2012 in Review

This year had a recurring theme: I've never felt so old in my life.  Obviously, I've also never been this old in my life, as is true for all of us.  But what I mean is, for the first time, I've started to feel old, tired and like not everything is open and possible the way it was 10 years ago.  For some reason, being 32 was more of a mental hurdle for me than turning 30 was.  So even though 2012 did bring me some great experiences--good family vacations, time with my beautiful daughter, good time with family--I'm ready for a new year and a new outlook.  I turn 33 in 11 days, and I'm going to work on feeling younger, lighter, happier and more hopeful this year.  It will take work, and I will do it. 

One thing that will make 2013 a great year is my current project: another baby! 

I'm nervous about how this will change my personal time, but I know it will eventually all balance out and our family will find the new normal.  We're expecting around the first of April, and I'm getting more and more excited to see who that new little person is. 

We found out we were expecting at the end of last summer, and that sort of killed my knitting and sewing mojo for a couple months.  I worked on small things like socks and cowls, but not with any kind of plan.  I started to get back into sewing in mid-October when my regular clothes no longer fit, and I discovered that I hated all my maternity clothes from my last pregnancy.  I've made some things I love, but more on that later. 

With all this retrospective on my emotional and mental state during 2012, I thought I'd like to add up my knitting and sewing projects in 2012, and show myself it wasn't a total wash.  Yeah, it wasn't an ideal year, but I did find a lot of space to be creative.  So here goes. 

Knitting:  

Accessories: 25 total

•  5 cowls (4 for me, 1 as a gift)
• 4 shawls, 2 of which were very lacy in laceweight 
• 2 scarves (made of scraps, total stash-buster)
• 10 hats or headbands
• 1 pair mittens
• 3 pair socks (only 1 pair made it to Ravelry)
• 2 home dec placemats (1 for me, 1 set of 3 items as a gift)

Sweaters: 8 total

• 1 pullover
• 1 vest
• 3 long cardigans
• 1 cropped cardigan
• 1 toddler cardigan
• 1 tee

Home dec:

• 1 huge couch blanket (crochet)
• 4 place mats (1 for me, 3 as a gift set; crochet)

Types of knitting:

• 3 very lacy projects in lace weight
• 3 crochet projects
• 6 fair isle/stranded knitting projects
• 4 projects with cables (although 2 of them were the same pattern)

Men left on base (hibernating WIPs): 5

Things I was really not happy with: 5 (3 of which I left unfinished)

Things I loved completely: 14

Sewing:

• Dresses: 3
• tops: 2
• tees: 1
• skirts: 2
• maternity shirts: 4
• maternity dresses: 4

Blogging: 

• Total posts: 27
• Months without posts: 6

Revving up for the Ravellenic Games

The world's biggest Knit-a-long is less than two weeks away!  It's time to get ready. 

My challenge for the Ravellenic Games is to reknit a UFO that I put aside because it was miserably huge.  Like, would have had 8 inches of positive ease huge!  The pattern is the Wood Hollow Vest by Kirsten Kapur, one of my favorite designers. 

I started this about six months after my daughter was born, so I hadn't quite returned to pre-baby measurements yet.  That was problem number one.  Problem number two is that the pattern runs large to begin with.  You might expect me to say that problem number three is that I wasn't getting gauge, but here's the crazy thing.  My gauge was spot on.  I was making the size 40, and the front of my vest was exactly 20 inches.  With all the cabling, though, that 20 inches stretches to about 26 inches.  

Based on the portion that I've already knit, I'm thinking that I'll reknit it in a 32.  A 32!  I usually make between a 37 and 39.  This thing is so stretchy that I don't think a 32 will be a problem.  Other Ravelers have had problems with the vest coming out too big, and Kirsten does say that she intended the vest to be worn with positive ease.  I just like my vests to be a bit snug. 

The first step is to frog!  I should really wash the yarn, too, and hang it to get rid of the crimp.  After that, it will need a few days to rest and get some of the sproingyness back.  I better get busy!