Finish It Friday ~ 2019 in Knits

I started the 2019 knitting year by repairing my knitting project of 2017, a lace-weight cashmere hat, which sat for all of 2018 waiting to be fixed. I also used this as an opportunity to wax philosophical about knitting as a metaphor for writing.


I quickly moved on to another hat, made from some two-color yarn I picked up at a fair the previous summer, and which knit up faster and more fun than the cashmere hat (and which I have worn exponentially more times).

After that, I started on one of my most ambitious projects to date--a mitered squares poncho, which I finished up just in time for summer to begin and the weather to be too warm for wool (but it's gotten a fair amount of use this fall).

Then I moved on to some color work, which I forgot I loved (I mean, it truly is thrilling) and made a jeweled scarabs cowl from some truly luxurious silk-alpaca-wool yarn.

Not-quite-finally, I made myself a new Noro Spiral One-Skein Hat to replace my favorite hat, which disappeared sometime between hat seasons.

Notice a theme with all these knits? All for me. Yes, it's been a bit of a selfish knitting year for me (okay, several years). But who better to enjoy and appreciate all that hard work than the person who actually did all the hard work?

But, just so you don't think I'm totally selfish, I'll let you in on a secret--there's a project on my needles now for someone else. It was meant to be a Christmas present, but that didn't quite happen, what with all the distractions the month of December offered (and that hat I *had* to knit for myself in the midst of it all). But it's a good 5/8ths, maybe 2/3 done. And it is even more ambitious than the shawl--there's color work involved, there's mixing of two patterns, there will be steeking (gah!). You'll be (among) the first to know when it's done. In the meantime, you can visit my Ravelry page for deets on these and other projects. Happy knitting in 2020!