It’s been a busy time since we’ve gotten back from our trip to Japan. I’m really looking forward to taking pause over the Christmas and New Year break, catching up with life and reseting for the new year.

Last weekend, the Richmond Knitters had their Christmas Dinner Party. One of the highlights of the evening is the ornament exchange. I set out to make an amigurumi hedgehog, the pattern is super cute! It claims to only take 4 hours to make, but by the 6 hour mark and not being half done, I decided to cast on for my second ornament option: The Furry Fairies pattern by Alan Dart. It was fiddly, but well worth the effort. I appreciated other knitters’ comments on Ravelry about converting the pattern into knitting in the round, rather than flat, and knitting i-cord for the mouse’s limbs. It’s very sweet 🙂 Damian is still hoping I’ll finish the hedgehog for our tree.

It is the season for advents. After last year’s advent calendar extravaganza, I swore I would give this year a miss… but as time went on, I succumbed to temptation and ordered 2 yarny advent calendars. I’m so glad I did, both the My Creative Garage and Kate Davies’ calendars are just beautiful. The Kate Davies calendar features her Milarrochy Tweed with 6 exclusive colours (and patterns to arrive on Dec 24th!) I’ve earmarked this yarn to become a Paul Klee Sweater, and I’m hoping to cast on for this on January 1. Which brings me to my knitting goals for 2024…

I want to cast on for a new jumper every month in 2024… or at least until I become overwhelmed! I did this in 2020 and I completed 5 sweaters that year, and a further 3 were finished off in 2021. I really enjoyed casting on for something new each month, it gave me a clear goal for what I wanted to achieve and rather than my knitting plans languishing in my queue it was a thrill to bring each sweater to life.

For the remainder of this year, I’m focussing on getting all of my WIPs completed, including the Amina Sweater. All the pieces have been knit, now it’s just a case of sewing in all of the ends, blocking, sewing-up, and knitting the neck band. I also want to get cracking/finish my Shelley Husband, Nimue crochet blanket. That’s all achievable right?