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!!!!!

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!

winter love

when i am driving to work in the mornings i always make great plans for what i'm going to do when i get home, usually involving sewing and making something for supper. i should know better...i never have much energy left after work,  especially with it getting dark so early. well, i have good intentions anyway, and thankfully brian likes to cook, or we'd have toast for supper every night.....

it's damn cold today. i went out to see the chickens when i got home with a big bag of leftover pasta from work which they love, but they'd already gone up to roost. poor chilly girls! i have 4, and three of them were all piled on top of the laying box and one was left alone on the perch! i wish they'd all stay together. i'll warm up the pasta and give it to them for breakfast. they'll like that.

i do love these cold, dark days. i love being in the cozy warm house with my pets and brian, going to sleep under so many blankets i'm afraid i'm going to put my back out when i turn over sometimes! i love the warm colors of the lamplit rooms, the beautiful blue of the sky through the windows before the sun goes down. candles and tea and comfort food.  this is my time of the year and i'm enjoying every day of it!

blue, brown, grey

lots of melting going on around here. looking forward to the color schemes of GREEN!

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.!

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!

winterland

since the "whirlwind" of THE QUILT has ended, i'm finding new things to occupy my time. i bought some crazy yarn for socks(love the tag!), and have been spending just a little time outside, very bundled up(2 degrees here this morning!!)

happy happy wednesday!!!

p.s. isn't rosco so freaking adorable in his little sweater?????

warm up!

if you are cold right now, go find your cat because i guarantee you, that cat is warm!

go ahead, sit on the radiator! you'll be glad you did!

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!!!