A lazy-ish Saturday

 I slept pretty good last night and woke up feeling somewhat refreshed. 

I spent some time knitting on my Harvest Cardigan, while watching Woody Woodpecker on MeTv. 

By the light of one low light, and watching the sky slowly brighten to a dull grey. 

There wasn't too much on the to-do list today.  

Late in the morning my hubby and I went tromping in to the cedar woods and looked around for some downed cedars. 

The trees we took samples have been down for around 10 years, if not longer.  

We took those samples and my husband knocked some chunks out of them and we got to see how good the wood is. 

Like it had been cut down yesterday. 

So pretty!

A couple years ago I had to go to one of the home improvement stores and pick out cedar planks for our sauna.  It was really hard to find cedar that looked as nice as what we just pulled out of our woods. 

Hubby and I are going around and around a potential homestead-y project, and use wood harvested from our land.  We are still going around and around, pondering it. 

Otherwise, it's been a fairly quiet Saturday. It snowed a bit. We did some hunting. Nothing to report there. 

Tomorrow I'm sure I'll have more on my to-do list, and speaking of lists, I'll be working on my goals for 2024 list. 

Northwoods weather

 Yesterday I woke up to a combo of ice and snow that was sticking to everything. 

When I went out to the back 20 it was so pretty. This blog post is going to be photo-heavy. 

I took a short video while I was out there.  The squirrels were running around and making all kinds of noises.  I'm not sure if I was able to record the noises. 

I saw this fella outside one of my windows, enjoying a snack. I thought it would make a neat photo. 

And then, in the early afternoon, the sun came out and the snow and ice mixture started melting. 

When you looked in the other direction, the sky looked completely different. 

Something neat happened when the sun hit the trees in the front yard. The sun started melting all the snow and ice in the trees and turned the frost on the tree trunks to steam.

This morning we woke up to more frost. 

Brrr!

You ever see something and think "Wow, that's so pretty!" and try to take a photo of it? 

That happened to me this morning. 

Sun shining bright behind the trees, and there was a mist in the air. 

The sun wouldn't let the camera on my phone focus. 

I ended up having to move until the sun was behind the trees. 

Frost on the leaves. 

Speaking of leaves, I gave Feffer some fresh oak leaves this morning and he was happy as can be. 

Last night I spent some time in the craft room drawing lines on pieces of fabric. Then I placed them together and stuck them with pins. 

A project I'm hoping to have done by the end of January.  Would be great if it was completed sooner. 

Today was a pretty quiet day, and it went quickly. My hubby was able to leave work early and we went out hunting this afternoon.  All I saw was a squirrel. 

This evening I knit a bit on my Harvest Cardigan. 

I'm also pondering a goal list for 2024.  Last year I tried a list and failed miserably.  I think I may have been dreaming too big.   Minimal is attainable. 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, dear readers! 

We stuck close to home the last couple of days. 

Christmas Eve I spent the morning doing a bit of food prep. The only two things I took pictures of were the two cheeseballs I made. 

This one I started off with a recipe from Almanac. I was a bit disappointed with it.  Don't get me wrong, it tasted just fine.  However, one of the groups at our local Cathedral church makes cheeseballs every year for a fundraiser and they are SO good. I know some of the ingredients that are used for the cheeseball.  I'm going to try and make one.  Wish me luck. 

The other cheeseball I made was a dessert cheeseball, that I made with my own inspiration, no recipe. 

This one was a HUGE hit with my husband.  I tried to replicate the flavor of the cranberry-covered goat cheese logs from Aldi.   I done did good. 

For the main meal we had a gorgeous prime rib roast. 

We went hunting in the afternoon. The neighbors started shooting firearms again.  Incredibly frustrating. This time around the shooting sounded further away. 

Oh! Sunday I did watch some Christmas movies. My friend Becky was talking about Christmas movies on a recent blog post and I got to thinking that I should probably watch a few. 

While I was doing food prep I watched Christmas at PeeWee's Play house. 

