Wee woolies.

Black cats may conjure up thoughts of Halloween for you,

but with snow already on the ground!!!  it's looking more like

Christmas up north.......

Evening view from under the shelter of our porch roof.

It looks as though winter is here to stay.

Anyhoo, it's time to start thinking of Christmas presents,

and I've got an idea for my knitting friends.

I wasn't feeling particularly creative over the past few months,

but when I spotted this book......

source

I couldn't wait to get knitting again!

Of course it appealed to my childish nature.  And talk about

instant gratification- I can whip up a sweater in no time that

somebody's actually going to wear!

I made a few changes to the cat pattern (stockinette stitch, color

variations, and pink inner ears) and I gave her a set of pretty

aquamarine glass eyes from my eyeball stash.  I've yet to hear a

 single complaint that her wool sweater is itchy or scratchy.

Each animal pattern in the book also includes a pattern for a....

....baby!!!!!

They're rather fiddly to knit and sew together,

but they're just so darn cute!

Kitty is a little fussy, but she quiets down when Mama keeps her close.

Little fingers need help to strap on the baby carrier.

Kitty's even got a Moses basket to snooze in when Mama's busy.

But kitty's in the baby carrier, so who's sleeping in the basket?

Why it's Baby Panda tucked under a pink blanket with her nonny in her mouth!

(A special request by Finley, a former nonny addict.)

If Panda looks a little top heavy, it's because I mistakenly knit her arms

with 6 stitches instead of 4, but that's our little secret.
Kung Fu Panda.

A happy blended family.

You know I didn't stop at one family.

woof.

Gotta love those puppy ears!

The dogs have a new home with Maggie,

but I've still got a few accessories to finish up for her....

and requests for more baby animals for both girls.
Maggie has an obsession with woobs (aka wolves), so maybe
the dog head with cat ears....I'll see what I can do.

If you're a knitter and have little ones to please,

this book's a winner!

Thanks for visiting!

Vickie

Frozen pumpkin.

Primitive cubby.

Ta da!

I finished my yarn cubby.

I asked my assistant to cut the wood on my pencil markings,

 but other than that, I planned and built the cubby all by myself.  Soooo,
 if it appears slightly off-kilter in the photo above.....well, it probably is.

Remember, primitive.

I've got Vanna White standing next to the cubby just to give you an idea of its size.

It will be screwed into wall studs in a small recessed area behind the door to the
 unfinished bedroom, but I took the photos against a brighter wall.

Over the past year, I've been selling or donating my vintage stash
collected over almost 4 decades, but here are a few things
 that made the cut to be used in said bedroom.

I painted it this past summer (big mistake), but my assistant was kind enough
to sand off the paint and dark varnish to reveal the soft wood tone underneath.
It still needs some finishing touches, but I think it's a keeper.

Here's how it looked when I bought it at an estate sale back in December of 2011.
Where has the time gone?!

You can't imagine how many times I stubbed my toe on this heavy,
 mirrorless buffet top while it was collecting dust under a bed.

Nabbed from youngest daughter's sell pile at our vintage sale in October.
The last line says "To Bed on Time".

I truly hope this leaded glass window works in the bedroom....

... because I'm getting tired of filling holes in the walls where I've hung it previously.
  And I'd really like to use it somewhere in our house.

I'm sure there are any number of tutorials out there for building a cubby,
so I'll let you follow somebody other than me who knows
what in the world they're doing.

It's constructed of 1 x 12 stock pine with a plywood back.  For a non-toxic, no VOC finish,

I aged the wood with steel wool soaked overnight in vinegar.  Beware!  The vinegar

solution permanently stains clothing and anything else it comes in contact with.
I should not have been wearing those 10 year old jeans anyway, but there you have it.
I've been forced by the hand of fate to update my wardrobe.  :o)

I attached horizontal slats with the rustiest nails I could find

and then added a little faux staining around the nails with black oil paint.

