The end of the year is fast approaching and it is time for the annual review of my year in knitting. While this was a year in which the political landscape was both depressing and demoralising, the stress-beating power of knitting came to the rescue! I’ve managed to have a pretty good knitting year, with nine projects finished:
Clockwise from the top, these are:
- Paid in Full tank
- Sayer tank
- Ocean Waters pullover
- Offbeat mitts
- Cascade Cap
- Black Welsh Mountain Cowl
- Form pullover
- Ojai top
- Bousta Beanie
I wrote 55 posts this year, which amounted to 30,000 words. This is my 388th post since I started the blog. I had viewers from 103 countries this year, with the top five being the US, Poland, the UK, Canada, and Germany. The standout for me was experimenting with Fair Isle knitting, which I predict will be a big theme in 2019. I also did quite a bit of travelling this year and managed to post from a few exotic places. I had a chance to knit with penguins in Cape Town and hang out with monkeys in Tioman Island, Malaysia. My most viewed posts of the year were:
- Knitting and wellness: an interview with Betsan Corkhill
- Business Class Cowl (written in 2016)
- To gusset or not to gusset (written in 2016)
- To Carbeth, or not to Carbeth?
- Multi-strand knitting: one for the cost of two?
- A show of hands
- On form
- 100 on Ravelry
This marks the end of my seventh full year of blogging (I started in late 2011). It’s hard to believe I’ve been doing this so long. Yesterday I tried to find a blog post from a knitter I follow and discovered the blog had been deleted. I did some further research and discovered that almost 80% of the knitting blogs which I follow have stopped during the past two years. Instagram has increasingly become a go-to medium for knitters, which makes sense as it is a very visual medium. When I think about it, I realise that the important thing from my perspective is the writing. I like to write. It pleases me to put words on paper (metaphorically) with this blog. I appreciate the visual nature of Instagram and how that has appealed to knitters, but it is the words which draw me and keep me going.
I appreciate the community I feel with this blog and hope that you continue to enjoy it as much as I do. Best wishes for a Happy New Year!
People from 103 countries read your blog! Wow! Impressive. I love reading about all your adventures- knitting and otherwise- and seeing the pictures. Thank you for continuing this. Happy New Year to you and your family!
Thank you, Jocelyn. Best wishes for a Happy New Year to you and all the family!
Thanks for so many interesting posts this year. I especially liked the last one on “the stash.” I followed your links to read the blogs you referenced.
I appreciate articulating the difficult balance between creating too much of a stash vs supporting our Indie designers and dyers. Reminded me of William Morris who hoped to make beautiful things for everyone, only to discover he had to keep the business going by selling to the emerging Middle Class with new affluence. It’s an interesting discussion to have as well as others you illuminated.
Hi Elisabeth. That is an interesting comparison to WIlliam Morris; I need to read up more on him. The William Morris House is not far from us. I am glad that you have enjoyed my posts this year. Happy New Year!
Best wishes to you as well!!
I hope you won’t stop or delete yours as it’s really interesting and enjoyable.
I have an IG account but actually don’t go there v much, I prefer to read blogs instead. It’s probably me just being “other” as usual…
Hi Judith. Best wishes to you for the New Year. I am counting your blog as still active! I hope you keep up with it too.
Thank you!
Yes, the blog is still active, though rather neglected…. I seem to fail to allocate time to post, even though I have ideas 😉
Happy New Year, Kelly!
I, just like you, love words ( and knitting) and I find your blog beautiful combination of both 🙂 I enjoy your humor and ( as I am not an English native speaker) I always learn a lot from your texts ( also linguistically). Your knitting is also an inspiration, just that I am a knitting toddler, it will take me some time until I have something decent to share. But meanwhile I am learning, especially from people like you. Thanks for writing the blog and being there for us ( your readers)!
Have a great 2019- healthy and prosperous and always keep your smile!
Yours,
Christina
Hi Christina! Thanks for the lovely comments. I am happy that you enjoy the blog. Guten Rutsch!
You have a wonderful blog Kelly – great information and great photos. It’s so interesting to read about someone else’s knitting process – to me you have a lot of technical prowess, you choose many more advanced (and scary) projects than I knit, and I really enjoy reading about them. I hope you keep your blog going, but I’m sure it’s a lot of work and if you chose to go the Instagram route, I’d follow you there. Best wishes to you and your family.
Thanks, Kim. I appreciate your comments. The more you learn the less scary it becomes. I am hoping to become more adventurous in my knitting; there are so many knitters out there who I am in awe of. I will keep writing, as it makes me happy.
