I’ve been looking back through my planners and notebooks to see what I’ve accomplished this year. I finished 12 knitting projects, which was exactly my goal! They are:
Lotus Ring
A gold-leafed Beethoven bust wearing a red lacy cowl
Mackenzie
Me wearing a lacy tee in variegated peaches and blues
Less is More
A triangular shawl on a bench with muted red, pink, and purple stripes
Cozumel
A dress form in a yarn shop wearing a cowl with 5 color blocks and colorwork in between each block. The colors are white, red, gold, gray, and purple.
Legolas Socks
Feet wearing green socks in the grass. The socks have a cable and lace pattern swooping over the top of each foot.
Pirra Necklaces
A three strand beaded necklace made with tan yarn with color blocks of blueA three strand beaded necklace made with teal yarn and color blocks of red
Whitman Hat
A side view of a smiling woman wearing a dark teal textured hat
Charade Socks
Feet wearing lightly textured socks in a variegated gradient from light pink at the cuff to dark pink at the toes
A Fair Isle Christmas stocking featuring flowers, bees, and butterflies, in yellows, blue, black, burgundy, and green
I also finished one other top secret project that I will not blog about yet because it’s a Christmas present I have yet to deliver (shakes fist at icy roads).
For spinning, I only finished one project due to losing my spinning mojo back in July with the loss of a kitten. I call it the Lollipop/Autumn Leaves skein, after the two colorways I used.
A skein of two-ply hand spun yarn in barber poled blues, reds, and golds
In other crafts I finished two cross stitch projects and a woven cat blanket. The blanket was promptly destroyed, which I was pretty much expecting.
Four squares of woven pieces in blue and white sewn together into a larger square.A cross stitch in a round hoop featuring a llama with the words “No Probllama”A cross stitch on black fabric in a round hoop featuring a little ghost and the words “Boo You Whore”
I came out with 11 knitting WIPs, 4 spinning WIPs, and 11 WIPs of other crafts.
The knitting WIPs include:
Hexipuffs (not pictured)
Pravigan
A complex brioche knit in blue and tan mohair yarn on the needles
Spice Route (I have since bound off and dropped down the dropped stitches, now I just need to block it.)
A long variegated black, gray, and orange scarf with what looks like ribs, on the needles
Karenin Hat (just needs buttons, what is wrong with me)
A green and yellow nubbly aviator style hat with a front flap, missing buttons. Also in the picture is an unblocked Fair Isle coffee cozy.
Steeked Coffee Cozy (again, just needs buttons, seriously, what is wrong with me)
A Fair Isle coffee cozy in purple, green, red, white, and blue being blocked. Also pictured is a white swatch being blocked.
Beaded Capelet
Two scallops of green beaded lace knitting with beaded tassels hanging off them, on the needles
My Christmas Stocking (just needs lining, which I will need help from a sewing friend to figure out)
A Fair Isle Christmas stocking featuring snowflakes, yarn balls, deer, trees, and sheep, in burgundy, white, grays, and green.
Twisted Goth Socks (I finished the first sock and stalled on the heel of the second)
A black and acid green striped sock leg on the needles, with the green stripes being textured.
Cabled Tea Cozy (so close to being finished)
A heavily cabled teapot cozy in orange with teal trim.
Tensfield Hat
A partial hat with an unusual construction showing a gradient triangle in dark blue and oranges.
Whitman Hat #2 (this was my New Year’s Eve cast on)
The purple brim of a hat with two rounds of white at the start of the body of the hat, on the needles
The spinning WIPs include:
Orange Corriedale on Turkish spindle (I’ve finished one skein, but am not done with the fiber)
Shetland test spin (I’ve done two single ply samples and am working on a three ply now)
A thin single ply yarn in orange, with a much thicker white single ply yarn
Julie Spins
A two ply yarn in yellows, light blue, and pinkish purple on the bobbin
Sweater Quantity Spin
A partial bobbin of tan singles on the wheel
Other craft WIPs include:
The World cross stitch (not pictured)
embroidery sampler (not pictured)
block of hand quilting (not pictured)
paint by number kit (not pictured)
monkey cross stitch (just needs framing, not pictured)
peacock cross stitch (just needs framing, not pictured)
Indian Maiden cross stitch (not pictured, just needs framing, but I don’t know if I will because I did it a long time ago and having a Native American person as décor is just kind of cringey)
dragonfly cross stitch (not pictured)
Cryptid SAL (here’s where I currently am at)
A cross stitch sampler of cryptids on linen showing a black frame around a yeti, some skulls, a partial black frame next to the yeti, and a corner of a larger black frame around the whole thing. It is in the q-snaps, so the whole project is not visible.
Needle felted alpaca
A needle felted alpaca with a fluffy purple coat on it’s body, but so far a naked neck.
Cat cross stitch (just needs ironing and framing)
A black and white cat face from the nose up with “Meow” written above it
And as far as fostering goes, we raised NINE litters this year! First was Biscuit and her kittens Shortbread, Teacake, and Crumpet.
A gray and white mama cat with yellow eyes licking her lips, while cuddling two tiny kittens.Three tiny kittens in a pile, one gray and white, one gray tabby, and a Torbie with a white face
Then there was Mabel, Maude and Marvin.
Three tiny kittens in a pile, one Calico, one Torbie, and one gray tabby
Then there was Nandor, Nadia, Neville, and Nigel.
Four tiny kittens in a pile, two tuxedos, one nearly black, and one orange.
Then there was Ducky and Goose, who we only had for two weeks at the same time as the N kittens. We also had the M kittens at the same time, but they were older. It was a challenging time.
A tiny brown tabby kitten sitting on a plush blanket.A tiny dilute tortoiseshell kitten on a plush blanket
Then when the Ns were older we picked up a singleton, Laszlo who was the same age as them and let him socialize with them.
A black kitten on a light blue blanket
Then we had nine older kittens who were found in a former neighbor’s yard. Peetie, Hazel, Cedar, Ash, Willow, Spot, Bandit, Magnolia, and Maple (not all pictured)
Five older kittens strewn about a bathroom, one popping out of a teal cat carrier
Then our friend found a stray kitten that we had for a few days while waited for the shelter to take him. Earl Grey was adopted pretty quickly. I didn’t count him among the kittens we actually raised as we had him such a short time.
An older gray and white tabby curled up in someone’s arms
Then there was Bailey, Brandy, and Sherry.
A gray and white adult cat watching over three kittens on a sisal rug in the sunshine. The kittens are: a torbie with white feet, a Calico with a short tail, and a gray kitten with a short tail
Then there was Mambo and her kittens, Twist, ChaCha, and Charleston.
A silver tabby mama cat with striking black stripes sitting on a cat towerTwo gray tabbies with black stripes, and one black kitten laying on a patterned blanket
And last but not least, there was Peep and Chiclet!
A fluffy tuxedo kitten with a black spot on her nose, laying next to a short haired tuxedo kitten
And because we have no self control, we adopted two of our fosters this year.
Biscuit (the mama from the first litter)
A gray and white cat with yellow eyes laying on a cat tower
And the boy from the last litter, Chiclet, who we renamed Dean Martin, or Dino.
A short haired tuxedo kitten laying on his back in someone’s arms
That brings our total of cats we actually own up to nine. We just can’t seem to help ourselves. Though after seven years of fostering these have been our only foster-fails, so that’s not a bad track record overall.
The Secret Life of Yarn 