Old Year Out and New Year In

We did have our dusting of snow before Christmas, just in time to cut the tree - then a meltdown and the rather astonishing fact of Christmas eve being something like 16C, warm enough to go out without coat and mittens after dark, warm enough to not need the stove on at all. And warm enough to find a few flowers in the garden and have a tiny bouquet on the holiday table, something new in my experience. I mean, really, who expects flowers here in late December? But the lamium was blooming and the hellebore in bud.

The snow came two days later, starting as rain. The ground stayed soft long enough for the sad necessity of the day, burying our older dog. He had some sort of attack Christmas night, and lost most of the use of his back end as well as his desire to eat. We helped him drink, and stretchered him outside and held him up for calls of nature for the day after that (two sweatshirts, two hockey sticks, and two or three people required - not the usual use for one's first-aid training), and he didn't suffer much. Sad to see him go, but glad it was fairly quick and calm for his sake. It felt odd, though, having normal life flow on right afterwards, as I was headed to brunch soon after with friends I see only rarely, and then preparing to return to the city the next day.

And with normal life comes the fibre, in my case. Not that that aspect was absent over the holidays, with a pair of leg warmers to knit and ship, and my brother's special glove liners to knit. Oh, the time we had with those liners. He traced his gloves and measured it all - in centimetres, if you please. Only he left out a few measurements I wanted, and a phone call didn't really help, since I ended up with some numbers that didn't add up. So I waited until he came home on the 23rd, did my own dang measuring, and knitted them up. In laceweight black cashmere. But they turned out well, only I didn't think to take pictures. But the sketch will be handy for another time.

I fought with a lined hat next. I always seem to fight with hats. No matter how carefully I measure head and gauge, they end up too loose or too tight. In this case it was the latter, and I had to rip back most of the hat and redo it, since I had started from the crown. Then the brim was flaring and that had to be fixed. But it is now mostly done. (At least, I know what I need to change next time!)

First project of the new year was another (quicker) hat, for a commission, and now there's a shawl (also commissioned) on the needles. I kind of love the hat, because it matches my normal hairstyle and colour.

But my focus is shifting towards spinning for the rest of the month. Heather of hellomello and I decided last fall we would do a little destashing SAL. New Years' revolutions instead of resolutions. And I'm a little slow off the mark, but I have managed to get a bobbin spun and two plied of Jo's cria/silk blend, and the second bag of the stuff is started. Now I just have to see about getting set up on Instagram to share my progress ;)

An Old-Fashioned Christmas

Most people, I think, would normally call our Christmas a little old-fashioned - cutting our own tree, decorating with greens, hand-knit stockings for everyone including the critters, a creche filled with corn-husk figures...but this year was really old-school for the 25th.

The wind picked up overnight Christmas eve, and howled all night. At some point before sunrise, we lost power, and it didn't come back until 6 in the evening, despite assurances from Hydro at intervals that it would be on within the next hour or two. I'm sure a lot of people had sudden changes of plan regarding Christmas dinner. Fortunately for us, we have the well and a wood stove with an oven, and an unheated pantry, which served to keep the milk and cream cool in a pail of snow. And there's always plenty of bushes outside to use for a toilet and no neighbours visible from here...I tell you, if ever I get to buy a house in the country, the well and wood stove are going to be counted as essentials. They've earned their keep here so many times!

So life went on well enough for the day. Mom and my brother were collaborating on a pair of trigger mitts he wants made from a piece of shearling. I curled up and knitted on one of my commissions, a pair of gloves, which got finished last night:

Later all four of us sat around the table and shelled dry beans from the summer's harvest, producing two bushels of hulls, and a large bowl of beans. We stoked the stove up to heat water for breakfast and lunch dishes and for cooking dinner (it produced a beautiful rare Who roast beast), and lit the tinware chandelier above the table when it got too dark, so we could read and knit by candlelight while the roast cooked and the veg simmered. The lights came on just before dinner, so that was helpful for washing up. All in all, a nice relaxing day ;)  

With the gloves and a second commission, a super-cute pair of baby socks, finished...

