Oh all right then, I submit. Every other blogger in the world has produced lovely collages of their stuff for an end-of-2015 post, so I suppose I should follow suit. Here are six images of 2015-y goodness from TheTwistedYarn. I hope you enjoy them. (And for those of you kind enough to have followed this blog a’while, I hope you don’t expire through boredom from the repetition of these pictures.)
So let’s begin with some of the things that I designed from scratch in 2015. As you’ll see, there’s a mix of knitting and crochet, sometimes within the same project…
And would you like to see a little of my home? Long-term readers will know that I live in a more-than-averagely-eccentric leaky cold converted old brewery, deep in the Oxfordshire countryside:-
Oxfordshire itself is full of history and beauty, and in case you’re not familiar with its landscape, I’ve thrown a fair few local shots onto the blog this year. Here are a few of them:-
There were adventures in 2015, too, including my column in Simply Knitting and also co-judging the Stylecraft competition:-
Of course, not all of my knitting was my own designs. I worked from other people’s patterns, too. You see those socks top left in the picture below? I left them in the laundry room a little too close to the take-to-charity-shop pile, and I think that the Stoic Spouse unwittingly scooped them up and donated them to Oxfam. Oh well, I hope that they’re keeping someone else’s feet toasty. I do miss them, though. And that qiviut cowl middle left? It’s still super-warm and super-soft. 🙂
Finally, I can’t help but mention the food that I’ve grown (or foraged) with the help of the twinnage and my allotment-mate. J, you are a wonderful person as well as a brilliant allotment-mate:-
Anyway, that was 2015. Not bad. I’ve had worse years and I have had better. It was the year in which it became clear that there will be no more children in this household. 🙁 It was the year of the fatal fire at work. 🙁 But it was also a year of friendship and hope and my parents moving to Oxfordshire and the twinnage starting school. 🙂
So… 2016? Well I suspect that there’ll be some knitting and crochet. That insanely over-ambitious crochet project will be completed. I’ll begin vlogging. (Got the lights. Got the microphone. Got the advice from a kindly Hollywood director (Mike Figgis). Just need a more functional internet connection.)
And you? May 2016 bring you love, companionship, and a whole hairy heap of yarn. Happy new year, my friends.
Happy New Year, Twisted. May all your dreams come true!
Kitty in the Forest
Thank you, and the very same to you, too!
Happy New Year from a fan! Now I’m wondering whether I am supposed to do a review of my blog too!!
Do it! Do it! (And then please post me some of your lovely snow.)
Well, I did a sort-of-cheating review by posting screenshots of my ravelry pages. Does that count?
Most definitely. And I’ve just been over to admire all that gorgeousness. (People! Go and look at nicolaknits.com!)
Wishing you in your household nothing but good health and happiness for 2016. I also looked back on the year on my blog but unlike you who have produced a wonderful consise but very colour and informative retrospective I went OTT. Sometimes I don’t know when to stop! You’ve really a achieved so much Phil Blooming marvellous
No, your look-back is what inspired me in the first place! Please don’t change a single thing that you do. (PS: I have some Christmas presents for you.)
I haven’t even read all of your blog(its been a very busy week here) and I already want to comment a book. I don’t know that I could ever get bored. I love the jeans and need to finish my own that you inspired, only I don’t crochet well, so I’m embroidering…and I’m in semi-dire need of new jeans. I may even buy a pair not from good will. I also am in semi-dire need of a diet…or more exercise, or both. Alas, I digress. I love the designs and am moving into that area, and have my own plethora of things going on that I have had little time for this week of busy-ness(many, many hours at work, creating a party where everyone gets to celebrate, until they come close to my grasp of just how mean the cards are, or they run out of money-the latter is far more likely). But I have enjoyed most of your posts…if not all of them that I’ve read. You are a great inspiration to me, even if I don’t need to start anymore projects right now…Most of my friends and family know I will…What is life if you do not hold a dream in your heart? Some of us choose to share those dreams with the world.
Thank you for such generous and wise words. I hope that the busy-ness in your life is all good and fulfilling. And I’d LOVE to see your jeans once you’ve finished them. Wishing you a creative and successful 2016.
Thanks for the reminder! I’ve been busy fighting a new pattern this week…perhaps they’ll be in-between class sewing as well…
Enjoyed! Greatly! Happy New Year.
Thank you! Happy new year to you too, of course.
Happy New Year. Enjoy it 🙂
Thank you. You too. 🙂
May 2016 bring you and yours good health and much happiness. Thanks for sharing parts of your life with us and I hope that you continue to do so. Our shared love of all things creative is a great bond and I sense that we would be friends should we meet. xox
Thank you for such a kind and generous comment. As for your lovely remark about friendship, I can’t help wishing that all the lovely commenters on this blog lived within socialising distance! Happy new year. 🙂
A very happy new year to you and your family, and thank you for such an enjoyable blog!
And thank you for such a kind comment. A very happy and creative new year to you, too.
Thank you for sharing both knitting&home; it is very inspirational!
And thank you for such lovely words. They make blogging worthwhile. 🙂
Stoic Spouse, how could you donate the socks to Oxfam! I’m shocked. I have warned The Man that such action would be considered beyond the pale in this house.
I know, he’s very lucky that he’s not six feet under the patio right now. 😉 May your own spouse never similarly offend. 🙂
dear twisted sister, I love your blog to bits, and always leave it with a big grin on my face. I also did enjoy how your hand fitted naturally perfectly at the end of the knitted sleeve on the image above. ♥
As always, thank you! I’m not sure I deserve your kind words, though.
May 2016 be one of the better years for you, Phil. xx
Thank you. And the same for you, too.
Love your blog. Waited with baited breath to see if you’d get a new baby. Not to be and I sobbed for you as I never got the joy of any kids (gives me the chance to travel to Blighty often). Sharp intake of breath for the hospital fire. Waiting, waiting, waiting for the BIG PROJECT. Knitting my third pair of socks this year amongst all the other projects including a zip-up-the-back hooded jacket for my new grandniece. Much inspiration from you and your blog. So thanks for all of it – the good and the unfortunate.
Thank you for caring. But I do realize how fortunate I am to have children at all. Things could be infinitely worse. But the chance to travel lots can’t be bad?
When you lump it all in together you did rather a serious lot didn’t you Ms T? That, plus keeping us all amused and coming back for more. I think that you should give yourself a metaphorical pat on the back for that alone. With the ebb and flow of trends on social media these days we have no shortage of distractions from the real world. The fact that we keep coming back is tantamount to your talent with the vernacular and the fact that you are a sterling example of (as we Aussies would say) a “Good Sort”. Glad I made your acquaintance last year Ms T and here’s to mutual mangling of the vernacular in 2016 :).
You brewery-converted house might be cold, but I’ve always been jealous of it. So cool! Happy new year 😀