2022: A Year In Review

2022: A Year In Review

I said in my last year’s review post, that I’d be a little bit more laissez faire with myself, and I was. I see now that I kind of set “like to dos” with myself, none of which I did. But that’s okay, since I have had the much more consuming task of raising my baby after she was born this spring.

I did feel like I hadn’t worked on any projects this year until I actually looked back, and I’m honestly shocked I got as many things done as I did. I think in part it doesn’t feel like I completed anything because there was such a long gap (February to July then July to October). I didn’t really get a chance to do anything in earnest until baby was about 6 months old, although I did primarily work on her quilt through that time. A block here and there, then eventually a little hand quilting here and there. It’s the thing I’m absolutely most proud of. I started designing it when I found out I was pregnant, then began cutting and sewing it in January of this year, then finished it right around the 8 month mark for her.

It’s not exactly a baby sized quilt – it ended up being about 60 x 60″ – which is great because it’ll allow her to grow with it, and I sincerely hope it’ll give her warmth and comfort for a very long time. I’m hoping to get a single post just about the quilt up…. *waves hands* eventually.

All the other projects completed were a lot smaller. Smaller wall hanging quilts, a few toques, one skein of yarn. It was manageable in a year that feels a bit like a bit blur.

Spinning has been the elusive task the past year – it’s difficult to even move the wheel from the corner and then spin when you have to get up extremely frequently. Now that baby is standing up and taking her first supported steps, I’m really not breaking out the wheel. Through 2023 spinning might continue to be rare, but I do hope I get a bit more time in the coming year. I got 14lbs of amount of Icelandic roving back from the mill (again, post coming…. eventually) and I would love to spin and knit both me and baby a sweater next year.

Last year I had hoped that I’d link to all the blog articles I had created over the year detailing my projects. That’s not going to happen because I just didn’t have time to make the posts as I went along, so I’ll do my gallery format again. Clicking the pictures will take you to a larger image with a bit more information on the project.

Looking ahead to 2023…

I’m going to continue to be laissez faire with myself. There is absolutely no point in setting out hard and fast goals, which is fine.

I’d like to spin enough of that Icelandic for sweaters for myself and the baby (not matching, no no). I’d like to finish that Cheviot sweater spin that’s been on the back burner since 2021. But I honestly just don’t know how easy it’ll be to spin in the coming year. First steps aren’t that far away, and boy is my spinning wheel interesting.

One thing I can say is that I will work on my wall hanging I’ve had brewing in the back of my head for a few years now. I’ve had the pattern ready to go, and most of the colours I’ve dyed as well. I just need to dye a yard of cutch fabric and I’ll be ready. Giving myself a year to finish that is more than doable. If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that working on small bits here and there of quilting is reasonable at this juncture.

That’s about as close to a goal as I’m setting this year, although I would like to keep up with the blog a little bit more too. We’ll see what happens. 2022 was an amazing year, and really exciting, a whirlwind, a blur, and etched into my memory all at once. 2023 I expect to be equally as interesting.