So, I was curious to see how my "resolutions", my Make Nine list for 2019, was progressing. (See the original list here.)
- Finish the Turquoise Zebra blanket. Done! I finished it February 15, 2019. It's been on my bed, keeping me warm since it got cold enough to warrant another blanket.
- Make at least one small thing each month (like socks, hats, mittens, small shawls). At last count, I had almost thirty finished this year, so I guess I did that one too.
- Make three big things this year (like sweaters, big shawls). I got six things done, some for me, some for Swan's Island, so I did this one too.
- Make one thing that is hard for me to knit. Hmmmm. Nothing I knit was really hard for me this year, but I did have one challenging thing, which was also fun and different; it was the Mystery Socks 11 from Knitter's Brewery that I knit.

These socks were somewhat unusually constructed, and had interesting and kind of hard stitches to do. I enjoyed doing them!
5. Become accomplished at knitting brioche. I didn't do it, but I tried. I worked on the brioche class on Bluprint until I thought, why aren't I knitting? It was the brioche mitts that were the project, but it wasn't that I didn't like doing brioche ... I just had to say, I didn't like the mitts and I didn't like that the mitts were all gawmy and, well, ugly as hell. So then I started looking at other brioche things to knit and found that I didn't really like the looks of them either. I guess that I just am not a huge fan of how brioche looks. So I didn't finish it. The only brioche things that I saw that I liked were simple scarves, some hats, and a couple sweaters that I had actually knit myself in the past. I crossed brioche off my list, and I was fine with that. Life is too short to learn skills that I don't like and won't use, and there are many other things that I want to learn.
Intarsia is like brioche, in that I don't like doing them, but if a design is very, very, very, very beautiful or cool or cute, I will knit it despite not liking it (Map of the World sweater, I'm looking at you!)
6. Design two patterns and put them on my blog. Well. I kind of did it, and kind of didn't. I knit an old pattern and put it on my blog with a picture and revamped it (Diagonal Rib Scarf), and I did a wicked simple scarf pattern (Simplest Scarf in the World) and I did the County Socks too, for which I had the pattern written down years ago. But I really didn't design a clever thing. I have a file full of ideas, nineteen of them in fact. And those are just the ideas I have written down. I can do better next year.
7. Knit the Selbu Modern hat, which has been in my Ravelry queue for ten years (March 26, 2009). Nope, didn't do it. As a matter of fact, I decided I really didn't want that hat any more, so I simply crossed it off my list. How freeing!
8. Knit Saxony Socks by Lisa Lloyd which have also been in my queue for ten years (December 10, 2009). Nope, haven't done it yet, but I still want to. It will go on my list for next year.
9. Crochet a garment. Does a doily count as a garment? I guess not. Sigh. There are some great crocheted sweaters and shawls out there, I just have to pick one. Next year!
Of the nine things, I finished five of them, kinda finished one, threw two away, and flat out just didn't finish two. That's not bad; some accomplishments, some room for improvement, and I learned from the brioche that I didn't like brioche, and I found that the hat was just not for me anymore. I don't feel bad about any of them. Now to think about my Make Nine list for next year!