Winter Crafts (Part 2)

 

(Feb 1)

The last three months have been all about crafting and finishing projects!  Over last summer and fall I'd ordered the fabric and patterns for 4 different quilts.  I used to have a rule the I wasn't allowed to buy a new project until I finished the project I was currently working on.  I didn't want to have piles and piles of fabric sitting around unused because the thrill of a new project had run out and I'd been tempted to start something newer first.  But, after all these years of quilting and knitting, I know enough to know that a few things are true:

1. I'm picky about the projects I want to work on.  When I see something I like, I know...and it might take a long time for me to feel that inspiration.
2. I'll get to my crafts eventually - I won't overbuy and never finish them.
3. I quilt more in the winter/spring when it's cold and dark and we're home on the weekends more.
4. I knit all year long and I knit almost every single day, even when I travel.

(Feb 13)

Penny!  I don't know if it's true, but I hope that her life flashed before her eyes on this day.  I was not pleased when Hazel came downstairs during a work meeting to tell me "Penny got into your yarn and it's a big mess".  She's lucky that I was able to recover it after an hour or so of extreme patience and determination to fix the mess!

(Feb 13)

I'm LOVING this knit.  It's giving retro granny squares which is fun and trendy right now.  The pattern was a B to figure out but I'm really happy with how it's coming along.  It's a great project for traveling and it's fun because I can finish a block in a few days, and then I get a new color to work with.  It's a fun knit.

(Feb  27)

I LOVE this quilt so much!  It's very traditional and I love the colors of it.  I can't wait to gift this one.  Part of me is hoping I can get it back in time for Ally's wedding shower, but I'm not sure if that's realistic.  I have a huge box of quilts (8 to be exact) headed off to the quilter later this week.  We'll see how fast it goes!  It's possible, but it'll be tight!

(Feb 27)

Even the back is pretty!

(March 6)

Then, while I was at it, I quickly whipped out 4 baby quilts.  I was so bummed that I didn't have a quilt ready and waiting for Erin and Dave's baby shower (in Feb) that I quickly ordered material to make 4 baby quilts.  I've got 2 "boy/gender neutral" quilts and 2 "girl" quilts ready to head to the quilters.  I won't get stuck short on time again! 

(March 7)

(March 7)

(March 12)

Isn't this blanket turning out cute?  If I'm honest, I started with my less favorite color sections and now I'm moving into the colors I like more...I'm almost finished with the blocks for row 3 so you'll see that in my Spring post in a month or so.

(March 13)

Eight quilts between Thanksgiving and Easter is probably the most I've ever churned out so I'm set now for a while.  I've officially maxed out the quilt budget for the year though :)

Girls Weekend!

 

This Christmas Erin and I decided that instead of trading presents we'd rather plan a weekend in the city hanging out and doing some of the activities we always talk about but haven't taken the time and money to actually do them!  So, we planned a fun girls day weekend in the city.  We started with a Paczki class at a baking workshop place Erin had been dying to go to called Betties's Baking.  They have a cute retro vibe and the class was so fun...but mostly the donuts were amazing!  

The class was about 2 hours long and we learned all the steps to making our own Paczkis.  For those of you who don't know, it's a polish donut of sorts that is traditionally associated with  Fat Tuesday - an opportunity to use up all the lard and sugar in the house in prep for lent.  

We had a great time, and now we know how to make donuts!  I was empowered enough to buy a GF cookbook the baker recommended and to try and make some donuts at home with Abby.  

While I only have pictures of our donut class, the fun didn't end there!  We went for tacos and margaritas for lunch, went to a fancy cocktail bar for dinner, watched My Best Friend's Wedding on the couch and went to bed before 9:30 pm and then....maybe our favorite part of the whole weekend was our trip to Aire, the ancient spa.  We had two hours at the spa and 45 minute massages.  We floated, salt scubbed, soaked, and just relaxed and it was amazing!  We had sushi for late lunch and I made it home to Marengo in time to make dinner for the fam.

We had such a lovely time, I think we both agreed that we'll do something like this again for Christmas next year.  I have a feeling the spa will be a part of it...it was really really really nice.

Casting Dreams Competition

 

Yesterday the girls were signed up through the community college to participate in a metal work competition and Abby WON!  Like, 40 kids competed and Abby got first place and won $200!  Her entry will now travel to the national competition which is held in Ann Arbor, MI in March and she could win up to $2k if she wins that competition.  

