•10 min read

2025: A knitting year in review

At the start of every new year, I enjoy looking back at a full year of knitting – noticing trends in my own making, and noticing what worked for me and when and where I managed to squeeze creativity into my daily life. I did a fair bit of knitting this past year, and I made some wonderful things, but I also had a few very large, very unsuccessful projects. But before I get into all of that, I'll mention some finished projects that have yet to be included in any previous blog posts.

Finished projects

Some of these were completed as long ago as August, since that was my last creativity check in (whoops)!

Crocheted potholders

Using my very favorite crocheted potholder tutorial ( I use the directions for the Bobble stitch version, swapping in a simple double crochet border), I made a few potholders as Christmas gifts. One in a very special Christmas yarn that was my MIL, Karen's. I gifted that one to my SIL, Katelyn. And I made another in a beautiful peach/sage variegated yarn for my friend Jessica.

Socks

I knit a lot of socks in the last several months, since I find them to be an ideal travel project, and they are my most frequently gifted knitted item. I also work on them in spurts during our homeschool time, or when I'm waiting for grocery pickup, etc.

Summer DK socks with garter heel – these were fun! I held a sock weight yarn double and knit a squishy, garter stitch heel. My details (and all my sock numbers) on my ravelry project page.

DK Comfort Core socks for Nicholas – I loved this pattern immediately when I saw it, but I opted to try it with sock weight yarn held double. And they turned out to be Nicholas' new favorite socks. Here is a link to my ravelry project page, since I did have to tweak stitch counts. He enjoyed them so much that I knit a second pair for him (in DK weight yarn) for Christmas.

Little red socks for Finn – Finn specifically asked for a pair of red socks, and so I knit a pair of textured kid's socks, with sock weigh held double. They turned out very cute, and he wears them constantly, but I need to adjust the fit next time I knit socks for him and I have not been pleased with how this yarn has worn. Lots of pilling and loose fibers. Here is a link to my ravelry project page with details.

Autumnal socks – Come September, I really wanted to work on something with fall colors, so I knit with this special sock yarn. I love the patterning and they are a more durable wool blend from a German yarn company. More details can be found on my ravelry project page.

Christmas socks for my dad – I made a pair of socks for my dad for Christmas this year, using the texture from the Blueberry Waffle socks pattern, but at a fingering weight gauge. Here are more notes and details on my ravelry project page. I absolutely love this yarn and have enjoyed my own socks knit in this base. I'm curious to see how it wears and what my parents think of it (I also finished a pair of socks for my mom in this yarn, but those were cast on and finished in January 2026).

Other accessories and gifts

I knit a lot of other smaller projects: cowls, headbands, and some baby items, as well.

I knit two more of my favorite baby hat pattern for friends who had babies this year: The Mavis baby hat. One was in an organic merino (with cabled socks to match) and the second was in a beautiful baby pink alpaca yarn. (first link is to a blog post and second link is to my Ravelry project page).

A ribbed cowl for Nicholas for Christmas–(I wrote about it here, but there are more details on my ravelry project page). I used Knitting for Olive Heavy Merino and I really enjoyed working with this yarn.

A cowl for a friend's little girl– I gifted a cowl to a friend of mine for Christmas last year, and since I had some yarn leftover, I made a small version for her daughter, so they could match! It was a fun little project and her daughter loved it. More details can be found on my ravelry page.

Weekend headbands for Cooper and Finn – In September, I worked on one headband for each of my big boys, both knit in Knitting for Olive Heavy Merino, in colors the boys chose for themselves. I love this yarn. And the boys have worn them a lot (with zero wear showing on the yarn). Finn wears his every day, often slipping it on as a sort of cowl, even when he's inside. Here are links to Cooper's and Finn's headband, respectively.

Another Bandana cowl for me – I knit a Purl Soho Bandana cowl back in 2022 and I have enjoyed it so much. The pattern uses exactly one skein of their Plenty yarn (no leftovers!) and the finished product is so soft and extremely wearable. I made this one in the cheeriest red and I'm thrilled with it. It's honestly so comfortable, I could sleep in it. Here is a link to my project page on Ravelry.

