Way back towards the beginning of my knitting journey, I mentioned that I was making a jumper but then put it aside to focus on other things. I did finish that jumper, and I don’t know why I didn’t write about it at the time because it was hilarious. I was proud of it, a finished product, hooray! But it was enormous. I’ve not really invested too much time in gauging my work so far, which is a lesson I’ve learned now. But back then, I just had some chunky wool and a pattern and I wanted to crack on.

The blanket is finally finished! Let’s not dwell on the fact that it has taken more than a year to get to this point, but it’s done, and it’s lovely. The photo doesn’t really give a sense of the scale of the blanket, it’s about 1.1m wide and long. I think I went a couple of stripes longer than the pattern suggested, but it’s turned out really well. A big thanks to my mother too, who instructed me on the best way to weave in all the ends, and then made sure I sat there until it was done.

Tom Daley is everywhere at the moment - after a far-too-brief stint on Celebrity Traitors, he’s got a new show on Channel 4 starting imminently. The series, called The Game of Wool, is one of those cosy competition styles, like Bake Off, but featuring knitting and crochet rather than oven-based larks. It’s going to be a fascinating watch… I knit so slowly I can’t really fathom anyone creating something within a set time limit.

Two years ago, I wrote about the emergency hot water bottle cover I knitted and how proud I was of the result. It was a super easy pattern that came together really well and quickly, and I went on to knit a couple more covers for family members so that we could all have that extra bit of warmth and protection. They’re all pretty well used now, those original covers, and some of them have stretched a bit, so it seemed like a good time for a refresh - with a new winter approaching rapidly. I wanted to play around a bit with colours, and put a bit more thought into it, so I bought a selection of chunky yarn and mix and matched to come up with the below.

The pattern of this striped cardigan caught my eye and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Although it says it’s designed for men, it looks pretty unisex to me. So I set about knitting it and am pretty happy with the result. The only issue with the final result is that one of the shoulders sticks up a bit like it should have shoulder pads in it. The other one is fine. Also, it’s far too hot at the moment to be wearing a cardigan of any sort let alone a woollen one. I always seem to finish a project at exactly the wrong season to be wearing it.

I knitted a couple of these fingerless mittens last year and they all disappeared, gobbled up by adoring fans I like to think. So after a couple of recent froggings, I figured it’d be nice to knit up something super quick and easy and one that I could keep for myself this winter.

I’ve wanted to write about Knit in a Box for ages. I love, love, LOVE this concept. A subscription box, you get a surprise pattern with all the yarn, buttons and accessories you need to complete it plus a few small gifts scattered in here and there. It’s beautifully presented and really the kind of thing that just makes you happy. There are subscription options (frequency and type, ie. children’s box, ladies box) and the occasional special edition. You can get the surprise box each time, or wait until the contents are revealed and buy as one offs if they appeal. It’s just gorgeous stuff.

Earlier in the year, I wrote about the first cardigan I had knitted. I’m very proud of it and still wear it, but do have to admit it doesn’t fit at all well and the colour continues to annoy me. I knew as soon as I’d finished the first one that I wanted to knit it again and do better, and that’s exactly what I’ve done. I’ve had the pieces of this finished for a while but it’s taken me far too long to get round to sewing it all up together - finally have achieved it and wahey, cardigan take two!

I haven’t written about anything I’ve knitted for several months but I’ve still been working on various things in the background. The main problem is that I haven’t managed to actually finish a project in ages. Step forward the Mastadon hashtag #finishorfrogalong in which people own up to their own stash of unfinished projects and encourage each other to do the same. The idea being that you either finish it or you ditch it because that’s the only way to move forward!

I probably don’t make the most of my Apple News subscription, but I do enjoy the magazines that are included as part of the price. The TV guides alone are worth the price, but there is a lot of choice on there - history, gardening, interior design, cars, sports, gossip, fashion, you name it, it’s in there. And just recently, some new knitting magazines have been added which is a great update for me!

The first actual item of clothing I knitted was of mixed success so it’s taken me a while to try again. This time I went for a cardigan, as I’m a big cardigan wearer, using this free pattern. There are SO many cardigan patterns out there but I started with this one because it said all the good key words ’easy’, ‘beginner’, ’everyday’.

It’s been quite chilly in the UK recently, so it was a good time to finish off my latest scarf. This Kallik pattern was such a good knit, super simple but requiring an element of concentration to make sure the pattern didn’t go awry. It’s just four stitches knit, four stitches purl but shifting each row to make the diagonal pattern. At first, I had to diligently read the pattern and count the rows to make sure I was doing it right, but then discovered I was able to read the knitting as it grew to know what I needed to do next. That was a good feeling.

