Spring

 It's spring here in Maryland. That means Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. That means flowers. That means actual leaves on trees. Tree frogs singing. Fresh air coming into the house in light breezes. Can you tell that I'm ready for it? 

Mr. Tree Frog came out of his winter slump and made an appearance on my bench outside.

There has been knitting. I found this sock yarn in my stash, and felt that it was appropriate for spring. Haven't finished the second one yet.

Our biggest news is our new family member. We wanted to add another dog to our family. My husband (and I) really wanted to get a rescue this time. We had specific needs when it came to rescues. It would have to get along with other dogs, both young and old. It would have to be good with a cat. It would have to be good with small children. It would have to be housebroken. This dog filled all these needs! He lived in a foster home with a small child and two cats. He is super chilled out and has no problem with other animals. He's completely housebroken. 

So, meet Asher! He and Reggie come in from outside exhausted every day from tussling and playing. It's exactly the scenario that we were looking for. He's so sweet and knows several commands. He has found his forever home with us, and we couldn't be more pleased. 

Happy spring, everyone!

2022.

 It's been over a year since I've posted anything on here. I probably don't have any more followers or readers. But, here I am. Lots has changed in the last year. I lost four very good friends. Unbelievably, none to Covid. Cancer and other ailments took my friends. All four were from different parts of my life. College, young parenthood, recent life. I have moved through the grief like swimming through molasses. Still grieving, but living my life and being grateful for so many things.

What else? Oh, we moved! My house that I lived in for over 30 years was put on the market, and we bought another that is OUR house. I loved my previous house. But I lived in it with a former spouse for most of my time there. After I married again, a relative suggested that we get a new house and start fresh. I wasn't ready at first. I really made my former home my own, and then I met my current husband. I wanted to enjoy all of the personal changes that I made to the home before moving. But it was time. And now I love our new house.

Knitting? Oh yes, there's been lots of that. Here are a few things...

Last one was for my daughter. She saw someone wearing it at a fall festival, and asked where the person bought it. She told her she knit it, and told here where the pattern could be found. So, of course I knit one for her. There have been a few other sweaters, baby blankets, socks various things knit in the last year. But these are a few. Happy belated New Year to whoever is still here. I'll try to come back soon!

Sweater Progress

 I knit another sweater. I am loving yoke sweaters. I will be looking for another soon.  This was knit from stash yarn. It was intended for something else, but this made me happy. 

My husband gave me a wooly board for my birthday this year. It's the wooden thing that my sweater is on in the last picture. A great blocking tool, if you knit sweaters!

We've had some snow here in the last few weeks. More is expected this week. Good sweater weather!

I hope that you all are well. Some of you have possibly gotten the Covid vaccine. If so, good on you! As for me, I am still waiting for the day (or days, since there are 2 doses) to come. We are still pretty much sequestered in this house. My daughter and family still live with us, and will be moving sometime this month after the settlement of their new house. 

Lastly, here's a picture of Reggie (lying down) and Moxie (sitting up).

Moxie is my grand-dog. She is about 12 pounds and is 11 years old. Reggie is a little over a year old, and 30 pounds. Both are Boston Terriers. Quite a difference in size! But Moxie can play with the big dogs and the two of them tumble and chase each other. Bella steers clear of such craziness and reclines on sofa.

Have a good day, readers!

I've Been Away

 Okay, not technically away. I've been away from blogging.  Life has been different around my house.

My daughter and her husband and my two grandkids have come to stay here. They've been here since the weekend after Thanksgiving. Our little house of two newly retired people has become crazy/loud/busy/messy/fun/amazing these past few weeks.

Backstory: My daughter followed my son in law to England when he got a job there like 7 years ago. They married and had my first grandchild in the UK. Then his job brought him to Southern California 3 years ago, and they had their second daughter. He's a lead artist in the gaming industry.  His studio shut down in the beginning of 2020, so he took an East coast job and that leads us to now.  They are actively looking for a house, but until then, crazy chaos filled with love is what we are having in this house. 

I'll try to come back more often, now that we are all settling in to this new quarantined craziness. 

And for this post, I'll pop in later today for a knitting update.

Continuing....

Here's some knitting:

First off, I finished this cowl. Reggie is just dying to lie on it and soak up its comfy vibes. Pattern is Over the River.

This little munchkin wanted a scarf. She told me her favorite color is "pink sparkly", so that's what I used. 

And her sister reaped the benefits of left-over yarn.

I was listening to knitting podcasts, and Needles At The Ready is one of my favorites. They mentioned this hat pattern, which they knit for  the kids in their family. It's called Barley from Tin Can Knits. It comes in a lot of sizes from baby to adult, and is a quick knit.

The other day, I decided to do some Christmas knitting. And by Christmas knitting, I mean knitting for next Christmas. Clearly, I missed the boat on doing it this year. So, I've been knitting up some little stocking ornaments. I'll keep this up until I have a ton of them and then figure out if I want to make garlands, or just a loop for hanging individually. No pattern, I just downsized a basic vanilla sock with a longer cuff(about 3 1/2 inches cuff to heel).

See you soon!

Little Santa Mug Revealed

 Here's a film (hopefully) of the little mug reveal.

Sunday Santa Hide and Seek

 I put out my Santa mugs every year. I've been collecting them for over 30 years. It started with one mug, given to me by my mother's best friend. She gave me and my first husband some of her old decorations for our first Christmas. We had little money, and they were a joy to have in our little apartment.

From there, I found some in second-hand a shop in Rehoboth one year. Since then I've found them in antique shops, a lot from Ebay, and from stores and websites. Some newly made ones are sprinkled in with the vintage ones, but most are from the 60's. A big company who manufactured these in Japan was called Holt Howard. Many have the Japan stamp, and a few still have the HH label. 

Probably my favorite one is the size of a blueberry. I found it at the Sea Shell Shop (say that 10 times fast!) in Ocean City, MD. Every year I ask people to try and find it among the mug crowd. This year, the husband hid it (in plain sight). Can you find it?

You'll probably have to zoom in a little, but he's in there! Tomorrow, I'll reveal where he is. I hope that you decide to put out something festive to cheer up your home. 

Saturday

 Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone. I hope that you all stayed safe. We had my son here, but we were blessed with weather in the low 70's and we ate outside at a distance. I made all the trimmings. This year, I kept the turkey simple. I usually use Martha Stewart's "Turkey 101" recipe, which is foolproof. This year, I tried Pioneer woman's turkey recipe. You just cook it on a lower temp for hours, then rub it with minced rosemary(fresh cut from the garden!) orange peel and a stick of butter and turn the heat up. It was SO good! It made the best gravy.

My daughter and family are in town, awaiting their Covid test results before moving in with us for a while. They moved from California by a slow trek in their car. They're staying in a hotel until the tests prove negative, just as a precaution.

Here's a belated home treasure. In the process of clearing out some stuff under the guest room bed, I found a small box of old family tin types and this old Christmas card of sorts. The people who are mentioned in it are long gone. I thought that it was so sweet.

Unopened, this little book is only 4 inches by 3 inches. So it's very hard to determine if the little painting is an original or a print. It looks to me to be original watercolor.

I believe that Carrie was my great great grandmother. But there may be other Carries in my family. I will have to investigate that one. I have plenty of family records to look through to determine that one.

Have a good weekend, and stay safe!