up hills and down

Merry Christmas! We had some sledding fun on Christmas Day. It's been years since I've been on a snow tube, but it turns out I haven't lost the knack. (All you need is gravity, right?) I must say, with my family our time out on the sledding hill was like a fashion runway for handknit hats, scarves and mittens. We had lots of woolly style going on!

Another pair of mittens flew off the needles, I'm really happy with the flashes of bright red at the top of each one. I got the recipe for the chocolate white chocolate chip cookies off the white chocolate chip package. It's a fun twist on the original recipe - we eat a lot of plain chocolate chip cookies at our house.

I'm flipping through my pattern books and scrolling through my favorites on ravelry looking for a new knitting project to start. Hopefully I'll have something on the needles before the end of the day.

I aim to start the new year in a tangle of yarn and stay there for the duration.

gather

We gathered this weekend at my sister and her husband's house to celebrate my mom's birthday. We don't get up to my sister's house very often, we usually meet out at my parent's farm which is more centrally located for all parties involved, but it was fun to drive the distance this weekend and make a dinner where our niece's hang their hats.

We got to meet the new kitty in their lives - Charlie - who they all thought was a boy kitty until my sister brought her to the vet for a check-up.

I ask you, how can a farm girl make that kind of mistake? We're gonna have to blame it on the fact that she has her hands full with two little girls at the moment. Three little girls, counting the cat. (And she'll definitely pounce on you, if you don't include her in the count. I can tell you that much.)

I made some deviled eggs. I love snapping pictures of deviled eggs for some reason, they look so pretty arranged on a plate with fresh dill sprinkled over them - even my niece was gobbling them up. When I was her age I wouldn't have touched something like this. I must like them because I made them.

My grandma Lois made the dresses for Hannah's doll. I like all of the finishing touches she added to them - the buttons, lace, gathers and snaps. She made dresses for my baby dolls when I was a girl too, so it was a bit like deja-vu yesterday afternoon when Hannah was opening her presents.

Hope you all are enjoying the holidays with loved ones.

Jillian

god jul

This weekend we went to the Santa Lucia Festival at our church. The event ran all morning long and was filled with traditional Swedish Christmas carols and food. We ate a lot of Christmas bread, cheese and fruit soup. One of my favorite parts is all of the authentic clothing that many of the participants were wearing - the finely embroidered tops, knit stockings and gnome-like hats - not to mention all of the red and white decorations and ornaments.

I found a lot of inspiration there. I fell in love with the red leather clogs some of the women were wearing. They were painted with flowers and had wooden soles. I want some to wear with my hand-knit socks - my red and white hand-knit socks. Garrett picked out the wooden candle holder in the opening image. It's hand-painted from Sweden. Neither one of us has Scandinavian roots, but I sure admire all of the artifacts from their culture. You gotta love a people that put so much emphasis on their handknits.

Work continues on my second set of mittens. (More on the pattern here - I finished my first set a few weeks ago.)  I need to finish them fast, because my current pair of mittens is showing some wear and tear.

Special thanks to my friend, Kari, for letting me hang out around her roaring fire a few weeks ago. I'll be back with my ice cream bucket for more homemade cookies. 

Trevlig Helg or Happy Holidays,

Jillian

sparkle

Dearest little ones and twinkle lights - we thought we hit the jackpot as far as a successful Christmas photo for my nieces went, but one of our models had different ideas about whether or not she wanted her picture taken exactly.  She viewed the twinkle lights and all of her clapping aunties and grandmas with a bit of suspicion. She knew we were totally trying to set her up (for the cutest Christmas photo of all time - in our opinion) but little Hannah was having none of it.

She stuck her feet straight out and would barely glance at the camera.

Serves us right for trying to set her up, I guess. I wish I could look as cute if I sat on the floor draped with twinkle lights, but I don't think I could create the same effect at my age. Oh, well, I love the photos, even if I couldn't catch the two of them smiling in the same direction at once.

Finished the little baby quilt I've been working on. It will be delivered tonight to a messenger who will carry it in her suitcase over the sea to the far away isle of Ireland, where it will keep one precious baby cozy and warm. Wish I could tag along in the suitcase too.

Yarn above for another set of mittens in progress. This pair is going to be a bit flashier, with the lengths of scarlet and bright blue in the yarn.

We're planning on going to a bonfire tonight - hope they have enough firewood!

snowfall

The first snowfall of the season, and by all accounts it's here to stay. My mother came to visit me today and brought with her some pictures she had taken of the sheep and the farm. Is there anything more cozy than an image of some fluffy sheep in the snow? They certainly are not feeling the cold.

This is their season.

I finished this pair of entrelac mittens this week. They came from this pattern book - Knit Noro: Accessories - lots of fun. I've already cast on for another pair and I think I'll be keeping them for myself, since I liked my first set so much.

Happy weekend, everyone.

window quilts

Well, you all saw the squares that I had cut out for this quilt about a month ago, but then the sewing machine broke and I started knitting my November socks, and the quilt was forgotten for a while. Forgotten, but not abandoned. The dear baby for whom this little quilt is intended has arrived, so I've got to see to those loose ends, wobbly corners and stray seams posthaste.

I never really learned how to operate my sewing machine. My strategy is to connect my foot with the pedal and weeeee! away we go. Also, a lot of superstitious ironing of your pieces once the seams are sewn goes a long way towards making you feel you tried your very best.

The quilt block on the bulletin board is one my sister made. It inspired me to do something a little different with the blocks I had originally cut out. I cut them diagonally and sewed them together like the center of her block. I'm sure this pattern has a name, but I guess I'll just call it Rose's quilt, since that's who it's intended for.

The snow is set to fall around here tonight - two to four inches by tomorrow morning. Enough to make the morning drive to work hectic. I'll just snuggle in tonight with my wool socks and a cup of tea and wait to see if the rooftops are white when we wake up.

XOXO
Jillian

turkey day

I'm very thankful this holiday weekend for family, hearth and home (for some reason those two words just sound so good together) and - handknits. We walked in the door at my parent's house on Thanksgiving and there was my little niece sitting in her daddy's arms on the kitchen island, clapping her hands and sporting one of my handknit sweaters. (She is now my new favorite.)

It's a rare occurrence that I get to see a baby in one of the sweaters I make for them. (Here is the link to the pattern.) I usually send then off and sometimes receive a picture of the precious little one in some soft warm wool. It's not that the sweater is the important thing. Yesterday was about all the "ideas" I knit into the little sweaters I make: sweet babies with pink cheeks and smiles, family gathered together on the farm, savory food roasting in spices making the house smell fantastic. That's why I (we) knit these things, right? There is something precious about a handmade life - or there's something very special about being able to put the things that are precious to us into something we made by hand.

And if they stay in it for more than thirty seconds, I call that a success. Little Brooke wore this sweater for most of the morning and I got to admire again the color transitions that fascinated me while I was knitting it and the clever decreases that make the sleeves and shape the shoulders - perfect diagonal slants.

I am inspired to knit another baby sweater!