For the past year, I’ve been *obsessed* with knitting and crocheting. I picked it up first around Christmas 2022, and even though I was afraid that it would be a short lived hobby, it turns out to be one of my favourite pastime in 2023. So I thought I would dedicate this post to highlight some of my masterpiece *creations*.
1. Rainbow pompom scarf
This was my first ever knitted project and I adapted slightly the design based on this pattern by Sheep & Stitch. I used bulky weight yarn and it was soooooo satisfying to see this project come together relatively quickly (relative to how slow my knitting was).
2. Rainbow merino scarf
I went to a yarn shop here in Stockholm and found this beautiful rainbow yarn. Of course I had to get it (do you start to see a theme here?) But I immediately regretted it because how expensive it turned out to be. To knit a scarf, I needed 3-4 skeins of yarn and this one costed me 99 SEK each. I mean, it’s superwash merino and stuff, but still… I was just a beginner and I wouldn’t probably spend that much for my project then. I ended up getting only 3 skeins which was actually not enough, but of well…
For this scarf, I was following the 1×1 ribbing pattern by Sheep & Stitch. And I did not realise that the ribbing would yield shorter garment than my stockinette stitch gauge, so all in all, I ended up with way smaller scarf than I had intended to… 🤷🏻♀️
3. Fisherman’s rib twisted headband
I saw this pattern for twisted headband again from Sheep & Stitch and I wanted to try something more challenging than *just* a scarf. I had this preconceived idea that I would be able to follow her patterns (having been successfully following her patterns for first two scarfs – with slight modifications). However, and with all due respect, Fisherman’s rib stitch is not for beginner, in my opinion. I probably should have known better, but I had no idea. It was very frustrating when you made a mistake because very few tutorials told you what to do with that. And I was not very good at reading my own knitting. I had to rip my work several times. And the yarn I used, it was pretty but it easily broke, so totally not a good combination with the ripping. But I managed to finish it eventually…
4. Embroidered easter egg
At this point I realised that knitting is a bit limited if you would like to make some cute decorations, like… eggs. I don’t know, maybe it was just my feelings, but many patterns for cute decorations were reserved for crochet only, so then I started picking up crocheting as well. I even changed my knitting style from English to continental to ease my transitions (I still think it’s easier to manage my tension using English knitting, but oh well 🫡)
While picking up knitting has been a breeze for me, picking up crocheting is… the complete opposite. I was so frustrated in the beginning because I keep failing to see where my next stitch should go. In knitting it was easier (for me) because all the stitches are anchored in at least one of the needles. So you can always count and check that you have the correct amount of stitches. Whereas in crocheting, nothing is anchored anywhere and you have to be able to read your work to determine where you should go next. It was really, really challenging for me.
But anyway, I persevered 😂 my egg might looked a bit peyang due to uneven tension, but at least you can imagine that it’s an egg.
Pattern from here for the egg and flower embroidery.
5. Crocheted ketupat
Not enough with crocheted egg, I even decided to venture on making crocheted ketupat. And this one is even crazier because it utilised a whole new crocheting technique called Tunisian Crochet. Thankfully, apart from the written pattern by Crochetea, I also found the step-by-step video tutorial on YouTube. And surprisingly, I was able to finish this project without much drama. And I love to have some ketupat at home because it’s rather unheard of here for Eid celebrations.
