Hello again! So last week I mentioned having a few more miscellaneous makes from 2022 that I just had to find the pictures of and good news, I found them so here they are!
So I made some new hot water bottle covers as the ones I made early on in 2020 were getting a little tatty. I crocheted the blue and green one using my own hot water bottle cover patter and also my own hand dyed yarn and then I decided to try knitting a cover because I wanted to use this beautiful skein of yarn that my sister got me for my birthday but I didn’t have enough of it to crochet one. I do love how the yarn looks knitted up but I have to say, I do prefer the sturdier feel of the crochet cover. I did use DK for the crochet one and 4ply for the knitted one so maybe I’ll have to try knit a cover using DK at some point (but I still think I prefer the crochet feel for this particular make).
But moving on from the hot water bottles, I finished a few more things last year like a baby hat (using some lovely alpaca and silk yarn), a granny square bag (still need to make a lining for the inside) and some dog snoods. That last one was a request from the woman who owns the pet shop near me – one of her older dogs was having ear troubles with cold and wind going out for walks so I made a few little dog snoods as I wasn’t sure which size would fit best.
Now, I think I have a few more small, random makes from Christmas that I might be able to get another miscellaneous makes post out of. I’ll have to see about that. Other than those though, I think that’s it for 2022…in which case I really need to start actually working on and finishing some projects if I’m ever to have anything to show of 2023!
Puddleside Musings 
I generally like the look of knit fabric more than crochet, but I think to get the same thickness with stockinette as you got with DK crochet, you’d probably need to upgrade to aran/worsted, possibly even chunky. You could possibly get the same density if you down-sized needles for tighter stitches, but I think that would be painful to knit, honestly. XD
I love how that skein worked up, though. I have so many hand-dyed skeins and never know what to do with them because they’re so pretty in the hank but then don’t work up how I thought they would. 🤦♀️ The pattern looks pretty ingenious too. I’m almost sad I don’t use hot water bottle. (I’m terrified of getting burnt/scalded to the extent that I can’t use an iron or steam blocker or anything either lol.)
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Definitely for clothing I like the look of knit fabric more. For toys I like crochet (I’ve never tried to do knitted amigurumi though). When it comes to home decor and accessories like hot water bottle covers though it depends on the project I guess.
A lot of handdyed yarns though, especially those with smaller spots of colour and speckles do just look better knitted.
Good point there on the yarn weight, I probably would want to try aran weight for a knitted one. I think I have some stylecraft aran weight acrylic somewhere in my stash so maybe I’ll try with that and see how it feels, before getting nicer yarn. I definitely don’t want to try sizing down needles with 4ply because that would kill my hands and take so, so long!
Maybe you could just make hot water bottle covers as gifts for others? I love hot water bottles – I can usually be found hugging a hot water bottle either because I’ve got bad afternoon shivers (I just get so, so cold in the afternoon) or I have bad period cramps and the heat is comforting.
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Yes, that! I knew there was another reason for not down-sizing; I just forgot it was time lol. I love 4ply, my hands not so much. (To be fair, though, I also love DK, and chunky, and SUPAH chunky, and…)
I… need to finish all my WIPs before I even think of adding another, really. And yet… 🤔
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And yet, would one more project really hurt? (Shhh, don’t look in my wardrobe at all the blanket WIPs!)
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Too late! But, uh, don’t look at all the bags hanging off my trolleys… <_<
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Hmm. I cheat, though. I put projects in “hibernation” when I’m not planning on working on them for a while, so my WIP “pile” is actually pretty small. ;D
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I guess a chunk of my WIPs could be counted as in hibernation – I mean I’ve not worked on my rosetta CAL blanket since 2021…maybe 2020 even…
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Oh that definitely counts as a bear, then ;D
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