December

November ended and December began on a warmish note.  Now the cold has kicked in and we have a light coating of snow.  We ended up cutting the tree down early (the day after Thanksgiving) and I decorated it by December 1.  This is the earliest we ever put up the tree because the first couple of weeks are busy, which is good because I came down with a virus almost a week ago.  I'm still fighting  it, but at least feel well enough to do handwork.

Photo from the Turkey Day 5K.  Our turkey hats from a couple of years ago were passengers in our backpacks for the run.

The loom in my studio space is finally warped and I got the header and one repeat done before the virus kicked in.  The finished size will be 30" wide by 5 yards long, using my favorite Harrisville Shetland in Russet and Walnut for the warp and Loden Blue for the weft.  The pattern is from A Handweaver's Pattern Book by Marguerite P. Davison (1975 revised edition), on page 14 it is John Murphy's Bird's Eye No. 57/VIII.

Threading the heddles in a pattern--2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 3.

Sleying the reed, things are nicely lined up.

The weft yarn will be pretty with the warp!

At this point, Kathryn helped me wind forward and then back to make sure everything is nice and even.  At that point,
I re-tied and snipped the excess ends.  

Four rows of carpet warp and then four rows of plain weave before launching into the pattern.

I revisited the ornament pattern and adjusted the charts, increases, and decreases.  
A great project to use up bits and bobs of  wool yarn.

Knitting gifts for Jim and Ben...

...and making something for Andi.  The pattern is the same one my mother used for the Girl Scouts when I was a little girl.  I found a copy of the book a few years back.  It's a nice little needle case.

Jim's sock are finished!

On a morning walk, I noticed the ducks were having a last paddle around the pond before flying south for the winter.

It was a gorgeous day after Thanksgiving.  You can see there were some unusual trees this year!  I prefer natural green.  The other trees had a Dr. Seuss look to them.

Our little tree.

December

How did it get so late so soon?
It's night before it's afternoon.
December is here before it's June.
My goodness how the time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon?  --Dr. Seuss

I agree Dr. Seuss!

I took my mother to see Santa.
When he asked her what she wanted she said, "Everything!"

I made the doorknob decoration in Girl Scouts.

Decorations for the tree.

It is getting late and I am just now catching up.  We have a little tree this year.  Jim cut down a small one and it looks just like the ones we used to get in Germany.  I still have to find the candles and put them in the holders.  NO we don't light them...they're just for show.  It's breakfast for supper tonight--pancakes!
I finished another baby sweater and now they are ready to be sent.

Sweater for a little boy.

Ho-ho-ho look at all the snow!

The wind was very strong during the storm!

Little snowman

Ben is home.  All is right with the world.  His buddies came by last night.  We had a rib dinner and Muddy Paws Cheesecake for dessert.  The tree is up, the cards and presents are sent, snow is on the ground, and we just have to bake.  
This Christmas I am so grateful we are healthy (except for colds).  It is always a good way to begin a new year!  
Tomorrow we are expecting more snow.  Last weekend was the BIG snow.  One of the top five in Minnesota history!  Being snowed in certainly put one in a Christmasy mood.  We decorated the tree and I put up some decorations around the house.  
My new classes are up on the Shepherd's Choice website.  I am excited to teach new classes!

This was taken at night--the snow made it look much lighter!

Smiling suns

Cheery centerpiece

Flying high on the Christmas tree!

Making trenches for Eevee.

Anticipation

We had a nice Thanksgiving made even better having Ben home for the week. I was browsing around the local antique shops and stopped into a favorite one after I saw the little church in the window. This is the exact little church that my Mom has on her table, which was Grandma's. It lights up and has a music box in it that plays Silent Night. I just couldn't believe it when I saw it in the window! It's not fancy, it's made of post-war plastic, but it takes me back to a time and place in my childhood with fond memories of my Grandmother. Who can resist that?
We went past the tree farm where we usually cut our tree and found a smaller place to cut down a tree this year. It's a lovely area and you walk through the woods to get to the tree plantation. I'm only holding the tree for the photo! It's a big one (for this house, anyway) and smells wonderful! We wanted to be sure Ben was with us to get it and he had the honor of cutting it down. Today I'll start decorating.
On to knitting...the brown jumble is the Rustic cardigan. I have one sleeve ready for the garter stitch band, the other sleeve to knit, weave in ends, and then sew on some fabulous buttons. It's such a great color and the linen/wool blend is soft. This will be a favorite! I'm plugging away on the Warm Woolies sweaters. I'm on the last one. The yarn is just so splitty and hard on my hands. I'm using straight needles for the front pieces and the weight is affecting my right thumb. I've got three nice sweaters and may make hats or a blanket with the rest of the yarn so I don't have to worry about picking up stitches and all those ends to weave.
Yesterday I took Ben to the coffee shop where we meet to take the kids back to school. Jess' parents took them this time. I miss him already, but we'll see him again on the 18th!

Jingle-jingle!

I'm feeling festive today. I met my friend Kathy for coffee and we exchanged gifts. She brought along the little sweaters in the photo on her blog. They are adorable! I'll post photos later of my pattern calendar and teeny-tiny mittens. We always manage to have a good conversation over coffee with lots of laughing.

Anyway, I finished the little sheep and it wanted to be photographed on the tree, so I posed it by the sheep ornament. I found some little bells at JoAnn's and have to make a collar and hanger for it. Now I want to make more! They're cute and fast. This one's made with oddments of my handspun.
We picked out a small tree last weekend. It's so pretty. Most of the ornaments come from Germany with some mementos from our travels. I usually put candles on the tree (just for show), but decided not to this year. It's a bit small and there's not enough room. Tonight's pizza night and Ghost Whisperer!