At the end of December, a polar vortex descended on my area of the country, and the family all huddled down around the wood stove and thought warm thoughts.
Except for me. I didn't stay huddled around the wood stove, I spent time puttering in the kitchen.
I made some yummy things. Gloriously yummy things. My sister-in-law gave me a little bundt cake pan for my Instant Pot. This was the first cake I made with it. Just the perfect size.
I was also inspired to get my own jelly roll pan, and start experimenting. I've never made roll cakes before. Shocker! I found a winner recipe right off the bat, too.
Last Wednesday I brought a pumpkin roll into work and it disappeared really fast once someone took a bite and sent an email out, proclaiming it to be in her top five desserts of all time. She even offered to pay me to make it for her the next time she needed to bring something to a party.
Aw, shucks!
I had last Monday and Tuesday off from work, to celebrate (and presumably recover from) New Year's Eve and Day.
New Year's Eve was a quiet affair at my house. The boys had lobster and steak. I had just a steak since I don't eat seafood.
My son and I stayed up to see midnight, but it was so uneventful. I think he had an alarm set to go off. He said "It's midnight." I went "Oh! Okay." and we both went to bed.
Wednesday, my first day back in the office in more than a week, was decent. No nasty-grams or crabby voicemails.
Friday was the office Christmas party, and it was a lot of fun. Good food and good company. The views were nothing to sneeze at, either.
But now it's back to the usual routine.
Last week I probably was the most productive I will be all year. I had an itch to make a C.C. copycat hat. A friend shared the link to the pattern and I thought "I have the perfect yarn!"
I did have the perfect yarn. I love this hat. Now that I've made it and am paying attention to headgear out in the wild, I see that a LOT of people wear this hat. Hand-made or store made. I saw Wal-mart has a really cheap looking knock off, too. Boo!
C.C. Copycat hat
Started: 12/30/17
Finished:12/31/2017
Needle: U.S. 7
Color: Red
Yarn: Cascade 220, color 5013, lot 7637
I cast this hat on Dec. 30, thinking it would be the first FO of the new year. I finished it Dec. 31, 11 p.m. on the dot.
The next item I made was Lydia's Lily Pad, from Knit Picks. This was a new cast on method for me, and it took me a while to get the hang of it, and really get going. I ran short on the yarn and stopped two rows early. When I laid out the dishcloth I was surprised at how big it was. I do like it and I enjoyed the process of making it, once I got the hang of it.
Lydia's Lily Pad
Knit: 1/2/18
Needle: U.S. size 5
Color: Black Currant (purple)
Yarn: Sugar and cream.
Note: one ball of yarn was not enough. Ended two rows short.
Since I'm incapable of sitting and watching television without having something in my hands, I cast on a Tree Hunting dishcloth. I finished it in one day.
Tree Hunting dishcloth
Knit: Jan. 6, 2017
Needle: U.S. size 7
Colors: cream, light pink and light blue
Yarn: Sugar and Cream "Pastel Delight"
And, even though I still have to put heels on this pair of vanilla socks, I cast on another vanilla sock yesterday. My plan is to put the heels on these socks while I'm in my craft room, watching shows before bed.
These newly cast-on socks will stay on the couch, so it may take me a while to complete them.
Yesterday I whipped this out during an episode of something ... I can't recall which show we were watching. I remember crochet topped kitchen towels from my youth. Now that I know how to make them, I'll be cranking a few of these out this year. All I need is a button.
Knitting wasn't the only thing to happen this past week. I also sewed a bit.
Earlier this week I started piecing together for a table topper. I have to trim all the pieces and find fabric in the stash for sashing. I'm taking my time with this project.
For Christmas my son made his dad a pillowcase. Then he asked me to make *him* one, since he is a newbie when it comes to sewing. This pillowcase was made at a DIY club at his school.
So I made my son a pillowcase for Christmas. That left me without a fancy-pants pillowcase.
I made myself one Saturday night.
I adore this fabric. I've made a few things out of it already. It's feminine without going too overboard, I think.
Last week I had a cozy mystery audiobook going in my car. "On What Grounds" is a new series for me. Lady gets talked into managing a coffee shop she managed 10 years ago. An accident occurs and she feels it's not an accident. There's a well-meaning meddling ex-mother-in-law and a ex-husband who shows he's still interested. I liked the story. I didn't figure out who did it, though.
This week I have "Murder is binding" playing in the car. Another new cozy series. So far, so good.
I picked up "This must be the place" from the library today. I heard about it on a podcast a while back and the podcaster chose it for either her January or February book read. I thought I'd give it a go. Plus, I get to break out the new book darts I received.
The poor chickens have been holed up in the coop for the last few weeks. They hang out around the door when it's nice enough to have it open, but they won't dare to go down the stairs and into the snow.
Momma's boy, on the right, says "Are you kidding me? I'm not going out there."
A member of our flock flew the coop this weekend. TJ, one of the roosters. Ever since the other roosters came into their own, so to speak, poor TJ started getting picked on because he was the smallest of all the roos.
Poor guy, he was getting chased away from the food and water by Charlie, who seems to be the head roo now. I started feeding TJ on his own, so I knew he was getting enough to eat at least once a day. The one time I was holding him and had the cup of feed in front of him and one of the red roos was giving me SUCH a dirty look. All the roos were unhappy TJ was getting special treatment.
One of the times I hand fed TJ. "The Rail" was right next to him, trying to horn in on an easy meal. Actually, she stayed pretty close to him this last week. His constant companion. Maybe she knew he would be leaving?
TJ is now off to a home in a town about an hour away. The gentlemen said TJ would have his own little flock and even his own space in the coop, if he wanted. I think TJ was thrilled at the idea of not being constantly harassed by the youngsters who were now twice his size.
TJ, you will be missed.
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