For a smooth clean finish, I applied 2 coats of wax, inside and out.

As you can see, I left enough room on top for a basket to hold 

yarn remnants and works in progress.  The cubby is only 12 inches deep, but the small
suitcase that holds my needles and pattern books fits nicely underneath.

I've got 2 coats of paint on the baseboard trim, but there are a few dozen other things
 to complete before I haul furniture into the room.  My goal is to have the room back together
 before the gang's all here for Thanksgiving, so I better get crackin'!

Thanks so much for visiting!

Vickie

*I took the photo above to use as an autumn screensaver on our home computer,
not really paying much attention to the squirrely details in the photo.

Our oldest granddaughter pointed out that it's a boy.
he he he.

I'm joining:
Making it in the Mountains Creative Gallery
Ginny at Small Things Yarn Along 
The Essence of Home Share Your Style

Dressed for the weather.

Up north, we girls don't brave the outdoors for a winter walk without donning

 our cold weather gear.  Cuddl Duds, Mukluks, and layers of warm mittens,

a scarf and a hat are essential to keep us warm.  You've got to strategically time your walk,
 because unfortunately you'll be afflicted with hat hair for the rest of the day.

When you live in a drafty old house, it gets mighty cold indoors between blasts

of steam heat, so even the furniture begs for an extra layer or two.

Our long dark winters are the perfect time to knit a wooly afghan to cover an outdated chair.
It took about 3 weeks of knitting in the evenings while watching TV,
 plus a few hours in the car to finish the afghan.  Yes, you read that right. 
Finished.  Ends woven in and blocked.  Completely finished!


Free lap blanket pattern from Petals to Picots.

I finally got around to painting the base of my old drum table, and the birdhouse

got a dose of white paint, too.  I even bought a  real live plant to bask in the sun!

I beefed-up the window cornices with my version of crown molding.
A hand saw and miter box are all I needed to cut mitered corners
and layer the stock pine for a fancy schmancy look.

Before.

After.

I actually finished them before Christmas, but I just got around to painting over the primer.
My excuse is that the ladder was out in the garage.  In the cold.

On the other side of the room.

I finished the cable knit pillow, but it's too small for my liking,
 so I won't be knitting another.  Perhaps I'll throw it in the wash on the hot setting.
Me thinks it could possibly shrink enough to be a mini pillow for the dollhouse....
that we're still working on.  Shame on us!

Our excuse?  The dollhouse is in the basement.  In the cold.

My Pottery Barn plants are the only plants that will thrive
next to a north facing window, but they bring some life to this corner.



I'm still tossing around ideas to update the fireplace.

We even went so far as to drag the dining room fireplace in front of the brick
to see how a light painted surface would look in the room.  Ehhhhhh.
It didn't inspire me to get moving on a new fiasco project.
More Pinning....er research to be done.

I don't want fire hazards cluttering up the hearth,
but these wood shoes were the perfect Etsy find
 to fill in the empty spot left by my red Christmas clogs.


So that's a little of what I've been up to during this long cold winter.

It's nice to be home during the day when the sun is warming up the house........

....and at night when I've got the fireplace remote by my side.  :o)
( PDF link for Nola's slipper pattern here.  Super warm and comfy! )

Thanks for visiting and stay warm!
Vickie

I'm joining the parties at:
The Wicker House Create - Share - Inspire
Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday

Midwinter blues.

 This is the time of year to start anew and clear out all the clutter.

That being said, it's also the time of year I dig through my dwindling stash of goodies

and attempt to come up with pleasing arrangements for tabletops and mantels. 

Our living room mantel is the thorn in my side, because nothing looks good
 on top of the dark mantel and equally dark old brick.

Source: Country Home

Maybe this will be the year I shake things up and change our old fireplace.

The photo above is one of my favorites with the combination of wood mantel
and painted wood surround and bricks.  Perfection!

As I reflect back on the changes I planned for 2015, I'm happy to say
 that I crossed off most of the items on my rather short list.

