I can’t believe that this has happened; I had just gotten used to writing 2022 and it is already over. I’ve been reflecting on the year and decided to talk about the yarn, the books, and the roses in separate posts. This one, of course, is about the knitting that went on last year.
First, the goals. I wanted to learn how to double knit: did it. I wanted to knit something using the Cocoknits method: did that too. I wanted to get at least 100 skeins of yarn out of the stash: absolutely did that too. Seriously, it was a pretty good year.
I knitted 6 sweaters. That’s a lot for me.
The top-down sweaters of 2022: these are Goldenfern, Emma, Salty Air Tee, Lace & Fade Boxy, Kevat, and Cushman. There was a lot of grey knitting going on last year so I’ve started out knitting a Simple Thing scarf thingy to wear with the neutral sweaters to give some color. I plan to make some wristers too, and I want to say that I am getting absolutely excellent knitting support from the CoalBear while I’m doing this.
Won’t those colors look nice on the grey sweaters?
Let’s see, what else did I knit… glances at Xcel spreadsheet… this year? I knit a bee. There was a pair of baby booties. I knit a lot of hats (33), even more PICC line covers (52) and 6 pairs of socks. I knit that cat paw sample of double knitting. I also knit one shawl that was a MKAL that sent Hannah on an adventure around the world chasing a worm that had stolen a priceless golden bag of cat treats from a museum in Cairo. Altogether, it was quite the year!
That bee is now hanging in my indoor orchid garden. The hats and PICC line covers all went to the Kaiser infusion centers in the Denver Metro area though an organization called Frayed Knots, and there is Hannah home from her adventures on Sharon Air.
After watching lots of YouTube videos and downloading a chart I found online I created the double-knit sample of… of course it is a cat paw!! I also got those baby booties done for the next-door neighbor who had a new arrival last April right before my surgery in May.
So that’s it. Whew. You didn’t want to see the socks, did you? I mean, they are all the same picture of the same pattern on the same feet knitting in different colors of blue and grey. I was pretty boring this year, so I feel that I should spare you those photos.
Here’s a picture of Hannah instead, because she is the cutest girl ever and that’s that!
I did mention that I got a lot of yarn out of the stash, right? Almost 120 skeins of yarn were culled from the stash and used up in knitted projects or donated to other knitters through Frayed Knots. Yay!
Time to buy more yarn!
Happy New Year, everyone.
Yarn, Books & Roses 
Crikey, Marilyn – that’s a most impressive list ! Have you become a devotee of double knitting ? – I reckon it’s fun to learn to do new things, but mostly they become forgotten abilities while we get on with Real Knitting (or, in my case, Crochet .. although I have determined I am going to KNIT A SWEATER this year). The photo of Mateo is sublime; and of course we all agree in chorus that Hannah is No. 1 Cutie.
[MR puts up hand to cover mouth and mutters ‘Except for Boodie ..’, naughtily] 😀
And as well as that massive amount of creativity, you handled some fairly savage ups and downs with your health ..
I recommend that you continue to knit wonderfully, and that you continue to handle any health peaks or troughs with your usual aplomb. I do not wish to be without your always interesting posts !!
Double knitting was kind of on my bucket list because I saw some cute potholders to knit with bunnies and bees and other creatures that I love on them. I absolutely love recommend top down knitting for the sweater because you have so much opportunity to try it on to check for fit while you work. I especially love that I can get the sleeves exactly right and then finish up the body. I have to point out that two of my sweaters were short sleeved and then two used larger yarn so they were faster knits. Then there is thre fact that I spent about half the year in bed…
Hannah: Boodie must be pretty darn cute…
Hannah: Oh, Boodie IS pretty darn cute!!
You must have had a project in your hands 24/7 to do all that!
Impressive round-up of FOs and an even more impressive amount of stash busting! 👏🏻 ❤️ I can’t wait to see what you have planned for 2023. I have 1 FO and a whole bunch of WIPs. 🤣 I am hoping for a new year with more knitting.
I am so happy with the destash and plan to continue this year. I am able to get a lot out by knitting those hats and PICC line covers, and there was a call this week for heavy socks. Yay! I’m knitting everything holding two strands together at a time.
I have no FO yet this year but there is a lot of stuff on needles…
I wondered how your son’s cat was doing. Thoughts and prayers for your health for the new year and beyond.
My son’s cat is doing fine; it is Hannah who is absolutely terrorized by him. He’s kind of a huge orange monster and she is pretty much unwilling to let him put so much as a paw on her…
Thanks for positive thoughts for the health. I’m getting my next round of visits and testing next month…
Good to see the output laid out. I really like the bee
That bee is of British design…
All those gorgeous items. My favourite is the golden fern, I may have remembered the name wrong…it’s unusual for me to like it so much as it’s definitely not my colours but I love it. I don’t recall seeing the bee. Did I miss a post I wonder or is my memory getting even worse. It looks like those cute cats have been a huge help through the year, will Hannah go on another international mystery adventure I wonder…I will stay tuned to see what 2023 brings the 3 of you.
I loved Goldenfern so much I thought about knitting it again in the woodsy brownish grey with pinkish ferns. I also don’t think of those colors as being ones I like, but I just loved the sweater too. There was a post with the bee… it was a BioGeek one about bees and the knitted one was in there too.
Hannah is definitely hoping for more adventures!
That is an absolutely stunning amount of knitting !
I wonder, is the cocoknits method very different from ‘regular’ knitting ?
The Cocoknits wasn’t all that different once I got knitting, but the way the patterns are handled is. The yoke shaping and shoulders are definitely different as the upper back and shoulders are done first, and then you pick up stitches to build the front of the yoke. The biggest difference is the worksheet that you fill out using the pattern to organize your knitting which was pretty intimidating until I figured it out, and then you use different colored stitch markers to keep track of where you are in the knitting. Once you are set up you just knit away using this worksheet and you don’t really need the pattern until you are at the bottom of the body. Cool, huh. I did learn a new method of binding off and a new way to close the bottom of the sleeves at the armpit. I’m thinking that I need to make another one of these sweaters since it does fit well.
Thank you for your elaborate answer ! It sounds like a very good, though maybe slightly intimidating, deal. It does make me consider trying.
Happy New Year! That’s some really impressive knitting. I particularly like the way your Kevat sweater turned out.
I loved the Kevat!! The yarn and the pattern just played so well together.
And it’s so pretty! 😀
Wow, you had a productive knitting year! So many beautiful makes. Let me know how you like that scarflet pettern. It’s in my queue. Nothing wrong with gray, though. I love a gray sweater.
The scarflet pattern is super easy knitting and even so I followed the directions wrong. The scarf is going to work perfect, tho, and it is pretty mindless knitting.
Oh my gosh! You did so many projects this year, and all lovely! I am hoping Hannah gets to go on another adventure this year – it was so much fun reading about it this past year 🙂 Hannah and Coal Bear are both so adorable. I hope that Hannah and your son’s cat get along a bit better after they get used to each other. And wow – you got a lot of yarn out of your stash!!
I’m kind of stunned by how much knitting was going on… It really helped that I was less active and knitting with doubled yarn for a lot of things. I’m still making lots of PICC line covers and heavy socks so the stash is still shrinking.