It feels good to finally share all those months of knitting and making, now that it's all finished and/or gifted.

A knitting year-in-review

Without further ado, I've listed all my 2025 projects (those finished in 2025, that is), sorted by type and recipient demographic (kids vs adults). All links take you to either a blog post or ravelry page with more details and photos of the given project.

Adult sweaters

Although I worked on three adult sweaters this year (quite extensively, I might add), I only completed one for Nicholas. I'll mention more about my two frogged sweaters below. But his Isle Sweater was a great success and he wears it very frequently! I blogged about it here.

Adult accessories/neckwear

Adult hats

Baby/kid accessories and gifts

Socks

Home goods/other

A few notes:

  • Yarn bases I hyper focused on this year: The Fibre Company's Amble and Knitting for Olive Heavy Merino. Other favorite yarns: Purl Soho Good wool and Cestari Traditional collection. Although I do still love fun, indie-dyed sock yarn, I am really gravitating towards yarn that wears well over time and more "wooly wools."
  • I knit most of two sweaters for myself this year (a blue and beige colorwork yoke sweater and a yellow, fingering-weight sweater), but I frogged both after spending many, many hours on them and reworking parts of each of them more than once. The colorwork sweater was massively too large due to a few critical errors (more on that here). And as for the yellow sweater, well, it just wasn't meant to be. As a friend put it, "It seemed like you were trying to convince yourself on that one." The color doesn't suit me and I didn't love the fabric of the yarn held solo, plus it was a slog to knit. I will talk more about my 2026 plans in a separate post, but I have an idea for that yellow yarn, namely, a DK-weight sweater, made by pairing that yarn with a neutral laceweight yarn to bulk up the gauge and tone down the yellow a bit.
  • I am all the more convinced that frogging is absolutely worth it, and typically, I feel immense relief once that project is returned back to a wound-up yarn state.
  • Because of the lack of success of so many large projects this year, I only knit 7 items for myself. Lots of very small gift knits this year! Socks and headbands and cowls and hats, and that's great.
  • I knit 27 items this year. (But counting the 3+ frogged projects, I worked on more than 30). I crocheted a lot of small items, totaling around 19 items (including coasters and potholders, and tiny baskets for all sorts of treasures, etc).
  • I tried on all my previously knit sweaters from over the years and enjoyed styling them with my current wardrobe, in the hope that I'll reach for them more.
  • When my oatmeal Musselburgh hat dragged on and my motivation waned, I bumped it into a "Sunday spotlight." That project was my primary project for Sundays, and eventually, seeing consistent progress on it actually made me want to work on it more, bringing me to pick it up throughout the week and finally finish it. And now it's my very favorite hat ever.
  • I knit a lot of socks and small, portable projects. These were the easiest to grab while wearing a baby, or giving spelling words during homeschool, at the park, in the car on the way to church, at a campground, etc.
  • I knit for countless hours with a sleeping baby on me!
  • I knit on friend's patios (Molly!), in friends' living rooms (Lauren! Kathleen!) and enjoyed a few KALs with friends.
  • Looking back at my 2025 Creative plans, I did meet some of my goals. Many of my goals were unmet, and that's okay. I love to set a framework, and then remodel along the way. It is a hobby, after all. :)
  • If I had to narrow down my favorite projects this year, the top of the list would be Nicholas' Isle sweater, Finn's Ollie's Classic Crew sweater, and my oatmeal Musselburgh hat.

Knitting offered me a way to soothe a busy mind and relax, while also being present for my family and those around me. I explored color and texture, had some big failures, and many successes. And knitting allowed me to (literally) wrap up the people I love most with cozy socks, hats, and cowls. I'll share more of my plans for this year's knitting and crochet soon, but in the meanwhile, I've got some knitting to do!

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