2011 seemed to be a bad year for a lot of people I know – and I had my share of ups and downs too. Focusing on the “ups” though, I got a great new apartment, a wonderful boyfriend, and I finished lots of great knits!

This one came off the needles way back in November, but I don’t think I ever blogged finished photos of it! I just love this cardigan. It’s knit out of Ultra Alpaca, and it’s a bit fuzzy after some wear but it’s sooo warm and cozy.

The pattern is my own, and will be coming out for sale soon! I have some big hopes and plans for 2012, and while lots of other people are doing the “12 sweaters in 2012″ thing, I have a bit of a challenge set for myself – to design and release 12 sweater patterns in 2012!

I’m cheating a bit – some of the sweaters have already been knit up, and are nearly ready to be released anyway. But hey, the final few steps are the hard ones – photographing, editing, general tidying up before a pattern can be sent out into the world.

I’ve decided not to do this as a pattern club or anything, since I like the idea of being able to decide what you want to purchased based on each pattern alone. The other thing I’d like to do more of this year is blog, so I’ll be writing lots of posts along the way! (I hope.)

Anyway, I hope you all had a great holiday, and thanks for supporting me in 2011 – here’s to a bright new year!

We (boyfriend and I) flew down to NYC on Friday, and took the train out to Rhinebeck with Ysolda. The house we rented this year with friends was amazing! So huge, with a great kitchen, awesome view and comfy couches. Saturday morning was a bit of a rush as we had to get the Ravelry buttons to the meetup and were a bit stuck in traffic. It all worked out though, and I had a lovely day checking out all the barns and navigating through the crowds. I picked up a bowl from jennie the potter, and a fun sheepy mug.

And I saw kits for my Sweet Bunting Cardi! Super cute.

Sunday morning we decided to go to the farmer’s market – this is the sixth time I’ve been to Rhinebeck and I’d pretty much never been able to explore the town! The farmer’s market is held in a parking lot, and is quite small but really cool.

Managed to actually get a good coffee in town (as opposed to the fairgrounds coffee) and had a nice walk to town. The day was pretty long, and a bit warmer than Saturday – definitely calmer as well, in terms of the crowds. Sunday night was spent relaxing, eating, and doing a swap with my housemates! I actually didn’t buy any yarn at Rhinebeck this year, but I did come home with some from Wild Apple Hill Farms, thanks to Sarah!

Monday we took the train back to NYC, and spent the rest of the week walking, seeing the sights, and eating ever so many delicious foods. It was the type of vacation where you need a rest afterwards!

Time for some photos!

Living room – before

Living room – after, with my new chair from Design Republic.

Bedroom – before

Bedroom – after

Foods! Scallion pancakes with scallions from the farmer’s market – so, so delicious. The dipping sauce is stellar too.

Tiny peach pies! I didn’t have enough peaches for a full pie (because I’ve been eating so many of them) so I made a few minis instead, in a muffin tin.

Knitting? Sure. I’ve been nuts for a tubular cast on.

In Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock:

And in Malabrigo sock, too:

(Trafalgar Square!)

Finally in June the yarn was all used up. I set about putting the hexes into their order for the blanket that I’d decided would be for some very good friends who were getting married at the beginning of July.

I sorted them into piles by shade, then laid them out. The blanket wasn’t quite as big as I’d hoped, but it looked like a great size for the couch.

I started with the darkest in one corner, then moved across to the lightest in the opposite corner, diagonally.

It was a classic race to the finish! There was crocheting the hexes into strips, then the strips into a square; crocheting a border around the whole thing and then about 500 ends to weave in, plus it needed a good blocking. So you know what that means? No photos of the finished blanket! D’oh! I laid it out to dry the night before the wedding, packed it up the next afternoon and off it went. I was very pleased with it.

I’ll have to ask Vivek and Gina to send me some photos of it in its new home.

Meanwhile, it all begins again….

*edited to add! In this case, a whack means 8 skeins (4 of each), plus an extra skein of Tanis sock yarn to put it together with : )

A blanket? That doesn’t seem like a good traveling project! Well, that’s true, but my blanket is made up of many many individual crocheted hexagons. So they were actually great for going around – the yarn didn’t take up a lot of room (two 100g skeins) and the individual pieces were easy to start and finish. Plus, I mailed the completed ones back home as I went! I’d made over half of the hexes in the last several (okay, many) months, but the deadline is approaching and I needed to step up my game.

Of course, now I have to put the whole thing together! I’m not sure if it’ll be quite as big as I wanted, but it’ll be fine. I’m out of yarn, so it’d better be!

The other main project I worked on was a shawl, out of two colours of Handmaiden Casbah. It really makes such a lovely fabric, and this texture stitch is easy and fun.

I’m hoping to get this shawl pattern out to you soon – just have to find some time to block it and take photos.

When I got home, I picked up a project that I started before I left, a pair of Conwy socks (from Knitting on the Road). I substituted my usual toe, not really on purpose but because I didn’t read the instructions very carefully! I made these as a birthday present for my dear friend Jane. I missed her birthday while I was away, so I wanted to give her something special!

1 skein of Socks that Rock lightweight in “Ruby Slippers”, 2.25mm needles. Fun! I’ve had tons of socks on the needles lately – they’re such nice comforting, soothing knitting.

So what did I bring back from my travels? Not very much! I was carrying a 40L backpack, so I couldn’t carry much extra – it never went over 14 kg (airline max is 23 kg). I did mail back a few packages of random things that I picked up, mostly maps, magazines and a bit of yarn too.

From Loop in London, just a few skeins of Wollemeise! I’m hoping to make a little lacy cardigan with the green, and maybe a shawl with the purple.

From Alice at Socktopus, some of her fabulous hand dyed fingering weight yarn! Can’t wait to play with these.

And from Purl City Yarns in Manchester, a fabulous assortment of local Manchester yarns and some other British stuff including Natural Dye Studio and Fyberspates. Yum.

As you can see, I picked up a lot of single skeins – it really wasn’t the time to be buying sweater quantities of anything. I do enjoy the challenge of dealing with single skeins so I’m hoping to come up with some fun accessories in the coming months. I’m starting work on my fall collection, which I’m hoping to release in August or early September. It’s a bit tricky to think about in the summer, but after a couple days of hot weather (and broken air conditioning, d’oh) today is lovely and cool. I’m hoping to draw some inspiration from things I saw on this trip, and put together a set of patterns with a little something for everyone.

I can’t believe it’s June already though! Better get crackin’.