Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Happy new year, friends! We are back home and slowly easing back into things in our last day of vacation (though Rainbow and I got up more or less at the usual time this morning so that tomorrow won't be such a shock).

I'm happy to tell you that we had no major travel issues yesterday. Our flight was slightly delayed, but it wasn't full and we got in just a little late. My brother-in-law and nephew were waiting for us in baggage claim and took us home. I'd cleaned the bathrooms and changed the sheets on the beds before we left, so all we had to do when we got home was unpack. The Mister made a quick trip to the supermarket to get us some things for breakfast, and he'll do a full shop later this morning for the week ahead. We're back to work and school tomorrow, and today will be for catching up.

Speaking of catching up, today is all about looking back at last year's crafting. I don't really keep detailed records of how much making I do from year to year, but I'd say it was a good year for me. I've certainly had more productive years in terms of total number of projects completed, but I'm very satisfied with some pretty epic projects that were done this year. Here are some highlights:

Knitting

• 9 sweaters (six adult, three baby)
• 13 hats/head things (including seven charity hats)
• 7 pairs of socks
• 3 projects made from handspun (including one epic sweater project)
• Nearly 15.5K yards used

Spinning

• 16 skeins spun, totaling more than 7,100 yards
  
• 7 bags of Southern Cross Fibre used up

Here's my last spin of 2022, which was plied but not skeined and washed before we left (so I took care of that yesterday):

These are the two skeins I spun from my Fibernymph Dye Works Holiday Countdown fiber minis. Originally I set out to separate the fiber minis into warm and cool colors and opened them only a few at a time. Then I realized that I probably should have opened all 24 and sorted them before I started spinning, so I changed my plan a bit and it still didn't entirely work out. The skein on the left is a bit more muted and the skein on the right more saturated, though you can see there are a couple colors in each that look like they should be in the opposite skein. But that's okay! I have a total of approximately 707 yards of sport to DK yarn, and I plan to use them for an Inspira Cowl (Ravelry link), a pattern I've had my eye on for more than a decade.

So what are my plans for 2023? I do have some, though I'm keeping them flexible because I know I'm often distracted by the new and shiny. First, I want to finish up my Recalibrate, and that should happen today as I have less than 10 rounds to go on the body. I have a handful of sweaters I'd like to knit, and I've set a goal of knitting at least six charity hats. I also want to spin up at least 12 bags/shipments of Southern Cross club fibre, and I'm going to pull out my entire stash of it to take another big picture to track it. I'm also hoping to do more crochet this year, starting with getting back to the blanket I started for Rainbow.

How was your 2022 crafting year? Do you have plans for 2023?