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!

My presents are almost done, I’ve done lots of baking to take up to my parents’ house (though my oven seems bent on ruining a lot of cookies), and the house is reasonably clean. Bring on Christmas!

I’ve gotten pretty far on reknitting my sweater with bows – it’s nearly up to the armholes again, and I’m really happy I ripped. A cardigan version is going to get a lot more wear with me than a pullover, and since the nows are spaced one more plain row apart than before, it’s going quicker!

(It looks about the same though, really.)

I also started a new sweater, out of that brown Dream in Color classy – this one is coming along really quickly. Worsted weight lace is super fun to knit. I’ve been feeling overheated more these days, so I thought the lace would be a good way to get some ventilation while still being nice and cozy. The real cold hasn’t actually settled in yet though, so who knows what’ll happen this winter.

Okay, yes, that’s a swatch, not a sweater. But it’s where it all starts! This is on 5mm needles, in Dream in Color Classy. I think the idea for this sweater is coming along in my mind, but it still has a ways (and a bunch of math) to go.

(If the swatch looks a bit wet, it’s because I dropped it in the sink before I took this photo. Whoops.)

While I’m at it, I think I’ll make it into a cardigan – I just don’t wear pullovers very much, and I’ve been feeling overheated really often lately. So, farewell, 15″ of Ultra Alpaca sweater:

At least I can make sure it comes out the way I want, right?

From Belfast Central station I hopped on another train to get to Botanic station, where my hotel was – I stayed at Tara Lodge, a B&B I’d highly recommend if you’re ever going to Belfast! The rooms were spacious and clean, the bed was comfy and they have free wifi too. Oh, and breakfast was delicious. I felt really comfortable there. It’s a bit outside the city centre, but it’s very close to the University and the Botanic Gardens, and it’s just a 10 or 15 minute walk to the city centre anyway.

I was a little early to check in, so I left my bag and had some lunch, and checked out the Ulster Museum. It was really rainy and windy (my umbrella kept flipping) so lots of other people had the same idea of going to the museum! I also walked to the city centre and looked around, but by then it was getting late enough that many of the shops were closing. I ended up getting takeaway, going back to the hotel and catching up on Doctor Who.

Belfast is really a lovely city. But by this point in the trip I was having a bit of sightseeing fatigue, and I have hardly any photos. Plus the rain and wind didn’t make for great conditions! Sunday is a very quiet day in the city, and if businesses are open at all, it’s limited hours like 1-6pm. It made for a pretty relaxing weekend, actually, since I didn’t feel a lot of pressure (self-inflicted, of course) to really go out and about and see a bunch of things. In the morning, though, St. George’s market is open so I went and had a look there. It’s a lot like St. Lawrence market here in Toronto. The Saturday market has the fruit + veg, which I’m sad that I missed, but the Sunday market is pretty interesting too. It’s mostly ready to eat foods, crafts, and vintage stuff. There was even a yarn booth!

The only thing I bought was a bag of hand-fried crisps (potato chips) with sea salt and pink peppercorn – they were frying right there in the market. Yum!

Then I went and hung out in a coffee shop for awhile with my Kindle and my knitting, before heading to check out some of the shopping areas. I decided to do a bit of a spa day, so I bought some body scrub and stuff at the drugstore and also got a manicure and pedicure. Unfortunately the woman who was doing my nails really didn’t do a very good job – I ended up buying nail polish remover and a bottle of polish too, and redoing my nails in my hotel room.

Victoria Square has a dome at the top with a viewing platform – it’s a really lovely view of Belfast. And that day was mostly sunny and clear, so you could actually see!

There wasn’t much else to do that night – I went out for Japanese food (udon soup and some sushi), did my nice long hot shower body scrub thing, and repacked my things. It was a really short stay in Belfast, but I enjoyed it. It felt really restful and was perfect for recharging before my long journey home.

The first leg of my trip home was on Monday. I had breakfast in the hotel again, hung out and then left my luggage and had some tea at a cafe, and sat in the park reading for a little while. Though it was sunny, it was VERY windy! It was almost hard to walk at some points. I took the train and the bus out to Belfast International Airport, which is quite a ways outside of the city – I’m glad I didn’t try to take a taxi! It was a pretty straightforward trip out there, but then I ended up spending rather a long time in the airport. My plan had been to fly to Edinburgh, pick up some things I’ve left at Ysolda’s flat, then take the train to Glasgow and stay the night there. Then I’d fly home to Toronto from Glasgow on Tuesday morning.

Well. The flight to Edinburgh kept getting delayed, and finally they just cancelled it altogether! It was quite a large plane, so there were a lot of irate people. We had to go back through to the check in desks in order to talk to someone about our options. I gather that the wind and storms were worse in Edinburgh, and something happened at the airport that made them cancel a whole bunch of flights (a roof coming off a building? something like that). Luckily I was near the front of the queue, and was able to rebook onto a flight to Glasgow that evening. It actually worked out fine, though I had to leave a few purchases in Edinburgh (I’ll get them later sometime, mostly whisky!).

I spend from 3-9 in the airport, got my 25 minute (!) flight to Glasgow, then went straight to my hotel, which I’d booked right next to the airport. Got in around 10:45pm so it was convenient to just walk to the hotel from the airport! It’s pretty much on the airport grounds, I think. My flight home from Glasgow the next morning was slightly nerve-wracking, because many flights were canceled due the volcanic ash cloud! Sheesh, when it rains it pours. Lots of people were being bussed down to Manchester (which isn’t super close; about 4 hours’ drive) to catch flights out. Luckily, my flight seemed to be just fine. It was a little longer than usual, about 8 hours, because had to take a more southern route to avoid the ash. Due to the magic of time zones, I left Glasgow at 10:30am and got home to Toronto at 2:30pm.

Though I had to cut my trip short, I’m glad to be back home. I missed my bed, my shower, my laundry machine and my own cooking! I saw lots of great sights and had fun walking around cities that I hadn’t been to before. I don’t know if I’m cut out for really long-term travel, but after going around under my own steam for 3 weeks, I think I’ve got some good travel confidence built up. I was definitely lonely sometimes, and I think it would’ve been fun to have a companion to share experiences with, but all in all I’m glad I went on my own. Now I know that I can do it in the future if I want to!