Then later on I watched A Muppet Family Christmas. 

What a throwback watching this movie was.  It included the commercials from the year 1987. 

Today was a quiet day.  Woke up to more rain.  Did I mention the rain we had yesterday?  Yup.  Rain. 

Then more rain today. 

Today our big meal was beef tenderloin steaks.  Yum! And then the boys had crab legs (surf and turf) 

This is one of the crab leg clusters. 

What did we have on the television while we were prepping this meal and eating? 

Why MXC of course.  Nothing screams Christmas quite like this show. 

I watched a bit of A Christmas Story while knitting a few rows on my Harvest Cardigan before we ate.

If you couldn't tell, I completely forgot about a Christmas Day cast on. As much as I try to remember these sorts of things, I more often than not forget about them.  So, for now until maybe New Year's Eve, I'll just keep working on my cardigan and other current WIPs I have. 

Or, maybe I'm in the minority of my knitting/stitching/crafting circle. Does anyone do Christmas or New Year's Eve cast ons? 

A little bit later I was watching the Muppets Christmas Carol.  My first time seeing it.  They have a different spin on the story.  I haven't finished the movie yet. Don't tell me how it ends. *wink* 

I told my husband the rats in this movie reminds me of the creatures that hang on Jabba the Hut in the Star Wars movies. He agreed.  Even the noises the rats make are similar to what the other creatures make. 

This afternoon we went out hunting again. No random shooting from the neighbors this time. 

ANNNNNDD I had a bit of action. 

A small doe showed up.  She was super skittish and left within a few seconds after this girl showed up. Then this gal left after a moment. 

It was the first deer I've seen in almost two months. 

So that was exciting. 

Then close to shooting hours ending I got a text from my hubby, saying he was packing up.  I wrote back, saying "okay" and started packing up myself. 

Then I looked out the window and went "Sh*t!" and quickly sent a text saying "Deer!" 

I quick looked through my scope and through my binoculars.  Another doe. Possibly one of the "babies" we said we were going to pass on.  I confirmed it was not a buck. Also, you see that ribbon?  I have that. ribbon to help me know if the deer is big enough to harvest. 

I got to sit for a few moments and watch her guard the pile from another deer.  Then she ate for a few moments and then disappeared.  A moment or two later my husband was there, waiting for me to leave the blind so we could go back to the house.  

This evening we opened gifts and my husband was happily surprised by the gift from our son, and my son was really surprised by the gifts we gave him. I already received my gifts from my husband (the yarn) and my son ordered my gift but it won't be here for a few weeks. My guess is that it's something garden-related. 

Speaking of gardening ... now I can officially start thinking about all things gardening-related, if I haven't mentioned it already. Yay! I need to pull out my binder that I started this year, and I'm taking notes from some of the things shared from Kristin at Shifting Roots. 

Nap-attacked

 Both yesterday and today I was nap-attacked and wound up taking naps that were at least an hour long.

Change in the weather?  Or that I "peopled" on Friday and it wore me out?  Maybe both. 

We are continuing on our trend of weather that isn't acting like it should for this time of year. 

This morning it snowed. 

Big fat, wet-looking flakes. 

By late afternoon it was mostly gone. 

I was having a chat with one of my friends and she mentioned chili.  Suddenly that was all I could think of eating.  It sounded so good.  I didn't want to make a whole back of chili.

Then I remembered I had canned up some chili and put it up in the pantry. 

Woo hoo!  Canned foods for the win!

But, really, though ... today has been a really quiet day.  I did a little knitting.  Tidied up the kitchen. 

Went out hunting this afternoon. 

Not even a squirrel. 

Hunting season is coming to a close very soon.  I'm grateful I filled my antlerless tag, but this could be the first year since my first year hunting that I don't get a buck. 

Then I did a little stitching this evening. 

Can you guess? 

Oh, earlier today my husband and I figured out the yardage on one of the skeins of yarn I got from Temu. 

It's disappointing. Course now I don't remember the yardage for a single skein. 