I'm back to my sweater for a while. Sleeve number one is done, and I've started the second one. I'm determined to have the thing finished this year!

Trim Up The Tree With Christmas Stuff

Yes, I was watching the Grinch cartoon this week...

December's here, and it snowed last night, so I thought it was time to do a little decorating. Lights in window - check. Wreaths on doors - check. Tree hauled out and trimmed - check. Complete with feline supervisor.

My tree is a foundation of tomato cages, wrapped in grapevine, which my mother made. It's been enlarged, but there's still not enough room for all the ornaments in my collection, so I've started choosing a theme every year and rotating the ornaments that way. This year I decided to hang primarily the handmade ones. I rather like those, they have more of a story to them than generic pieces.

One of the reasons my collection is bigger than the tree is that it's been a tradition in our family that we get ornaments each year at Christmas. I have a number of dated ones of my mother's making, plus each of us kids had a 'theme' for our ornaments and our own little tree in our rooms, and we might get ornaments for the theme also. For me, there was angels and bells, and a number of them are from local craft fairs.
There are also some ornaments of my making, some from ornament exchanges, in my Pathfinder group and later in my knitting group.

The red and purple star came from a craft fair years ago, the little Red Riding Hood nut person has been on my tree ever since I can remember, and the bear-in-the-box was from one of the Pathfinders. The horse just showing at the bottom is Mom's, in crewel embroidery.

 The red crochet angel is one of three I have from my maternal grandmother's tree. The gingerbread man was my first needlepoint, back in Brownies ( I would have been about 8). I suspect the slightly lopsided red-and-white panda is about the same era.

The little mittens at the bottom were a swap at Guide Camp. Whenever you went to a camp, you brought little things to trade, known as swaps. Pins, badges, tiny crafts of all sorts. We wore our swaps pinned to our hats during  camp.
The choir mouse is another of Mom's making. There is a full choir at home, complete with a leader who stands on an empty wooden thread spool. Dated 1986 underneath, so he or she is already closing in on 30.
The dark green knit behind the mouse is a bell. Very much handmade, and I suspect the red rounds that trim it were cut from Remembrance Day poppies, since the back is flocked.

A whole assortment here. The bear is Mom's and says Mandy 1981 on the back; made for my third Christmas. The pink sweater was from the local knitting swap a few years back. Most of the others are craft fair pieces - one of Myrosia's lovely eggs, a salt dough candy cane with two mice, a crocheted angel (and a safety-pin one at top right), a felt tree and the beaded Joy round.












A few of the choices for this year are commercial, but I'd hate to leave them off. The silver bell in the photo above and the gingham-eared mouse below are certainly not handmade, but they have been part of the family since the 70's, and they have their counterparts on the big tree at home.

Now that there's a tree, I have to start getting gifts ready to pile under it (well, beside it.)

Christmas Tonight

Such a lovely few days so far in the country. Despite all the snow and whatnot Friday, both my brother and I succeeded in getting here, if a little later than planned. We were lucky enough to miss the freezing rain on the weekend that got Toronto and other parts - not a hiccup on the part of our electricity, (and even if it had conked out, we've got a well and a wood stove, so it's not a big issue). The scenery is beautiful outside, even if you're not facing one of the bird-feeders with dozens of little finches and other birds bouncing around in a bird version of Brownian motion.

Mom and I got to a performance of Handel's Messiah by a local group on Saturday, which was really very good, and of course much more interesting when you know half the people singing, including a friend's mother who taught me to spin years ago.

Had a nice visit with a friend who came down yesterday - after she managed to get here. Due to a misunderstanding of road names, she got lost, and was delivered here by the postman. He pulled into the yard and honked like he does for parcels if you need to sign, then asks me if I'd heard about the merger between Canada Post and CAA...at which point I noticed the second car that had arrived and got the joke!

