Whew. I made it through the holidays okay and now I am on the downslide to the end of the year. The world is still brown out front; there was a tumbleweed on my front doorstep this morning (blown in from who-knows-where overnight), and the squirrels continue to run like crazed maniacs through the trees, over the roof, and through the leaves in the back yard. I never rake the leaves in the back as they are good mulch for the lawn over the winter… who knew that they also served as squirrel entertainment? The snapdragons are still blooming out front! It sure doesn’t seem like winter, but the days are short now and the Canada geese are here in their winter thousands with noisy flocks crossing the sky over my house late each afternoon, winging their way through the growing dusk towards the evening star and the lakes to the southwest.
Knitting
There was a whole lot of community knitting going on this year, and very little Christmas knitting. I did make several of these excessively cute coffee cup cozies that are designed to snazz up your morning Starbucks drink. I gifted them with a Starbucks card and a Snow Man cookie to some family and friends this year. Fast, easy, simple, and I hope they are the perfect thing on an outing this winter. I’m keeping my cozy in the car for my trips through the drive thru!
I also paused the community kitting for a couple of weeks to work on my new Kevat sweater (Caitlin Hunter) which is going to be a great addition to my winter wardrobe because… winter is awfully warm this year.
I am pretty sure that I mentioned before that I am absolutely reckless with my swatches before I cast on sweaters. Like… what swatch? It isn’t like I haven’t knit this particular yarn on these size needles before, right? Still, there is that moment of anxiety when I take the stitches off the needles and try on the WIP to check for fit and length. Yay! Huge sigh of relief! I’m going to add a few more inches to the body and then I will make decisions about the bottom ribbing. I am so very happy with the knitted texture of the body since I used another stitch instead of the lace pattern in the sweater design. This is a win!!
Garden
Since it is the end of the year I’ve been kind of thinking over how things have been going. You know, kind of like that “How it started; How it’s going.” meme that seems to be popping up everywhere. Let me present to you now my jade plants.
That’s three years of growth on those jade plants and I do hope that someday they will bloom for me. Look at how well cared for they are!! Everything a jade needs plus the attention of cats.
Cats
It’s been a big year for the two cats. Little 3 months old Mateo (AKA the CoalBear) arrived in June to a desperately in-need-of-a-playmate Hannah.
Watching these two over the last 7 months has been a riot. At times I think it was a little much for Hannah (Mateo would not leave her tail alone!) but now, at the end of the year, they have finally settled down and are sleeping together: best buds and playmates.
That’s it. Have a great week everyone!
Read a little, knit a little, and garden like your heart can’t live without it.
Yarn, Books & Roses 
You’re bloody IMPOSSIBLE, Marilyn ! – not only can you knit like you should be running a knitting-teaching school, but your plants are the source of huge jealous rage on my part. Damn you !
But also bless you ! – for being someone who knows more than almost all of us about pain and suffering but doesn’t let that awful fact slow her down.
As for those two small black monsters .. words fail. Dunno how you cope ! – Boodie alone is almost too much for me, sometimes.
Wishing you a truly good 2022 ! – with a careful hug from DownUnder ..
Thank you so much! I was just thinking about making an end of year scleroderma post, and the amount of ground that I lost over this year is just crushing. On the other hand, I have all of my wonderful friends online and more projects than I can keep up with. In the end, it is all good.
Those jades have really gone crazy with their trips out into the yard over the summer. I keep them in a spot where they get mostly shade in the afternoons and they really seem to love the outdoor life. They are continuing to grow like crazy indoors this year under the grow lights that I got cheap from Home Depot. I think I am mostly lucky with them.
What a wonderful compliment on the knitting, I do think that I am pretty competent now, but there are people who just knock my socks off!
The black monsters? I got Mateo because Hannah was just exhausting me with her demands for attention and playing. Now the two entertain each other (mostly) so it is a win.
Have a wonderful New Year!!
And my thanks to you for a well-looked-after blog, m’dear ! You’re quite an inspiration, you know. 🙂
Thank you. I kind of needed to hear that today. 🙂
Your Jade plant is great. I moved mine to the sunny window sill and have given it fertilizer when I water it now and it’s growing! Still has a lot of growing to go to catch up to yours but at least there’s progress. Thanks for the tip. I didn’t know they bloomed either.
I learned that they bloom from another blogger! I did kill a jade by over watering, so don’t give them too much love. I let them go two weeks sometimes before I dump more water on them, but I also think that it depends on how much sun they get. I feed them every month with Miracle Gro, which they seem to love. I’m so glad yours are responding to the new location.
Love the yarn and the pattern for you cozy. I would have been afraid to do a pattern in that yarn so glad to learn it looks amazing. Your sweater is beautiful as well.
I wasn’t sure about the yarn myself, but took the chance and am so glad the cables ended up looking great. Variegated yarn is so unpredictable, huh. 🙂
A nicely upbeat post. Have a good year to come
The cup cozy is super cute. Yes, your sweater is going to fit! It will look amazing on you.
It’s good to end the year with projects that are really good outcomes!
I always enjoy your updates. That’s going to be a gorgeous sweater. The idea of a swatch makes sense, but given your skills, you’ve probably got it nailed. Wishing you a happy new year.
Thank you! I’m not sure about my skills, but I have a lot of experience… once you’ve checked the gauge knitting with fingering yarn on size 4 needles a few times you just get sloppy about the swatches. Also, if I’m knitting a sweater from the same designer I kind of trust them about the fit. So far I haven’t had any disappointments. 🙂 Happy new year to you too!!
All good to know!
PS I love your Starbuck’s cozies. That’s such a thoughtful gift.
I keep wanting one for myself when I get a Starbucks in the car running errands, so this year I made them. I still haven’t tried mine out, but I’m hoping it keeps the coffee warm while I’m running errands.
The coffee cozy is really cute, and what a great gift idea!! Your sweater is also lovely – it looks great on you 🙂 Your jade plant is going so well, and so are your two little ones 🙂 So glad to hear your year is ending on an up note – you have had some hard times this year, so you deserve the happy times!
It has been a hard year for me, but I certainly am not the only one facing down big challenges, and I have many nice things that happened too. Thanks heavens for sweet kitties, yummy yarn and wonderful people who talk to me through my blog. 🙂
🙂