Knitting Year-End Review

Christmas is over, and I'm afraid I dropped the ball on timely decorating yet again.  We did manage to get our tree up a week or so before Christmas...

I put a few touches of red around the house, too.

I will plan better for next year, though!  At least I got my favorite decoration up:  the felt stocking that my great-grandmother pieced together for me, along with the little brass ornaments inscribed to commemorate each of the first six years of my life. 

Now that all the Christmas presents are opened, I can finally show some of the knitting projects I worked on this year.  It's a lamentably short list, though.  I made two pairs of socks for myself:

I worked on an endless sweater for myself, only to be defeated by the placket collar at the end.

I will eventually return to it.  I made a pair of snake socks for my snake-fearing husband.  I'm happy to say that they're a perfect fit and he loves them!

I love these socks, from the scaly bottoms to the winding snaky body.  I even find pleasure in the tidy stitches inside.  I've made him many things in the past that haven't fit, so I'm glad that I'm finally getting this knitting-sizing-thing down.

I knitted a little bat for a friend, and a baby blanket for a new niece.

My big project was a cardigan for my sister-in-law.  I chose an ambitious project:  a cardigan with a cabled back panel and sides that grew out of the paneling with a series of increases.  Pockets, three quarter length sleeves, and a pick-up-and-knit front garter stitch border.  I started it in September and worked on it on our Savannah trip...

I made a series of mistakes, though.  I messed up a back cable and had to frog back.  I pulled the pocket holes too tight and had to frog both side panels...a good two weeks of work.  I made some mistakes around the neckline, and then I ran out of yarn before finishing the sweater.  The yarn had been discontinued, so I originally decided to knit to pocket borders in bright contrasting red to match the pocket interiors.

It didn't look right, so I ended up knitting the pocket borders in a slightly lighter blue and hoping for the best.  Plaid pockets = the most charming embellishment ever.

It's always hard to make a knitted garment without the exact measurements of the recipient, so I had a similar-sized friend at the Y try it on.  We were rushed and I didn't have time to really fit it on her properly, but it seemed to fit...

Thankfully, it was a perfect fit for the recipient.  Huge relief!!

Now I can catch my breath and finish those knee socks I've been picking at.  So close!

Todd surprised me with a super fancy camera lens that's perfect for wildlife photography.  I'm looking forward to improving my skills in the next year!

Here's to a great 2015!