2014: the fails

Hi everyone!

I thought it would be fun to do a quick re-cap of all the awesome things that I did and that happened on this blog in 2014. But without the lows, one can never really appreciate the highs, right? So let’s take a look at some of my ‘fails’ of 2014! :)

Fail number one: buying this ah-mazing yarn and not doing anything with it
In July, I splurged and got myself two amazing skeins of 50% cashmere 50% silk by Expression Fiber Arts, who are well known for their amazing dye jobs. To refresh your memory, this is what those skeins look like:

Oh yeah. It’s good.
So what have I done with those lovely soft, lush, and gorgeous skeins of yarn? Well, besides winding them up into yarn cakes: absolutely nothing. I guess I have been waiting to use this yarn until I found the PERFECT pattern for them, which I never found because there isn’t enough yardage on these skeins for most of the patterns out there. I could have bought some regular white silk yarn (which I almost did, on multiple occasions) to increase the yardage, but then I’d be right back where I started; finding the perfect pattern for the skeins! ;)
I know what you’re thinking, and I’m starting to realise it too: I might have raised the bar a little too high for these perfect little skeins…

Fail number two: buying this ah-mazing yarn and not doing anything with it
July saw some pretty awesome yarn purchases by me, and this is no exception. Remember this wonderful hand spun, hand dyed, completely gorgeous art yarn from WoolWench?

I kind of resent myself for not making something with this sooner, but I have a plan now! :) Suzy from WoolWench also does these circular weavings, which you can check out here, and those have inspired me to no end last year. I bought myself a small circular Maja weaving loom, and I’m planning on using this art yarn in combination with other yarns for my first circular weaving project! So, all in all, not a complete fail, because now it is a yarn with a plan ;)

Fail number three: starting but not finishing this shawl with more ah-mazing yarn
I’m starting to see a pattern here you guys… ;)
I got myself this lovely yarn from MollyCoddle Yarns also in July (seriously, what was happening to me in July? I was being a total yarn hoarder!) and as soon as I got it, I started this shawl:

It’s a bit bigger now, but it’s still sitting in my WIP basket, completely untouched, and it has been sitting there for about 6 months… Shame on me! I think I will finish this shawl in the pattern that I’m using now because I still think it really suits the yarn. I just need to get off my *** and actually begin working on it again! The pattern is quite easy to memorize so it’s the ultimate relaxing couch project :)

Fail number four: going to the UK, purchasing this gorgeous sparkly yarn, and starting a way too intricate pattern with it that I am never ever going to finish
Hi, my name is Wink and I’m a yarn addict… I went to Unravel festival last year (will go again this February!) and there I found a lovely skein of The Natural Dye Studio yarn, with lovely sparkly bits in it and the most gorgeous blue, sea green, muted colours you’ve ever seen… So I’ve been looking for the perfect pattern for it, and I thought I found it in the Maia shawl. I was wrong.

This is lace weight yarn, which is what the pattern calls for. But for some reason, this pattern just didn’t flow for me. And that is not to be blamed on the pattern, which itself is lovely! Just looking at those gorgeous FO’s on the Ravelry page makes me wish I had an FO myself… I don’t know what went wrong here. Maybe the pattern wasn’t as relaxing to crochet as I thought it would be. Maybe the yarn was a little too thin to work with for me, since I’ve been working with a lot bulkier yarns during the rest of the year. I don’t know. But what I do know is that I’m going to frog the progress so far, and look for a different pattern for this yarn.

Thank goodness it wasn’t *all* bad in 2014; I have made some wonderful items and have done some pretty groovy things!

Alright everyone, stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog post, where I share the wins of 2014! :)

xo,
wink

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