The Twelfth Day of Christmas

Here we are at the last/twelfth day of Christmas, which is also the birthday of our sweet Dug (well, it's the day we officially adopted him, so we assigned it as his birthday). So before anything else, Happy Birthday, Duggie! We miss you and still love you more every day. Tonight we'll drink a toast to you.

Our Christmas Day was a nice, lovely, relaxing day. The kitties enjoyed having us home all day and hanging with them.

Pip

Esme

Milo 

Alfie

Lots of presents for everyone to be opened!

Our tree, after Santa left kitty stockings and gifts under it!

Just hanging out and exploring

Alfie was the first one brave enough to check out the Christmas tent. It took him about 10 minutes to figure out how to get in (yeah, I know) and then he took even longer figuring how to get back out. (We're not hoping for him to become a Rhodes Scholar, so it's all good.)

Everyone seemed very happy with their gifts, including those sent in the mail. We talked to some family and heard about their celebrations. We ate and drank a lot of good things, and listened to Christmas music and it was a nice, long, enjoyable day.

*****

Then, there is another thing I wanted to show you, related to the holidays. About two blocks from our house is a small park called Fitler Square. It's a lovely place with benches, trees, flowers, and though smaller than some of the other squares in the city, it's beloved by the neighborhood. 

Well, a local group, the Philadephia Drunken Knitwits, received permission this year to "dress" the sculptures in the square in festive attire! 

The Ram

The Bear

The Pup

I have the feeling a lot of people missed this little guy - he's behind a fence. But if you look at the bear sculpture above this image, there's a small white spot behind the fence - that's this pup!

The Turtles

Isn't this great? It really made people smile, and as you can probably imagine, a lot of the kiddos who come to the square with their parents or daycare groups were excited to see the animals dressed up for the holidays! It got a lot of local and national media coverage, which was nice, especially since Fitler Square is not that well-known, even by people in the Philadelphia area. 

The group "undressed" everything yesterday, but I'm wondering if they will do it again next year, since it was so well-received. 

I can say for myself that every single time I walked through the square, seeing this made me happy.

*****

So far, 2025 has been good - all six days of it! But you have to take it when it's there, right? And since January 6 has become such a sad date in our history, it's nice to think there are still good things to celebrate about it. So I hope your day treats you well, and let's all keep our fingers crossed for the coming year. 

Because ... well, you know.

Last FO of 2024: Tim's Ribbed Hat

Hello everyone, and Happy New Year! I hope that so far, 2025 is behaving for you. I have no complaints (other than my usual complaints, which are more than enough) so far. 😊

I wanted to share my final FO of last year with you, and tell you a story about a conversation that was had when it was gifted. 

Anyway, do you remember that a couple of months ago, I finished this hat for myself? Well, after I finished it, I had quite a bit of yarn left over, and considered that maybe I could reverse the colors and make one for The Tim. The yarn is merino wool and cashmere, and so it would be a nice Christmas gift. At the time, I was doing a bunch of other things, so it was a bit on the back burner.

Then at the beginning of December, I decided to cast on and see how things went. If it didn't get done for a Christmas present, I'd give it to him for Valentine's Day. So I would knit on it every couple of days, and since it's a hat, and not very complicated at that, it was finished in time for Christmas!

Project: Tim's Ribbed Hat

Pattern: Classic Ribbed Hat, by Purl Soho (large adult size)

Yarn: Purl Soho Cashmere Merino Bloom, colorways Red Mulberry and True Turquoise

Needles: US 3/3.25 mm

Modifications: None

Here's the story part:

The Tim (opening gift): Oh wow! A hat just like Greg and Preller have (two spouses of two nieces who received Musselburgh Hats in the past)!

Me: No, that's not a Musselburgh Hat. When I asked you if you wanted one, you said you had one, even though I have never made one for you.

The Tim: Well then what is this hat? [Tries it on, "Oh this is soft!"]

Me: It's like the hat I made for myself a couple of months ago, but the colors are reversed. It's extra soft because the yarn has some cashmere in it.

The Tim: So we're going to match?

Me: No, not exactly. My hat has the same colors, but reversed from yours.

The Tim: Oh, OK. Well this is nice. [a minute or two passes] Maybe next year I'll get a Musselburgh Hat then.

