2023: A Brief Wrap-up

It's not the last day of the year, but this is likely my last blog post for the year, so I thought I'd be predictable and do a bit of a year-end wrap up. This won't be exhaustive or terribly detailed, frankly because I don't have the time for it, but I figured I'd at least look back on crafting and reading, the two things that figure most heavily on this blog.

More than anything else, 2023 was about spinning for me. I started out the year hoping to spin up at least 12 back shipments from the Southern Cross Fibre club. I ended up doubling that goal and spinning even more than that. If I'd thought to do it before we left for vacation, I would have taken a photo of the pile of skeins I've spun, but for now, this screenshot from my Ravelry handspun page will have to do:

I know it's really hard to see anything, but you can click on the photo to make it bigger or (if Ravelry is safe for you to use) visit my handspun page to see bigger photos and more details. Here are a handful of stats on my spinning:

• I spun 33 bags of fiber from SCF (mostly club shipments, but there were a handful of prize bags spun, too).
• Including all fiber spun, I completed 32 full-size skeins and 24 mini skeins.
• My rough estimate of weight spun (because I don't usually weigh my SCF shipments, though they're a minimum of 110 g per bag) is about 3,944 g/139 oz.
• My total yardage for the year is nearly 13,000, and when you consider that all those yarns were plied and that the majority had three plies, you can just imagine what the yardage would be if calculated by singles spun.

Because of my focus on spinning, I didn't knit quite as much as I did in years past, but it was still a fairly productive year:

• Nine pairs of socks
• Five sweaters (three adult, two baby)
• Ten hats (more than half for charity)
• Four cowls
• One shawl
• One pair of mittens
• One pair of cuffs

There was a crocheted blanket as well, which helped to use up most of a sweater kit.

It was another great year of reading. I was fairly conservative in setting my reading challenge goal for the year (at least relatively to recent years' numbers) at 100, and I did surpass it. While I'm hoping to finish one more book before the end of the year, here's where things stand:

To see what all these books are, click here.

Some highlights:

• I didn't rate any book lower than two stars.
• I rated 21 books five stars.
• I completed the Maisie Dobbs series.
• I became an Ann Patchett completist.
• Nearly half of the books I read were on audio (reading while running for the win!).
• I reread a dozen books.
• I read the majority of the Women's Prize for Fiction longlist and the entirety of the Booker Prize longlist.

In the order I read them, here are my favorites from among the five-star-rated books I read this year (which just happened to end up an even ten):

• The Tsar of Love and Techno
• Signal Fires
• I Have Some Questions for You
• The Garden of Evening Mists
• Tom Lake
• A Ghost in the Throat
• Wellness
• Between Two Kingdoms
• North Woods*
• Land of Milk and Honey

* Probably my favorite book of the year!

So that's it from me for now. I have some plans for 2024, but I will wait to share those in a few days. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this past year. Did you have any big accomplishments -- or big regrets? How did your reading match up with mine?

I hope these last days of 2023 are good for you, and I wish you a new year of good health and good times!