Last night with a mammoth graft 192 stitches I finished the last project I’m going to finish this year.

I had hoped a colourwork vest which just needs the shoulders joined, the steeks cut and the hems and necklines added would come in under the bar of this year, but it’s not going to. So it’s a good time for my end of year knitting round up.

One reason I was really hoping that colour work vest would be completed is because my stats don’t look so great for this year, but not to worry, as we look back to help us look forward, that will now be a relatively quick win for 2025!

So the stats for 2024 do reflect my own feeling that I lost my way a little with my knitting this year. So much so that my record keeping fell by the wayside and between May and August I have nothing recorded, and between May and November I only have yarn coming in and nothing recorded as having been completed. Now, I did knit during that time but it seems I completed nothing.

It must be said that this year we had a pretty blistering summer and we stayed in Siena through until September. Usually we travel to get away from the heat during the summer and head to the mountains which are much more conducive to knitting.

Anyway, enough of what I didn’t knit, what did I actually complete this year?

My one cotton summer knitting project, The Everyday Attitude Tee was completed but not until November. I’ve blogged about it here and yes, for much of the summer it was too hot to knit even with cotton yarn.

In the spring I had got off to a good start with my Mortmain sweater. Not the simplest of sweater births which you can read about here, but I finished it back in February and wore it through the spring and again through autumn – I absolutely love it.

At this time I also completed my first simple striped cowl that used up some leftover 3 ply grey yarns and some odds of Malabrigo lace. I just wanted something really simple for hiking and this fit the bill perfectly.

While my Mortmain sweater was posing me questions and was in time-out in the spring, I also knit another whole sweater. Unfortunately, I had to frog this sweater because the hand dyed yarn I used for the colour work yoke bled when I blocked it and the whole sweater was ruined. I have yet to blog about this – I keep hoping for a happy ending – i.e. successfully overdying the now yoke coloured and splotched main colour yarn and reknitting the sweater…

After this I made blanket squares for a while. See, I was so fed up I even switched crafts!

Using up colourful odds and ends to become future blankets proved to be a little habit forming and I only paused square production to knit up a couple of dresses with matching boleros for my great-nieces. I used the Deinte dress pattern (Ravelry Link) from Julie Gilliver, last knit 10 years ago for another great niece, and paired it with the Liten bolero pattern by Yarn Madness.

Then there were more squares. As well as blanket squares I also made book covers. This is mine and I gifted 1 each to older nieces this Christmas.

I don’t think any of these were recorded, they don’t show up in my records, because I hadn’t got round to sewing on the buttons so were effectively unfinished. the 2 that were gifted had buttons sewn on last week but it didn’t occur to meet add them to the list. I also have several that remain buttonless for now…

When we went to Scotland in September it was so cold that while the cowl above is great for hiking in Italy, Scotland’s coastal winds called for something a little more substantial. I cast on a larger version when I returned, and finished when I was back in the UK in November. I blocked it, wore it and promptly left it at my niece’s house before I even took a picture!

Last night’s cast off is the replacement for the this one which is waiting for me to collect soon my next visit. You can see the difference in size with the original. What you can’t see is that it’s smaller than the one I left behind.

Also on my visit to family in the UK I also finished my nieces’ Christmas sweaters the Robin and Blue Tit Bird sweaters from Knitting for Olive, sorry, again no pictures. These were blocked and dried in time for a last minute, last night packing session and I forgot to photograph them.

So the summary is as follow:

• 2 x adult garments
• 2 x 1 year old dresses and boleros
• 2 x 1 year old sweaters
• 2 x hats – I was a swatch for a colour work cardigan planned for once the vest is completed
• 5 Cowls – 2 design samples and 3 variations on the original hiking cowl that I wanted for myself but may turn into a free pattern…
• 35 x blanket squares measuring 30 x 30 cm
• 3x book covers (not included in my figures)

In total I knit up 11,536m of yarn, not a bad total although my lowest for the last 5 years.

