Goodness it has been a long time since I did any update on what I've been knitting. This year has been so involved with knitting things that I couldn't share, that I've got out of the habit. Happily now, all of those projects are out in the wild, so I can do something of a progress update.

This year, more than ever before, I've been struck by the link between how I'm feeling and what I'm knitting. There have been projects that I've just needed to get on with, but there have been others that I've picked up and put down depending on how things have been going in life generally. When there is a lot going on in my life - either work or family but sometimes both together - I tend to reach for projects that are simple. It's so obvious, but when my bandwidth is stretched during the day, there isn't much left by the time I flop in front of the telly for an hour before bed. On those days I've found comfort in the soothing rhythm of plain socks, or the garter stitch stripes of a Wood Warbler cowl. I've knitted 2 cowls now - the first on needles that were rather too small, although I like the effect of the firmer fabric. The second (see below) I made in two bright, green colourways (Tea Ceremony and In the Meadow), with the shot of shocking pink at the start. The shaping in the cowl is pretty straightforward, and there's enough of it without changing that I could just chug through it. It was great mindless knitting for tired evenings. So great, that I'm already eyeing up another - perhaps in two shades of blue Gradient (Beyond the horizon and Stone washed)? 

I absolutely love Ella Gordon's colourwork designs. She has an amazing eye for detail and for colour combinations, so we were really pleased that she agreed to create a pattern for A Year of Techniques. Her Shaila mittens combine a series of peerie (small) Shetland motifs on the hands with a corrugated cuff and contrast facing.