We came across these classes through the college about a year ago and they've had the best experience with them.  The both took a class over the summer through the Kids at College program and now that we're on the mailing list, we get to see all of the different kid programs they offer.  I'm so impressed with the college and what they are doing.  The kiddos are headed there the week of spring break for a 3 day crafting class.  I can't wait to see what they come home with!

(Hazel's entry didn't win any prizes, but isn't it cute?)

Winter Crafts (Part 1 - Dec and Jan)

 

(11/26/25)

I started this hat for Cuzzies handmade gift exchange when we left on our trip to Hawaii and even though its some of the finest yarn I've knit with, and it used size 3 needles, it actually came together pretty quickly.  I like the construction of the pattern a lot - you knit the brim and then fold it in half and graft it together so the brim is doubled up making this a warm hat around the ears which has always been a complaint of mine for these handknit hats.  My favorite stocking caps have a piece of felt around the ears to keep the wind out and this pattern mimics that with the double brim.

(11/26/25)

I knit this one in size "large" figuring it needed to be sized to fit either a man or woman and Ryan thought it was a little too big so when I started the inverse color version of this hat, I made it one size down to see if we liked that better.  I'm trying to capture the details here because this may become a standard knit hat pattern I reuse for other projects.

(12/12/25)

It took me about 3 weeks of focused knitting to get the second version made and I finished it just in time to be able to take both versions to Murphy Christmas so whoever ended up with the hat in the end could pick which color and size they liked better.  Cousin Jess (Nick son of Michael's girlfriend) won my hat and I'm so happy she got it because she's a maker too so I know she'll appreciate it.  She picked the blue (smaller) version for herself.

(12/28/25)

(1/4/26)

Next up - my winter quilts.  I had fabric to make 3 more quilts all lined up and ready to start whipping them out as soon as the Christmas decorations came down and I reclaimed my quilting table from the Christmas train.  The pattern for this quilt is made with fat quarters but I couldn't order the fabric I wanted in fat quarters so I picked up half yards and had enough to make two of these at the same time.  Batch quilting takes marginally longer than a single quilt because you're already in the groove of whatever step you are on.  

(1/4/26)

I went back in the blog to find when I started this purple sampler blanket and it was June 14th meaning it took me about 6 months to get this one done.  I'm really happy with how it turned out and the yarn for this one came on a giant cone so there were only two ends to tie in along the way.  A sampler is fun too because you get to switch up the pattern every few inches so it keeps it interesting.  I finished and blocked this one in early January.  

Next up - the bird hat for Mom.  This was a real process, it should have been simple!  Mom picked up the kit to make this Nancy Bates hat (the same designer that does all of the National Park hats I've made over the last few years).  I knew they knitted up quick so when she gave me the kit over Ritterbusch Christmas, I thought it might be possible to get the hat done by the time they came for Christmas day.  I had about 5 days to knit it so I put down my purple blanket and set to finishing her hat in time to have it wrapped under the tree for her Christmas day.  I had it totally finished (except adding a pom on top) and ready to go Christmas eve but I decided to block it quick.  

The pattern called out that the red yarn could bleed so you should use a color catcher in the water when blocking.  I followed all the directions and it was coming out great until I gave the hat a little squeeeeezzzeee to get the water out and that was what the red needed to release and I ended up with red splotches all over the white background.  I was so bummed but I wrapped it up anyways and gave it to Mom.  The next day I decided to weigh the yarn I had left to see if I'd have enough to try and get a second hat out of it.  I knew I'd be short on the white but I had some leftover from another project and that it would be close with the other colors, but I decided to do a second run at it.  I was so sad that it bled and I just wanted it to be nice for Mom.

Knowing what I knew about the first time I did it, I handled this blocking process with extreme care.  I didn't jostle or squeeze the had at all - I simply let it sit in the water (with the color catcher) and then pulled it out, let it drip dry as much as it could and they laid it down flat on a few rag towels.  Sure enough, it bled through onto the towels, but the hat itself (and most importantly the white parts of the hat) were undisturbed.

