Oh, 2020. This is the post I would have written in the first week of January this year, under normal circumstances. But nothing has been normal for what feels like an eternity now, has it? It feels oddly appropriate though to return to this space now, considering my last post was almost exactly one year ago about what makes my knitting projects stall out. In hindsight, this is ironic perfection, or a spooky vision of what was to come, because indeed ... everything stalled out after that in the early days of the pandemic becoming real for us here in the United States.
Normally I don't map out my yards crafted per month, but this really tells the story of 2020 for me. Early on, one would've thought I'd be knitting up a storm to soothe my anxious nerves. But instead, like many others, I jumped on board with the sewing masks for healthcare workers in March and April (more on that later this week). The only reason April has any yardage at all was because I finally finished the second sleeve of a sweater that was 95% finished for two years prior. Things picked up in the summer as I joined the Knit Girlls annual summer Stash Dash challenge. With no summer travel (my output on the road is pretty low, despite the ample knitting time!) and several opportunities to test knit patterns for my favorite knitwear designers, my activity soared. Back-to-school and back-to-work stress (adapting to teaching university courses in a pandemic) then resulted in another crafting pause. My best yardage months--February, August, and December--those were thanks to two different "hat-a-thon" monthly challenges I participated in (crocheting bulky yarn hats for charity) and Christmas gift making.
- Three shawls
- Three sweaters (two for me, one for a nephew)
- 43 hats for charity
- My first crocheted snowflakes blocked with Elmer's glue!
- My first of many handwoven dish towels!
- A return to stranded fair isle colorwork
- My favorite mosaic colorwork dish cloth patterns
