2024 knitting was very productive and fun. I had a chance to get some yarns from their places of origin. Two knitting groups inspired me: one on the cruise ship and one with my (finally!) new local yarn shop. I finished a big project and completed several smaller ones. And I raised money for cancer research through my knitting. Here are the projects that were finished through my 2024 knitting.
2023 finished with me giving a knitted poncho to my great-niece Eloise. Here she is thoughtfully modeling it. The yarn is Hayfield Baby Blossom. The pattern is Lion Brand Hooded Baby Poncho and was free.

I knitted a blue baby afghan just because I had the yarn and wanted to. It is waiting for the right baby at home. I bought the yarn at The Yarnologist because I felt bad about going there and never buying anything. The yarn is Cascade Superwash in a tweedy blue. The pattern is the Encore Worsted Sampler Afghan, another free pattern.
I started the Shetland Old Shell Hap in 2023 and finished it in November, a little over a year since I started it. The Hap is absolutely beautiful and drapes perfectly. I took it on the cruise because I like to work on a project connected with an area we are visiting. But it was quickly too large to carry with me places, so I mailed it back to our house halfway through the cruise. Fortunately I had the needles for socks with me and I proceeded to knit three pairs of socks.
I picked up the Hap again when we got home, determined to finish it during football season, prime knitting time. The big blue section in the middle was a slog – row after row of stockinette. When I finished the blue, I had two big triangles and I needed to join them. I played around with several different joining methods before I settled on a blanket stitch that (mostly) blended in to the large blue center. The pattern gave me directions to knit it as a square, but I missed where the directions changed from the triangle to the square. Oh well. I wasn’t going to start over at that point.
The pattern for the Hap was in a magazine I subscribe to, Spin Off, so it was free. The yarn was some alpaca and merino blend that I had bought for a sweater that I didn’t knit. I still have several skeins of the blue left over, although the gray and cream are mostly gone.
While I was on the cruise ship, I knitted two pairs of socks and started on a third. I had the yarn for the first pair with me and bought the other skeins in Dartmoor National Park and in Cape Breton National Park. I gave one pair to my niece Julia and the other pair to Amy Winstead. Amy made the mistake of admiring them while I was knitting them after we got home. One pair went to my friend Sandy a couple of weeks before she died because her feet were so cold. I used my basic sock pattern.

Ever since we got back from our big trip I have been knitting with yarn that I bought on the trip. I was a little surprised at how much yarn I actually bought. But I should have enough to keep me knitting for a while. I knitted three hats with yarn that we brought back and highlighted those in the post about my fundraising for the American Cancer Society.
I bought yarn in Gotland, Sweden, Lerwick, Shetland, Reykjavik, Iceland, and Nuuk, Greenland. I also bought yarn in several places in Scotland and England and in Canada. It was a good trip for yarn accumulation, but now I have to use it. I don’t like my stash to get too big.
I am currently working on a scarf / shawl made from the Qiviut I bought in Greenland. It is coming along very well, but might be another year-long project. More stockinette. But it is so soft and light that it feels like a cloud.
Just before we left Ohio I knitted a pair of thrummed mittens for a friend from church who has Reynaud’s Syndrome, like Mom. Reynaud’s means your hands get very painful whenever they begin to get cold. Thrummed mittens have a thick lining of warm wool inside. I am hoping that the thrummed mittens will help keep her hands warm through what is proving to be a very cold winter in Ohio.
2024 knitting was diverse and fun. I enjoyed all the places I got to knit and all the different yarns I used in my knitting. What did you make in 2024?