The year so far...a mid-year review

I can't believe that we are half way through the year already, where has the time gone? It's been a bumpy first half of the year; sad, trying, painful and just exasperating at times. But I have found real solace my making. However, this isn't meant to be a maudlin post, I wanted today to share my progress in the first half of the year and look ahead to what's coming in the months ahead.

I think it's always good to start a mid-year review with some stats! In the first six months of the year I have finished (I think);

• 4 pairs of socks (3 for me and one for R)
• 3 crochet cowls
• 2 shawls
• 1 crochet garment
• 1 pair of mittens
• 1 Captain Barnacles crochet toy
• 1 crochet frame

I am also well over half way towards completing my first knitted garment.

(Nearly) all of my projects are listed in my Ravelry project page.

My making goals

In terms of my goals, at the start of the year, I said;

1. Crochet; continue to develop my skills and make more garments
2. Knitting; I feel as though I really boosted my crochet skills in 2016 and want to do the same for my knitting skills in 2017 and hopefully make a garment
3. Accessories; I love wearing the hats, cowls, mittens and shawls that I’ve made so through the year I want to keep building up the collection
4. Designing; I want to finally turn some of my ideas into reality!
5. Instagram; keep trying to improve the way I photograph my work

And perhaps 2017 might be the year that I start the making blog I keep thinking about…maybe!

For me the most remarkable achievement of the last six months has been setting up this blog, developing content and posting each week. Thank you to you all of you for coming to visit me in blog and being so generous with your kind comments.

Crochet

In terms of crochet, I have completed one garment, the Luna sweater that you can read about in post: Finished 'Luna' crochet sweater.

One of my most read posts in the last six months has been this one on crochet garments so it's obviously an area of interest for lots of you!

I've also been doing lots of research and planning for future garment makes and my friend Tamara (Craftyescapism) and I have something in the planning for the autumn relating to crochet garments that I think you might like!

Knitting

Knitting has been a real focus and a source of pleasure for me this year. I'm delighted to have finally mastered Kitchener stitch, found my favourite sock recipe, knitted R his first socks, taught myself cable knitting, conquered knitting with magic loop, and discovered backward loop cast-on and invisible increases. In case you missed them, you can read about some of my knitting adventures in these posts;
Sock knitting journey
Sock knitting with magic loop
A beginner's guide to garment knitting

Looking ahead, my friend and I will be having a continental sock knitting CAL over the summer - where we both learn how to knit continental style. Although I think she's mastered it, so it maybe we have a CAL where she teaches me which sounds perfect! I also want to knit a garment in pieces and stitch it together as I feel it's a knitters rite of passage - please remind me of this when I start!

Handmade accessories

I haven't made as much progress as I would have liked on building my accessories wardrobe but there is still time and I think smaller projects over the summer might be more appealing than knitting on my jumper. I have such a long list of things I want to make for R and I...hats, mittens, cowls etc.

Designing

I have been dipping my toe in the designing pond and as the year goes on I hope to share more with you...

Instagram 

I have been enjoying Instagram so much this year, I love how positive and supportive everyone is and find it such a source of creative inspiration. I'm still working on my photographs and aspiring for a perfectly curated grid.

Future plans

I would quite like to crochet and knit all the things, but realistically in the next six months, I want to;

• Finish my knitted top
• Make lots of accessories
• Make another crochet garment and a knitted cardigan

and,
have a handmade Christmas - I have so many ideas...

I would love your suggestions for what blog posts you'd like to see over the coming six months, any ideas you have for my 'How to' occasional series and any other thoughts.

Thanks so much for reading and for keeping me company in the first half of the year. I'm really excited about what the next six months might hold x