2020, a.k.a. the year I might finally start to feel old because I'll be 30 (eeeek!)

-
Happy 2020, everyone! I hope your new year is off to a good start. Wil and I are both looking forward to changes this year, and we just have to wait and see where they take us.

So what has happened lately? On Halloween it snowed a lot, and it hasn't done much else since. For Thanksgiving we drove all over Iowa visiting family and friends. While exhausting, it was a lot of fun and great to see everyone again.


After that Wil decided to be festive and I decided to bake more cookies than I've ever made at one time. It was a Christmas cookie year, and it was spectacular. On the top are my ginger molasses cookies. The white ones are pecan balls. The plastic containers have caramel pretzel sandwiches dipped in chocolate and a chocolate/vanilla shortbread swirl. I think I quite outdid myself!


Since we were in Michigan for Christmas, of course we did the annual Cabela's trip. John and Anna couldn't join us, so we made sure to remind them of how much we missed them.


This is just a gratuitous reminder of the cutest dog in the world.


And of course...CRAFTS. What kind of blog post would this be without crafts? Come on. The green hat is for Anna! It's the Oslo Hat Mohair Edition knit in Expression Fiber Arts Socklove that I dyed with food coloring, held together with KnitPicks Aloft. The Aloft is why it looks and feels like kittens. It's delightful. The unfinished hat is for Wil: it's a Sockhead Slouch Hat made in this wonderful woolly toothy soft yarn called Coquette Sock from Bumblebee Acres Fiber Farm. I'm jealous that he gets to keep it.

    

Stash flash! I combined a gift card and a discount code to get some EFA North DK in this great light-teal-grey color. It's a cotton/merino blend and I'm excited to work with it! Though things may change by the time I get through the rest of my projects, this one is destined to become a short-sleeved sweater worked sideways, from armhole to armhole. 


And this is my haul from the Madelinetosh clearout sale. This is a yarn called Euro Sock, and though I haven't used it before, it has great reviews. Since items were disappearing from the clearance site faster than I could click, I went hunting through the less popular colors and ended up with what I think is a uniquely gorgeous combination. It is destined to become a dreamy sweater...once I get through the rest of my carefully constructed and almost sure to fail crafting timeline 😄



Happy 2020 to you all! New years bring new resolutions, but all I'm aiming for is to be healthy, be loving, communicate well, and craft new things. All the rest will work itself out. My best to you and yours!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Location: Cinque Terre, Italy

-
Image
From Switzerland we traveled to arguably the most beautiful place on the planet: Cinque Terre, Italy. Some might prefer the Caribbean for sparkling, clear waters and tropical paradise-ness, but this has totally got it beat in my book! Cinque Terre, or "Five Lands", sits on the Mediterranean coast as part of the Italian Riviera. The coastline, the five cities that make up Cinque Terre, and the surrounding hills and vineyards are nationally protected and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The area has been settled and farmed for about 1000 years, and is known for its wine, olives, anchovies, and pesto. Wil and I tried them, and they are all the best we've ever tasted! Manarola clock tower. By the church in Manarola; the cornerstone is from 1338! Manarola by sunset, so beautiful. The five cities of Cinque Terre are Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. Trains, walking paths, and boats are the main connections between cities; I thi
Read more

October 2023

-
Image
I need to finish projects! There are a few babies on the way for people I know so I want to finish some of my many works already in progress.  A lot of crafters work on one project at once but I am not one of those crafters. My attention span is not long enough to work on one thing for months, though, and my hands often need a break from craft monotony. Because of this I end up with something like six projects on the go at once, and then it catches up with me and I feel like I'll never finish.  So this month I'm focusing on only a few projects. This is the Honey Moss shawl by Andrea Mowry. I'm making it with a non-superwash merino from De Rerum Natura. It's so soft and thick and squishy and I can't wait to wrap up in it as it gets cold. This is a messy bun hat. I'm using a thick worsted weight yarn from Bumblebee Acres Fiber Farm in a delicious deep red. This month, these are the projects I will finish!
Read more

Location: Rome (Part III)

-
Image
Ah, the wonders of cool autumn Michigan days! Wil and I made it home safe and sound, and now have only to worry about moving into our new home in a few days. In the meantime I have just a couple more blog posts worth of pictures...here we go! We planned our final day in Rome so that we could concentrate on the Via Appia Antica, or ancient Appian Way. This is the road that began in 312 BC and extended 350 miles to Brindisi, in the heel of Italy's boot! This is the road on which Sparticus and his army were slaughtered in 71 BC! This is the road on which St Peter met Jesus, before returning to Rome for his martyrdom! This is the road to which Wil and I tried to walk from our apartment, and the reason we ended up hopelessly lost in ancient farmland! (We weren't lost. -Wil) Google Maps image of the Appian Way and associated regional park, which is the part of the picture not covered in city buildings. We walked around most of the northern and central parts of the park in this
Read more