Sometimes I look back at the year of making that I accomplished and think, “That’s it?!” and then I remember how many things I have on my full-to-overflowing plate. It makes me rethink my initial reaction and instead react with, “Wow.”

While I didn’t make tons and tons of yarn, or knit tons and tons of sweaters (as I’ve done in the past), or wove off incredible amounts of yardage, I did manage to create a lot of things to brought me a lot of joy in the creation process. That’s what matters to me the most. A few of the things I have made, I was really surprised at how much I liked the finished object and other things, not so much. Here is a run-down on all the things I finished in 2023, with the exception of my Attune shawl – I didn’t finish it but I included it in my grid because I spent an incredible amount of time on it and I will finish it in 2024.

The major skeins that I created in 2023 included the above – I’m only missing on of my Jingle All the Way yarns (here, if you’re interested). From top left to bottom right: Vancouver Island Ryeland, Westcoast Colour BFL+Silk, Kainuum Harmaas (Finn), SweetGeorgia Yarns combination spin (Polwarth+Silk), Bramble Ridge BFL, Kingdom Fleece & Fiberworks DorsetxColumbia (ongoing corespun spin), Crafty Jaks Boutique Sari Silk + O. Polworth, Jingle All the Way textured yarn (corespun), SweetGeorgia Yarns BFL. That’s a lot of spinning in one year considering that overall I really struggled to get onto my wheels this year. The Crafty Jaks Sari Silk + O. Polwarth yarn was 100% supported spindle spun.

Year of Colour was the overarching theme for the Spinning Purls & teaching content over on Patreon. Rebecca spearheaded the content on The Wool Circle streams throughout the months. The momentuum of that study was incredible and seemed to just pick up as the year continued. I spun an unbelievable number of samples. This grid is only a small sample of that number of samples I spun, if you can believe it! There are sooo many more!

The above grid is many of my colour wheels I spun along with much of the community, from naturally dyed to acid dyed to desaturated to value scales to complements and so much more.

There was knitting throughout the year. Not as much as previous years and I slowly got my mojo back for knitting later in the year. A couple of sweater highlights this year were my Mini Mock Neck tanks for both Norah and myself (although she’s commandeered mine, too). I love my Mandolin by Amy Christoffers – that’s been worn a lot thus far.

I’ve ended up wearing my Trinigan a lot more than I initially thought I would and I still refer to it in my mind as “The Grape Jelly” but it’s grown A LOT on me … a lot. And of course, I continue to work on my Attune Shawl from our SPAKAL (spin and knit along) back in the summer. It will be finished sometime this year!

Another sweater highlight was the number of handspun sweaters – all but my Mandolin and Newspaper (pullover) were handspun or used handspun as the contrasting colour. This is a huge win! Also, three of the sweaters were from stash!

Lastly, weaving was done. Not as much as I would have liked and not as much yardage and I had hoped BUT it was done, it’s a win.

WEaving highlights – my handspun, hand-dyed Ms & Ws stole. I haven’t worn it yet this year due to the unseasonably warm weather but it’s lovely (bottom left of the grid). My favourite woven project this year was my Rustic Elegance towels from the Spring (bottom 2 photos, right side). I designed almost all of my projects from inspiration photos or existing designs but worked the maths myself. Two projects are on the looms at the moment but one will be done by New Years (because it’s a gift – middle of the grid, left photo with shuttle included). The theme of my weaving this year was definitely continuing to build my knowledge of blocks – namely, Overshot & Huck but with some modified Ms & Os and Summer & Winter thrown in.

Overall, this was an awesome year of making and while it’s easy to say it wasn’t enough, it really was enough. More than enough. A lot, actually. All good things, as my friend Lisa would say.

Is there something you created this past year that you are really proud of? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.