I've always been a great maker of lists - things to do, books to read, all sorts of things. I keep an ideas book which was originally intended to be ideas for knitting or crochet designs but over the years it's relaxed to include everything from quotations to plants for the garden and lots of other things besides.
For the last three or four years I've also kept yearly lists on the computer (or Mabel as she's known to me) to record things I've achieved each year. Now that there are so many things I can't do, it's good to see what I have managed over the previous twelve months.
My 'miles walked' lists are a bit sad. The year before I got covid, I walked about 700 miles. It's surprising how it adds up; I use a very simple pedometer that goes in my pocket or bag, every time I leave the house so those 700 miles aren't just made up 'proper' walks but also lots of walks to the postbox or in to town. A couple of years ago I'd managed to walk about 300 miles, all in very short, daily walks but last year my Long Covid was worse and I only did about half that.
I also keep lists of books that I read, not as a target but just for fun so that I can look back and see what I was reading. Last year, I started listing how many crosswords I'd finished too. I do the daily cryptic crossword from The Guardian (I love being able to print it off) and, in 2023, I finished 109 of them. Given that they publish six a week, I've still got plenty of room for improvement. When he has time, my son also does the crossword and, over Christmas we did really well. Cryptic crosswords are easier to work on with someone else and we finished all but two in about two weeks.
My other big yearly list is the one you might be most interested in though and you'll be glad to hear that this one includes pictures. Every year I list all the things I've made, whatever the craft. Since I started doing this a couple of years ago it's encouraged me to make more stuff which is always good, right? It also gives me a great sense of achievement; I may not be able to do most of the things I could do before getting ill but I can still be creative.
I always start the year by knitting the mini stockings that go on my Christmas presents, filled with little chocolates. It gives me a good sense of getting ahead, even if it's all downhill from then on. These were the stockings I knitted last January.
They were knitted with a three colour slip stitch pattern and solid coloured toes and heels. Working out how to keep the pattern going round the shaping for the instep was very tricky. This year's stockings have a Fair Isle pattern but I decided to make life easier for myself and only use the pattern on the straight leg section.
As you can see, I'm getting on well with the next batch of stockings. One of my plans for this year is to go over all my old mini stocking patterns, re-write some and publish new ones.
So, what else did I knit in 2023? Four and a half pairs of socks (the half was the first of a pair for me, all the rest were for other people), several scarves and two sets of
Pippi baby clothes for new babies. They also got a
Lazy Vee Blanket and a
Paddle Ball each.
A slightly older baby got a knitted
Raggy Doll, another pattern that needs a complete re-write.
Knitted toys can be a pain to make, what with all those pieces but the finished results are always pleasing. Last year I knitted two
Frog and Toads on tiny needles, at a tight tension - never again. Mind you, they look brilliant.
These are knitted with
Shetland Wool which turned out to be ideal for small animals with a lot of shaping. I remembered this when it came to designing my
Little Donkeys at the end of the year.
I knitted a fully dressed hedgehog for a friend's birthday in the summer from Louise Crowther's book
Knitted Animal Friends which I can thoroughly recommend. I bought the yarn to knit myself the owl from the same book but haven't made it yet. Something to do this year.
I did though finally manage to knit myself a
Kipper from the pattern by Alan Dart. The original pattern is for DK weight yarn and comes out too big for my tastes so I used thin 4 ply sock yarn and small needles to make a smaller dog.
The shading between colours is done with an ordinary pencil which I thought was a clever touch. I updated the shapings a bit as I went along but, otherwise, followed the pattern.
The rest of my knitting in 2023 was for published patterns, including two big ones:
Summer Cottage and my
Christmas Cheer wreath. I have been working on samples for two more Ten Stitch patterns as well, a rectangle and an oval. The rectangle is easy but I wanted to explain how to calculate how long the first strip needs to be for any finished size.
The oval was much more complicated to work out and I needed the help of my mathematician son to write me a formula to explain what I'd knitted.
The obvious use for a Ten Stitch Oval pattern would be for a rug but it could also be used for placemats or a knitted basket base. Maybe I'll get round to designing this one later this year.
Most of my crochet in 2023 was, again, for published patterns. I've got one shawl waiting for me to write up which uses my Lazy Vee technique which I always enjoy working.
Towards the end of the year, I discovered the technique know as Corner to Corner crochet or C2C and had fun making this scarf for a Christmas present.
Again, this was fun to make and a great way to use self-striping yarn. I used
King Cole Riot DK for my scarf. And I nearly forgot this little reindeer, crocheted from an old magazine pattern, again changing the weight of yarn to make it smaller. This one went in my daughter's Christmas stocking.
