I always make plans that are way too big for practicality, so I’ve done a lot of thinking and planning to try to keep my aspirations grounded in reality. I feel like I didn’t do a lot of crafting in 2024, but then I remember the prom dresses and the Layer Cake Latte quilt and the Baking Doodle Cowl and I feel stressed out all over again by it all, ha ha. I really hit the ground running hard at the beginning of last year, didn’t I? That was pretty intense. No wonder I took the remainder of the year off!
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I was busy in the garden all summer, and did it ever reward us with a delightful crop! I’m so proud of the garden this last year, it was great!
And then autumn came, and with it a whole lot of difficulties. Thankfully, two of those hardships now mean that I’m stronger and more available to do crafty things in my free time. Yay!
Something will need to change in regards to the Christmas season next time ’round, though. I’m drowning every year and family members were complaining this year as well. It’s hard to step back from doing good things, but I think we’ve officially reached the point where we’re doing too many good things and need to cut back.
Looking Ahead in 2025
I have a Fat Quarter Shop quilt a-brewing in the background right now, so that’s fun.
I’m trying to declutter my craft room because it’s officially too full of junk to be enjoyable to work in. I had an epiphany regarding my quilting stash the other day as I was decluttering, and I’m hoping that it will lead to more quilts made from my scrap stash in the future!
Plans for Winter Quarter 2025 thus far:
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Fabric:
Finish King David’s Crown quilt for Fat Quarter Shop
Begin Star Climber Scrap quilt
Yarn & Handwork:
Piscis project
Finish my Christmas socks
Begin the Cherry Twilight socks
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And I’ve learned that it is foolish to plan out further than a quarter at a time, so I’m just going to make do with winter plans at the moment.
Pattern: Baking Doodle Cowl, by Jamie Lomax of Pacific Knit Co., the pattern is being released TODAY!
Yarn: Knit Picks’ “Wool of the Andes Sport”* in colorways Baltic Heather, Blossom Heather, Camel Heather, Chestnut, Papaya Heather, Turmeric, White & Wonderland Heather
Needles: US 4 & 5 16-inch circulars
Modifications: I knit my cowl a little taller than suggested by the pattern, simply because Ren and I couldn’t cut any of the five charts because we loved them so much. I don’t recommend doing this as it makes it hard to see the charts when you’re actually wearing the cowl. I also used duplicate stitch for the dark pink stitches on rows 18 and 19 of the stand mixer chart.
When the email showed up in my inbox letting me know that I’d been chosen to be a test knitter for this pattern, I was so thrilled! I’ve been watching Jamie create her whimsical designs for a couple of years now, and promised myself that I’d allow myself to sign up to test knit once grad school was over. When the baking-themed pattern was announced, I was so happy because it’s absolutely perfect for my dear Renaissance, who loves all things baking.
I really enjoyed creating this project because it was a combined effort with Renaissance. At first I thought I’d keep it secret, but then I was having a really hard time choosing a color palette because I didn’t want to end up picking colors she wouldn’t actually like, so I brought her into the fold and she gladly went about picking colors and charts.
A heads-up to anyone considering making one of these: There’s more than two colors per row in many of the charts. I can rip along with traditional fair isle/stranded knitting because it doesn’t have more than two colors per row, but throw that third color in and BAM, slows me down to a crawl. Something to consider if that sort of thing matters to you.
Another note: The stand mixer chart, due to the almost-intarsia color blocking, ends up really tight, so you’ll want to knit that one with extra loose floats.
Oh my goodness, this cowl makes me so happy. It’s adorable! Ren loves it too, and I’m definitely going to purchase some of Jamie’s other doodle collections to make up some of her other themed cowls in the future! (I’m especially eyeing the winter/Christmas one, and the arctic one.)
Thank you again, Jamie, for selecting me to test knit this for you, I had a great time with it!
There’s not a lot to report for this week because I had to deal with a pain flare-up that required a visit to the emergency room early in the week and had me focused on pain management for a couple of days beyond that. The good news is that I started feeling better yesterday and even managed to tough it out and go to Renaissance and Nathaniel’s band concert, and I was even able to go into work today. Sigh. Take care of your backs, people. So many difficulties start to stem from an injury to your back.
Creativity
I always think I’m going to be able to make great strides in crafting when I’m down and out with a flare-up, but when I have to add pain meds to the mix I can’t craft at all, as crafting + pain meds never ends well. Seeing that I’m pattern testing for other people, I didn’t want to touch those projects and potentially derail them beyond repair. It’s something else when it’s only my time and materials on the line; I won’t risk others’ resources.
So I’m behind on my test knit for the Baking Doodle Cowl. It’s about 50% done. I’m planning to spend a chunk of time working on it some more over the weekend.
I haven’t touched anything else in the craft room, which is a major sad. I did receive some packages of new materials for some projects, but haven’t even opened them. Frustrating week!