I think for the entire 5-pack it's more than 600 yards. Not enough to do a sweater, right?  A person would need 10 of these skeins, or two packs, minimum to make a sweater. 

Sooooo ... I need to find a pattern that I can make with two colors. Not necessarily striped. Something to look for in the new year. 

Speaking of new years ... It's so close to the start of the new year.  Can you believe it? We are one week from Christmas. 

Remember this yarn?

I need to get my butt in gear and start making the gift I had planned to make with it. ... Only I can't find this yarn. Where did I put it? Ugh ... 

There's something else I want to make and have complete by next weekend. Cross stitch and the other things will be put on hold until I get these projects complete. 

In addition to wrapping up an issue.  We have a deadline on Friday. And making plans for the Christmas weekend, the big meal and all. 

I don't have a title for this one

 Yesterday was the Christmas party for my workplace.  It was a fun party and I had a lot of fun visiting with the other colleagues and playing the games. 

So, that is what I was doing for the majority of the day. 

Before going to the party I was running around taking care of the last bit of Christmas shopping.  I think I'm all done now. 

I don't know about you, but it doesn't feel much like Christmas out there. Yesterday morning I woke up to rain.  It rained pretty much all day. However, the temperatures were warm enough that I didn't feel cold when I was outside. 

Last night I decided my sourdough starter was ready and I made up a batch of sourdough.

I was so excited to see it in all it's glory this morning. 

Alas, it did not rise. 

Back to the drawing board, so to speak.  

In the meantime, I heard a youtube video explaining how to make sourdough discard crackers.  It sounds really interesting. When I get enough discard I'll try my hand at making some crackers. Believe it or not, I haven't made crackers before. 

Today was a nothing-remarkable-kind-of-day. Woke up to more rain.  It stopped for a while and the sun popped out for a short bit.  Then the sky greyed up again. 

I ended up taking an hour-long nap before heading out for afternoon hunting.  Just in time for the rain to start again.  Then the rain stopped right as I was getting ready to head back to the house. 

Current temperature is 36 degrees Fahrenheit out there. 

This evening I knit on my harvest cardigan for a bit.  Then did some self-care in the form of a pedicure. 

Not a very exciting day. I blame the weather. 

Fun mail day

 I had a fun mail day today!

A few weeks ago my hubby said "Hey, I wonder if Temu has yarn."  

Uh, yeah they do! 

We spent a decent amount of time looking at what was offered and trying to figure out yardage. 

I still don't know what the yardage is buuuuuut I will tell you the yarn is REALLY nice. 

What is a good way to figure out yardage for yarn? I'm thinking I may need to undo a skein of the yarn and wind it up into a hank so I can count loops. 

I'm really hoping that each color is enough yardage for a sweater. That would be so great! 

Speaking of sweaters, I decided to take it easy on myself tonite and I pulled out my harvest cardigan and worked on it for a bit. 

Started: Crud, I can't remember ... 

Finished: 

Designer/Source: Tin Can Knits 

Yarn: Hobby Lobby "I love this yarn"

Colors: Cinnamon Cedar

Needle Size: US #6 / 4mm & US #8 / 5mm

Made For: myself. 

It's only *felt* like a long week, so far

 The week after a vacation is usually a tough one.  Trying to catch up at work and wishing you could still be on holiday.  At least that is how it is for me. 

For whatever reason this week after Thanksgiving I fee like it's been a longer than usual week and I'm desperately trying to play catch up. 

Catching up on what? I have no idea.  

Monday I hiked it out in to the back twenty to get the SD cards from the game cams.  It was the coldest day of this week.  

It was a beautiful sky that morning. 

I spent the day catching up on work things, and feeling like I was spinning my wheels. 

Tuesday there was an Advent retreat for work. It was a lovely day and gave a lot of food for thought. 

After the retreat, when I got home, I made myself a quick cup of tea and enjoyed the quiet time for a few moments before starting supper. 

