…and saw, and found, and did, and wrote about.
I know it doesn’t look like winter in this photo; didn’t feel like it either. But this was last week, when it was still February, so still technically winter. Things are coming back to life though! Can’t wait to start getting new stuff in the ground.
This is last year’s kale. Purple kale. Beautiful purple stems, not much in the way of leaves at the moment. It’ll come back though.
I spent a good chunk of today with this little fox, filling pots and planting seeds. He was quite a helper.
My youngest son, Nathaniel, is particularly enamored of the Fox song. You know, “What did the fox say?” So when I found a crochet pattern for a fox hat, and I already had the perfect colors of yarn with no real plans to use them, I — obviously — had to make him a hat. He LOVES it. It’s really cute.
I was experimenting with the orange yarn, trying out new stitches, thinking I might end up with a scarf for myself. When I was getting low on yarn, though, I decided to just stop while it was short and make it a kid scarf. He wears them both everywhere. And asks “what does the fox say?” even more than before.
Then I decided to experiment with a variation on the hat pattern. My middle son, Timothy, is a forest boy. He goes to school two days a week in the forest. He loves all our local wildlife. I made up an owl hat for him.
A great horned owl, in case it isn’t clear. I’ll try to post more details and better photos soon.
Now, there’s one more hat to make, for the 9 year old. He has requested an eagle. That’s going to be interesting.
This is an old picture, but I still love it.
We always go to a small, local tree farm to get our Christmas tree. It’s not one of those places where the trees are groomed, and all neat, in straight lines with others of the same height. It’s more… scattered. And natural. And random. And old. They always have a fire going, and free hot apple cider and candy canes. Our kids know what to expect and they love it.
We always say we’re going to get a smaller tree this time. But it never works – we always end up with a huge one. Here’s this year’s tree behind the kids.
It’s that tall one behind the front row of trees. You can just see the top of it in this photo.
And, once again, it’s way longer than the truck bed. Oh well, it works to get it home.
Following the pattern and color palette on Attic24, I worked on this blanket sporadically over the course of 2013. It was started in February and finished in December. I really enjoyed being able to pick it up and work a bit whenever I felt like it, not racing to finish but enjoying the process.
Still lots of yarn left in the basket…
Littlest boy seems to like it even at this stage.
And now it covers the couch! It’s big enough for two (or three small) people to share. It’s warm, it’s drape-y, it’s bright and colorful. And I love the ripples.
I sort of followed the Wurm pattern (Ravelry link). Meaning, I looked at some pictures and read the instructions and then did my own thing. It worked out OK. I do like the two different yarns: the cream is from my stash and has no labels, but I’m fairly sure it’s wool. The purple is a Lion Brand something acrylic that I found at the thrift store.
This hat was intended for Nathaniel, my 4 year old, and he even helped me choose the yarns. But when it was done, he refused to wear it. I don’t think he’s worn it once. Everyone else seems to like it though – Timothy, Benjamin and I have all worn it. So at least it’s a good spare hat if nothing else.