Last Finished Object of the Year

I wanted to blog about the cowl I finished before the end of the year.  I started it ages ago and had been taking it with me everywhere so I always had something to knit.  The pattern is 'Simple Ribbed Cowl'.

It was knit on circular needles and was the first project I had knitted this way.  Knitting on circular needles is not as difficult as I thought it would be and it was good fun seeing people's reactions to it (mostly confusion but one friendly lady started chatting to me about it while we were waiting for a train together).

Here is the finished cowl:

I loved the colour of this wool as soon as I saw it and the tweedy colours add to the texture of the final cowl.

Here is a close-up of the textures:

I've already started a project I was saving for 2013 as I got too excited when I found some lovely wool in the sale in John Lewis and couldn't wait.  It is a shawl called 'Trillian' named after a character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and is the first pattern I've bought directly from Ravelry.  It's also my first project on 4-ply yarn.

It is knitting up quite quickly although I know I have a long way to go.  Hopefully 2013 will bring a lot of fun new projects.