Happy New Year

On the night before New Year's Eve / Hogmanay / Silvesterabend / Nytårsaften / whatever-it-is-where-you-are, I find it appropriate to sum up my knitting of 2008. 

This year I produced:

40 finished knits
9662 g of yarn used

I comparison, I used 4918 g of yarn last year, but produced 50 finished knits. I made more sweaters and Twinkle garments this year; hence, the larger amount of yarn used. I had a highly productive 3 months of summer holidays this year, also accounting for some of my productivity. In 2009 I'll have only 1 month of summer holidays and an MSc thesis to write, so I probably won't knit quite as much in 2009 (unless I'm procrastinating on that thesis, but I don't plan to...).

I kinda stopped posting on the Stashalong blog as my summer holidays ended and I got a lot of work to do at university. However, I didn't stop keeping tally of my reductions and enhancements, and here is how it ended:

Total stash reduction: 9662 g

Total stash enhancement: 8700 g (holy cow!)

That gives me a reduction of 962 g. "Not much, but so much more than nothing" (citing my favourite singer-songwriter, Tina Dickow). Last year I reduced my stash by 786 g, so I was a tad better this year. I could blame it on those 4-5 kg of yarn I bought for Twinkle knits (Cascade Magnum and Twinkle Soft Chunky), but I could also try and be better next year! :D

I won't participate in Stashalong in 2009, but I haven't decided whether to continue keeping a record of what I use and buy. Let's see. 

I'm very fond of my knits of 2008, let alone the fact that 2008 was the year when I published some of my own designs (see the sidebar). Thanks to those of you who have shown your interest - I'm very happy about that :)

Also thanks to all of you who read my blog and leave me nice and encouraging comments. That means a lot to me :)

Thus, looking forward to a year of a little less knitting and hopefully a little less buying too, I'll wish you all a Happy New Year! 

Current status

I've been enjoying a peaceful Christmas and only now got round to showing you some bits and bobs. A couple of hours ago I finished these legwarmers - encouraged by having cold legs! :D

They are knit with 2 strands of Hifa 2 in a charcoal colour. Two different kinds of cables.

Then there's my Christmas present for a dear friend of mine - a hat and a pair of mittens:

Knit in Rauma Finull and obviously inspired by my EPS Yoke Sweater (see post below; I can't be bothered linking).

Before I left for Christmas holidays I finished 5 hexagons for Norah's blanket using an oddball of Jo Sharp Alpaca Silk Georgette (or whatever the name is... :)) in a burnt orange colour called Quince (to the best of my knowledge quince is yellow?). 3 different kinds to be shipped of to a lovely woman in the States who are going to sew all the hexagons of this joint project together... :

Early December I "enhanced" my stash purchasing some long-wanted Socks That Rock from a fellow Ravelrer:

... and I have very nice parents who gave me the Amimono knit-kit for Pine for my birthday :D - in a lovely grey colour with a bit of blue in it (Isager Alpaca 2, colourway 011, methinks) :

I'm doing a lot of Christmas knitting - currently on the needles are:

- Pine; by Aminomo/Helga Isager

- Sommer i Tokyo; by Marianne Isager (featured in her book Japan)

- Charade Socks in Wollmeise colourway Drachenblut

- Woodland scarf in Posh Yarn Eva 2-ply (using 2 strands) in a lovely red colour

All lovely projects in some wonderful yarns. Yum. See my projects on Ravelry. 

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Info for Stashalong:

Stash reduction: 96 g + 110 g + 44 g = 250 g

Stash enhancement: 2x128 g + 450 g = 706 g 

A blog award

I've been so fortunate to be given this blog award by Julia:

Denne bloggen investerer i og tror på NÆRHET - nærhet i rom, tid og 

forholderne er usedvanlig sjarmerende og søte, og formålet er å finne og å være

venner. De er ikke opptatt av utmerkelser og selvhevdelse. Vårt håp er at når 

båndene på disse utmerkelser er kuttet, vil enda flere vennskap ha forplantet

seg. Vær vennlig å gi litt ekstra oppmerksomhet til disse!

Yes, it's in Norwegian, and I can't be bothered translating it, but I can say that those are very kind words :)

I'll pass it on to the blogging people I find should have this award. Some of them have already gotten it from other bloggers and have blogged about it, but I'll give them an extra one then... :) So there you go,

Julia, Britt, Anne, Ulla, Lise, and Karen.    

Thanks for creating such nice blogs :)

That being said, I'd like to be more present around here. I'd like to have my blog as an incorporated part of my life like e.g. Julia and Anne have, but - sadly - I don't see that happening any time soon. So I guess I'll just keep this blog as it is - a knitting blog - and try to post more often, and on WIPs too - not only FOs. Try, being the operative word... :)