After a very minor scalding incident with a hot water bottle, I realised that there was a lack of HWB covers in the house and that I could probably whip one up quite quickly with a bit of leftover yarn. I sourced this super easy pattern, and even though I was using slightly different weight yarn, it worked out so well.

I wanted to try knitting in multiple colours, having previously done a bit of stripe work on full rows but not mixing it up mid-row. I found these patterns for Marvel icons in squares and thought that looked quite a fun place to start.

The weather has definitely turned autumnal now, so it seemed like a good time to try out a knitting pattern for fingerless gloves. I’ve found a few different ones available online, but opted to go for this free pattern that looked relatively simple. It was back to the double pointed needles, and although it took me two attempts at the first glove, it actually was quite easy.

I got to grips with circular knitting needles in the last project, and thought perhaps it was about time I dipped my toe in the waters of double pointed knitting needles - which means I could try my very first socks! I used this pattern for Relax at Home socks which seemed relatively easy and the kind of footwear I would enjoy wearing.

I’m still learning a lot about yarn, the different types and weights, materials and measures, the fact that they appear to be sold in grams rather than length, and that kind of thing. But I do like perusing the huge variety of colours and yarns available, and was happy to find the above in store. Yarn made from recycled bottles is genius, isn’t it? What a great use of bottles that would otherwise just be thrown away. The texture is a little bit different to other yarns but I think you would get used to it quite quickly, and they’re not all going to be like this specific one, either.

From hats and scarves, I wanted to move on and try knitting an actual item of clothing, so I started on a jumper from my beginner’s knitting book. However, I realised that summer was quickly approaching and it might be more fun and useful to try something like a tank top or vest. So, I opted for this super easy, but with a few elements I would need to learn, Classic Vest pattern.

I wanted to just practice the feeling of knitting and test out my endurance and patience levels, so decided to go with a superbly basic garter stitch scarf next. I didn’t think this wool was particularly good, it was labelled as craft wool rather than something you might make items of clothing out of, but as it was just practice, I wasn’t bothered. Turns out, the end result is really quite soft and is super stretchy.

I was so happy with the result of the little blue hat in all aspects except the size of it, I immediately had another go making it a bit bigger. This turned out just as well and has the added bonus of fitting on my head, so a big step forward. I made my first tassle to go on top, with a cardboard circle method. It was a bit fiddly and didn’t turn out that well, so I immediately invested in those little gadgety tassle maker things. Haven’t made another one since, but when I need to, I’m ready to go!

After some of the early bits and pieces, I wanted to knit something actually useful so opted for a hat. I wasn’t ready for circular or double pointed needles (still not, if I’m honest), so this fantastic pattern which knits a bobble hat on straight needles was a gem of a find. I dived straight in without thinking about measurements or gauge or anything, so the end result was way too small to fit on any adult-sized head. I didn’t bother to put a bobble on it because I don’t currently have an intended user for it. BUT I was super happy with the results, the way it decreases, the nice stretch of the rib at the bottom, and the way it stitched together. Hooray!

I’ve been knitting a couple of months now and am currently working on a bigger vest project, but realised I haven’t shared evidence of the small early projects I started with. Pics or it didn’t happen, right? The first one was a small bag that came from this book. Whilst I appreciate beginning with a small and super easy project - garter stitch and two separate parts just to join together afterwards - this bag is completely useless. It holds half my phone, so I don’t fully know what the point of it is. However, I don’t want to undo it because it was my first!

I mentioned in my wrap-up of the March challenge that I’m taking a pause on these monthly endeavours, because there are only so many hours in the day. That’s part of it: I don’t know why I assumed time would just keep expanding to allow me to add hobby after hobby. But there is more to it than that… in having to pause the project, it really proves what a success it has been.

As I am now mildly obsessed with knitting, I bought a handful of balls of wool and various knitting needles and quite quickly realised I wasn’t sure what I had and what I needed for future projects. As you can imagine, there’s an app for that! My choice at the moment is YarnBuddy which seems like a simple enough app that has just enough detail to keep things ticking along nicely.

When I kicked off my February challenge of knitting, it was my intention to pop back in several times during the month and show off what I had made. I knew I wasn’t going to be producing sweaters and complicated patterns, but I thought there might be something worth shouting about.

February has arrived, and that means a fresh challenge, another chance to try something new. Actually, this isn’t something new to me but something I’ve tried my hand at a long time ago and since mostly forgotten: knitting! A lot of my previous experience was based on knitting rows and rows of just plain stitches, marvelling as the length of knitted material grew, then frogging the sort-of scarf I made and starting over again. Pretty basic.