Advent-ually Finished.

The shawl is done, except for running in the fifty-something ends:

I may block it, just by patting and stretching the edges and corners even after washing, so it dries in shape.  But since it's for office wear, I don't care about them being perfect.  This measured about 16"x64" folded, but when I held the shawl up it stretched well over my head.  It wraps about me very nicely, stretching to 17"-18" wide.  The bands alternate between seed stitch and a moss stitch variation.

Also in the photo is the "pocket hat" I finished, leftover sock yarn on US#1 and US#2 needles, 120 stitches around, and it fits my head.  Going into the charity box.

I went to the Science Fiction Book Club at the library and enjoyed the discussion, so I plan to make it a regular thing.  I've found the next book in an online version and also on paper in local bookshops, and will be looking for the other two in the trilogy.

Winter Storm Cora came through Dallas and here, dumping snow and ice and rescheduling my planned visit of this week to the end of the month.  Luckily friends could use the two theater tickets that I couldn't reschedule, and enjoyed the shows.

Chanukah Yarning.

I purchased a couple of "Channukah Advents" from an indie dyer; while Advent is a Christian thing, these follow the same plan of having wrapped packages that you open each night:

I'd purchased one from the dyer last year, a leftover, and had forgotten to open it, so did that one on each night as well:

This year I bought one each in the fingering and DK weights; last year's is fingering weight.  Each year she provided 100 grams of yarn, but in two different ways.  I also bought some additional yarns, optional add-ons in full-sized skeins:

Plus the dyer includes some extras each year, some in the packages and some in the box:

You can see the other goodies in the package photo.
She made a point of saying that these are made of clay.

 

Each night I opened the numbered package.  For the 2023 set, on two nights the package included two miniskeins, for a total of ten, plus a stitch marker one night.  For the 2024 set, the odd-numbered nights included stitch markers:

There is one of the progress keepers in the 2023 set,
with "2023" on the back instead of "24".

One of the double nights
for 2023.

The other double for 2023.

  

  

Closeup of the 2024 stitch marker.

  

These are the two extra 20 grams skeins I received in the 2024 boxes:

So these are the boxes for each year, and each weight, fingering or DK:

The dyer created two additional colourways, one on a yak/silk blend base, and the other on a sparkle base.  You could add these to your order, and I did!

 

She also sold the "yarn mops" she used to clean up dye and wipe her hands, and I purchased one of those for each of the two extra nights.  That is the skein at the top of Night 9 and on the right for Night 10.  You may notice that the two skeins for Night 9 are different weights; those are the last two she had.  I think I found a shawl pattern that will let me use them together.

I don't know what I will make from these sets, especially as the nights are very different plus I have boxes in different weights.  Because I decided that "dry January" will involve no yarn buying, I won't get more of the sets - these are plenty of yarn just as they are!

Two years ago I bought a Hannukah set from Olive and Two Ewe, and I took photos but forgot to post about it:

The theme is "tea" and not every day included yarn.
Some days had teapot stitch markers, needle stoppers,
or a tea bag rest and mug mat and sachets of tea.

I've been thinking about what to do with the yarns, selected a pattern, but didn't get started.  The very bright pink bothered me because it seems out of place with the others by its intensity.  While looking for ideas for this year found a pattern that I like better for these yarns, and it appears to need only four of the miniskeins so I am leaving out the intense pink.  I cast on New Year's Day, as my First New Project of 2025, and also a 'me' project:

Just the first four rows (yes, using some of the teapot stitch markers) as I am focusing on the Office Advent Shawl.

Stripe #18 is a bit narrow because the yarn tangled in one of
the wheels of my desk chair. On to the dark orange!
Also the "pocket hat" in progress, continuing to grow.

And re-reading "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" in preparation for the library's SciFi Book Club meeting on Wednesday.  This will be my fourth book finished in January!

The traditional eight.

This year, in addition to posting a Channukah song every evening, I posted a Channukah image to my social media feed.  In addition to the two I posted earlier, I used these:

A reminder that there are still October 7th hostages.

This is my absolute favourite.

This year's songs were:

• Tom Lehrer's "I'm Spending Hannukah in Santa Monica"
• The Maccabeats' Wicked tribute, "Defying Gravity (We'll Rise Above)"
• Six13's Taylor Swift tribute from last year, "Era-lution of Taylor Swift"
• And their tribute to Wicked this year, "A Wicked Chanukah"
• A new-to-me band from Ukraine doing Woody Guthrie's "Honeyky Hanuka"
• Y-Studs didn't follow the "Wicked" pattern, but went with The Jacksons
• A new one that I wasn't sure I'd like, but did at the end:  "Tomorrow"
• Finishing with a favourite of mine, "Burn" by The Maccabeats

Plus a bonus video about those gifts given over the Twelve Days of Christmas.

