As we near the end of 2020, and realise that the year has not unfolded as I had imagined, I am looking back on the year with some satisfaction with my making. To be honest, I made a lot more than I thought I would this year. Much of that is because of how much we’ve been home this year! To be honest, I was a home-body previously but this year, I was able to just be home, enjoy homeschooling with the kids in the spring and just be in this place of accepting that this is what we are doing right now. I loved being about to work at my wheels as much as I have been able to and I found that the grounding I got from having a list of items I wanted to work my way through really helped keep me on track. The items that were part of my Make Nine 2020 can be viewed here and my Ravelry page is here. After my inital thoughts about my original list, updates several times and how it all finished out, I am really happy with the sweaters I finished.
Some reflections on the process for the coming year include not wanting to add another 9 sweaters to my wardrobe. While fun to knit all those garments, now I want the time and space to actually wear said sweaters! Using my friend Marce’s idea of prompts, I spent some time thinking about what was in my stash and what I wanted to make. In the end, I came up with the following prompts:
The prompts are pretty self-descriptive but some of the garments that I would like to make include the following (and I’ve noted the prompt they fall under):
- Redford by Julie Hoover for Mike – I finally talked him into a handspun, handknit sweater! Yahoo! This is for For Him: Sweater
- We are working through a Natural Shades Along to celebrate naturally coloured wool. I am super excited about this and have some ideas of wools in my stash, including some naturally coloured Shetland, Southdown, CVM and others. I am thinking about the Graeup sweater by Camilla Vad.
- I am currently working on the Merinda shawl by Ambah O’Brien in luxury silks and would like to create a woven 100% cashmere stole … oooh the amount of spinning! But I’ve set up my Lendrum Very Fast Flyer and it’s going really well to be honest! This will be the overarching theme for the beginning of 2021 and we will be starting with silk spinning in January and February, then move to cashmere and other camelids. I’m really excited about exploring Luxury for a while — we’ve dabbled but not really focused on it!
- Oooh that lovely rustic look … I’m absolutely smitten with Orlane Sucche’s cardigan Fanel, so this will definitely be a spin I complete this year for sure!
- A pair of handspun, handknit socks for Mike are needed — he’s due!
- For a while now, I’ve been thinking about a long jacket of some kind. The problem has been yardage and time. But with being home so much, I think I’ve really honed in on the types of spins I want to make and complete. Something like the Girlfriends Cardigan or Stonecutters are examples of jacket-type cardigans I’d like to complete this year and just enjoy the added spinning time to create.
- My neice and nephew will be due for toques next Christmas (a year from now) and the kids will also need toques so there will be toques!
- I’d really like to complete a sweater for my mom so this will be for the prompt called Gifted with Love. I’m not completely sure what she has in mind but I think it will be something like Gentle Morning or Albini.
- A few years ago, Amber gifted me with some Norwegian wool breeds (foreign wool) to work through and spin. I was so flattered that she offered me the wool and it has been sitting in my stash due to time, space & other commitments but I really wanted to make this a priority this year so out it’s come! I’ve started sampling – I’m absolutely in love with this fibre that I’ve started with. It’s amazing.
That will round out the year beautifully. I am really excited about all of our making we have to look forward to. As things lockdown again here in British Columbia and much of the western world, I hope you will share your making and keep us posted about what’s keeping you going!
Hi Rachel, haven’t been around for awhile. Still watching though. I know you have worked with silk. I got what was called carded silk fluff. I honestly have not been able too figure out what to do with it. I was wondering if you might know?
Hmmm — great questions Sharyn. I suspect it’s silk waste from like sari silk and whatnot, although I’d have to see it to be sure, but I suspect it’s for carding and blending.