Jan 4, 20192 min read

Wrapping up 2018

At the top of the new year it's always fun to take stock on the previous one. Here are some of my highlights from 2018.

My biggest and smallest knitted project in 2018

I knitted 12.4 kilometers (that's over 13,000 yards!) of yarn in the year 2018. The biggest project was Honung with 1,052 m (1,395 yd). The smallest — and fastest — knit was the mishka hat for my nephew which only took 96 meters (105 yd) and four days to finish. And that's counting the pom poms!

All talvi knits pattern released in 2018

On the designing front I released 17 new patterns in 2018.

6 shawls
6 sweaters or cardigans
4 pairs of socks
1 pair of fingerless mitts

I also knit three secret projects that are coming out in 2019. 🤫

The most knitted of my 2018 patterns is a close tie between the Zusammen mystery shawl and the Free Falling cowl, both with nearly 130 projects on Ravelry. The most popular, measured in Ravelry likes, is Dilaila's Hoodie with 1,125 ❤. It's also my personal favorite!

I blog weekly on Fridays so I posted 52 new blog posts in 2018. Two out of the three most popular ones were tutorials. I guess you love learning new things as much as I do.

5 Long-tail Cast-ons for Knitting [Tutorial]

The top most-read blog post was 5 Long-tail Cast-ons for Knitting from September 21. This blog post contains a roundup of five cast-on methods used in knitting, and they're all based on the long-tail cast-on technique.

At number two is 7 Ways to Knit Short Rows (April 20). This post shows you seven different methods for doing short rows in knitting, ranging from simple to a little more complex. My favorite is the German Short-Row method which I continue to use over and over again in my designs.

The third position goes to the Advent Calendar 2018 announcement from November 30. The advent calendar was a massive hit and I'm sure it'll make a comeback next year! Thank you all who joined my mailing list and enjoyed a December filled with knitting patterns.

Looking ahead towards the year 2019. I asked my mailing list members about their plans for the new year and what kinds of knitting patterns they're looking forward to in 2019. The results are pretty overwhelmingly shawls, shawls, shawls!