This year my daily Channukah treat was a gold-foil-wrapped sugarplum from Andy's Orchard.  I haunted their website until orders were available, and snatched up goodies (including some other dried fruits, and dark chocolate-dipped apricots for my parents) before they sold out.

As I mean to go on.

Yes, same title as last year's, but that's what setting intentions and resolutions are all about, yes?  Or as a friend put it, "as you start so you will go on".

So today involved:

• Baking bread
• A yoga class
• A long walk
• Reading
• Drinking Diet Dr. Pepper®
• Crocheting (a charity item, probably no surprise to anybody)
• Knitting (somebody suggested starting a new project with the new year, so I did)
• Chatting and emailing with friends
• Watching videos by some of my favourite YouTubers
• Eating homebaked cookies
• And ice-cream

I also took a nap.

I know many people are feeling this way as the year begins:

Sandra Boynton posted this a few days ago.

Resolutions - Or Goals

Reading:  I set my goal as 18 books to read in 2025, and have a good start because I read three this morning.  Goodreads wouldn't let me count Making Space again (I thought it is wise to start with some guidance for the new year) and then I 'read' two cartoon anthologies:

I'm not really sure that counts as 'reading' but they have words and are officially my first two books of 2025.  I am back to the proper books next.  Additional Goal:  Finish at least two (and ideally all five - I found another one!) of the partly-read books, and finish the other two of the Annette Funicello books.  And I may try to complete this challenge:

Several of these are on my "always" list, so it may
be easy to get about halfway through the challenge.

It's possible some books will count in more than one category.  At least two of the unfinished books qualify, one as #2 (plus possibly #11) and one as #9, and nothing says I have to read the whole book in the year.  My believe is that finishing will count.

Cooking:  I will try to remember to document cooking from historical sources, and to do so at least six months of the year.  Maybe all twelve, if I get inspired.  I will definitely keep cooking; I made hoppin' john to eat today, and had it for breakfast.  And I want to try one new-to-me technique or category of food, so I might have to take a cooking class.

Knitting/Crocheting/Crafting:  I have several goals for this year, most of which are versions of ones from previous years:

• Finish at least two UFOs, and try to keep the Advent Office Shawl from becoming a UFO.  Up to Day 14 and it appears the shawl will be big enough after Day 25, so I am considering what to do for the "Hannukah Advent" part.
• Make at least three items for me, not counting the Advent Office Shawl, preferably at least one cardigan.
• To answer the above two items, I pulled out the 2023 Channukah set I received from Olive and Two Ewes and finally decided on a pattern (not the one I thought of originally for the set), wound yarn and cast on.
• I also looked at shawl patterns for a Paris colourways set I purchased with the goal of having a shawl made before I go there at the beginning of May.  I have a couple additional shawl patterns in mind for my on-trip project.
• I think I have settled on a cardigan pattern for some of the Knitting Buddha yarn I have, if it's the correct weight.  I may adjust if it is not.
• Finish at least one blanket for Warm Up, America!
• Make at least twenty-five items for charity - a fairly low bar for me, but I don't want to get overambitious because I know where that ends.  Plus one is a blanket.
• "Dry January" means no yarn shopping!  The items currently in my Etsy basket don't count.  😉
• I am planning to attend three festivals this year: Carolina Fiber Fest, Maryland Sheep & Wool, and DFW Fiber Fest.  I want to minimize yarn shopping except for those.
• I want to get my application to enter the North Carolina State Fair competitions in on time!  I missed the deadline for 2024, so three items I had planned to enter are now disqualified as everything has to be made in the year since the last NCSF.  I want to enter at least one item in both the Carolina Fiber Fest and the North Carolina State Fair, the former mostly to get feedback.  I'd planned to enter the item from this year in the State Fair competitions, but oh well!
• Finish a bunch of the holiday kits I bought and try to sell them in the local arts & crafts group's holiday sale.  I was out of the country this year so didn't participate.

Much more detail for this year's fiber arts resolutions than in pas years!

And in other subjects, I plan to get three rooms repainted (one is mostly touch-up, but it may look better with a full repainting and I am OK with that) and shelves installed in two of them, then get my books and records unpacked, and make progress towards having a working studio and a working media and guest room.  Part of those require hiring people to do the painting and the shelf-building and -installation, and I keep procrastinating.