  A revamp of our fireplace will remain on this year's list.

I replaced a kitchen cabinet with open shelving and installed t & g wood
above the stone backsplash tile.  I also repainted all the kitchen cabinets to get rid of the
 creamy yellowish tone, and that's something I never thought I'd be doing again
 in this lifetime!  Next to go are the too white walls.

The dollhouse we should have finished by Christmas is slowly coming along.
Since we're in a deep freeze (-15 F this morning), it's the perfect time to
nail and caulk and sand and prime and sand........

I do see a pattern in my MO.  I jump right in and start the first project of the year
and then it's all downhill from there.  Do you remember the rickety chairs
I vowed to glue before the next holiday after Christmas of 2015?

If you had stopped by on the morning of December 23 (family arriving that evening)
you'd have found me starting that little task.  I tried wood glue earlier in the year,
but it didn't do much as far as stabilizing the chairs, so as a last resort
I sent my personal shopper out to buy a product I had seen at a local hardware store.

It took less than 10 minutes to fill every joint in the wobbly chairs
and I instantly had 2 super sturdy chairs!  It's been several weeks
and they seem to be holding up fine, so I'm giving Tite Chairs a 5 star rating!

I even stood on one of the chairs to hang the top 3 plates in the photo above.

I bought a whole stack of the plates and bowls last year for only $3
and it's taken me almost a year to hang 3 of them on the wall.

As I showed you in my last post, I finally hung curtains in the master bedroom.
I bought and returned at least 6 different pairs before I settled on the plain white
curtains from Target.  I was ironing and hanging the last pair on December 22.

I've nearly finished all my knitting projects from 2015 (lots of ends to weave in),

so I allowed myself to start a new project at my knitting group the other night.

I've got the first pillow started and I hope to knit a few of these before winter's over...
which isn't going to be any time soon in my neck of the woods!

Free pattern on Ravelry

Thanks for visiting and keep warm!
Vickie

*I'm joining the parties at:
Create Share Inspire The Wicker House
Tweak it Tuesday  Cozy Little House

Visions of sugarplums.

Plum colored vest for one of my little sweetie pies.

 I should be finishing up the 6 pairs of mittens I've started throughout the year,

 but being unfocused as I am, I shoved them into a basket

 and started a completely new knitting project. The starting is easy.

  It's the finishing that's a challenge for me.

I had a deadline of our oldest granddaughter's 5th birthday to get it done, so I knew
it wouldn't be joining the sad basket of Mittens Without Partners.
I'm hoping they'll start dating and eventually pair up on their own.
 

I used  this pattern from Ravelry with a few small changes.
It's purple and it's not wool, so that's a win win combo for this particular child.
 Can you believe I found the flannel shirt in all the right colors at Walmart?!
 

What I didn't finish on time was the chapstick holder necklace I promised to make.

Done!  I embellished it with bit of yarn embroidery
and a crocheted chain, which is the only crochet stitch I know.

With Christmas right around the corner, I searched for ornaments to knit
from my yarn remnants.  I'm not particularly fond of eating mushrooms,
but look at the deliciously dotty fungi I knit from leftover wool....

Yum!  You know I couldn't stop at one.


I actually joined a knitting group recently and I'm required to knit a tree ornament
for the Christmas potluck in December.  Me thinks a wooly toadstool is just the ticket.
You can find the free pattern here on Ravelry.



Another sweet idea I found on Ravelry.......

source

A basket full of gnomie goodness!!!!
The band of gnomes above was knit for a kindergarten class,
and I hope the knitter wore a pixie hat when she handed them out.  :o)

I do believe my toadstool ornies need a gnome,
so off I go to gather up my yarn!
Sorry mittens.

Happy Thanksgiving and please don't eat the mushrooms!
Vickie

I'm joining the parties at:

Coy Little House Tweak it Tuesday
Have a Daily Cup of Mrs.Olson Share Your Cup Thursday