In Between

 These days I am mostly decluttering and starting to pack. We close on our new house tomorrow, and then we have to move and get this one ready to put on the market. Work is hectic with both teaching virtually and planning to go back in a hybrid situation.

But in between, I find little times to do some crafty things. Thanks to Kim, I went a little crazy on the Hook, Line & Tinker hygge embroidery designs. It's been a fun and relaxing project that I'm going to hand-quilt.

I found a few hours to do some online sketching with a friend -- via Zoom, of course. This is the house where Marc Chagall grew up in Vitebsk, Belarus.

Then there's other people's crafts that I've come across as I declutter. The Barbie on the left is dressed in a darling suit that my babysitter knit in the late 1960s; the doll on the right is wearing a coat knit by my MIL. They are both better knitters than I'll ever be!

And I got some very good news this morning. Yesterday I had an endoscopy to see if I have Celiac Disease -- and I don't! I am so excited that I'm going to find time to bake Hamantaschen, even though the holiday for this Jewish treat has passed. It's a cookie dough folded around a filling -- with lots of gluten!

Beautiful Faces

 Thanks so much for all the encouraging words on embroidering a face. I used the same type of yarn, Encore, in purple to match the ears. I think it came out quite well.

I got the face embroidered fairly quickly by just making it up as I went, but I was stumped for days on how to secure the ends. Luckily I had used a very long piece of yarn so I was able to pull it to the back and make a tail!

 And here is an even cuter face: Toddler M with her new toy.

Her birthday party was Friday night and it was quite the celebration. It's hard to believe it's been a year since she was born. She has many, many "grandmas" because most of my friends don't have grandchildren yet. Lucky little girl! And lucky us for have her to enjoy.

This Is Scary

My first knitted stuffy is looking good so far:

Am I going to ruin it when I embroider the face? In her book, Rebecca Danger uses doll eyes, but this is a gift for a one-year-old so I'm going to embroider a face. I've never done this and I have no idea what I am doing. I'm just going to have to take a deep breath and dive in!

I'm reading The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. It's a historical novel about the early abolitionist, Sarah Grimke. As a history buff, I am picky about historical fiction. I'm on page 70, and I'm not impressed yet.

I'll be joining Ginny for Yarn Along today.

What Do You Do When You're Stressed?

I knit. I bet you do, too!


I've been bogged down by extra paperwork and cold, rainy days.  But it is nice to come home and curl up with a cup of tea and an easy project. As a result, I've made pretty good progress on my Dot the Dress-Up Box Monster. Pretty soon, I'll be kitchnering the the top of her head.

I've gone a little crazy on the pendants. Yes, these all come from one pattern:

I think that they'll be great gifts. The problem is that I want to keep all of them!

I'm thrilled that some days are warm enought that we can use the three-season porch. This afternoon Naji looks like he wants the room to himself! Perhaps he just doesn't want to share the magazine.