Stay tuned.

The final reckoning of 2024.

A friend posted this on social media, and it so, so encapsulates the year:

Looking back at this year's plans, it's amazing how much I didn't do.  And yet, how much I did.

Reading:  After upping my goal to 18 books, I ended up reading 24.  Not as many as some people I know, but enough.  And I have at least four in various stages of being read.

Goodreads sent this around midmonth,
so it doesn't include my final book report.

My shortest book was 92 pages and my longest one was 714 pages.

Cooking:  I forgot about this resolution and didn't cook as many historical things as I wished.  But I did a bunch of cooking, most recently a "smothered pheasant" dish from a 1953 cookbook.  This is just browned bird (I substituted chicken, easier to find) braised under a blanket of onions.  It counts as historical if the recipe is older than I am!  I also made a vegetables dish of roasted onion, butternut squash, brussels sprouts, and after about twenty minutes added fresh cranberries and some pecan halves.  Plus the almost-weekly cheese soufflés for my parents; some weeks I was away on the weekend, or once in a great while we did something different.

Knitting/Crocheting/Crafting:

• I have not finished the shawl from my 2023 list, but I think I saw it when I moved.
• Spinning wheel still needs repair.
• I did not make six things for myself, and the sweater I started with such anticipation has been stalled because the colourway started pooling and I didn't like it.
• Maybe I did make six things?  The "Age of Brass and Steam" shawl, mittens and (much later) a hat of Knitting Buddha's handspun, a "Palmer House" shawl from yarn I purchased at the Carolina Fiber Fest, and a bucket hat.  I think the test-crocheted cardigan was the year before, but I need to find my notes.
• I found the Olive & Two Ewe 2024 yarn challenge, which I'd forgotten about, and did complete a few of the items on it:  adult sweater, scarf, mittens, more scarves, hat, shawls, baby/toddler sweater.  I did not make a bag, slippers, a tea cozy, or a blanket, although I did put together a blanket from pieces made by others.

I made a total of 74 items this year, many of them being hats or scarves for charity.  Those are easy to carry around and work on and often don't take much attention.

I didn't have a resolution about travel, but I did travel, including twice to Europe.  Also a number of places around the country.  I am already making plans for 2025.

Walking:  No resolution about it, but I have done a lot of walking.  I participated in the local library's "Route 66 Challenge" where they had us record walking certain distances, such as "Chicago to St. Louis: 15 miles" or "Needles to Santa Monica: 11 miles".  Of course, the real distances are much longer, but this is for fun.  Since on a normal day I would walk a couple-three kilometers easily, and usually more, I converted those to miles and just entered defaults.  Normal walk? 1.5 miles.  Long weekend walk?  2-3 miles.  Yes, I probably walked more.

At the end of the contest, you could turn in your sheet and try to win a prize.  I almost forgot but wasn't the only person to turn in the sheet on the last day.  To my amazement, I did win a prize!  And speaking of prizes, I've continued to participate in the online theater performances, and they just announced the winners of prizes for this season:

A dozen stripes.

While out walking during the last few weeks, I found that somebody has been decorating a few of the baby trees in a Charlie Brown manner:

 

And some of the bushes are looking festive:

Today was my last long walk of the year, managed between the overnight storms and the incoming storms.  Sun came out and I was quite warm.

I stopped at my parents' house to pick up leftovers of the vegetables I made to accompany yesterday's soufflé.  I riffed on a holiday recipe I'd seen; since I didn't have rosemary I left it out as well as the maple syrup, since I thought they would balance each other and just maple syrup would make this too sweet:

Butternut squash, brussels sprouts, and onion.
After roasting for 20 minutes or so (stirring halfway)
I added fresh cranberries and pecan halves.

The soufflé was at the top of the dish but of course was deflating by the time it reached the table.  It still tastes quite good.  The vegetables reheated nicely.

I am up to Day 12 of the Advent-Plus-Channukah Shawl I am making up as I go.  I am now doing the stripes for the full half ball, instead of stopping at about two inches, so the stripes are uneven and taking longer than if I cut the yarn after about 2.5 inches:

It will be an "office shawl" so I don't entirely care.  Of course, I've now seen a blanket pattern that I could have done, one strand at a time, but I am not going to pull this apart and start over!  Maybe next year.

As you can see, I finished one of the "pocket hats" or "Zoom hats", and the other is now into the second leftover bit of yarn.  I am going to try to focus on finishing items as the year finishes.

Happy Celebrating.

I should have posted this for the First Night of Channukah yesterday, but I was busy with family.