A New Year

Well here we are, into a new year already. Somehow my last post for 2021 got swallowed up by gremlins (or something) - hmm maybe that's just my way of saying I didn't quite get here to write my last post!

I hope everyone had a great festive season, and that you all have a happy and healthy 2022.

We seemed to have a busy time between Christmas and New Year. Mostly involving family. The MOML kept busy on the farm trying to get some fencing done before the tractor is needed for feeding out in the summer dry. And while one son-in-law gets the fences out at the runoff under control, our other son-in-law hired a friend's digger and is spending some of his holidays cleaning out our drains and putting in culverts! 

I've had a couple of days out with ED. One time we went up north to Russell for the day; visiting friends up there. While ED and her friend took the kids swimming, us mums had a good old catch up on the sand. It was a bit of an overcast afternoon so we weren't tempted at all by the water!

Another day ED and I met up with another friend and we went for a walk at a reserve in town. A good workout as two three-year olds decided they'd had enough walking after a little while and needed carrying!

Not a lot has happened in The Palace aka the sewing room. 

I have a couple of makes from December to share. 

I made a few oven mitts as Christmas gifts — 

I've done what I often do with things like this - look up tutorials, etc, figure what suits me, then combine them all and write my own instructions to refer back to for another time!

I bought fabric to make a couple more so will (hopefully) do those soon - they can be the first things for the 2022 Christmas box!

And I spent a few evenings making dishcloths - which were a perfect thing to do when I was feeling tired but had itchy fingers!
It started with this lovely recycled yarn we got in at work - I had a play and made a sample—

Then I remembered other cotton yarns I had sitting about that I could also use. Dishcloth number two - there was a limited amount of this yarn so I knitted (and weighed!) until I thought I'd used about half of it, then started decreasing. I didn't run out.....

.....but I didn't quite get it right and had some left over. So for the next dishcloth I combined two yarns - the leftover green/pink and an off-white. When the green/pink ran out I switched to a red. Satisfying to use those scrappy bits!

They boosted my year's tally of finishes a bit - not many in the end but oh well, I'll try again this year!

This is the first photo I took in 2022. A small boy, not long awake, enjoying a bit of quiet play and grinning cheekily at Ganma. (He and his sister stayed here on NY Eve so Mum and Dad could have some time to themselves!)
I thought it was a good way to start the year and it will be a good photo to look back on as 2022 progresses to remind me of the freshness, hope and promises of that time.

(Whew, I think I'm going to get this post completed before our visitors arrive - they'll be staying a couple of days so I really wanted to get this written first!)

'til next time,

happy stitches,