Welcome {Winter}

Thanksgiving, Christmas and Solstice are well put to bed and we're gearing up for a cozy family New Year's Eve.

~Not all of the Christmastime knitting got done, of course (it never does!)

~The kids had the best Christmas, complete with trying to stay up All. Night. Long.

~I started a new, very part time, job that is turning out to be just what we needed

~Business taxes, website redesign and new opportunities loom for this mama

~Feeling up to all the challenges and blessings being found this season!

What's new with you?

Unrelated pic of some knitting (unChristmas type) that did get finished. This is the test knit for the new Green Apple dress. I'm in love!

Hello, November!

Okay, I think I'm in love with November...and I don't care who knows it!

We are experiencing a truly crisp, bright start to the holiday season and it's wonderful. I've been neglecting my knitting but my kitchen has seen more action than usual.

We're enjoying a sausage, potato and kale soup that I heavily modified from one I found on All Recipes. I'll have to write down what I did before I forget! That's how my chili turns out different everytime.

I tried out Butter Belle's Soaked Pumpkin Muffins and all I can say is - yum! They are light and moist and perfect with a generous pat of pastured butter. I've had 3 today....just don't tell anyone. And this recipe reminds me why I keep the Kitchen Aid out on the counter. When I'm not doing a lot of baking I sometimes wonder why I have it!

I just started a new sourdough starter after killing one over the summer. I used to think getting a starter going was so hard but now that I've done it a few times I think that starters are super hardy and probably not easy to screw  up. I feel so rewarded when the starter begins rising each time I feed it! It's the little things, folks.

The knitting will have to be unneglected very soon to churn out all the gifting ideas I have in my head. I'm in a definite knitting slump - one where I have lots of ideas but no motivation to get things together and get started. Also, I've decided I need a swift and a ball winder. A lot of my yarn is in skeins and that doesn't help my motivation at all. I was going to ask for one for Christmas but then it would be too late for gift knitting. I might just buckle down and buy a set myself.

What are you working on for this holiday season?

Right Now

Things that I am loving right now:

Knitting ::  a special Christmas gift

Listening :: to Michael Franti and Feist on my Pandora

Simplifying :: our home and  getting down to brass tacks for winter

Working :: on new passion projects taking me in all sorts of wonderful directions!

Watching :: the drizzly, Northwest weather outside my door...so very Fall

Hearing :: a 4 year old begin the long, wonderful journey toward reading

Spending :: some one-on-one time with the big brother

Making :: new friends over chicken soup and conversation

What are you enjoying right now?

Knitting {This Week}

Here's what I've been busily working on this week! This is Churchmouse Yarns and Teas, Stay-On Baby Booties...a pattern I'm loving.

This is the start of a pair for a sweet cousin due with a baby girl soon. This is in Malabrigo Sock and I'm finding that I like working with the fingering weight yarn and tiny needles.


I finished another pair earlier this week in Malabrigo Worsted's Autumn Forest colorway. The little guy they're going to was born the same day that I bound off!

I enjoy knitting as part of that daily rhythm we were talking about previously. I days that I don't knit or do something creative with my hands I find that I feel more rundown, run around and just basically unbalanced and unconnected. Knitting gives me something (someone) to focus on as I create for specific reasons and specific people. Love really goes into each stitch and, like a meditation, I am able to breathe deeply and live so centered in that moment.
That is, until I start dropping stitches or tangling my yarn, then I know it's time to put it aside! ;)

What do you find centers and nourishes you?

Jessica