4th Week of Advent: Baking and dancing towards Christmas...

Hello everyone, and I hope that your Advent is wrapping up beautifully, just as mine is. 😊 I have allllll of my wrapping still to do, but otherwise am in good shape. I made cookies this week, I should have taken pictures for photographic evidence, ha! Because I am not the best baker, but these turned out well. Most of them have already been consumed by children living in my house. ;-) We made Peanut Butter Blossoms and Italian Chocolate Balls (we put chocolate chips in instead of walnuts, though!).

We were also excited to light the final candle in our Advent wreath:

I wasn't feeling well on Sunday morning after a terrible night of sleep, so we watched the 8 am mass that my parish had streamed for the 4th Sunday of Advent. I have us reserved for the 10 am mass on Christmas day, so hopefully that all goes without a hitch!

Prior to the bad night of sleep though, I had my online Christmas themed dance show, and that went great! Picture me dancing in a bright red gown in the middle of our living room, which was cleared of all easily movable furniture, a camera mounted on a ladder, and my family marooned in their bedrooms. 😂 As the organizer wrote to us later, she appreciated our hard work, especially because she knows it isn't easy prepping a piece, setting up your own "stage," and being your own grip and director. There's certainly an unnatural element to performing solely online, with the lack of dedicated performance space and audience/performer energy exchange, but we're all getting a bit more used to it in the dance community, and making the best of it for the time being. I've finally gotten to a place wherein I've accepted that this is the way it is for the time being, and I might as well find the joy and new opportunities that these online shows present until we can go back to in-person shows. I'm lining up some opportunities for the first part of the new year, and really looking forward to working on some new pieces. I will say that performing online means that I have become more choreographed and artistic in my approach to what I present in dance, since there is no crowd energy to feed off of for improvising. It's different for me, and challenging in the best way possible, so I'm seeing that as a positive!

In terms of holiday/wintertime crafting, I've been a busy bee. I promised an update on the Advent gnome, and so here is my in-progress Gnutmeg!

The stitch marker is holding the spot for a belt buckle. The final clue is out today, and I can see that we will be assembling some of the other pieces we knit (nose and beard, various icords for limbs, I'm assuming) onto the gnome, and also adding some final surprises! I'll post a photo after the holidays when I have him all finished. 

I also worked a bit more on Frog:

Creepy, I know, with the disembodied eyeballs. 😂 Terrifyingly, the pattern calls for you to *cut out holes for the eyes* and then stitch them on in a way to create eyelids. I have the spot marked out with stitch markers, but have been too chicken so far to proceed. I'm picturing unraveled green yarn all over my couch, and me in tears guzzling wine off to the side. Someone may have to come hold me afterward. 🤣 I'll post an update after the new year!

Speaking of, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and happy New Year! I'll be posting again the week following New Years Day, and using the time to recharge and think of creative new things we can chat and pray about in 2021! 

*virtual group hug*

Early fall novenas, and knitted gnomes and garments that are no longer a mystery!

Hello all, and I hope that you are having a wonderful week! It's a week of novenas on my end, and I have to say that I am enjoying it so, so much. I finished up Our Lady Undoer of Knots on Sunday, and I think I already have the answers to the questions I was praying about (not necessarily the ones I was hoping for in all cases, but answers are answers, yes?). I also started St. Monica on Tuesday. I had forgotten that her feast is in late August, and I absolutely love this one! I pray for conversions of heart back to faith, and it always gives me so much solace. Coming up in the early part of autumn, we have the archangels (Sept. 29th), St. Jerome (patron saint of librarians, Sept. 30th), St. Therese (Oct. 1st), and guardian angels (October 2nd). It's a wealth of riches! I think I'm going to start updating and publishing the novenas tab on the blog again, with what novena I'm currently praying and the link to the relevant prayers. Look for that to start again in September if you'd like to follow along. :-)

Speaking of prayer, both of my kids are slated to go back to school full time in early September. Since they go to Catholic schools, the lower numbers of enrolled kids means that they can accommodate the health mandates more easily. My kids really miss their school environments, and so I'm happy it worked out this way, although I'm worried about how it will go and if it will last. All we can do at this point is pray for the best! My teaching this semester will be mostly, if not all, online, which I'm a little sad about, but we'll get there.

