Most Used Items of 2011

Well, December has certainly come and gone in a flash for me. Despite my best planning (I shopped for presents starting in Oct.,  decorated the weekend after Thanksgiving, mailed out cards on time, and even made a calendar/ itinerary of Christmas activities I wanted my family to do throughout the month) Christmas snuck up on me and then was gone like a thief in the night. No one is to blame for this situation; it just turns out that nearly everyone in the family was struck with some sort of lingering illness starting at the end of November. Whether it was bronchitis, sinusitis, croup, or a really bad cold, these minor illnesses made us pretty miserable for the month of December. It's hard to make merry when you're feeling sick.

Fortunately, everyone seemed to be on the mend the week before Christmas--just in time to get my baking butt in gear for the annual cookie swap with the girls.

There were so many delicious treats it's hard to remember everything but P. made sugar cookie cutouts, spritz, those yummy cookies with a hershey kiss baked in, and chocolate chip. K. made tri-color cookies, rugelach (from Barefoot Contessa), and Santa Party Mix (which my husband inhaled). I brought snickerdoodles, chocolate chip, and pecan snowballs.

Anyway, I'm already on a diet after eating way too many Christmas cookies and cakes, but before any more New Year resolutions can be made, I thought I'd reflect back on some of the most practical items I made from the past year. So without further ado....

C's Nursery Blanket . Since the width of the blanket was the length of the crib, I decided to just use it with the stripes running vertically. Little C. LOVES this blanket. It's probably the most-used, most-loved thing I've ever made. So rewarding! Many a nap I go into his room to wake him up and he has this blanket curled around his head like a turban. And the pink is not an issue for my modern Little Man. He thinks it's funny. It's been thrown in the wash a bunch of times and still looks great- gotta love machine-washable acrylic for that. Since this blanket was such a success, I've been thinking about making another. He really should have another, especially since we're going to try potty-training soon....Gulp!

Basket weave Throw. Another blanket. Excuse me, another AWESOMELY WARM blanket. I don't know what my problem is, but I have never been so cold as I am this year. I'm always freezing; my husband can be sitting next to me in a t-shirt and shorts perfectly comfortable, and I'm shivering in a heavy sweatshirt and sweatpants. It's times like these when I snuggle under this heaven-sent blanket and immediately warm up. I can't tell you enough how much I love it; it gets used almost every other day.

Anthropologie-inspired Scarf . I wear this all the time. I love everything about it. The color perks me up during gray, dreary weather and it's incredibly warm, which as I just established above, is of the utmost importance to a cold-blooded being like myself. I like this enough to knit it again in a different color. We'll see for next year. I am pretty partial to the red, however.

Little C's Modern Rib Hat . Out of all the hats I made the little guy this year, this is the one that's always on his head. It fits and looks the best. Again, this is a pattern I will definitely return to next year.

C's Goodnight Mittens. I really didn't know how well these would go over with my son, but every time he puts these on (almost every day) he giggles and recites "one mitten...two mittens." This goes back to Good Night Moon which we used to read over and over to him. (Now we have moved on to Good Night Gorilla). Like the matching hat, I will definitely use this pattern again and again.

There are other items from the past year that saw a lot of use, but nothing like these top 5.

I always think that the things I knit or crochet will be used a lot, but the truth is sometimes they're not. Sometimes they're never used/ worn at all. It's definitely a good feeling when something you've spent hours on has a life beyond the actual creative process. That's something I'll try to strive for in 2012.