this weekend

i made a lot of progress on the new sewing room this weekend. dismantled the bed and brought the old uncomfortable mattress and boxspring to the dump, and cleaned everything out of there that had to go! one big bag of clothes to the dump, and one big bag of clothes to the thrift shop. now i am ready to set things up. i'm looking for a work table and i'd like to get a set of drawers as well. i have the perfect dresser in mind, pale yellow with some chipping paint and glass knobs. *sigh* good luck finding that! too bad there are no flea markets this time of year!

we had perfect cotton candy snow on saturday, so so pretty! AND one of the chickens layed the first egg in months. yay!

the patriots lost. oh well! i have tried to be a sports fan, but it just isn't me. brian took it a lot better than i thought he would.  at least now there's no pressure in the superbowl!

while i was uploading these photos i finished a sudoku! do you do those?? a friend gave me a sudoku-a-day calendar-those things are not easy! my father whips them off like nobody's business, but i really struggle, so i was very proud of myself to finish one.

that's the weekend wrap-up! happy monday to you!

brrrrrr.....

as you can see from that finely tuned instrument up there, baby, it's cold outside!

we've had what they referred to as a "blizzard" over the last two days, but really we only got i'd say 6-8" of very nice light snow. they really hype storms now-a-days.  whenever we're expecting snow it's BIG NEWS. i don't know, this really didn't seem that bad. i guess most people had today off. my morning commute is usually bumper to bumper, but this morning there was hardly a soul out there but me and the snowplows.

the bakery did open an hour later than usual and business was pretty slow. it's kind of fun working on days like today.

i took the pretty drive home, just as the sun was going down. in the last photo you can see a white dot up there on the upper righthand side. that's the tower at berwick academy, right near my house. i love that view!

super cold temps expected tonight. i'm very grateful for a cozy, warm house . one thing about a small house, you can keep it pretty warm. i'm sitting in the kitchen watching brian make pizza for supper and drinking a very good, but strong beer. woohoo!

keep warm everybody!!!!!

post-holiday laziness

i'm so lucky to have today off!!  time to rewind after the busy day yesterday. we had such a nice christmas with two families, a new cat and a new dog to meet, wonderful food, gifts and most importantly it was so good to spend time with everyone.

today i have been half-heartedly working on a couple of projects. i cut out fabric for two quilt squares, but didn't really feel like sewing them together and did a bit of crocheting and thinking about new things to make. i am just starting on the heel of the socks i'm knitting, so that's something! mostly i've been watching the huge fluffy snowflakes fall outside and just enjoying the day.

my niece made me the beautiful star and the plate with our shared intials on it. (we are both JAR's!) such sweet gifts!

i guess i should GET DRESSED, ahem, and get out there and do a bit of shoveling.

happy boxing day!!

a winter wonderland!

we woke up yesterday morning to a winter wonderland! about a foot of beautiful, light, fluffy snow. just perfect! i really wanted blueberry pancakes and had no eggs, so i was out shoveling bright and early and off to the store.

it was a great weekend of cooking, sewing, knitting and eating! i have finally made my perfect hat. i've made hat after hat and put them on and been, "meh". but this one i really like and i used the softest, most luxurious feeling yarn. that "eco duo" is really nice, a blend of undyed baby alpaca and merino wool. you can see the hat on ravelry called "rikke" and here is the free pattern.

**i did adjust the pattern a bit as this yarn is a bit bigger than they call for. i cast on 91 stitches and used a 5 and an 8 circular needle. i also knit the hat to around 7 inches instead of 9 so it isn't quite as slouchy.

hope you all had a nice weekend too!

jan waldron

i wanted to show you a few of the paintings on display this month at ceres bakery, portsmouth, nh by very talented artist, jan waldron.

i absolutely love her work! that first painting especially leaves me a little weak in the knees.....

these paintings, and more, will be showing thru the first of april. come and see!!!!!!!!!!!!!

happy spring!!! we are celebrating here with a fresh 11" of snow, just about when you're ready to be done with it...oh well! it sure is beautiful!

new sweater for rosco and a winter wonderland!

