Year in Review (2021)

What I like when I come to write about my year of crafting is looking back to the end of last year to see if what I am making has changed and looking at my plans at the start of the year also to see if they changed.

One thing I definitely didn’t take into account was a yarn store closing, resulting in a big addition to my stash and two projects being started as soon as yarn was purchased. Although it could be argued that this was balanced out by no big events in 2020 and 2021. And there was the sudden decision to start another left overs blanket.

I had 43 items on the needles in 2021. Four of these, including the mitred squares, were from previous years. I then cast on four new things on January 1^st. Having got rid of a load of WIPs it makes sense to create a load more, right? And creating numerous new projects is an idea worth repeating as you will see in my 2022 plans post.

Of those 43 projects, only one was frogged and I am impressed that I made the decision in the same year that I started it although I did not have plans for the yarn. Seven of the total were crochet projects and only three were gifts but nearly all the hats (14) were for charity.

In 2021 I completed 7 shawls or wraps, 16 hats and 1 headband, 1 garment, 6 pairs of socks, 1 toy, and 3 dishcloths. The total is close to the total number of finished items last year although made up of smaller items. In all I knitted 7960 metres and crocheted 2024 meters. This was less than the total in but not surprising due to the closing down sale.

I really did not have big plans for 2021. I completed the two specific items – Advent socks and project from frogged yarn. I wrote that I was not going to buy yarn for hats but that changed as I made hats for a specific charity that required a specific type of yarn. The other type of knitting that was not planned was the dishcloths. I had that on my radar for 2022 to use up all my scraps of dishcloth cotton but I found myself in December with no mindless knitting but not wanting to start a major project before the end of the year. So I decided to make some dishcloths. It was surprising how many dishcloths I could make from scraps.

Happy New Year.