And today I got Skype set up on my computer, so we could have a chat with my sister and her boyfriend. They couldn't come for Christmas - they just bought a house in Whitehorse, and are saving up vacation days to visit in the spring when they come to move furniture back there - so this was the next best thing, opening presents and chatting together, seeing their house - we had a virtual tour, thanks to the power of laptops -  and showing them the new cat here.

Pity they aren't here to help us eat Christmas dinner, but I suppose we'll manage. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Christmas Prep and Allie's Adventures

Happily settled in at the parents' for the holidays, and since it appears the world didn't end yesterday as predicted, the Christmas prep is in full swing. There's a line of cookie tins in the pantry, along with a couple bushels of pine and cedar boughs, and filling for tourtiere cooling on the counter. We went out Thursday and hunted a tree, and the ice and snow are dripping off it in the living room, where it'll get put up and decorated tonight.

For a couple days there, I was a little worried about whether it would be a white Christmas - even yesterday's storm was half rain here - but it's been snowing most satisfactorily all day today. The big wreath Mom put on the barn/garage door is dusted, and the cardinals are coming to the bird feeders, adding a note of festive color.

And who's this helping Mom with filling the bird feeders?

The spotted dog on the left is Allie, and she's been here for a week. Someone apparently dumped her on our road about two or three weeks ago. She was living in an abandoned barn down the road, hunting mice for her living and coons for fun, when my father saw her. One of the neighbors told Dad about her (including the fact she had apparently killed four coons), but he hadn't been able to take her himself, since he already had four dogs. So Dad said hello to Allie when he passed during his run, and when he invited her, she followed him home. We won't say she's settled in perfectly yet, but she's getting there. Our big dog, Rex, is mostly ignoring her, with the occasional argument. She was a little prone to chasing cats and chickens, but that's improving. She mostly ignores the chickens now, and may be down to chasing the cats only if they run. (Thankfully. She's not fond of going up stairs, but she will if there's a cat, with the result that twice in one day we had to carry her down the shed loft stairs, because she was afraid to go down, then rescue the cat she chased up there. So far, knock wood, no injuries to anyone involved.) She's learned how to sit already, and Dad's teaching her to catch bread cubes. She looks to be at least part Australian cattle dog, and they're apparently good at playing ball and frisbee, so maybe next summer...

Speed Demon

That has to have been the fastest pair of mittens I've ever knitted.

I cast on Wednesday night, cast off Friday at knit night, blocked and dried them overnight, and delivered them to Marianna this morning at 10:30 - slightly damp around the cuffs still, but done and tagged and ready for her to give as a Christmas gift. AND I remembered to take pictures before leaving this morning.

I do not want to knit at that speed on a regular basis.

Except for a few rows on a sock foot redo, there has been no knitting today, for a change. I finished picking up a few things for Christmas, then got the cookies for the exchange baked. Holiday Oatmeal cookies, with coconut and raisins and nuts and maraschino cherries.

I needed 48 cookies for the exchange. The recipe produced 50. Sooo...48 neatly bagged, and two in me. After all, I had to make sure they were good, didn't I?

On To The Fun Part

It's been a bit crowded this past week. 5 final exams in 4 days, and finished off all but one of my commissions for people at school.

Erin's mittens

Marilyn's baby set

Marianna's fingerless mitts

But as of about 10:30 this morning, it's Christmas vacation for yours truly. Well, in a manner of speaking, anyway! I don't leave town until Tuesday, but in that space, somehow, I get to cram in the following:

- Finish the last pair of mitts commissioned by a classmate, and pass them on to her. I cast on last night, and the first mitt is over half done. They're for a Christmas gift, so definitely they get priority.

- Clean the apartment. Properly. It's been kind of neglected lately - and I've got a friend coming to stay Monday. So I will have to find places to put things besides on piles everywhere, and then see about removing the cobwebs and cat hair and whatnot...

- Dye 2 skeins with indigo, and start my Christmas knitting. It's not much (redo the feet on a pair of socks, and knit a stole) and neither piece is really 'due' until after Christmas.

