A Little Confused, But Pretty

May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions. —Joey Adams

After taking a couple of weeks off from the blog, it's interesting to look back on all the photos from the past couple of weeks to see exactly how much happened in such a short span of time. The December holidays are always a weird couple of weeks when the time feels simultaneously fast and slow, and when nobody knows what day it is or when we're supposed to put the garbage cans out. I have spent most of today trying to figure out if I am supposed to be going to work tomorrow or not, and if I actually have anything organized for the week. 

The answers are: yes, and of course, I don't. But that's nothing new.

Anyway, I took some extra time off just after masses of snow to come to Vancouver Island. It was pretty, but it meant that everyone was in a panic over roads and delayed flights and the usual hullabaloo around Christmastime that everyone feels:

Seymour's response was:

We elected to stay on the Island this year for the holidays, as last year's travel nightmares were still fresh in our heads, and judging from what the newsreels showed over the past couple of weeks, it was probably the better decision. That meant we stayed home with our boy and made him wear silly Christmas pjs:

Poor Seymour:

It was a quiet Christmas for us, as it was just us and the doggie and no other family about. That meant that I had absolutely no need for an extra large bird to roast in the oven. It also meant that I could try out something else fancy schmancy for dinner, and I'm very pleased to say it worked out. Behold: red wine-braised lamb shanks with mashed potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, and roasted Brussels sprouts. It was a triumph if I do say so myself:

After the snow came, it rained and rained and rained and rained. We had glimpses of beautiful sunny days:

We got out for doggy walks and met new friends:

And I even managed to get together with a couple of friends to catch up and enjoy each other's company. That was precious to me. I so enjoy having time to connect with people I care about:

The weather is now more or less grey with glimpses of clear sky. I'm glad the snow has disappeared, but we are nowhere near clear of it for the season. Still, grey skies often make for some nice backdrops for the pops of colour that appear here and there:

I have been pretty engrossed in the look of the samaras on the Japanese maple outside our house for some reason. They looked pretty with snow all over them:

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But I must say I much prefer them clear of snow but still hanging onto the branch. It's rare to see them this way, but the weather this year gave them no opportunity to drop off before the snow came. They're a little confused, but they're pretty, which might just sum up the whole holiday season, really:

Meanwhile, my grand designs for crafting the eff outta the holidays really didn't amount to much. I spent a lot of the time doing dog walks and napping, which is probably exactly what I needed to do. I did take the opportunity to try out a beautiful calligraphy set that a very dear person in my life gave to me for my birthday this year. I've never worked with proper dip pens and I've been wanting to try it out for a long time. Receiving this gift was exactly the push I needed:

I'm still getting the hang of it. I have a pile of paper bags that I've been hanging onto that I use for gifts when the need arises. I think it would be kind of nice to write on them in different colours to jazz them up a bit. I'm looking forward to giving that a go:

Aaaaand... I have actually been knitting. I finally finished one panel of my current stripe experiment. I was really on the fence about whether or not I liked it. As I was knitting it, it looked weird and misshapen and the edges were curling badly... I was resigning myself to having to block the crap out of it to make it into anything near wearable.

But then I washed it... and wow am I in love with it:

The silk content in the variegated yarn is giving it an absolutely lovely drape, as is the fact that it's knit on the bias (diagonal). It is a lovely, flowy, drapey piece of fabric. It has totally changed my plans for the garment. I was originally going to try for a crossover, surplice-style top, but I think I am going to go for a boxy v-neck and make some cool bell-shaped sleeves...

Watch this space. You never know what this thing may turn out to be.

Ok, I'm off to figure out what day it is again and some kind of meal plan for this week. And maybe see if I have any clean clothes as well. Happy New Year and have a great week!