Unwrapping and Wrapping Up

Christmas 2016 was a nice, quiet holiday.  Jim and I visited Holidazzle in Loring Park.  Holidazzle used to be a Christmas parade and has since been revamped into a Christmas market featuring local Ben came on Christmas eve to wrap gifts.  Crazy weather made it a good day to hunker down and enjoy family time.  We waited until Christmas morning to open gifts and enjoyed reminiscing about Christmases past and how our family traditions began.  Jim was very happy with the mittens and the pajama pants I made for him.  I cannot believe I was able to finish those projects!  Ben's sweater is coming along, I started the fronts together.  It's been some time since I made an intarsia sweater.  The process is like a mullet hairdo - business in the front, and party (or mayhem with the yarn tails) in the back.  Good thing I have plenty of bobbins to wrangle the yarn.

I'm pleased with the color choices for this project.

Jim and I went to the mall after Holidazzle and stopped in the bookstore to check out the magazines.  Imagine that!  

Some of the brown sugar cut out cookies.  Ben chose the cookie cutters this year.  Ampelmann, forest critters, puppy dog, and pine trees.  The toffee bits were a tasty addition to the hedgehogs and moose this year.

The Holidazzle lights were beautiful!

Our little tree decorated with memories.  (Humm, it's dropped a few needles.)

One of Jim's mittens before fulling...

...and the happy recipient.

Ben making butter with the churn Jim got for us.  It was delicious!

We took time on Christmas Eve to drive around and look at the lights.

"Droid to the World"

Looking ahead to 2017...time, it can be a friend or a foe.  There are 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, 365 days a year (with the exception of leap year) and yet the minutes, hours, and days go by so quickly!  In spite of my time passing too quickly, I managed to produce not only fiber works, teaching classes, and painting with limited vision until March 2016 when Dr. Conrad restored my sight with a new lens implant in my left eye.  The next few months were spent planning and training for the 12-day Philmont trek in August.  Naturally, a month before we were to leave I bashed my foot on the corner of the cedar chest (that has been in the same spot for 17 years).  I ended up buying new boots because of the swelling and pain.  My third and fourth toes became buddies taped together for a few months.  We hiked 75 miles in the New Mexico mountains.  It was beautiful.  I missed my other hiking boots and it was a happy day in October when I tried them on and they were once again comfortable!  I wish I could say the same for my hands.  It's a good thing I switch out my hand work often.  Between knitting, spinning, weaving, painting, sewing, and baking my grip is not quite as strong and there is a bit of pain in the joints (sad face).  Limiting my keyboard time on the computer also helps, although it is necessary whether I like it or not.  

Now that I'm exclusively at Anoka Fiber Works, my time is my own, meaning I'm in control of what I make, classes I schedule, and the number of students I have in class.  Just over a year ago on December 5, our little group started a weave-along that turned into finished vests, a weekly weaving group, floor looms for Mary and myself, a published article, and me becoming a vendor at AFW.  I'll be moving to a space along the wall before the year is over.  Collectively we continue to build community through our common love of all things fiber.

Merry merry

Merry Christmas!

It's looking like Christmas!

The Turkey Day 5K was a fun event in the snow this year.  Jim had his selfie-stick and took some video.  I managed to shave off a little time from last year's time.  Always a fun event and then we can enjoy a big meal later!

Ben traveled to Florida for business and enjoyed a bit of time in Miami and Sea Base in the Keys.  

The Santa Shuffle was fun, although we had to walk the 5K due to my back issue.  I shoveled the little snow we had and ended up with a very painful lower back.  Jim was great.  He held my hand the whole way and I used a walking stick.  It took 1:02, but by golly we finished.  Ho ho ho...

Critter prints in the snow.  

A bit of holiday knitting--Jolly Wee Elf from Churchmouse using Rowan Felted Tweed.

Jim and Ben bagged a 150-pointer.  The weather was nice, so we got the tree a bit earlier than usual this year.  

Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas this year.  It was a treat to have Ben stay overnight.  We went to the candlelight service and through the windows the snow was falling, which added to the beautiful service.

Sock Monkey keeps watch over the gifts from my chair.

Each ornament holds a memory. 

This is what I plan to do more of in 2014! 

The ever-watchful collie tends the sheep.

The Boy Scout part of the tree has critters, a canoe, and a tepee
among other things. 

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The town has a new building--a tent!

Ben, Zach, and Scott take a break in the tree outside the wall tent.

Jim is busy fixing a wheel. 

I'm busy spinning between batches of cookies baking.

Humpty Dumpty has some company this year.

The larger candle holders were on the mantle of my Grandma's home.  I found the
miniature versions at an antique shop in Anoka last year.

A doily makes a lovely tree skirt for the mini tree.  The angel is Angel Baby and was my sister's
and then my Mom's.  She was in a basket by Mom's bed and every year she would grace the top Mom's tree.

An old-fashioned Christmas

Recently I had the pleasure of doing a spinning demo at the Eidem Homestead in Brooklyn Park.  This was during the Arctic blast so it was very cold in the house, but since I was next to the kitchen I could warm my hands by the wood stove and nibble on Norwegian goodies.  I took the photos with my phone when we closed at four o'clock, as I was so busy when the visitors were there.  The rooms of the house had activities for people to try.  I am in many photos and hope to come across one.  Louie Louet was with me and I carded and spun some of the white washed wool on the wheel.  With one of the spindles I spun some of the dyed red Joanne sent me.  I plied the two together to make "candy cane" yarn, which the children loved.
Being in the house was going back in time to my childhood and visiting my Grandma McQueen's farmhouse in Ohio.  Fond memories of happy times I keep in my heart.

The Christmas tree was  adorned with hand-made ornaments.

Fragrant pomanders to make by the Christmas tree.  

The stairway was a perfect spot for hanging the stockings.

Earlier someone was playing Christmas carols.

This photo of an early spin in is a treasure.  

I was in this room on Saturday.  It was very cold!
(Notice the chamber pot--I remember those.)
On Sunday I was just outside this room near the kitchen.

The dolly dishes are set up for a tea party across from me.
My sister would have loved this!  I think I heard her giggling...

Sitting across from this window, I could watch the children playing on the kick sleds.

There was a lot of activity in the kitchen, which was warm from the wood stove.
The aroma of baking was heavenly and included baked rice pudding, Lefse, ginger cookies, Krumkake, and cranberry-apple crumb topped pie!

A fun picture of the Nisser preparing for Christmas.

Pine boughs decorated each doorway and window.

Maybe I will be able to come back when the weather permits to spin or paint on the porch.

In one of the bedrooms, visitors could make paper chains and ornaments. 

Clothes for the little ones.

The well-dressed teddy bear was under the tree.  Such a handsome little fellow.

The barn and out buildings.

I love my doorways.

With some leftover yarn from the Ariana Shell I whipped up the Knitbot Simple Hat (slouchy style) for the shop.