- Bake cookies for a cookie exchange on Sunday. No rolled cookies this time - I'm thinking our family Holiday Oatmeal cookies, with coconut and maraschino cherries and raisins and nuts. Nice simple drop cookies, and the dough is practically addictive.

-  Finish a bit of Christmas shopping, and pick up the ingredients for the cookies. I think I can do that all in one session, and maybe work in handing off the mitts at the same time. Nothing like getting all the errands done in one shot.

- Maybe, just maybe, if I have time, put up my little Christmas tree. Didn't get to it last year. It's not as important usually since I'm out of town for the holidays, but if my friend is here, it'll be nice for her to have a bit of decoration. I'm thinking if I can find a place for my schoolbooks, the tree should fit on the dining table...

You know what? It sounds like a lot, but it's all fun stuff, really. Even the cleaning. I don't usually like it, but I feel a tidying mood coming on to fill the space where school assignments used to be. Now to roll up my sleeves and get cracking!

New, Pretty, and Educational

It's probably not surprising that a few of the gifts I received for Christmas are fiber-related. It's going to be a fun winter.
Mom always makes something for each of us - a tradition dating back as far as I can remember, with items ranging from cross-stitched ornaments, to pajamas, to kitbags. This year the others got hand-knit socks. I make my own socks, so I got a handwoven scarf. Creamy and drapey and lovely.

There were cotton cards, and some books from Schoolhouse Press I wanted - things with historical interest and patterns and pictures for inspiration.

I've read through them all already, and can't wait to play. May use a pattern from the Haapsalu Shawl book for some knitting later this year - Joanne loved the cria, and wants it turned into some lace, so I get to do that.
At the moment, though, I have another project in progress. A shawl in a drop-stitch bee pattern, which I should hopefully get done and written up for the lace book competition.

 Now that I've finished reading my Christmas books, and we've had our turkey dinner, it stands a chance of getting done today or tomorrow...

O Christmas Tree

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, wherever shall I put you?

No, seriously. I've got my wreaths up on the doors, and the lights in the window, but I'm debating whether to put my tree up, and if so, where? It's not big, really. A grapevine cone formed on a tomato cage, maybe 3 feet high. Normally it goes on the sewing machine desk. However, that has become the computer desk, and not only is it short on space, but the outlet is occupied.

The coffee table trunk is out, since putting the tree there would block my view of the TV, necessitate moving WIPs, and be short on outlet space also.

There's a little table beside the couch, but that's in the cat's flightpath - I've already lost a pot and a lamp chimney that were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

So far, the best possibility is the dining area bookshelf, once I clear various items off it.

I'll give it another day's thought.
In the meantime, I started seriously thinking about Christmas knitting and stuff. Whipped up a little gift certificate bag/ipod cozy for someone who's getting a gift certificate and is into science and coffee. Just to make it a little more interesting for me and them both.

Used the caffeine molecule structure from the Heterocyclic Hat pattern, but did it in straight stitches, as there wasn't space to do duplicate stitch.
Tonight I need to pick up yarn. I decided I would make lace scarves for a couple people, but there is nothing suitable in stash. Darn.

Snow!

I know we're only a little over a month from Christmas, but it's been hard to get in the mood, as it were. Not like everyone hasn't been trying. Lights are up in the neighborhood, carols are playing (or blasting, in the case of the car that zoomed by me last week with Feliz Navidad at top volume), and the craft fairs are in full swing.

I splurged just a tad at the Glebe Center craft fair last weekend, but I can justify the results as Christmas presents. Look, aren't they gorgeous?

Pysanky ornaments, from Myrosia Humeniuk . All hand-drawn and her own designs. She had some of the gorgeous traditional pysanky also, works of art but out of my budget, sadly.

Now it looks like Christmas outside, though. Toronto may have gotten freezing rain, but Ottawa woke up to snow!

(And to the inevitable traffic problems caused by the fact that for some reason, every year, people forget how to drive in snow. First day of snow always means traffic issues and accidents all over.)

It's supposed to melt off in the next few days again, but for today I will make myself a hot cider and enjoy the view.