To distract myself, I've been crafting, as per my pandemic usual. ;-) The mystery gnome that I was knitting is no longer a mystery, so meet the new member of the family!

Pattern is Nice to Gnome You

He is currently frolicking with our house plants, and I'm just so pleased with how he came out! This is my first gnome, and apparently there is a whole gnome crafting universe out there, WHO KNEW?! I am totally into this now. This designer specializes in knitted gnomes. Did you ever? And her next gnome MKAL (mystery knit-along) will take place during Advent.

😱

I literally cannot wait! I'm so excited for this!

I also finished the red cotton top that I was knitting for my mother-in-law:

Pattern is Kelda Tee

I kinda wanted to keep it :-0, but I managed to resist. But not before purchasing yarn to make one for myself in another colorway. ;-)

I'm also hard at work on my Advent doily:

Pattern is Wispweave Oval

This one is just SO PRETTY. The pattern is definitely a bit challenging for a beginning doily crocheter like myself, but so far the progress is good, albeit slow. I just love the different textures that this design is forming! I'm thinking I can use it for under our Advent wreath. The border is going to be silver. 😍

Do you have any novena plans coming up this fall? What is your September looking like? I know it doesn't look like it usually does for any of us! I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

Knitting mystery gnomes, and other crafty delights...

Happy Friday everyone, and I hope your week was smashing! Well, I know a lot of things are decidedly NOT smashing right now, at least not in a good way. ;-) But I think things are slowly getting better, and we've gotta hang on to that positivity!

*virtual high five!*

Thank you for all of the lovely comments about Anne's 1st Communion! Even though the backdrop was not one I could have ever foreseen, it was a beautiful day, and I truly thought of all of you and your encouragement on that day! It just meant the world to me. 💗

This week I have been CRAFTY, and I've been promising a crafty post! Here we go. 😎 I've been working on a cotton top for my mother-in-law, and I'm almost finished!

Pattern is Kelda Tee from the Knit Picks Equinox Cotton Collection

Just have to finish the second sleeve, pickup and knit the neckline, and weave in what feels like 533 ends despite it all being a single color. :-0 This was a quick knit, and I highly recommend this collection! All of the designs are just stunning.

And DOILYS, who isn't excited about this one?! I've been promising that I would show the comparison photo of the 2 doilys that I made in the same pattern, one with size #3 thread, and one with size #10, and here it is:

Pattern is Simple Beginners Doily

Size #10 is the more traditional of the two for crochet thread, and it lends a less chunky feel for sure, but I have to say that I absolutely LOVE the larger #3 thread. It was a bit easier for me to see and work with, too. I've added a few more colors in that size to my collection. 😇

Going to make an Advent doily!

And in other exciting doily news:

Pattern is Ariel Snowflake

My first snowflake! This is the #10 thread, and it was HARD. 😂 But I'm glad I persevered, I'm happy with how it turned out! Although our snowflake friend does seem to be leaning into the breeze a bit, but hey, nobody's perfect. ;-) I'm thinking of making these as coaster sets for Christmas gifts!

But the thing I'm most excited about this week is this in-progress guy:

Nice to Gnome You MKAL

Yes, I'm knitting a gnome! My very first gnome, to be exact. I'm in love with him, don't tell Mike. 😂 And, AND it's a MYSTERY GNOME! Have you ever heard of anything quite this fun before? I'm betting you have not. ;-)

Every 2 days you receive a clue with instructional videos, and I am finding this process to be just an absolute kick. I'm currently working on clue 5, which is pretty far in advance of this photo, because I want to keep the mystery alive for anybody who may want to mystery gnome -along with me. :-0 I cannot even tell you the lift this has given me. Mystery gnomes, did you ever? Every pandemic needs a mystery gnome!

All right, how was your week? I finished up the Our Lady Undoer of Knots novena today, and it was absolutely delightful. I'm starting St. Monica on Tuesday, anybody want to join me?! Let's leave our intentions in the comments!