I’ve made some good progress on the socks. Ribbed socks always go a little slower, so I’m pleased with the pace.

As you can see, I’m past the heel and through the gusset. The change of heel yarn is more subtle than I expected, but I like it!

I’ve got my computer situation straightened out, so I should get back to my shawl….

Freyja’s not the only cat who likes to be out in the snow. As long as the wind is not blowing, and the sun is out, there’s a whole cast of characters out there.

Of course, Freyja was the one who had the most fun.

She continued her parkour training in the yard – especially when one or another of the boys was out there to join her.

She’s a speedy little thing so it was hard to get decent pics.

Nothing is an obstacle to that kitten…

The party doesn’t stop until the boys get fed up and go in.

Of course… then she just follows them inside and the antics continue…

My Passion Flower continues to bloom

I’ve got to try and keep it a little more evenly watered though. Several of the buds fell off before opening, and I think erratic watering is to blame.

I might also have had a weak moment and picked up a new orchid…

I just couldn’t resist that deep dark maroon. Of course, I shouldn’t really by buying orchids, because I’ve forgotten which colours I already have. I don’t think I have this exact one already… but I might!

The Paperwhites have opened further and they are just so delicate and pretty.

And my amaryllis has finally bloomed! It’s colours are a little less impressive than the box advertised, but it’s still so pretty.

As I mentioned the other day, the Marshmallow is with us for the week while her Dad is having adventures in Banff, Alberta.

And she’s been having plenty of adventures herself!

She’s broken not one, but TWO plant pots (plants were saved and transplanted to new pots.)

She’s pretty unrepentant about the whole thing.

She also moved in on the other cats territory…

Including Rupert’s favourite window

Relic’s evening nap spot (ie my lap)

And even Burton’s bassinet!!!!

She practiced her parkour all over the house with Lemmy in hot pursuit

Hence the broken plant pots..

And she hung out with some squishy friends when Lemmy was otherwise engaged.

This week has also afforded her a couple new discoveries. The first being the cat tree in my office (The office has been closed off on her other visits as I wasn’t working)

She doesn’t tend to hang out in the office like the boys do – but she does come up a few times a day to see what’s going on outside the window.

The other big discovery, has of course, been the catio.

We weren’t sure how long it would take her to figure out the cat door – and just a couple days in she had it mastered. Though her favourite way to go in and out is to burst through it like she’s the Kool-aid Man.

As you can see, we’ve got a couple inches of snow, and it’s bitterly cold out there. She was a little nervous at first. But once she got her feet wet, so to speak, she took to the terrain like a natural. She’s been in and out several times a day – with and without one or another of the boys in tow.

He dad is supposed to arrive home some time today – but I’m not sure if he’ll collect her right away or wait until tomorrow. As far as I’m concerned, she’s welcome to stay forever.

But I might be a little biased.

Work is progressing on the paint by number

I’ve got all the background pretty much done, other and a few spots I need to touch up. And I’ve started on filling in some little details. Happily, in the much smaller areas, it’s easier to get the colour on evenly with one coat. But some of the lighter colours will still need two coats, just to cover up the number/lines.

Sadly, one of the paint colours was completely dried up, and a second was close to it. I’ve managed to work with the latter by adding a little bit of water. But for the completely dry one, I’ll just have to mix up something close from my own set of paints. It’s a good thing I’ve got the knowledge for that!

In other disappointing news, I can’t find my easel anywhere. I have a sneaking suspicion I got rid of it before we moved. So.. it means I’m stuck working on the dining room table. It’s not a big issue, it just means I have to keep the sessions a little shorter so my back doesn’t get too sore.

Sunday, I was determined to get the bee top together. I gathered all my feline overseers …

… and got to work.

I worked all afternoon, and finally… I was about to start my final seam…

And that’s when I noticed…

I had a bee UPSIDE DOWN!!!

And not just one! But two!!!

It was close to dinner time, so I decided it was best to give up for the day. I packed it all up and put it in a time out. This weekend, I’ll do a little creative ripping, get those bees going the right way, and finish that final seam. Finally.

Over the holiday, I finished up Block three in my embroidery series

I think this is my best one yet. I still don’t love French knots, but I think I’m getting better at them. Onto block 4!

There hasn’t been much work done on my handspun shawl since you last saw it. In fact, there’s been no work. I hadn’t bothered to print the pattern off, and was just working off the pdf off my laptop. Then after Christmas, my laptop crapped out.

The pattern was purchased through Payhip, so sadly, I don’t have a copy in my ravelry library. My computer should be back up and running (files intact) by the end of this week – but in the mean time, I needed something to knit on.

It’s a skien of Farmer’s Daughter and the colour is Bitterroot. I won it ages ago from a little blog contest held by Bridget.

Even though it’s a semi-solid, it’s a a pretty busy one, so I decided to keep it simple with just a 2-2 rib. But the skein did come with a lighter matching mini skein (the little ball to the right), so I thought it would be fun to use it for heels and toes.

I think this pair will end up in the gift box – because its NEVER too early to start on Christmas presents!

Before the year was out, I took a couple sessions in the studio to do a little work on the second be quilt. First, I needed to get all the dizzy daisy blocks done. I always say dizzy daisies are easy. And they are. But I’ve always done them in small numbers. I needed more than 30 for this one – and to be honest, it was a little tedious. But I pushed through…

Burton thinks they look quite nice with all those nine-patches, if a little busy. I agreed, so the next time we hit the studio, I set to work on sashing and corner stones.

Now I don’t do sashing the “normal way” where you do long strips and sew everything in rows to your blocks. I have a really hard time getting things to line up that way. Years ago, Mom showed me an easier way where you attach it directly to each block

This can mean more seams if you aren’t doing cornerstones – but in this case, it works out just the same.

When all the blocks have their bit of sashing attached, you just sew them all together.

Of course, I didn’t actually get that far. It took all afternoon to attach the sashing. Sew the sewing of the top will happen another day. Perhaps even today!

Regular readers will know that January and February are the hardest months for me. They are cold and grey and there’s no hope of seeing/doing anything in the garden. I get through it by paging endlessly through seed catalogues and…

having plants that bloom indoors! This, of course, is my passionflower. Isn’t it amazing. The flowers only last one day by boy are they stunners!

Sadly, I lost a few of my African Violets over the summer, but a couple survived, and one has just started to bloom.

You can see it’s also covered in cat hair, because it’s in the front window and the boys love to sit there too.

This next one is a new one, and there aren’t many flowers left, as such, I got it on clearance, which pleased me to no end.

It’s a Stephanotis – also known as Madagascar Jasmine. I had one years ago, and bought it because not only are those flowers beautiful – they smell AMAZING!!!! Personally, I think it’s even better smelling than Star Jasmine. I lost the original one by overwatering and was so sad when it died. I was thrilled to find this one because it’s the only time I’ve seen it since that first one. At it’s peak, there will be flowers all over ever inch of its wire support. And like that pot? We found that little fellow at the thrift store a few weeks back, and it turns out he was just the perfect size!

And last.. I bought some Paperwhites, and an Amaryllis bulb a week or so before Christmas. Obviously, they didn’t bloom in time for the holiday, but now the Paperwhites are just staring to open up

There are dozens of them in the pot, and each stem has multiple flowers, so when they all start to bloom it will be an amazing sight. Also and amazing smell. They are part of the narcissus family (daffodils) and have a lovely scent – especially on mass.

I’ll have more pics when that happens – probably about the time the amaryllis opens up too!