End of the year

Judging from Ravelry, I only finished 18 projects this year. This is considerably less than the usual ca. 30-40+ projects I normally do, and I've noticed me knitting far less than I'm used to (0-5 hours a week, compared to ca. 10 hours previously). This year I didn't even make any Christmas presents, even if I started one in July and got the yarn for another one! Ehemm...



I did finish a hat for my husband in November (only just photographed it today). I guess it could have been a part of his Christmas present, but I'm glad I gave it to him right there and then because it turns out my daughters could wear it too and it came in handy in the freezing temperatures we've been having in December.






The hat is actually a balaclava and is made in Cascade220, so it's warm and soft and the pattern is easy to do. This might be one of the few patterns I knit again and I recommend it.




I've been knitting a tomten for my daughter out of plotulopi (unspun Icelandic wool). It's been a great fun making it, as all of EZ patterns are. The problem was that the dog loved the yarn as much as I, or even more, since she tried to eat it every chance she got. I guess it's the sheep smell. She ate through two cords of the needles and quite a bit of yarn. I had to get new cords and more yarn from Iceland. The knitting is all done and when it came to sewing the sleeves up I ran into a little bit of a problem. The unspun wool does not (at all) lend itself to sewing. I ended up using einband, the lace weight Icelandic yarn for the sewing. It went much better, although the einband was weaker than I anticipated. I used a black yarn for the sewing and it doesn't show at all, even with the lightest color. Now I need a zipper and sew it in and then it's all ready to go :)

There are more tomten pictures on Ravelry.