Christmas "Break"

 Happy Holidays! We celebrated a nice Christmas at home and it was wonderful.

I spent a lot of time cooking, hanging out, knitting, taking walks and enjoying some down time. I didn't take off work but most of my company did so it's very quiet and exactly what I needed. I don't mind working a little bit every day and saving my days off for summer time. 

I got a ton of knitting done on my Felix Cardigan. It's sooooo soft! For anyone that wants to make their first cardigan, this is a perfect pattern to try.

Here's my cardigan next to my work laptop. See? Fitting in the fun things between work isn't hard to do over Christmas break week :) Don't tell! I am now knitting the sleeves and will go back and add the button band and collar. I have a feeling I'm going to need to order more yarn. I always do that!!!!

I don't know what these flowers are but aren't they beautiful? I bought three bunches at Wholefoods and put them together. They're so pretty!

It's been very cold over the past week and I really enjoy taking walks when it's cold. I bundle up and head out with Buddy. I'm always hot these days so I don't mind the cold. This is the pond at the top of our road. We call it "Neighbor Mike's" pond. It froze over this week but I don't know how thick it was so we stayed off of it.

My littlest kiddo on Christmas morning.

The Sherman Girl Husbands!

I took Buddy for a walk in Allaire State Park. I love walking through the village.

Now back to our pond. It was frozen a few inches deep in the shallow end so I let the boys go out on it. They had fun just sliding around. 

My pup gave us a good scare. He didn't feel good at all Monday-Wednesday. I was a wreck.

After a frantic call and vet visit, we think he'll be ok. Not sure what he got into but he was a sick pup. He's on the mend and I'm not crying every minute...so that's good! 

This was him late Wednesday feeling so much better. He's still recovering but acting much more like himself today. Poor guy. 

I'm looking forward to our Patreon Zoom tonight. I really love our group and I've missed them all month!

Hope you all are enjoying your Christmas "break"!

New to You MAL 2023!

It's almost time for our annual New to You MAL!

For the past few years my sister and I host a make-along. We started it to encourage people to learn new things and win prizes! Here are the details:

January 1 - February 14, 2023

Try something new that is fiber arts related.

Post a photo on instagram with the hashtag #newtoyoumal2023

or post a photo in our Ravelry thread here.

You don't have to finish the project to be entered! Just try something!

What you can win:

We choose 1 random winner and you will receive a prize from every single prize donator! Right now we have 16 donors. Amazing prizes!!!! And every prize donor will also choose a favorite and send them a prize. Lots of chances to win something!

For some inspiration, you can watch this past episode of our podcast here.

I've been watching a lot of the Emma Robinson's Wooly Mammoth podcast and she has a hot water bottle. My house is always so chilly and drafty so I was thinking it would be a great thing for me to have. She talks about knitting a cozy cover for it and I checked it out. I've never made one before and it uses a new cast on for me. So that's what I am going to try!

Hope you join in the fun this year. :) Cheers!

Christmas Knitting

I finished up my Christmas knitting last night and I thought I would share with you all.

I didn't knit too many gifts for specific people this year because I spent a lot of time knitting for the farm store. Lots of custom orders and random baby items! But here are a few gifts to show.

Cliveden Hat

Free pattern on Ravelry

This is for one of my husband's coworkers. I used bulky alpaca yarn for this hat. I am really happy with how it came out and I think I want to knit one for myself! I could use a new warm hat for walking Buddy.

This is a simple chunky knit hat that I based off of this pattern.

I used big chunky yarn that I have had for a while. It's not my normal yarn but I think the recipient will like it. It's kind of wacky and fun!

This is The Shift by Andrea Mowry. It will be a gift for my mom.

I used a mix of Feederbrook Farm yarn, Gray alpaca from the farm, and Cascade alpaca.

I made one for myself over the summer and I wear it nonstop! I knitted this and I must have used slightly bigger needles than mine because it's a lot bigger. Not sure what happened there but hopefully she gets as much use out of it as I do mine. It's so easy to wear and keeps me warm all day long.

This is not gift knitting but more custom orders. They came out cute so just thought I would share.

My friend Stacy asked me to knit these for a friend's baby. Stacy is a beautiful knitter but she says she knits too slowly so she asked me to help. She gave me the yarn and away I went!

These little teddy bear sweaters are so sweet. 

This is just a simple ribbed hat for a 9 month old baby. I made a huge pompom :) Hopefully it doesn't fall off her head!!!!

That's it for now! Now it's time to knit something for me. I'm dreaming of a new cardigan....

Football in Florida

My youngest son and his AYF football team won their way to compete in the National Championships in Kissimmee, FL. I'm here with him now, knitting my way through the chaos of 22, 11 year old boys! He went to the Buccaneers game yesterday so I took myself to Disney Springs for lunch and then back to my hotel room where I watched Vlogmas videos. Now I want all the advents! I've never bought one before but maybe I will for next year. I watched Sandy by the Lakeside  vlogmas videos for her first 5 days and I loved them. It's funny because I love watching videos by people that are super calm and organized. I am NOT either of those things but it inspires me to at least try! 

My son's team lost their first game 13-6 vs San Diego which is amazing to me because the size of the other team was SOOOOO huge! I don't know where these teams get these giant kids, but our little Wall team is purely a town team and I'm pretty sure we are the only one of the kind here. Today they play game #2 vs a team from Detroit. I just hope no one gets hurt. 

For my Florida friends, I don't know how you do Christmas in the warm weather! My brain is so confused!!!!!! I don't have one thing ready for Christmas back home except the tree is up. It will be a mad dash when we get home Friday to get lots done. But it will get done...it always does somehow.

Hello December!

 Hello December. I hope it's a wonderful month :)

I promise to not stress as much as I usually do. Enjoy the small moments.

Take time to enjoy my house, the tree, the lights, the music.

Keep on knitting!

I've been on a roll with knitting for the coop. Temperatures have gotten very chilly around here! I'm bundling up every morning for my walk with Buddy. He needs his exercise and so do I. These little walks of ours have helped me shed a few pounds. Yay! He forces me to get out and move more than I have in years. Sometimes the cat walks the whole way with us too. He cracks me up. I made a few baby hats to sell. I also casted on a simple newborn sweater using yarn from our alpacas. These little baby knits are so fun and quick to do. I just love them.  I also finished a book, Once There Were Wolves. We chose it for our patron book club and I really liked it. It was so good to read. It's been a while!

Our lives are so busy these days. My little one is still playing football. Their team just won regionals and they are headed to Florida for the National Championship. I'm still in shock. It's in less than 2 weeks. Ummmmmm.....why?! This is not fun as a parent! at Christmas time! During my busiest season for band. Deep breaths...............

My oldest is home for Thanksgiving. I'm so happy to have him here! My second boy gets home tomorrow night and then I'll be a VERY happy mom :) All of us under one roof. That's when I'm the happiest.

Thanksgiving is coming and I'm ready for it! Bring on the yummy food and family. It's a wonderful holiday, isn't it? No pressure of presents buying. Just spending time with people you love eating yummy food. It's all we really need!