This was the year I really started knitting for real. A quick check of ravelry reveals that I have completed 60 projects this year, some of which were multiple boob-knitting projects. It was easy to calculate because the item labelled Dixie’s birthday scarf was completed on 31 Dec 2008; and as soon as I finish a pair of mitts for my dad, I will be starting Dixie’s birthday hat for this year.

60 projects does sound like rather a lot; well, more than one a week is a lot, isn’t it? In my defence, they are almost all very small items such as hats and mitts, because I prefer the instant gratification of a quick knit to slaving away over jumpers and blankets. Having said that, though, there were quite a number of baby blankets. This one, for Lisa’s new baby, was my favourite. Hopefully it will arrive in the post before she reads this!

I have been browsing Ravelry and trying to select my favourite item of the whole year, but it’s just so hard. I love my Ripley hat; the Cairn mitts I posted to my sister in Barcelona, which she never received; the rainbow/zig-zag striped baby blanket for my cousin; the old shale cowl for my mum, made from yarn purchased on our dirty weekend in Scarborough; Bernard’s bright-coloured entrelac scarf; my slanting shell stitch fingerless mitts; Pete’s set of black and grey themed mitts and hat (scarf to follow, actual fleece lined matching gloves purchased in M&S for yule), and of course Bernard’s hat with cat ears which I made for his halloween costume.

I have tried lots of new techniques, including fair isle (I’m pretty rubbish, tension goes all wrong), entrelac, and lots of lace knitting; but as yet no cables. Cables will be soon, though. I have purchased the necessary needles. And socks, too.

When do I find time to knit? On the train (I usually knit boobs on public transport, because they are small and portable. You can’t tell what they are). On the sofa in front of the telly, two or three nights a week. At the breastfeeding drop-in when no-one turns up. In the early morning when Bernard’s watching cBeebies. Any other time that I can get away with it. That’s why I usually have at least two projects on the go, some combination of the following: A portable project, a must-concentrate project, a needn’t-concentrate project, a large project that takes ages and needs other things to relieve the boredom.

Knitting fills the gaps, keeps my hands busy, helps me to relax without feeling like I’m wasting precious time. And it is so very satisfying, for an unartistic and uncreative person such as myself, to produce such pleasing finished items. I enjoy knitting things for other people (not so much when they get stuffed in the back of a drawer and never worn – I think I would rather people said no thank you, so I could keep the things). When I’m knitting for other people, I think about them. It’s nice. I also enjoy knitting for myself, but fear I do that rather too much. How many pairs of fingerless mitts does a girl really need?