tucked, flat, into my much-belated Christmas cards. Don’t tell, it’s a surprise.) I found something to do with my size 36 circulars. I made a hat I liked enough to get over my fear of putting pictures of myself on project pages. I knit more Christmas gifts than I ever imagined. (Some still aren't up there.) I made a lot of people I really love really happy.

I learned the basics of crocheting at Maker Faire. I got over my terror of tiny needles (and almost forgot how to use bigger ones.) I learned at least three new cast-ons and one bind-off. I finally managed a provisional CO that didn't utterly fall apart and make me start over. I allowed myself to frog a project I wasn't loving. I had a prima ballerina admire the scarf I made myself.

I organized my stash. I let myself buy way too much yarn because my stash was so organized. I bonded over knitting with my cousin. I talked to a dozen strangers on the subway who wanted to know what I was doing. I can't count the new stitch patterns. I bought roving from ridiculously cute sheep. I missed Rhinebeck, but I learned the art of a perfectly-executed mattress stitch. I managed to snag a Phat Fiber box. Iknit with my grandmother, who hasn't picked up knitting needles in the last 20 or 30 years, but who started cranking out NICU hats with the rest of us when she found out how much she likes bamboo needles.

I blogged more consistently, I *think*, than ever, though that's not saying much. I knit at the movies (simple ribbing at Thor 2 but 2-color drop-stitch colorwork during The Desolation of Smaug!) I published my first (silly) pattern and started writing up two more. I started actually talking to people (a little!) on Ravelry. I told my roommate more about fiber content and knitting technique than she ever wanted to know. (Sorry about that.)

I’m sure I’m forgetting things, but that’s okay. It’s been a busy one.

I am not big on making resolutions-- I love them in theory but I find they make me more likely to fail in the long term, because once you slip up once or twice it’s over. I had a sort of to-do list somewhere in the middle of this year that wholly got away from me, but I don’t really feel like it’s a failure, I just think I went in different directions. (See: the long list of knitting accomplishments above. Who really cares if I didn’t knit socks?)

But I do have some thoughts.

I’d like to blog more regularly in 2014, even though literally no one reads it. I like writing and it’s good for me to critically think about my knitting, what I’ve done and where I’m going. One of my weak points as a knitter has always been a certain reluctance to make big skill-jumps; I usually need to really want a particular thing to get there. I think if I end up writing about eighteen different scarves in a row, though, I’m likelier to notice the rut I’m in and be braver about getting out of it.

I would love to start the super-intimidating-but-awesome sweater kit my cousin gave me for Christmas; it’s going to be a trip, with cuffed sleeves and mesurement adjustments and fair isle and steeking and lord even knows what else. I’ve done a bunch of colorwork now-- some of it with proper floats, even!-- and I like knitting the kind of wool in the kit, so I think I’m up to it. I hope. But I’d like to read through the pattern a few more times before I start swatching, even.

I would love to do some more knitting from stash-- and I’ve got plenty of it-- even though the siren song of New Yarn is pretty hard to resist. I also, definitely definitely want to do more spinning! I love it, and I love knitting with handspun. (Okay, so I haven’t knit with my handspun, but the Cowlbeast was a genuine pleasure and I really want more groovy adventures like it.)

I’m hoping to go to Maryland S&W and/or/and Rhinebeck in ‘14, though we’ll have to see how that really pans out in terms of time, money, &c, but I love fiber parties. I’ll definitely go to the Long Island show again, if I can-- it was an awful lot of fun last year. Same for Maker Faire… potentially I might agree to teach knitting there, but I’m not 100% decided on that.

I want more non-scarfy wardrobe pieces to wear-- a sweater would be nice, but I’m thinking of all the shawl patterns I have set aside just waiting for the right yarn or the right mood or the swift I don’t have to wind that gigantic skein of laceweight into a ball.

And?

Socks.

I’m casting them on as we speak, baby. Let’s wreck this new year.