2013

Well my friends, 2013 has come to a close.  I spent last night taking care of a sick pup (she had an allergic reaction to a bug she tried to eat), but we were planning on having a quiet evening at home already.

While this year may have been a tough year personally - I don't talk about it here on the blog - it's been a great year knitting-wise!   It's difficult to pick a few favorites, but I've created some categories to narrow it down to five favorites.

My favorite big project of 2013 was, well, my first successful "big project" ever!  I finished my first real sweater, the Shawl Collared Sweater, early in the year.  It definitely isn't without it's problems, but I wear it to this day and still think it came out well.  It has some pretty stiff competition since I finished Miette at the beginning of September, but this sweater was such a labor of love that it comes out on top.

The first of my two smaller size favorites is my Bad Haircut Hat.  Something about the color of the yarn and the feathery lace really makes me glow.  Good choices, self!  It's also a great hat to throw on and instantly feel a bit more put together.

This also reminds me that I haven't gotten a haircut since "the incident."  Still too scared!  Maybe I should make a resolution to get another haircut in 2014?

With my Opaline shawl I took a step outside my comfort zone with my yarn choice.  I don't like yarns with high contrast color variations.  I just don't.  But I couldn't resist the siren call of this Madeline Tosh yarn so I'm proud to have knit a very wearable shawl out of it.  Now I have to figure out what to knit with a couple other variegated yarn choices I've made.  Another 2014 resolution?

There's no way I could put together a list of my favorite knits without including one of my designs.  I may not be publishing them (yet), but I'm very proud of them.  The one I'm most proud of is my Tessa hat.  I'm not satisfied completely with that center cable, but it's a darn nice hat idea and the recipient loved it!

Last, though certainly not least, in the "gift knits" category we have my sister's Wedding Spatterdash mittens.  They turned into birthday/holiday gift mittens (one for each!) because I'd had enough for a while after I finished the first one.  They still need buttons, but I was able to "give" them to my sister when I saw her a couple weeks ago, do a fitting, and take them back to finish them.  I'm proud that I even started the second mitten, let alone finished it!

I haven't posted finished object posts for everything I made in 2013, but if you're interested in the rest of the bounty you can click this 2013 tag and see all there is to see!

The greatest non-knitting highlight of my year was definitely the birth of my nephew, Baby J.  He is so, so sweet, and I can't wait to get to know him as he grows up.  He also gives me an excuse to make all the teeny tiny baby knits I could dream of!

My runner-up non-knitting highlight is starting to learn about dyeing with natural dyes!  I have another batch of black walnut dyed yarns to show off, and am still collecting avocado pits for my next dye experiment.

Here's to a brand new year!  May it be way better than 2013!