Old Man Winter

 I like winter.  I like the cold nights and cozy evenings in front of  a fire.  I always wish for a nice snowstorm over a weekend so I can just hunker down with my knitting and books and watch the snow fall.  Where I live we get some snow, but it's unusual to get more than one good snowfall a year.  And the odds are it isn't going to happen over a weekend.

This year my wish almost came true.  We did get a snowstorm, a very big snowstorm in fact.  And it came over a weekend.  But, as luck would have it, I was previously committed to babysitting the grandkids because my daughter and son-in-law were away on a cruise for their fifth wedding annivery.  Sitting and watching it snow was not in the cards.

Instead, I spent a very cold, snowy day trying to entertain a 3 and 1 year old.

Covering the wall with left over potty-training stickers kept them occupied for about an hour.  Other activities included playing in the basement play room, reading books, watching television, coloring, and eating snacks.

Things were getting a little precarious on this day.  Our area was at a Level 3 snow emergency.  I was with the kids at my daughter's house.  My husband was stuck at our house.  The food was getting low.  Besides allowing the kids to do somethings that weren't normally approved (said stickers and longer than allowed TV time) I had to be creative with feeding them.  I will neither confirm nor deny that cereal might have been served along with the chicken nuggets for dinner.

My daughter and son-in-law got home the next morning at 7:30 am.  Their flight landed at 1:30 am but they couldn't leave the airport because the roads were closed.  Ed picked them up in the morning and picked me up when he dropped them off.  After a hot shower, I crawled into bed for a few hours.  Omi was exhausted!

The snowstorm and following couple weeks were ones for the history books.

Temperatures never went above freezing for almost 3 weeks.  The pond behind our house was frozen solid.

I tried to keep the feeders full for the birds.  My most frequent visitors were juncos, finches, sparrows, and blue birds.

Things are melting now.  It looks like spring is going to be heading our way.

In the knitting world, I have one more finished object.  I made a small hat for my youngest grandson.

I used some leftover yarn from my stash and a couple patterns as a guide for the size.  I babysat the little guy the evening after I finished this.  I am a little disappointed that it just fits now.  He won't be able to wear it for very long.  I guess I'll just have to make another one soon.

I have a couple other knits in the works.  I'm make a Felix Pullover as part of a Knit to Fit class I'm taking from my LYS.  I'll post a few pictures after it is done.

I also have a Cumulus Blouse on the needles.  I need to put it on some barber cords and try it on.  I have a suspicion that it is going to be a bit too big.  Stay tuned for more details in a later post.

I also have a Pressed Flowers Shawl on the needles.  A couple friends and I are heading to the Nashville Yarn Fest in April.  This knit is a buddy knit for this yarn event.

Besides the knits, I have a crochet baby blanket in the works and a couple sewing projects. 

On Monday I'll be taking a sewing class to make the Sidney Sweatshirt.  I have been sewing clothes since I was young, but I decided to take this class since it's been a few years since I've used my sewing maching.  And this is stretchy fabric, which has given me issues in the past.

I am also making a leather bag for myself.  Back before Christmas I bought myself a Babylon Leather kit.  I'm slowly working my way through handsewing the bag.

As with all things, pictures of the finished products will be coming in the next few months.

First Finished Objects of 2026

 In my last post I showed the grey bear I made for my new grandson.  I intended on having that bear and two more for the other grandkids done by Christmas.  As usual, I overcommitted myself and didn't get them done.  Today, however, I finished the bears for Jameson and Olivia.

The cream one on the left will be for Olivia and the tan one of the right is Jameson's.

I used CrochetObjet's Chunky Benji pattern.  Since I had already made one of these, I decided to modify the pattern a little.  The pattern calls for you to make the body with holes left for where the legs and arms go.  After completing the body and head, you go back and pick up around the holes and crochet in the round to the end of each limb.  I found this a bit annoying, having to rapidly rotate the body to crochet around.  For these three bears, I reverse engineered the leg and arm patterns and made them first.  Then when I got to the places where the holes were to be made, I attached half of the limb stitches as I crocheted the row. After a few rows, I went back and sewed the other stitches to the body.  It worked out rather well.  

My only worry was that I might run out of yarn before I could finish.  With the first bear I made back in August, I only had inches of yarn left.  Luckily, I had plenty.  Here is what was left of the cream and tan yarns.  Pencil and stitch marker included for size reference.

This Sunday I am taking a Knit to Fit class with my LYS.  During the class I will make a Felix Pullover.  The yarn for that is purchased and ready to go.  This should be a quick knit.  I'm using Bulky yarn and US 10.5 needles.

I am also slowly working on my Candy Corn sweater.  I have the front and back pieces finished and the first sleeve started.  There's no rush for this.  Just as long as I get this done for next autumn.

A few weeks ago I also cast on a Cumulus Blouse.  I have some Drops Melody that I thought would be nice for that.  It's working up very fast on US 10.5 needles.  The gauge is altered to accomodate the yarn.

Lastly, a Pressed Flowers Shawl is on the needles.  In April I will be going to NashFest with a friend and her sister.  They attended last year and made matching sweaters for the event.  This year they decided a shawl would work.  Since I'm tagging along I'm joining in the knit along.

That's all for now.  Time to get a glass of wine and pull out some knitting.

New Little Ones In Our Lives

As mentioned a couple posts ago, we lost our beloved cat, Squeaks.  Our hearts were shattered.  We decided to have her cremated.  We now have her ashes, as well as a paw print and clippings of her fur.  We'll always remember her and know we'll never have another one like her.

As the days went by, though, we felt the house was too quiet.  It didn't take us long to decide to adopt another kitten.  We wanted another tuxedo so I started looking around at rescue agencies.  We settled on a little guy that we have named 'Buddy'.

He just turned 8 months old. I looked up what his age would be in human years and it said he'd be in his early teens.  His behavior is right on par with a teenage boy.  He is a bundle of energy, getting into things that he shouldn't, climbing and exploring, and always hungry.

We are all still adjusting to each other.  He is more physically affectionate than Squeaks was.  He purrs very loudly and doesn't mind being held, usually.  I do have a few scratches from when he hasn't been in the mood.  Like Squeaks, 4am is the preferred time to wake us up and demand ear scratches.  Needless to say, the house isn't too quiet anymore.

We have another new little one in our lives.  Our oldest daughter, Kristin, and her husband, Michael, became first-time parents on December 22.  Henry was born at 6:20am.  Kristin needed to have a C-Section because he was breech.  Fortunately everything went smoothly.

He is absolutely beautiful and doing great.  He's eating well and is adjusting to the outside world.

This was the best Christmas gift.

Here he is wearing a little bear hat that I knit for him.

I also made him a Chunky Benji bear.  Two more are in the works for the other grandkids.

I also made him a stocking for our fireplace.  I need to still make stockings for my son-in-laws.

2025 was a very busy year.  I didn't do as much crafting as I had hoped, and as a result, I didn't post as much here on the blog.  I'm hoping to be better about both in 2026.

With that, I'll sign off now and wish you a very wonderful Christmas season and Happy New Year.

First Fractal

 Just a quick post about my first fractal spin.  I think I got this roving from my sister.  My spinning skills are a bit rusty.  The twist and thickness aren't the most consistent.  But it turned out very lovely.  I haven't bothered yet to figure out how much I have.  I'll do that when I decide on a project for it.