#makenine2023

Witchling by Dragon Hoard Designs | Habitation Throw by Helen Stewart | The Witching Hour by Hannah Mann | Lydia 2.0 by Courtney Little | Ember by Yuko Shimizu | Whitmoor Sweater by Ami Lowden | Tecumseh by Caitlin Hunter | Nightshift by Andrea Mowry | Spector by Joji Locatelli

I realized as I was prepping this post that I never made one for 2022, even though I did share a Make Nine post on Instagram. I suppose that’s how odd and off my blogging enthusiasm was for the year. I’m excited to share this for the new year, though, so here we go.

I have zero expectation that I’ll finish everything on the list. To be honest, I might not even finish one. Last year’s Make Nine was really thrown for a loop when I ended up with tendinitis in my right wrist, and my Folklore cardigan from the year before is still not done. (I have, in fact, needed to completely rip back the sleeves recently because my dumb ass forgot to do the increases. Ha!) But that’s okay, because for me half the fun of a Make Nine is browsing my favorite patterns or finding new ones and making that wish list for the year.

Along with the Folklore cardigan, I do have a couple of other projects to finish before I start on this year’s nine, including the Bronte Sister Shawl, which I recently started and am loving, and the Mountain Mama socks. Those ones might hibernate after the first sock is done because, boy, that colorwork is on tiny needles. But it’s also so cute, and the first sock really did work up so quickly, so we’ll see where I go with it.

Also in addition to the nine and the backlog of UFOs, are all the self-striping socks I’d love to make this year. I really tried to keep up with Laura of Tiny Human Knits as she released her Lord of the Rings sets in the first half of 2022, so I’d love to start knitting up some simple vanilla-ish socks with those skeins. (I think I only missed one or two colors, and I’m pretty sure I just opted against them because they weren’t part of my personal color palette.)

Okay, so this year’s Make Nine: Still a lot of garments. I’ve just been adoring all the sweaters out there, though I am trying to add more spring/summer-friendly knits to my wardrobe because it just makes sense, you know? But I’m excited to have added the Habitation blanket and the Nightshift shawl to the list because I think the blanket will be perfect for the eight million scraps and advent skeins I have sitting around in my stash, and the the shawl is just so fucking pretty, right? (Right. RIGHT.) And like I said, the odds of me making all of the items on my list are low, but realistically so. I promise, I’m not being a pessimist. I just know other projects will interest me throughout the year, fiber and otherwise, so I’m setting my expectations, and I’m okay with it.