As a designer, knitting something from a pattern you did not design is affectionately termed as knitting "other people's patterns." Depending on how much one designs, those OPPs can be few and far between, or more frequent. Andrea Rangel calls it "professional development" and I like that term too.
Here are my two resulting piece of professional development from 2015! If I knit anything else last year that wasn't for work, I have subsequently blocked it out of my mind. I tried to knit a Chuck but failed disastrously and need to start all over again.
My one successful knitting FO was a riff on Purl Bee's Short Row Sweater.
I followed peoplecake's instructions for modifying the back to match the front, rather than have the crossover back in the original pattern. Like her, I knit the smaller size and chose the same yarn, Madelinetosh Tosh Sport--seen here in the Spectrum colorway which I adore. Now that it's winter I layer this over long-sleeved tops as shown but I can't wait for summer when I can wear it with a tank top and a cute skirt!
My crochet FO of the year was the Sunday Shawl by Alia Bland.
I used Berroco Folio because I love the color range of that yarn and thought all those delicious sorbet colors should be used in one project! As a bonus, I have enough leftover that I think I can make a striped sweater.
I don't consider myself a very skilled crocheter--I have to remind myself what the different stitches are if I don't crochet for awhile, for example--but I found this pretty easy even though I had never worked any of those border stitches before. It's warm but lightweight and adds great color to a monochrome outfit.
I would like to finish one knitting and one crochet project from OPP in 2016, so that's my goal. I've had the yarn and pattern for Tinder for a loooong time....let's get knitting!