Gardening
My little herb garden is now a jungle that will need some pruning over the weekend. I can’t believe how fast these plants are growing! Friendly note: Don’t be afraid to use dill. I cut the dill plant back to almost nothing last Sunday, it had replaced all that growth by Tuesday, and now on Friday it looks to be about three times larger than it was a week ago. I’ve always been so afraid to use my herb plants, but this little countertop experiment is teaching me a lot about the hardiness of these plants! The kids have been given total access to the herbs and are encouraged to decimate the plants for cooking. I’m almost to the point of wondering if we even could kill these plants through culinary usage? Could be a weird goal to set…ha ha ha.
The rhubarb is starting to unfurl legitimate leaves, so I believe I can start using it in a few weeks. I’ll make rhubarb crumbles, make some rhubarb marmalade, freeze some rhubarb for making Blubarb Jam during the summer, and I also saw a recipe on Pinterest for a vanilla rhubarb jelly that looks enticing. Which reminds me that I desperately need to clean out the pantry if I want to have any sort of room for canned goods this year. The pantry is a complete disaster. Oooh, I think I also have some sort of recipe for rhubarb-glazed pork medallions in a cookbook somewhere. I like cooking with rhubarb because it has the added bonus of deep cleaning any pot it’s cooked in. (Did you know it’s the secret ingredient in Bar Keeper’s Friend?) I started a Pinterest board for rhubarb recipes a couple of years ago if you’re looking for some rhubarb options in the coming months!
No sprouting from the sweet peas or peas that I’ve planted. I was supposed to plant another section of peas this week, so hopefully I’ll get to it over the weekend. I’m doing a big experiment with planting times and starting seeds this year, so we’re going to just keep our minds open and remain curious about how things work out with these seeds. I’d really like to establish a planting calendar that works specifically for our property, and the only way to do that is to start and experiment.
The started pansies and delphinium are doing…OK. I need to thin them out and they’re going through water really fast, which is tough to stay on top of. I had five delphinium sprouts two weeks ago, and now I only have two. I struggle to get this type of plant started. I’m going to start some more seeds over the weekend because I adore delphinium plants for their beautiful blue color and their unmatched ability to lend an “English cottage” vibe to the garden. I think I spend about $15-20 for each plant when I buy them from the nursery, so starting my own will save me a lot of money. AND they’re a perennial, so they come back every year! The last ones I had were back in Utah; I haven’t wanted to spend a chunk of cash on them here in Washington. They make me happy, so I’m reestablishing them in the garden this year.
My little delphinium twins
Celebrating
I had to drop one of the parties the kids and I were thinking about doing because I really needed this last week to make progress on it, and that didn’t happen. I’ve made note of everything we were thinking of doing, and I’ll revisit it in the future. The girls still want to throw a spring tea party sometime in April or May, and that is still doable with our remaining time frame, so maybe I’ll just shift focus to that. Plans also need to be made regarding Renaissance’s graduation party, which will take place in June or July. I still have time to get going on that; I just need to remember that it’s out there so I don’t commit to anything that will conflict.
And that’s what happened this week. Some weeks don’t see a lot of forward progress, and that’s ok. The nice thing about a flare-up is that they tend to occur many weeks apart from each other, so I’m looking forward to a handful of really productive weeks!
And congratulations! We made it to March! It only gets better from here! More and more sunlight, we’ll just ignore Daylight Savings Time coming up in a bit, and more and more opportunities to be outside and enjoy the shift from cold to only slightly chilly! I hope you have a great weekend and wish you all the best as you embark upon a new, hopefully sunshine-filled month.
Happy Friday, everyone! So many people joked throughout this week about how long it seemed, even after it was a shorter week with the holiday on Monday! Our week was busy with lots of school and band things—I may have practically lived at my kids’ schools most evenings this week!
Baking Doodle Cowl Test Knit: I’ve made a dedicated effort to put in some serious time on the Baking Doodle Cowl test knit because I was pretty far behind at the beginning of the week due to losing most of my regularly-scheduled knitting time (ie. Sitting in the van during kids’ music lessons and rehearsals) to my kids being sick the past couple weeks and not leaving the house. I’m now about 25% done with it, which is great, except for the part where I was supposed to be 50% done with it by yesterday. There will be much knitting over the weekend.
New FQS Pattern: I put in an amazing day of work on Monday and I can now boast that all my half-square triangles are sewn and trimmed! I have another big sewing day scheduled for this upcoming Monday, which I’m hoping boasts some reality-bending wormhole capabilities that will allow me to progress on this at a phenomenal rate, hitherto unknown to mankind.
