Falling and Lifting

Finally, we resigned ourselves to playing with ice. Even freezing temperatures have not been a constant and I failed to find joy in the seasonal confusion. I allowed it to drag me down to some dark places since this dreary winter began.

And then, in a Leap Day miracle, it fell…the thick, white blanket of winter.

I rolled around in it.

The chickens conversed about it.

I felt warm all the way through.

It seemed I was shirking my work, but even with hours of play and breaks for hot molasses milk, I was more productive in the studio than I have been in quite some time.

During the Icy Times, I was horribly unmotivated…I didn’t even tell you that I have all but abandoned my Etsy shop in favor of a new venue: The Spun Monkey on big cartel! There are still several small kinks to work out, but so far I find this to be a much happier home. I am slowly adding product and will be adding several new shop sections in the coming weeks. You will find a link there to sign up for the Newsletter, which comes to your inbox once/month with announcements and subscriber-only coupons. I’m looking forward to the unveiling of two new lines of repeatable colorways on yarn and fiber, and…the print shop. Stay tuned.

while i was waiting…

…for winter.

Untitled, but there may be some talk about the weather. And a sale.

Hmmm…I still love you, January, but why do you look like October September some other month? A 19-degree high for the day is no problem when there is plenty of snow to play in. I only lasted an hour stacking our last cord and then I had to come inside for tea. The ducks just slept in a little cluster on the frozen driveway (how do they do that?), and the geese laid eggs in the shed. Meanwhile, I turned tail for the comfort of the fire and never looked back.

It’s not that the cold bothers me. It’s that the presence of snow makes physical readiness more psychologically available. Does that make any sense? My heart just isn’t into this winter thing when there are still fall leaves under my feet and the odd 40-degree day.

Oh, well. Talking about the weather is boring. Onto the knitting I promised:

Holiday knitting consisted of pulling out a long-languishing project and procrastinating further to the point where it was blocking on the woodstove on Christmas Eve. As pleased as I am with the outcome, I’m not sure I would recommend knitting a mancala board over buying a wooden one for a few bucks.

The Boy was mildly interested. There were more exciting things going on that day. We’ve since played an enjoyable round, and I feel somewhat validated for having stayed up ridiculous hours finishing the thing. Somewhat.

Raveled here.

Oh, and ps: The Biz is undergoing a bit of an overhaul for the new year. Therefore, everything left in my Etsy shop is on ridiculous discount…yep, a SALE…yarns, fiber and ready-to-ship felt….30% discount reflected in the price already, so go check it out. Also, for a very limited time, the Jacob top fiber club is also at 30% discount. This is a really great deal on an awesome, one-of-a-kind fiber club. Falklands fiber clubs are at a 10%, so also a good time to grab it! Sale now thru Sunday.

xoxo!

Hello January…

…I love you.

Chillin with our Gnomies

Last night, I walked off into the sunset.

The chill of evening is so much softer around the edges than the prickly-sharp chill of early morning, when I normally catch a moment to myself out-of-doors.

I paused in the dusk to listen…the nearly-frozen pond was so still and I marveled at the domes of mud and branches, where cozy beavers are sleeping. I wished I could curl up and spend my winter in a peaceful slumber, but alas…

…it was home to make dinner, care for a pox-riddled little man, return messages and get some work done, then wonder at how unnatural it is to be laying wide awake so many hours after dark has descended.

Enter some strong black tea and I will be conscious for fever-cuddles this day, watching the ice fall from the sky, grateful for the fire, chillin’ with our Gnomies until the sickies and ickies go away…

They appeared Christmas morning and have since been constant companions. The wee ones get lost in the bed during the night, but we always find them.

Hopefully they’re into a little Wind in the Willows on streaming, because aside from knitting paper lanterns* and taking oatmeal baths, that’s what we’ve got on the agenda.

A merry new year to you and yours!

*knitting post coming up. Whoot!

The sun is born again today…

…we greet the sun’s first morning ray,

We sing and celebrate the light,

The sun’s born in the longest night! (Diane Baker)

As grateful as I am for the longer days ahead, it may be too little too late for my mountain of holiday projects. They were all so carefully planned and, as always, I have the best of intentions for punctuality. I will not give up, though…I have hope! Also, I have strong black tea and a tremendous amount of willpower against sleep. I am determined to finish the knitting project I started for O before last Christmas. And to finish the sewing project before Sunday that was meant to be a Yule gift. And to finish putting together the anniversary gift for my beloved (another Yule turned Christmas present). Nine years we celebrated last night, with a yule log adorned with evergreen and a delicious meal with dear friends. And then he stacked freshly delivered wood by headlamp and I spun for a special order until we were both utterly spent…romantic, no?

In between projects and romantic evenings there has been some Very Serious Baking going on.

Very. Serious. Today we experiment with coconut flour, chocolate chips, sea salt and our own homegrown bacon.

There may also be some pipe-cleaner snowflake action, some candle decorating and Solstice Celebration Part II, the Chinese Hot Pot version.

And in the background, every day, progress is being made on the home going up for our friends (Z, B and the Wee Lass) out on the back 5.

Many hands make light work, and so we’ll whip this farm into shape, yet.

One more note, of the housekeeping variety: my apologies if a bunch of old posts showed up as “new” in your reader. I just imported all my old Livejournal posts to this blog so that I could have it printed into a book.

And now, to stack wood in the sunshine, daydreaming of snow.

Home

I feel a bit like these pears today, floating serenely in their honeyed bath. I am basking in the afterglow of sweet times with dear friends. Perhaps I’m a sap, but these next several weeks are my favorite time of the year, even more so as we sink our roots down deeper into southern VT soil. This sense of Belonging is such a gift and it keeps giving, giving. I am thankful.

We are home.