Bye, bye 2009

1. finished birdie, 2. ishbel scarf, 3. spinning jelly, 4. stripey noro no 2, 5. albem finished 3, 6. stripey gloves finished!, 7. calm horizons coiled, 8. tropicana, 9. green stripey a, 10. aquaviolet cables, 11. nightingale shawl leaf close-up, 12. stripey glove, 13. veyla

I've been looking back at all the things I've been making this year and in perspective, I think I've travelled a lot further than I thought. At the end of 2008, I had never knitted a sock, or a lace shawl, and the dust hadn't been blown off the spinning wheel:-) Now people think I'm good enough to test knit sock patterns for them - who would have thought?:-)) I have moved out of my toe-up sock comfort zone and knitted toe-up gussets with the bright orange stripey firestarters, and most recently knitted my flame red cornflower socks - a top down sock with heel flaps, complex twists and cables no less.

And I had the questionable pleasure of knitting with self striping Noro!! Some of you may recall my, ahem, perseverance with those darned stripey socks, here, here and here!! But, if I hadn't explored the world of self striped yarns, I wouldn't have started experimenting with dyeing my own sock yarns. And the latter half of 2009 has mostly been about dyeing and test knitting these yarns for my now finally opened Etsy Shop - Ultraviolet Yarns. The creative path has its twists and turns but I never thought I'd be an Indie yarnie! :-)))

1. emerald green, 2. tootiefruitie, 3. all the reds, 4. lavendar blue, 5. butterscotch, 6. calm horizons coiled, 7. fuchsia, 8. tropicana, 9. Purple-green stripey sock blank, 10. green green grass, 11. cedarwood coiled, 12. calm horizons, 13. orange mango

I've had fun painting sock blanks and designing bigger scarf and shawl blanks too - although they still have to make an appearance in my shop.

So, what's the plan for 2010?

Well, shopwise, I would love to be able to make dyeing yarns into a realistic living! I know! but why not? Dream big:-)) More immediate shop plans include - if there is enough interest -painted sock and scarf blanks but maybe also some undyed ones for anyone who wants to try their hand at dyeing their own. I would like to get a larger range of obviously stripey yarns as well as the semi-solids and subtle variegateds too and that is my first plan of action in January.

This last month especially, I've been taking stock of  exactly where I am and just where I want to go. In the world of knitting, I would like to develop my ideas for designing patterns. I've only been tinkering so far but there has been interest on ravelry for some of my test knits so that is a good place to start. But in the larger creative picture, I'm at a bit of a crossroads.

The world of Ravelry, knitting and crochet, has been a haven for me to keep myself busy and active over the last two years when I've not been able to do much of my usual creative endeavours such as felting, weaving, collage, etc due to poor health. I'd like to think I am regaining enough stamina to at least start making some progress back into these other disciplines - if I am very careful and don't overdo it:-)) - but even if I start small, I'd like to at least set it as an ongoing goal for 2010.

So, as well as knitting and dyeing yarns, there may be a little collage or two popping into the blog now and again, and maybe this time next year, I can sit here as say 'Well, I didn't expect collage and textile art to hijack my blog quite so much.....' :-)))