(1/12/26)

My next knit project is a pinwheel blanket.  It took me a solid three evenings of casting on and trying to understand the pattern before I finally figured it out.  I realized that I've been knitting for nearly 14 years at this point and it's been a long time since I didn't understand the pattern or had to learn a new stitch.  I had to learn two new things for this blanket!!  A provisional cast on - which leaves you with live stitches that you can pick up later (the green thread in the photo above) and "Twisted wrap and knit" stitch.  It acts sort of as a decrease - but without actually getting rid of a stitch.  It's what forms the triangle shape of the block which you'll see in the photos below.  The pattern promised to be "easy and fun to knit" and now that I'm passed learning new things, it is in fact fun and easy to knit!

(1/17/26)

After blocking and drying I saved the final step (adding black beaks and the pompom) for when I was back home in Freeport.  In the end, it turned out pretty good!  Mom's happy so I'm happy!  

Block one complete!  This blanket is similar to a granny square in that you knit up a bunch of blocks and then seam them together.  It'll be a fun project because I can knit a block over a few days and each new block is a new color.

(1/19/26)

Quilt #3 is up - my goal is to finish this and ship 4 quilts to for quilting by the end of March.  This one is more complicated than the triangle quilts I showed from December.  Its much more traditional looking and more complicated piecing.  I'm excited for this one - it'll be a great quilt for a wedding gift.

(1/22/26)

Block #2 is nearly complete!  It's -40 windchills this weekend so I expect lots of sitting and knitting.  Good thing I packed enough yarn to whip out 4 blocks this weekend!

Since I craft so much in the winter months I'm going to end this roundup post from December and January and start a new one for Jan/Feb/March.

Our first attempt at a ski trip

In the fall we locked down two weekends for potential ski trips - one in Jan and the second in Feb.  It felt possible...doable...likely that we'd actually get two ski trips in this year.  That is until a Zach started clocking the weather two weeks out and the temps looked bad.  We'd planned a ski trip up to Wausau - our first attempt with the kids at a new ski hill.  The weekend fell on the same weekend of Jamie's neighbor's snowmobile race so we planned a weekend of outdoor winter activities (Ryan was so excited!). 

We rented a house in Wausau for Thursday to Sunday and planned to pull the kids out of school Friday.  We'd ski Friday, watch the snowmobile races on Saturday and head home Sunday.  It was all set and we were all excited.  I called the kids out of school earlier in the week and then the cold weather Zach had been predicting hit.  The lows (not including wind chills) were predicted at -40!  The schools canceled for Friday, the ski hill closed and we decided we'd make the most of it.  The house we rented was right on the river so the girls and the dad's decided to try and make a spot to skate.  I was worried it would be way too cold, but it sounds like the kids had a great time - that is until they put the skate on, found out they hurt their feet and that the ice wasn't smooth and that was the end of that!  But, I bet they were outside clearing the snow to skate for over an hour.  (Meanwhile, Jamie and I were inside knitting and watching Netflix).  

My guess is that the dad's did most of the shoveling.  Though Zach did comment on Hazel's method of shoveling being totally random and chaos shoveling.  Tracks...very much tracks.  

Too cold to ski meant we needed another activity - so indoor arcade and laser tag it was.  Guys - we had the best time doing indoor laser tag.  Who knew I would find so much joy in kicking the kids butts?  They had a rule that there was no running - which, honestly was impossible to follow.  I've never been so hot as I was run-walking around laser tag with my winter boots and hoodie on.  We had such a fun time the kids have been talking about it ever since.  

Saturday the snowmobile race was still on!  Cold be darned, they were going to race.  They started much later than planned because of the snow "fog" which now that we've seen a race we understand.  Basically the machines kick up the snow and it creates a fog of snow that is nearly impossible to see through - and super dangerous for the racers as you can imagine.  

It was still extremely cold and I'm really thankful we were able to sneak into the family section with Macy (Jamie's neighbor) because Hazel's face in the picture below is how I felt in my heart starting about 15 minutes after we arrived.  I tried to have a good attitude, but it was cold and there wasn't really anywhere to sit and be warm.  We didn't really understand the races and what was happening and we didn't have a horse in the race really.....I was ready to go 30 minutes in.  But!  We stuck it out for the entire race and I think overall the kids had fun.  I'm sure it'll be a trip they remember for a long time.  And, that's the goal - making memories!

Gunner (Jamie's neighbor) did end up winning the whole race, which made it fun for the kids.  I'm not sure if we'll make this a yearly tradition, but I do have a feeling we'll try again next year - at least the skiing part!  The kids loved the house we rented and the drive isn't bad.  Wausau, we'll be back!