2007: My personal knitting year in review

It's that time of year again, time to reflect on what was done -- and left undone -- in my personal year of knitting. When I look back over my knitting resolutions, I have to laugh. Of the list of six people I wanted to knit for, none of them received anything handknit. Of the seven general types of projects I envisioned knitting, none of them got finished and only one made it onto the needles, simply to languish there for most of the year, and is still gathering dust somewhere.


And yet, that's not to say it was an unproductive knitting year for me.

I knit four adult-sized sweaters for Knit So Fine, along with the sleeves for another, and an accessory. I fiddled with many swatches for another accessory for the book, along with another sweater and a half -- all of which ended up, in final form, knit by others. I knit two adult-sized sweaters for JCA/Reynolds that will appear in their Spring 2008 line (I hope!) and designed a pair of socks in Soft Sea Wool (also for spring 2008) that were knit by a test knitter. Those projects alone probably set a productivity record for me.

In my "personal" knitting, I finished a baby blanket for a charity project; a skirt for G.; a pair of socks each for N. and G.; have finished a cardigan for G. which just needs buttons sewn on (I need to find a needle with a very small eye for the particular buttons I want to use); two baby sweaters for gifts; and finished a pair of BBF socks for myself. There were some miscellaneous projects which I have forgotten (mostly pre-Ravelry projects), and a few things still on the needles (3/4 of a sock for Elvis, the last 3/4 of a sock for me, the Koigu log cabin blanket come to mind) but that's a very satisfying mix of finished items for me, especially given my time constraints.

Oh yeah, I wrote most of the text of a book, too.

I'm also proud of my continued work on the blog. I enjoy doing knitting book reviews and other technical posts, and it's gratifying that other people seem to enjoy reading them. So I'll add that to my list of knitting accomplishments this year: keeping up with the blog and, hopefully, adding something constructive to the on-line knitting community.

Then there's Black Bunny Fibers. I sold my one-thousandth item on Etsy earlier this year (holy crap!) and am fine-tuning a BlackBunnyFibers.com website. I started the Sock and Fiber Clubs which will begin soon, and even ran my first ad ever (on Ravelry). I've tried to refine my product mix with some consistent regular offerings, while still doing one-offs when I found interesting stuff in limited quantities to dye. I introduced my first plant-derived fiber, too, with the merino/tencel blend sock yarn.

Thank you for all your support, your BBF purchases, your encouragement and enthusiasm about Knit So Fine, and most of all, thank you for still reading.

Here's hoping we'll all have a happy, productive, knitting-filled 2008!