Crafting Goals 2022 Update #4

First of all, Merry Christmas.  I hope you're having a good day.

This has been quite a year for crafting for me.  It was a very ambitious list that I'd given myself and I even added to it along the way.  Though I haven't actually managed to complete it, I'm still amazed at how much I did actually manage to do.

The Wrap Dress

This was from the pattern Butterick B6554.  I really love how this dress looks and feels on, and I absolutely love the pattern on the fabric even though it wasn't initially what I was looking for.  It's nice to also have a dress that fits me properly and doesn't flash parts of me at unexpected moments.  The only issue is that,despite making the top part already and doing a practise run that went well I still managed to get the bust darts wrong and had to do them again, which means the inside isn't as seamless as I wanted.  If I'd had more fabric I'd probably would have redone that part, but I'm still happy with the outcome and I plan on wearing this quite a lot.

Guernsey / Gansay Jumper

This is a Christmas present for my husband, at his request.  It's a really interesting pattern (from Frangipani), but the size of the needles required are quite small and that meant that, despite doing a lot of knitting, there hasn't been as much progress as there normally would.  That has meant that, despite my best efforts, this isn't completely complete for Christmas and he has had to open it with needles still in the garment.  However, it shouldn't take me much longer to get it completed, hopefully by the end of the year.  Despite that length of time the process has been quite interesting due to the Gansay jumper specific elements such as the false seams, and the gussets under the armpits and around the neck to give that extra space and movement for a jumper that it meant to be quite fitted otherwise.  I would recommend trying this jumper, especially if you're interested in the history of garments.  Just make sure you have plenty of time to make it.

Christmas Cards

(I completely forgot to take photos of the finished cards before I sent them all away.)  Speaking of Christmas, my decision to make the Christmas cards using paper crafts this year definitely saved by quite a lot of time but was still quite enjoyable.  Mostly it gave me the opportunity to use my brain in a different way to create a design.  It's been a while since I've done something like this and I think I might also start making birthday cards in this way in the future.  I do need to make sure this doesn't turn into another money sink though, so possibly a bit of planning first.  Still I think they turned out pretty well.

The Hobbit / Lord of the Rings Cross-stitch - Rivendale

My plan to get everything done before December so that I could concentrate on just doing this cross-stitch went completely out the window when I realised that the Guernsey jumper would take as long as it has.  This has meant that I haven't actually touched this cross-stitch at all this quarter and it has remained the same as before.  I'm not sure I'll get to it at all this year so this will probably carry on to the next where I plan on it being one of the first things that I finish along with some smaller completion projects.

And that's it for crafting in 2022.  Getting all of these crafting projects done did mean that there were some other goals I had for this year that I didn't complete as a result.  The highlight this year for me was making my wedding outfit and even though I had planned on shortening the skirt afterwards to that I could wear it other times I just haven't had the heart to do that yet.  Though I am partly glad on that now as I've now changed my mind on the length I'd like it to be.  Still, every time I open up my wardrobe and see the skirt I get to think 'I did that'.  I have started to think about what I'd like to do next year for crafting, but I haven't completely decided yet.  All I know is that it'll be a lot less than this year and will mostly involve using up products I have rather than buying more.