Kelly, I enjoy your blog very much and read it regularly (though I seldom comment, so perhaps I lurk?) I do hope that you won’t stop blogging! It is always interesting to read about your thoughts on pattern selection, yarn choice, trials and tribulations along the way to a finished project etc. I find that I want the words as well as the pictures–also I’m a bit of a reactionary and don’t do Facebook/Instagram. It’s possible that blogging may make a comeback–giving me hope, Elizabeth McCarten recently stopped instagramming and seems to be reviving her lovely blog, Chez Lizzie. Anyway, thank you for your posts this past year, and all the best to you and your family for 2019!
Thanks. This is interesting; I hope you are right about blogging making a comeback. I always enjoy reading blogs and finding out how other people think about their craft (be it knitting or writing). Happy New Year!
I love blogs, and while IG has been useful for me in some ways, I find that blogs offer a richer and different perspective.
Cheers to a good year of writing and knitting!
I agree with you. I do like pretty photos and all of the great visuals but blogs add more, in my experience. Thanks for commenting! Best wishes!
I always enjoy your writing describing your knitting journeys on each project, and whatever other subject that may be occupying your mind. I truly appreciate the time and effort you spend on this blog and just want you to know that when one hits my email it’s like a little piece Christmas. The happiest of New Years to you and your family.
I do the same as Leigh. When I check my email and see a new post from you Kelly, it is the first email I read.
Thank you, Leigh. This is lovely! I am so happy that you enjoy the blog. It is a lot of work to keep it up, and it’s nice that people appreciate it.
I completely agree with you about the importance of the words to go with the pictures. The latter are of course invaluable, and like you, I enjoy Instagram for this. But the words add depth and perspective. I love being able to share thoughts and musings on my blog and I love reading yours too, so long may it last! A very happy New Year to you and all the family. Xxx
Hi Liz. Absolutely! I always enjoy your posts and your love of good writing. Happy New Year!
What a productive year you have had! And an interesting one, as well!
I agree with you on the blogging versus Instagram. I use both, but find the blogging more satisfying. And many of the blogs I follow have gone inactive. A shame! Some were really good!
Hi Sarah, yes a lot of very good blogs have bit the dust. Some of them I am very sad about as I feel like I know the authors although I’ve never met them. It’s like having a friend move away and losing touch. I noticed your end-of-year post; how productive you’ve been this year! Best wishes!
Thanks!
I often worry that something has happened to the authors… how would we know??? Then I decided I can’t worry about that, or I will get stressed out. Instead, I just miss them.
Your words certainly draw me, and I hope you will keep them coming for a long time (though only as long as you feel writing them is a pleasure, not a duty). Best wishes for the new year, and thanks for the old!
Hi Gretchen! I definitely plan to keep blogging. Thank you for reading and commenting. I love the community of people who I interact with through the blog.
I discovered your blog only recently, and glad I did. This has been quite a productive knitting year, bravo! I am certainly looking forward to reading more in 2019. Like you, I have not totally been seduced by Instagram, I also like to write and read. You are definitely on my blog roll for the long term.
At the risk of sounding like a mutual admiration society, I love your blog too! I’m so glad to have discovered it. Happy New Year!
Congratulations on your 7th year of blogging and all your adventures and finished projects this year! I am enjoying reading your blog and also enjoy writing my own 🙂 Instagram is great, but there’s not a lot of substance, though there are lots of pretty pictures to enjoy. Best wishes for an interesting and productive 2019!
Thank you! Yours is one of the blogs that keep going. Please keep up with it. (I am interested in your Custom Fit subscription; I have one and have never used it. I want to see how/whether you actually use it.) Good wishes for the New Year!
You have had a very great knitting year! I recently found your blog and I just love it. I like IG, but always found the temptation too much to “just keep scrolling.” I like coming back to blogs (and writing) because things can be slowed down. Take things in at a pace that’s good to you, and truly enjoy the pictures. Although I don’t comment as much as my responsibilities allow me–I truly enjoy reading your blog. Happy New Year.
I agree with you, Kalley, about it being good to slow down. That’s partly why I enjoy knitting so much. Thanks for commenting. Happy New Year!
I love both reading blogs, and writing my own. I also like Instagram, but think there is a lot of pressure there to post the most “perfect” picture. And with a blog, you really get a sense of a person’s voice and personality in a way you don’t with just photos.
I also like that sense of personality that comes through a blog. I notice from your archives that you started blogging just a few months after me. Congratulations on seven years of blogging!
although a little late, thank you for the blog! i really like reading you… i hope you has very nice holidays!!