One more woolly finish from 2023 before I move on to other crafts. In May I finally finished this rainbow Tunisian Crochet blanket, worked in the round, which I started years ago.
It looks nice now it's done but it was an absolute nightmare to get it to lay flat. I kept having to re-do the edging to hold it in shape and then it took a lot of serious blocking.
In the first few months of the year I made quite a lot of things with felt, starting off with these two Christmas tree ornaments for my son and daughter.
These are copies of the one I made for my tree more than thirty years ago and which they irreverently refer to as the 'Hitler Santa'. I also made two sets of more traditional decorations. These were from the book
Modern Folk Embroidery by Nancy Nicholson which has lots of great patterns.
As you can see, I got a bit carried away when it came to the embroidery. I kept one of each set for myself but then hid them away until Christmas. Only of course when Christmas came I couldn't remember where I'd hidden them. They finally came to light last week at the back of my sock drawer.
Using the same book, I also made a pastel coloured felt garland for my daughter - still adding lots of embroidery.
I had fun making some felt flowers too, all of which I gave away as presents. I'd like to make more of these at some point.
The big flowers are from the book
Fabric Blooms by Megan Hunt but I worked out the pattern for the little rosebuds myself.
I borrowed a book from the library in the Spring called
Stitch 50 Birds by Alison J Reid and used it to make four different bird ornaments as presents.
Some of the patterns have quite a lot of pieces but the instructions are clear. I particularly liked the use of cocktail sticks for legs. There are other books in the series if you fancy making some felt creatures.
I'm a big fan of Mandy Shaw of
Dandelion Designs and, when I was well, used to enjoy visiting her stall at craft shows. This means I have quite a few of her patterns stashed away and, last year, I used a couple of them to make more presents. Three little redwork tree decorations (yes, mine was lost with the felt ones) and a little lampshade that goes over a wine glass with a battery tealight inside.
I always start off the year with plans to make all the birthday cards I need to send but people born in the first half of the year tend to fare better than those with later birthdays. I cross stitched six cards last year; this is one of my favourites. It's by the designers
Lesley Teare; I love the way she combines cross stitch with blackwork.
I enjoyed working this cone shaped Father Christmas for a Christmas present too; it's cross stitch on plastic aida and came together well.
I did manage to make one card with hardanger embroidery. I must do more of this in 2024; it's quite a new craft for me and I enjoy it. It's quick to do and nowhere near as hard as it looks.
As ever, I made quite a few bags last year. I often make one of my
Reversible Tote Bags to put presents in. They don't take long to make and it's fun choosing the fabrics.
I also made two bags using remnants bought at my local scrap store
Orinoco. The first one used some pieces of vintage barkcloth fabric and the second is made up of velvet squares from a sample book. I actually kept the velvet one for myself.
I've still got lots of velvet squares left from the sample book so they might appear in this year's list of things made.
What else? I've made some more Dorset Buttons and woven a few bookmarks and I've done a little bit of needlepoint. I enjoyed making this little pincushion kit in April ...
... and I made two little needlepoint boxes with plastic canvas later in the year.
I only made two quilts in 2023, even if one of them was the biggest quilt I've ever made. I'd like to make more this next year. I'm going to start with this aptly named pack of charm squares that I got for Christmas (thank-you Rose).
The craft I've made most progress with over the last year though has been my 3D beading.
ThreadABead have so many patterns that I want to make that I decided I needed to do more beading in order to speed up! So ... I finished the third building in the
Christmas Village which is a barn for the reindeer ...
... and then I made two (yes, two) more of the
Father Christmas Houses, one each for my son and daughter. They have little boxes on the Christmas tree with tiny presents in and these were just the right size.
Working the same pattern twice in a row really helped me concentrate on my technique (or lack of it) and, as well as getting quicker, I think I'm making less mistakes now too. I then decided to make these three
Ornaments as Christmas presents which were a bit different as the patterns allow for a lot of creative decisions on the part of the beader. This was a challenge for me; I do enough creative thinking in my designing so I really prefer to be able to just follow a pattern when it comes to other crafts. I have to say though, I was really pleased with the results. One day, I shall make some more of these.
I think my next 3D beading project will either be an Easter pattern or this little
Toadstool House; there are just too many to choose from.
In 2024 I also want to do some more miniature building. Do you remember my
little house?
After finishing this more than two years ago, I've been slowly adding furniture. I'd like to finish it this year and perhaps start a new project.
Petite Properties are launching a magazine focusing on small scale miniatures this year - that could be just the prompt I need to get building again.
What about you? Does anybody else keep 'things made' lists? What are you hoping to make more of in 2024 - other than time, obviously. We could all do with more time to craft, couldn't we?