Super Secret Project: I have another project on my plate that didn’t materialize until just this week, even though it’s genius and I’m really annoyed that it didn’t occur to me until one random day during a random conversation with a few of my children. I don’t even want to commit to it because I know I don’t have the time AT ALL—but it’s too perfect an opportunity to pass up, so I’m launching myself into the future, laughing hysterically and hoping I can pull this off.
Spring Tea Party: The girls want to throw one, so we’re talking about it in loose terms at this point.
Garden: The seedlings are coming along. I had five Delphinium sprouts at the beginning of the week, but now I think I only have two. I’ve rarely been successful in nurturing Delphiniums to maturity, so it’s not surprising. Annoying and frustrating, but not surprising.
My little countertop herb garden is out of control and the plants are cramming into the light source every other day, despite my dedicated efforts to pruning them back almost every day. There has been a lot of dill in a lot of recipes lately. Michael’s not the biggest fan of dill, but thankfully, it’s not terribly strong when it’s fresh. Perhaps he’ll acquire a taste for it with the insane amount he’s eating now. Also, this experience is helping me to lose my fear of over-harvesting herbs. I cut these plants back to practical baldness and you cannot tell in two days’ time. It’s good to gain firsthand experience with that because I’ve always been scared to use the herbs in my garden in truly meaningful ways because I’m afraid I’ll kill them with each reaping. I’m learning that that is absolutely not true!
Renaissance College Plans: We’ve received notification from two of the schools she applied to that she’s been accepted! She goes in this weekend to audition for a music scholarship, so fingers crossed that it goes well! She’s torn between continuing her study of music or going to a technical college in pursuit of a degree in Culinary Arts/Pastry Baking. We’re pushing her to just prepare for both, see which one will be most financially viable, and then make a decision from there. (And seriously, I wish I had known about the pastry baking option when I was young! What a cool career idea!)
I like starting my Mondays off with a to-do list for the week and I like checking in on Fridays to see how well I did in accomplishing the things I said I’d do. I especially like Fridays where I get to post a finished project, so the Baa-ble Hat made me pretty happy.
The last two weeks have seen a lot of illness in our home, so I’ve been hard pressed to find writing time. Thankfully, it looks like everyone is healthy enough to attend school this week, so I can come back to a more regular schedule—hopefully!
I received confirmation last week that I was accepted into the knitting pool for the upcoming release of Pacific Knit Co.’s “Baking Doodle Cowl” pattern.
When I threw my hat into the ring to become a test knitter, I didn’t think I’d get it. But, you miss all the shots you don’t take, so I’m taking the shots when they come my way. And, hey, they did decide to take a chance on me and I now need to complete a knitted colorwork cowl by early March, which means I need to tweak my projects list.
While we were sick, the kids and I started waxing eloquent over the parties we used to throw, and there may be some shimmery, slowly gelling into reality, kind of maybe plans to throw a party or two in the next few months as well. We’re obsessed. Don’t hate on us because we’re fun.
Two weeks ago’s list:
Finish the Baa-ble Hat
Start or pick up another knitting project for on-the-go crafting
Make a dent in the quilting of the Rainbow Coin Strip quilt
Put some time in on the Chatsworth Block of the Month
Start prepping fabric for Nathaniel’s birthday quilt
Working on the Baking Doodle Cowl pattern. I’d like to be done with the knitting by March 1 so I can have decent time to block and photograph without rushing in order to have everything ready to go for the social media post on March 5. That’s given me fifteen days to knit it up. So the schedule is:
25% done: Sunday, Feb 18 (Haven’t hit that yet, but close)
50% done: Thursday, Feb, 22
75% done: Monday, Feb 26
100% done: Friday, Mar 1
New FQS pattern: I had hoped to be done with the assembly of all the blocks by this point, but illness took its toll. The goal is to be done with them by the end of this week and possibly assembling the quilt top.
Start figuring stuff out on the parties front.
I need to taskify my current projects. “Taskify” is the word I use to describe the process of breaking down a project into its individual tasks and assigning due dates to each of those steps. It takes a lot of thought, but once you get it figured out and input it into your reminder/to-do list system, it makes it way easier to stay on top of everything and actually get stuff done. I’ve got a lot of the individual tasks and due dates figured out, but still need to input them into my to-do list app. I’m behind on a couple projects because I don’t have any reminders coming through about due dates.
Start spending some time in the garden when the weather is conducive. Time to start putting the gardening routine into place! I’ve planted the sweet peas and the peas, so I need to at least keep those areas weed-free. I’ve also started quite a few of my early spring seeds, and I’m looking forward to transplanting them at the end of March/beginning of April.
I hope you’ve got some projects on your radar for this week that make you excited! I’m so happy that we’re seeing signs of spring everywhere! I spent an hour in the garden yesterday with the kids and it was so nice to feel the (mild) sun on our skin and to move our bodies and smell the dirt. Winter’s almost over! Good luck this week!
That Crafty Cara 