2020 Knitting

 Not a lot - that's how much knitting I accomplished this year.

 

In so many ways the COVID pandemic affected our lives, and my knitting. I knit new Christmas stockings for Tim, my daughter's new husband, and Carley, who had planned to marry my son in December. We thought everyone would be in the Northwest for the wedding at Christmas. But travel became unwise and the wedding venue couldn't accomodate the event, so instead I sent the stockings off to Connecticut and Alabama. 

I started the Yokester sweater (the blue one) in February and didn't finish till August. A LOT happened in those months. I actually knit on this sweater in South Africa while wearing the Stonecrop Cardigan (actually I mostly wore the cardigan on the plane). I took a break when almost finished, to knit the Breathe and Hope shawl. And then finished the sweater after my daughter's August wedding. 

I started Breathe and Hope as an act of solidarity.  Solidarity with Andrea, my daughter's mother-in-law, as we both hoped for a wedding for our kids in August, somehow. (Andrea knit a Breathe and Hope too, or at least she started one.  I think her yarn eventually became socks.) Solidarity with Sophie and Tim, as we reworked their long-held plans for a big wedding and instead created a small backyard event. And solidarity with knitting designers, yarn companies, and Yarn Folk, the shop I ordered the yarn from. And then, when it was done, and the wedding was over, and colder weather came, I realized I would never wear it. I was able to give it as a gift to a friend instead, which was its own kind of hope. 

I finished the Stonecrop Cardigan just before we left for our trip to South Africa. I've since worn it a lot - including on the plane and during that strange ride home after our trip, when the world had just shut down because of the COVID pandemic.

Only 5 items this year. I also started one of a pair of mittens, which I expect to finish soon. I knit most of a Mood Cardigan, which you'll hear about soon. And, I knit a great deal of a Achikochi sweater, much of this knitting during a drive to Alabama and back to deliver Sophie and Tim's wedding gifts. I also made a few masks (much fewer than many folks, but a few), including these two for the bride and the groom. I was able to use scraps leftover from the alteration of Sophie's dress for her mask. 

Ravelry has a challenge tab to set a knitting goal for each year. I absolutely did not meet my goal this year, but I don't feel even a little bad about that. I knit a lot, but did not increase my knitting time because of the stay-at-home order. In the spring and summer, I actually worked a bit more than usual, as the non-profit I work for tried to equip the refugee community we serve with good information, masks, and other things they need. Everything was harder this year. I'm happy with the projects I did complete, and look forward to a few quick completions in this new  year.