I don't remember where I got this cup from.  It was either given to me or I picked it up somewhere.  Then it eventually made it to my MIL's cupboard.  When she passed away I took it back.  

Wednesday was a busy day, again, and I feel like I didn't get much accomplished.  

Last weekend, when I was sitting out in the hunting blind, I was thinking a lot of thoughts. Some of them including the wish for electric handwarmers and why didn't I order them way back when, cause I'd have them right now.  

The desire for electric handwarmers grew into a fantasy (if you will) of having handwarmers in handknit mittens. 

So, the cardigan I started last week was put aside and I started working on a pair of mittens on Monday night. 

Last night I finished the first one. 

The pattern is from Tin Can Knits. I took the time to measure my hand and I adjusted down one of the needle sizes.  The mitten is bigger than I anticipated it to be, so I will likely run short and need to pick up some more Lion Brand Wool-Ease thick and quick from the Walmart. 

I LOVE this mitten and can't wait to complete the second one.  I'll be working on it all my spare time and hopefully I will be able to wear them when I go out hunting this weekend. 

Funny thing ... or, interesting thing, if you want to go that way.  I'm starting to find myself going back to the same patterns.  This mitten pattern I'm planning to print out and have it in my binder for the next time I want to make mittens. I love how they took the time to have mittens in all sizes and yarn weights.  I love Harvest cardigan they put out, as I'm making another one right now. 

I have all these knitting patterns, stored digitally somewhere, and I find myself going back to ones that I feel are tried and true. There are so many patterns out there it's overwhelming a lot of times when you want to make something to give as a gift. 

Anywho, just had to get that out there. 

Oh! in other news, last week I cut up ALL the fabric for the two quilts I'm working on.  I buckled down, got brave about stacking fabrics and got it ALL cut and ready to go.  I thought I'd be in the craft room this weeking, working on blocks.  Nope.  Those mittens have me smitten and I must finish them before I do anything else. 

Wednesday works in progress update #9 for 2023

 It looks like it's been a bit since I've done a WIP update.  I've had something in mind, but keep backing out of doing it, so that's why ... Yes, I'm mysterious. 

I've had the last few days off work and have been enjoying them.  House stuff has been caught up so that means time for vegging out and watching Fr. Brown and working on my knit and cross stitch projects a bit. 

When I'm not napping.  

Just kidding, I don't nap that much.  

In the last couple of weeks I've started a few new sock projects, a new cross stitch project and I've kitted up a few other projects, so to speak. 

My handspun.

Definitely a work in progress, despite my finishing it up this past weekend. Last night I decided I'm going to use it to make a cardigan. Specifically, the Bly cardigan by Berroco yarns. 

Photo is from Berroco's website. 

I decided I wanted to make something on the more easy side.  This seems perfect. 

Picture this pile of squishyness in a cozy cardi. 

I'll start this as soon as I get a few skeins wound up in to yarn cakes. Wish me luck! 

First sock project is my Monkey socks by Cookie A. 

Project Name: Monkey Socks
Started: Nov. 12, 2023

Finished: 

Designer/Source: knitty.com

Yarn: Forbidden Fiber Co.

Colorway: Tale as old as time, on the Fortitude base.

Needle size: U.S. 1, 2.5 mm

Made For: myself. 

Yarn is a pleasure to work with. 

Next up is a vanilla sock

Project Name: Vanilla sock
Started: Nov. 13, 2023

Finished: 

Yarn: Patons Kroy sock yarn

Colorway: Amythest stripes

Colors: dark purples.

Needle size: U.S. 1, 2.5 mm

Made For: myself. 

I started this project up for the times where I want to knit, but don't want to think of a pattern repeat. You can see I've got a LOT done on this sock so far. 

Up next is another Vanilla sock

Project Name: Vanilla sock
Started: Nov. 18, 2023

Finished: 

Yarn: Patons Kroy sock yarn

Colorway: Coastal stripes

Colors: variations of blue and some white or grey.

