2018 in Review

2018 was definitely the year of the bra in my crafting life. I made 12 (!!!) bras, so roughly one bra per month. I started on my first bra ever in January:

By December, I had upped my skills to make this wonderfully fancy velvet underwire bra:

I feel pretty good about my bra-making skills and I look forward to making more lingerie in 2019. I already have one more Harriet bra almost complete.

I also sewed a few non-bras in 2018, including a toddler bucket hat, 2 Astoria sweaters, a Jenna skirt, and a Tacara top. My favorite of these is the Jenna skirt, which I am wearing a lot right now.

On the knitting front, I finished an Owl sweater for the toddler and made a pair of fun fingerless mitts from yarn I bought at this year's Wisconsin Sheep & Wool festival. Neither project made it onto the blog until now because that's just the type of year it was.

My biggest work-in-progress was finished in October:

This little lady is going to mean an interesting 2019. I'm hoping to find time to sneak away and craft this year, if only to finish that bra and a sewing project I made the husband for Christmas that just needs buttons and button holes. I'll keep you posted on any finished objects. Happy New Year!

2017 In Review

I realized, in clearing the backlog of projects that I've yet to blog about (I have a few things still to show off), that I actually accomplished a lot of crafting in 2017. It probably had something to do with my new year's resolution to spend an hour per week crafting. So it seems (seams?) worthwhile to recap this amazing year, despite being well into the next.

Sewing

I sewed a lot of clothing this year. Most of it was done on my trusted Janome, but I also played with my new/old Singer mechanical (see the Tiny Pocket Tank below) and purchased a serger (see the Lark Tee below).

Scout Tee

Mabel skirt

York blouse

Wee bucket hat

Wee newsboy cap

Hazel dress

Tiny Pocket Tank

Lark Tee

Knitting

Relatively little knitting happened this year, though I did create one large and stunning Pi Shawl and went on a tincanknits spree. Also, it seems like the 2017 knitting color of the year was grey.

Pi Shawl

Maize mittens

Barley hat

Grain shawl

Reflections on 2017

I'm continually amazed by how far my sewing skills have come. I'm feeling  very comfortable with my Janome and definitely want to refine my serging/sewing with knits skills going forward.

I sewed a lot of great clothes in 2017, but need to start focusing on basics in neutral colors to get the most out of my handiwork. There's a reason that my Pi Shawl has become my go-to shawl at work and it's because of the neutral color (though the beauty, size, and warmth are also major contributing factors).

I'm not entirely sure what crafting 2018 will bring but, based on the last year, I'm really looking forward to it!

Scaling Back

It's been a little quiet on the blog lately and I'm sad to say that it's likely to be that way for the next year or so. I have some big projects on the docket and I don't expect to have a lot of time for knitting, let alone blogging, in the near future. For all I'm going to miss being here, I know it's best for me to not try to keep up with this blog right now.

The good news is that I'm not going on a complete blog hiatus. I plan to drop by every so often to share what's on the needles. So thanks for understanding and I look forward to popping back in here in the near future and sharing my yarns with you.

A New Project

I'm happy to announce that I am undertaking a new venture this fall: I will be starting work on a Masters in Library and Information Studies!

I came to the realization after finishing my PhD in chemistry, that I'd rather be working with chemical information and other chemists than be working in the lab myself. I'm particularly interested in the challenges associated with cataloging and saving research data, which has prompted me to enroll in a library science program so that I can learn all of the standard practices in this field.

While this is a great thing for me in the long-term, I'm not sure of how this will affect my blog in the short-term. So for the next few months, my priority will be to post every other week instead of once a week. I hope to still post at my current once-a-week rate, but I'm giving myself some leeway should the blog need to give way to real life. Thanks for understanding and I am really looking forward to having a great autumn!

Tour de Fleece Recap

If Tour de Fleece was like its cycling equivalent, then I crashed out of the race in the final week. Luckily, there is no permanent injury, just a case of real life concerns getting in the way of finishing. Still, I'm happy with my final four skeins of yarn and that fact that I tackled a new spinning technique this month! Tour de Fleece is definitely something I will be doing again.

In other news, you may have noticed the new look of my blog header. I found this great how-to via CRAFT and was inspired to update my header imagery. It was very simple to put together--in fact, the hardest part of the whole thing was choosing the photos! It feels good to do a little cleaning up on my blog, even if I'm still getting used to the new look.

Never Quite As Planned

I wish I could tell you that my research concluded spectacularly and I'm fully refreshed after my brief blogging hiatus. Life, unfortunately, never quite goes as planned. The good news is that I will definitely be out of lab by mid-September and will most likely defend my PhD thesis sometime in October. The bad news is that I will be juggling thesis writing in between lab work and starting my new job in October. Needless to say, blogging may not be of the highest quality over the next two months and might not keep to my usual once-a-week schedule, but I will be here nonetheless.


Part of my disappointment about my hiatus comes from being unable to finish my lace shawl, which is the only project I worked on during August. Honestly, I seriously underestimated the amount of time that the border would require. I have about 6 more hours of work left on the shawl and now I'm facing another challenge--I'm running out of yarn.


I was actually smart and bought two 880-yard skeins for this project, which requires 800-950 yards. Unfortunately, one of those skeins ended up in the dyepot for my dyeing with turmeric tutorial. So I braved the danger that is KnitPicks to order an extra skein and came out unscathed. (Okay, so I did buy two skeins of Comfy Worsted in Whisker so that I can make an Elijah, but an extra $6 doesn't count.) With extra yarn in hand, I hope I can finally finish this shawl!

Brief Hiatus

I've decided to take a short break from blogging for the rest of August, as I'm currently focused on trying to finish up the research for my PhD. So much of my mental energy is going toward this work at the moment that I feel it is better to not blog at all than to divert some of this precious energy into making low-quality posts. I hope to finish up most of this research and return to a normal posting schedule by the first week of September.

Thanks for understanding and I will see you again in September!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Greens

In addition to your normal knitting content, I've decided to start a little photography project on my blog. Partly because I'm trying to improve my photography skills and partly to focus on the things I have instead of the things I think I need.

The idea behind 'My Favorite Greens' is to photograph things I own that I truly love. Since most of these items are in my favorite color, green, I decided to use this color as my theme. So for the next few months, look for a mid-week photo and description of one of my favorite greens.

Blog.v3

I have been thinking a lot lately about this blog and what content I want to present here. The internet is full of wonderful knitting blogs and I feel that my contributions to this community have been mediocre thus far. 'She Knits It' simply lacks focus as a knitting blog and, despite being an updated version of my first knitting blog, it never really fit.

These concerns were prompted by my desire to share some of my patterns with other knitters. They are not new ideas, but have gained momentum in the recent week as I am starting to jot down notes for my first pattern. I was in the midst of this writing when a Ravelry user asked if I was going to write up something for a previous, unrelated project. I was completely flattered that someone expressed interest in the things that I make and decided right then to take steps toward building a better blog and putting out my own patterns. So thank you ForestStryfe for being my spark.

And now, may I present Briney Deep Designs.

We Interupt Your Regularly Scheduled Blog

The Puffy has been put on hold. The Anemois must wait. The Snickets are taking a Rip van Winkle. It is time for... vacation knitting!

Sunday is the big day, the day I get married. We leave for Italy on Tuesday evening for a quiet week with just the three of us: me, my new hubbie, and some soon-to-be Jaywalkers. I cannot wait for the sights, the smells, and the socks. Squee, definite squee.

I will see you all when I get back in early October!