6. Rainbow bubble potholder
I had some leftover yarns from the pompom scarf and wondering what I could do with them. I found this pattern on bubble potholder from Drops Design and thought it would be cool to combine things I like (bubbles, round things and rainbow) into one project. Turns out, I was running out of yarn and ended up needing to buy more to finish the project 😂
This project also involved felting, which is basically done by putting your work in washing machine so that it sort of melts together. For the longest time I was afraid to do so because what if it destroyed my hard work? But then I talked to one of my orchestra friends and she’s done a lot of felting for her project and she assured me that it would turn out OK. So then I tried it out and it worked like magic! You could see the transformation in the picture above 🤭
6. Rainbow hat with flower
I tried to convince myself that I did not need any more rainbow stuff in my wardrobe. But it was almost Pride month and I couldn’t help it. And I also thought that this would be a good project to use up the remaining yarns from the ketupat (of course I ended up buying more for this project 🙈)
I found this rainbow crochet hat pattern but I also wanted to create it with a twist by adding some flowers like this pattern. I also opted for a more pastel colour, which I half regretted because whenever I wear it, I feel like a baby… 👶🏻
7. Striped scarf
This was probably one of the least colourful projects I had this year and that’s because this scarf was meant for someone else 🤭 I was following the Harry Potter scarf pattern by Sheep & Stitch but changed it from ribbing to garter stitch. Turns out, weaving in ends for stripes were nightmare 🙈 Also, I probably shouldn’t have used 3 different needles in this project, because it messed up with the tension 🥲 And I didn’t realise that garter stitch was so stretchy I ended up knitting waaayyy longer than I expected to be. Oh well, lesson learned…
8. Wrist warmer
I’ve bought the yarn for this project for *months* before finally casting on (because it was discounted). This was my first knitting project in the round and thank God for magic loop technique, I could actually use the needles that I already have without actually buying the double pointed needles 😪 (although maybe I will need to at some point). I was trying to follow this simple pattern by Drops Design but had some difficulties with the thumb gusset. Then I found this tutorial by Suzanne Bryan which was *extermely helpful* so I could eventually finish it and wear it with pride 🫶🏼
9. Snowman pot holder
I’ve been wanting to learn more colourwork technique and I thought Fair Isle would be my next step. (I think I would be one of those knitters who emphasise on colourwork rather than stitch patterns like lace or cable) However, I did not want to commit to something big especially since this is a new technique and I was not sure how it would turn out. It was around Christmas and I found this pattern on Snowman pot holder by Drops Design. It has snow, it has something green. Perfect.
I don’t know if it was just me and my knitting needles or what, but turns out, knitting with 40 cm needles was not a walk in the park. It was though. I had a suspicion that my knitting needles (which was using cable extension and not fixed 40 cm needles) might have been a bit too long for this pattern which made it difficult for me to knit comfortably. And as you can see, uneven tension everywhere. I also tried to use knitting thimble to hold two yarns at the same time, but it turned out to be too big for my finger, so there goes my money 😅
At least this is just a potholder and I don’t need to wear it anywhere, and I finally know what to expect when knitting Fair Isle… But I love it and would love to try more colourwork knitting! 💚
10. Granny square temperature blanket (work in progress)
Ever since my friend shared an IG reels on temperature blanket last year, I couldn’t stop thinking about making one. However, back then I only knew about knitting and many information on temperature blanket was only for crocheting. And that kind of makes sense, because if you knit it, it would eventually became too heavy for the needles/cable to hold the project (although not impossible). Whereas if you crochet it, the work would not need to be anchored to the hook. However, I thought that it would still be boring to just crochet 1 line every day for a year. But then I found this post by Fiber Flux on making Granny Square temperature blanket with the low and high temperature of the day and I thought this was a brilliant idea! This way, I could be surprised every day about which colour combination I should use.
The next challenge on planning this blanket was actually to choose the yarns. Because this is a big project, I don’t want to use too expensive yarns, and I also had to find easily accessible yarns with colour range that I liked. I eventually chose Drops Cotton Merino since it was relatively affordable, with good colour range (at least all the rainbow colours), and by combining cotton and merino, I might eventually be able to use this blanket all year round (as opposed to, say, wool only). My only concern back then was that I had no idea how big my project would be because I didn’t want to order just one ball of yarn for the swatch. But it turns out that 1 square would be about 6×6 cm, so it should be sufficient for a throw blanket with 18×21 squares (I would have some squares with average temperature of the months too).
Because this is my blanket, my rules, I decided to start from my birthday and to use temperature from place where I was in. So my first few squares were actually from Porto 🤭 I created a dedicated Excel sheet to mark temperature of the day and the colour combination for the day. I also marked whether I have crocheted the day and join the square with the rest of the blanket. I follow the tutorial from Bella Coco crochet to make basic granny square, multiple colour granny square, and join as you go.
So yeah, that’s all I knitted and crocheted throughout 2023. I already have some projects in mind for 2024, and hopefully I will learn more techniques and get better at it 🤭
And before I end this post, I just would like to show off 🙈 my knitting needles set:
When I saw it, I couldn’t help but think that I should get it. A knitting needles set with music notes on it? With rainbow colours? Come on! 🌈 🎶 🧶 Of course I had to get it! However, I was making a huge gamble back then because I did not know whether I would commit to this craft or not. But I’m happy to say that I’ve been utilising them throughout the year and it has been a great pleasure for me to do so 🤭
So yeah, which knit/crochet project captured your eyes? 🤩 What should I make next?
10,000 km Away from Home 
They’re beautiful. You are very talented. Well, I’ve tried knitting once. I made a good long scarf. But that’s it. I admire people who can make many things with yarn. Nice to know.
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Thank you so much ☺️
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