Needle size: U.S. 1, 2.5 mm

Made For: myself. 

I started this sock on a 9 or 11 inch chiaogoo mini twist. I recently started watching the Knitting Traditions podcast on Youtube, and she mentioned making socks on the small circs and I thought I would give it another try.  So far it hasn't been as tough as I remember. 

Cross stitch ... 

I started a new cross stitch project. A few weeks ago I saw Javagirl Stitches pop on with a new youtube video and an announcement of a new stitch-along and I fell in love with the Quilted Cross Stitch charts, despite my already having christmas charts to work on. 

*sigh* I was SO enabled. 

So I went to walmart and picked up some 18 count adia and dyed it myself.  I wrote about it not long ago. It turned out so lovely. 

Started: Nov. 15, 2023

Finished: 

Designer/Source: Emily Call Designs

Fabric: Charles craft aida cloth 18 count I dyed myself. Purchased at walmart.

DMC floss in called for colors

Blanc, 168, 469, 3712, 3045, 816, 310

Needle Size: 26

Made For: Myself. 

I'm not sure if I've worked on my snowflake cross stitch since I last shared it. So I'm sharing again, possibly. 

Project Name: #723 Snowflake

Started: Jan. 1, 2023

Finished: 

Designer/Source: Tiny Cross Stitches

Fabric: Aida cloth 14 count Hobby Lobby Zweigart. Aida has silver threads running through it. 

DMC floss in called for colors

747 ; 964 ; 995 ; 996 ; 3756 ; 3761 ; 3843 ; 3846 ; B5200

Colors: blues

Needle Size: 26

Made For: Myself. I've decided I'm keeping it for myself.  I told my husband that when it is done, I'm putting it on display year-round. 

It looks like I have done a smidge of work on it. 

Quilty stuff ... 

I haven't done any actual sewing on the two quilts I've had going. I'm cutting fabric.  If you are a quilter you know that cutting and prepping the fabric can take a good long time.  

I feel like I've been working forever on cutting fabric for my Dancing Stars quilt. I really need to make a hashtag for this one. 

I didn't look to see how many more fat quarter bundles I need to cut up.  Feels like a hundred. It's probably four or five.  Each bundle takes about an hour to cut.  I've been working on a bundle at night while watching "The Mindy Project" or "Burn Notice." 

Last night I decided to switch over and cut up some fabric for the sandpiper quilt. 

Project Name: Sandpiper quilt

Started: Jan. 21, 2023

Finished: 

Designer/Source: It's Sew Emma / Fat Quarter Shop

Fabric: Fabric from the Solid Fat Quarter Club

Colors: A different color palette each month.

Made For: Myself

I think I have four more squares to cut for on this quilt. Then I can start assembling.

I have a feeling January is when these two quilts are going to see a significant amount of love. 

Future projects ... 

I decided I'm going to make another Harvest cardigan.  The last one I made I made using carons simply soft. That yarn, combined with my lack of knowing how to care for big handknits like this, cause the cardigan to stretch out. It looked awful.  

I'm going to use acrylic again, but this time I'm using a hobby lobby yarn, and I won't be throwing it in the dryer. 

I purchased this yarn about a year ago. I think it's going to look great. 

Started: Soon

Finished: 

Designer/Source: Tin Can Knits 

Yarn: Hobby Lobby "I love this yarn"

Colors: Cinnamon Cedar

Needle Size: US #6 / 4mm & US #8 / 5mm

Made For: myself. 

This pretty yarn is going to be made in to something very soon, too. I saw a amigugrumi in a facebook group and decided I had yarn in stash that would be perfect for it. 

It will be a gift for someone.  Not saying who just yet. 

That is all in my bag of tricks, friend. Tomorrow is the big turkey day. We are planning on smoking a turkey (so yummy). My son will be working.  My hubby will be working on some projects he's been wanting to do for a while, and I'll likely be puttering in the kitchen and knitting when I'm not in the kitchen. 

So, until then, happy Thanksgiving to all of you!