I am SO not a New Year’s resolution kind of person. However, I am glad that 2008 is over, and I’m looking forward to better things (I hope) for 2009. One of the many things that dissatisfied me in 2008 was my apparent inability to finish a project without screwing it up terribly. There have been more “d’oh!” moments than I would prefer, so here’s hoping that things improve.

I’d like to present my first finished project of the new year (mainly because the crappy weather on New Year’s Eve prompted me to leave the house two hours earlier than I’d planned, therefore I didn’t finish sewing up OFFICALLY in 2008): My Manon.

And the back:

No, my knitting is not crooked, I am.

It fits perfectly – I just need to decide on a closure. I ended up reknitting the piece with the missing bust dart. It took one evening of marathon knitting, so with only that one day setting me back, it didn’t feel SO terrible. I can see myself wearing this a lot – I really love it so much.

Amidst my finishing up the Manon, and the few days of misery once I realised I forgot my bust dart, I decided I needed to knit up something bright and cheerful to take my mind off it. When I was recently in NYC, I stopped at Purl Soho and fell in love with a demo project. I am normally not attracted to something so….busy, but I really loved how the colours worked together!

The two yarns look so ill matched in their separate skeins, but together, they play so nicely! The scarf is over 7 feet long now, so I think I might have to stop…but there’s still yarn left and I don’t want to waste any. I haven’t decided how I will deal with this. It’s either going to be an 8.5 foot scarf or a scarf and a headband. I don’t know! It’s sat in its near-complete state awaiting its fate.

And I also have a Maelstrom sock:

I was aching to do a sock, this one in particular. It’s much more progressed in real life than in this photo. I have half the foot left to go, having just completed the chart. It’s 2×2 rib across the top from here on out. Easy. I went up one needle size (2.25mm to 2.5mm) since I was worried about the circumference – thankfully this seems to have been a wise decision. I’m noticing that I should perhaps be making my heel flaps a little longer from now on since anything patterned seems to pull a bit differently (and is not as forgiving as stockinette), causing issues taking the sock on and off. In this instance it will be fine, but it’s surely a lesson for the future.

Finally, as it wouldn’t be a New Year’s post without a goal involved, my goal will be to crochet a garment this year. I have two I will potentially pick from, neither of which are your traditional mumsy crochet. Both are lacy and beautiful, it’s just a question of which one to choose! More details on this later though (as well as a spinning wheel update), as this post has already got too long.