Sunday, January 18, 2009

My Crafting Year: 2008 in Review

I was thinking about how little I had accomplished on this project this year, and feeling pretty gross about it. Yeah, I made a few beholders... the curly eyestalks were fun. They're in a box, somewhere....

But when it came to filming, not much happened. There have been issues with the camera. I don't have a stable base for it yet from which to line up my shots.

So what did I accomplish this year? Thanks to Ravelry, I have a clue.
3 lace shawls. The first one took me 3 months to make. That's three months, no other projects, roughly 6 hours a day, every day. It was the Rona Lace Shawl from Knitpicks. A second Rona shawl is 50% done. I had to take a break.

The other was a rectangular shawl which took me 5 months, interrupted by other projects. It was knit with Ellyn Cooper's Yarn Sonnets yarn Tingles in colorway Smokey Opal, on #9 Brittanys. Did I swear through the whole making of said shawl? You betcha. Was it worth it to present a shawl of my own design to my wonderfully sweet MIL? Absolutely.

An infant gift set of an Irish cable cardigan, hat, and shoulder cloth from the Gift Knitter book. Have I mentioned how much I dislike children, and also sewing little seams?

Scarves. Two faves - the Wishing Scarf, knit for a friend, and Peaceful - one I made for me as an amulet against those selfish stupid people in the world that I am forced to interract with.

Chemo caps. I made a few for a friend in SC who was diagnosed with breast cancer this year.

Tofuttens. I made a pair for another friend of mine. The colors remind me of Hoodsie cups.

Historic, manly muffatees - Tofutten friend's roomie threatened to steal her other pair of mitts for use, so I made him some nice ones with a hunter green & grey tweed yarn. I believe the pattern was ca. 1830s.

Moon Muffin Menstrual Pads! I designed my own washable/reusable, eco friendly pad. It is crochet. Viva Lion Cotton. I've been tweaking the design to allow for different...ahem...volumes.

I also got most of the way through a splendid winter hat for my MIL before an injury to my hand in early November put me on the crafting DL. The early word is psoriatic arthritis. I'm mending slowly but it really derailed my holiday gifting plans. I've started crocheting again, but have not resumed knitting, as it still hurts to do that.

But considering what I did manage to accomplish, I'm fairly pleased.