this was our yard at about 6:00 a.m. on monday. absolutely gorgeous!  today's weather can be described in one word: Y-U-C-K! slushy rain................

a couple of years ago i started this sweater for rosco. i was "winging it" , so to speak, and got it 99% finished and decided it wasn't quite right,  and put it away. the yarn is beautiful NORO, japanese yarn that i got at an odd shop that used to sell model trains and......yarn. an unusual combination. they were getting rid of the yarn section and selling it all 1/2 price, which was very nice, and the only reason i would be knitting a dog sweater with NORO!

i found the sweater the other day and made a couple of adjustments, and i think it came out pretty good! rosco was being completely uncooperative having his picture taken...i would love to know what goes on in that little mind of his. he hates having his picture taken! but he's happy to wear the sweater, so that's o.k.!

full SNOW moon

big full moon tonight! crazy dog, crazy cat, chickens laying eggs!

the february full moon is called the "snow" moon because of heavy snowfall during this month. the indians also called it the "hunger" moon, as hunting was often difficult with all of the snow.

we got a lot of wet, heavy snow yesterday. sure was beautiful this morning (will post photos!), but the warm sun melted a lot of it today.

happy monday!

ayuh, it snowed!

this was saturday morning, while  snow was still falling! the town next to us reported 32"- it was very hard to tell how many inches we got because of the crazy drifting! i walked out yesterday and into a thigh high drift! brian had suggested i bring the snowshoes into the house on friday "because you might not be able to get to the garage", he said, , to which there was a bit of eye rolling, but he was right! i would never have gotten out to the chicken coop without them.

i balled up some yarn for a thrilling upcoming event!!! stay tuned!!!!!

i shoveled some serious tunnels! thankfully the snow was light and fluffy-perfect snow!

finished mom's socks. hi mom!! (and dad!)

 played with dishes!

i hope you enjoyed the blizzard too!

it's a blizzard!

i thought i'd better post early today in case we lose power. it's sure coming down!! we're expecting up to two feet-yay! it's quite beautiful out there, and nice and warm in here. i have lots of projects to keep me busy and hope to get out snow shoeing tomorrow.

i'm also going to make a bunch of meatballs. there was a restaurant in portsmouth, nh called "rosa's" that i used to love. they were open for 80 years (!) and made the BEST meatballs ever! i was really sad when they closed. i ran into the chef a while back and asked if there was any way i could get that meatball recipe, and he gave it to me! i was so happy! so, rosa's meatballs it is! i can't wait!

keep safe if you have to go out, and enjoy the blizzard!

go acrylic!

let's talk about acrylic yarn. i'm a bit of a yarn snob, i'll admit, and never, ever thought i would use acrylic yarn, for anything! even for baby sweaters i'd rather use washable wool. it seemed silly to do all that work in anything but a natural fiber.

then i learned to crochet. i LOVE to crochet, and it's quite fast, so you can do a lot of crocheting in a shorter time than if you were to knit the same thing. i wanted to make a blanket, so for my first blanket i used a nice cotton yarn, and it was not cheap. i wanted to make another blanket, but couldn't really justify the cost of all the yarn it would take for another blanket. it takes LOTS of yarn. then one day i was at marden's. now, if you live in maine, you've most likely heard of marden's. marden's is a chain of stores that sells pretty much anything you can think of, and really really cheap! there's a lot of crap there, but for some reason they have a big fabric section, and it's really nice fabric! mostly discontinued stuff, but i've found designer fabrics there that sell at other stores for two to three times as much. sometimes they get yarn. that day they had a lot of acrylic yarn-the vanna white brand that i would never have dreamed of using before. but it was, i think, $1.99 a skein, and it's actually fairly soft and they had really nice colors. so, for $29.00 i bought enough to make a blanket. and i LOVE this blanket! love it!  i sewed on a few vintage doilies from the flea market, and they were perfect! certainly if i were made out of money i'd go for a more luxurious yarn, but i have changed my attitude toward acrylic. i won't be knitting sweaters with it, but it's great for a big project like a blanket.

i've been busy tying my quilt, and i'm hoping to finish it this weekend.

happy friday!!!