While 2020 was an outlier, I completed approx 31,000m worth of projects which included a good number of works in progress that needed varying amounts of finishing up, in 2021, 2022 and 2023, I have worked up between 18,000m and 20,000m of yarn into projects a year.

Moreover, this year also saw the greatest proportion of yarn coming into my stash compared to that going out.

Discovering the local closed down yarn shop had relocated to the local mercatino with everything 1/2 price including Rowan felted tweed… well, you can image.

Then while we in Scotland we were literally passing Ripples Crafts Yarns. I knew we were in the vicinity but hadn’t planned to visit, but then we we passed the sign it seemed rude not to turn around and stop by. Some lovely single skeins of organic merino and a garments worth of wool linen blend.

In November KN.IT, the annual Italian yarn show was hosted in Florence. Some favourite vendors and yarn I wanted to try were there and you know the rest.

This is a skein of undyed Pecora Brogna produced by the Associazione per la Promozione e la Tutela della Pecora Brogna which has Slow Food Presidio status, and a skein of hand dyed Brogna sheep yarn from Lana al Pascolo. The two yarns have the same yardage by weight of skein and should work nicely together.

My other Purchase was this wonderful naturally dyed yarn from my friend Raffaella of La Piantalana. This is a truly stunning yarn, the softest, bounciest yarn from Gentile di Puglia sheep who are shepherded using transhumant practices of seasonal movement recognised as part of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Programme. I’ve written about this yarn and the Gentile di Puglia at some length before when I first discovered this yarn. I really hope Raffaella can convince the shepherd to have some more spun, you have to feel it to believe it.

Then there were the bird sweaters. If you think 1 year old sweaters don’t take much yarn, you’d be wrong if those sweaters include intarsia and need numerous small amounts of different colours that you don’t have in your stash because you so rarely knit with DK weight yarn. As a result, by length and volume I have as much left as I used.

All this to say that 8148m of new yarn came into my stash.

So in terms of the balance my I have 3388m less yarn than I started the year with.

So why all these stats and patchy recording?

The original reason I started to record the quantities of the yarn I used and yarn bought was the 2020 stashless year community event hosted by the Crimson Stitchery via their podcast and Ravelry group. So much has happened in the knitting community since then but I have continued to record what I use, what I make, and what I buy. While that first year, the most went out and the least came in, it’s been interesting to see how my personal yarn store has changed as a result of the turnover in the subsequent years.

For starters, overall in the 5 years I’ve been doing this it has shrunk by 53,580m.

I have to admit that I do have slight hoarding tendencies when it comes to yarn, (well maybe not just yarn…) I hang on to every last scrap and hate to think of any of this precious resource going to waste. so I do make the absolute most of odds and ends, leftovers, and odd balls of charity shop rescued yarn including for charity projects, mainly blankets.

Quite a bit of yarn has gone into knitting pattern samples, many yet to be released so watch this space this coming year.

I also have a very full sock drawer, a good stock of wonderful sweaters, hats, cowls and mittens and so do many of my loved ones.

The nature of my yarn store has changed. In 2021 I bought a lot of undyed yarns to use as a base for my explorations in natural dyeing. Quite a bit of this has been dyed, but luckily by no means all so I still have more scope to experiment. Some of this yarn has been knit into projects but I also have plans for a colour work vest knitted with my naturally dyed test mini skeins.

Right now the colder weather and all these wonderful ideas for new cast ons has me wanting to abandon the computer and pick up my needles so I’ll bring things to a close here.

How has your knitting year been?
Do you record what you make and the yarn you use?
Do you have plans for next year?

I’d love the hear all about it

This is will be my last post of the year so I’d like to wish all my readers a wonderful New Year. I hope 2025 brings you health, happiness and the energy to achieve all you wish for.

Take care, happy crafting, and speak soon,

Tess xxx