big snow

The house across the street had sweeps of snow - like sculpted meringue on a pie - on its roof all weekend long. I would look out at the puffs of smoke from the chimney tops in our neighborhood and see the blowing snow and just be happy that I was tucked inside with my knitting and my stack of books from the library.

 We braved the roads this weekend to visit family on both days and as a result found Monday morning a bit hard to handle. Below zero again and I had to put gas in my car. (Dear Winter : We have all had enough of you.)

I'm in a bit of a creative doldrums around here - so I hope things liven up. I need to find a quote or a poem or a scrap of fabric or yarn that will perk me up and pull me back into the swing of things. Ever felt this way? Well, I'm on the lookout for some inspiration - I'm sure I won't have to look for long before something swells my heart. Maybe I'll just take a "stroll" through my blog roll.

handspun

Here we go: this is what I've been pulling off my spinning wheel this week. I'm excited to knit this into a pair of warm socks. Hope your week is going well. We have a few colorways here. We will be making more soon!

Jillian

valentine's weekend

It's been a weekend of baking and spinning. Having Valentine's Day on Friday was great - we didn't have to try to squeeze it into a busy work week. We didn't even try to go out for dinner around here, instead we stayed in, made the meal ourselves and avoided the general chaos of this most romantic of holidays. We watched the new Carrie movie on Friday night and then last night we watched the new Romeo and Juliet movie with that actress from True Grit - so I guess there was the general theme of love gone terribly wrong this weekend - but it still felt romantic and fun to us.

Back to the baking and spinning. I got the sugar cookie recipe here. I thought I had some heart-shaped cookie cutters in the cupboard, but didn't so I had to improvise with circles, elephants and diamond shapes. I love the rhubarb jelly sandwich version of these cookies.  Heart-shaped cookies would have been good, but circles get the job done.

Speaking of circles, I've pulled out the spinning wheel along with some very colorful fiber. A few pairs of my hand-spun socks have bit the dust this winter - they just finally wore out.  It's time for a few new pairs. I'm spinning single-ply, fingering weight yarn - a bit heavy on the spin for durability. My last pair of socks didn't hold up very well and I think it was because the yarn wasn't spun tightly enough. We'll just have to see how it goes. I'm looking forward to sharing some hand-spun sock yarn with you soon.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

sleepy time

Ahh . . . I was so happy for the weekend when it came around. Garrett and I had a busy week last week. We volunteered to watch our cousin's little girl while they went off on an all inclusive trip to Cabo. Four days. One three year old. Sub-zero weather and daycare drop-offs and pick-ups. Meal time, bath time, story time and that blissful time when the dear little one is sleeping (hopefully) and you get to fall onto the sofa next to your husband and just relax.

I'm sick again, though - a head cold sinus thing that just makes me feel and look rather gross. I've gone through two boxes of tissues and almost one roll of toilet paper over the course of the weekend. Sorry for over-sharing, but that box of "Sleepytime" tea has become my best friend. Garrett brought me home the jumbo box and I like to steep my tea with honey, lots of honey. I want to become the "Sleepytime" bear. I want the crackling fire, the comfy chair and the night cap. I want to be snug in my little bear den as the winter winds howl outside, healing from the inside out.

But tomorrow is Monday and my PTO is dwindling, so I'll have to do the best I can to heal up and then brave the work week along with everyone else. This has been a long winter. My dad was saying something along the lines of we've had 40 mornings below zero here in Minnesota. That sounds about right to me. I really dislike walking to my office in this cold.

We rearranged the living room. We finished off the family room in the basement, and put the tv down there. That created space for another bookshelf. I feel so happy with all of my books and pictures around me. I finished a great book this weekend. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. It was wonderful . . . think Romeo and Juliet set against an 80's soundtrack. Funny and heartwarming. I made Garrett listen as I explained the entire plot to him and why I loved it so much. ha. I read it for my April book club.

That's a pot of my restorative chicken noodle soup on the stove. I begged my mother to bring me one of her farm-grown chickens so that I could use it to make this soup. We've got to get healthy around here.

I hope all of you bears are cozy on this chilly February night. Snuggle in and sleep tight.

XOXO
Jillian

weekend

Up home this weekend to the farm, where I found copious cups of hot tea, a half-eaten birthday cake and a scattering of yarn and colorful beans. We woke up this morning to what my dad claimed was "probably the coldest place in North America." None of us were expecting -23 degrees below zero. It was good to be there. Good to sit and chat with a hot mug clasped in my hands. Good to see grandma and grandpa, and good to hear my little niece Hannah wish me "Happy Birthday" and know that she knows (at three years old now) what a birthday is. She is growing up so fast!

We made things work. In a week of birthdays we made due with a half-eaten chocolate cake, stuck in a few candles, and sang a rowdy chorus of "Happy Birthday to us!" It was perfect.

The mitten above came off of Ashley's needles. The yarn is some of our own. We're working on recreating it, because we all loved it so much when we saw what Ashley was making. You can find the pattern for the mittens here. I want to knit a pair out of the dark gray yarn that I'm using for the baby sweater above.  Almost finished!

Happy February, everyone.