Me (in my brain): *^%#$%^&*(

To his credit, he did say that it was good timing since the hat he has been wearing it "all stretched out" (because he PULLS at it!), and he has been happily wearing it. And he really loves anything I knit for him.

But after having a whole conversation months ago about whether or not he wanted a Musselburgh Hat, and him saying no, even though he thought he had one but he doesn't ... 

So next year for his BD or for Christmas, I guess I know what to make for him!

Goodbye to 2024

Well, we made it. Another year is getting ready to end, and if we are lucky, all of us will wake up tomorrow morning in the next one. But we survived all of the good days, bad days, accomplishments, and disappointments, so congratulations.

Even when a year has been crushing, I try to remember the good things, no matter how small, because I think every year deserves that. 

In 2024, everyone in our house woke up every single day. We were able to live our lives, no matter how boring or mundane it may have seemed - to us and to those looking in from the outside. 

 We laughed when things were funny (OK, and often when they shouldn't have been). We were able to take some small trips, and we got together with family members and laughed ourselves silly. We rejoiced when Kamala Harris was nominated to be the next President, and we commiserated when she didn't win.

We spent time watching the birds and squirrels in the garden be silly, and bird-y and squirrel-y, petting every dog possible (OK, most of the time that was me), saying hello to every cat in the window when we walked by (OK again mostly me). 

We drove each other nuts, and annoyed the heck of out each other. ("Koodle, stop peeing everywhere!''), and at least where the cats are concerned, we had the scratch and bite marks to prove it. We hurt each other inadvertently, and tried to be more considerate after. 

We fixed up some things in our house, and as a result also spent a lot of the money we had saved. We gave Alfie many chances to prove his worth as both a work foreman (forecat?) and snoopervisor. We made the others hide a lot of the time as a result of these fixes, since strangers were coming in, doing noisy and terrible things, and likely would have killed them if they could have. (Certainty there on their parts, not ours.) We got two new trees, which will hopefully thrive and long outlive all of us.

We complained, we snarked, we rejoiced, we cried. We kept our mouths shut, except when we didn't.

We stayed together as our little family unit, always happy that we could do that, and we hope that will continue as long as possible. Because of course nothing is certain.

Basically, it was a year like most. But as time goes on, it becomes more treasured. Being able to live a quiet, happy, safe life, all of us together, makes every year a good one.

Here's hoping that 2025 grants us all of that, at a minimum.

Enjoy. Celebrate. Live. Enjoy.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. 😉

Happy New Year from me, The Tim, Pip, Milo, Alfie, and Esme! All of us sincerely wish the best for you and yours. 

Last Cast On of 2024

Hello and I hope for all of you celebrating a holiday season, that it has been a good one so far for you. Ours has been lovely.

I thought I'd show you my final cast-on of 2024. Late in the afternoon on Christmas Day, I cast on this sock. I'd been wanting to get a sock going for a while, but between finshing up a gift for The Tim, and then all of the other preparations, I didn't get to it. So I decided to start while I was sitting in the living room and he was in the kitchen fixing our Christmas dinner. 

I got the cuff started on Christmas, and have made some good progress, even since this photo was taken. I'm getting ready to do the heel, and deciding between a heel flap and gusset or a shadow wrap heel. I'm liking the way the yarn is knitting up. And since I started this pair of socks on the first day of Christmas, I'm calling them my 12 Days of Christmas Socks. (Not that they will be finished in 12 days ...)

Have you started any new projects? I have some ideas swirling around in my head of how/what/why I want to knit this coming year, but they are not yet completely clear, so I'm going to work on organizing a very loose plan.

Today I had a DEXA scan - my favorite medical test! You just show up, lie still on a table for a little while, and you're on your way!  You don't even have to change your clothes. 😊 I'm not so sure that I'll get great results this time, but that won't be a surprise.

As for the rest of the day, I want to put away some of my gifts, and pay some bills, so as usual, it's a life of glamour and excitement that I doubt many of you can imagine ...

Enjoy your day!

Christmas Eve 2024

On this Christmas Eve, I wish contentment, comfort, and coziness for all of you. Whether or not you celebrate Christmas, I hope the spirit of the holiday will give you some happy feelings and a chance to just be.