Climbing Out of a Slump

I've been feeling really low this past month.  Partly it's this long winter, and then there's other "stuff" going on.  It's all put me in a bit of a slump and I've not felt happy vibes for a while.  I was seriously considering calling it quits with the blog, but couldn't make up my mind.  I was afraid if I ended this, I'd regret it a bit further down the road, so I just sat back for a bit and haven't really been into it much ... either posting or visiting.  I've started making the rounds this week, however, and have been to visit most of you, but not all.  I realized I've missed the connection with everyone, and although I don't seem to have a lot to share these days, I've decided to continue the blog for now. 

 

My blog feed has always been messed up, and I cannot "unfollow" a blog if I choose (even though I've been through all the proper steps ... at the final question "are you sure you want to stop following this blog" I click "yes", but nothing ever happens and I'm still following every blog).  Because of this glitch, my blog feed is full of blogs I am no longer interested in, so instead of relying on that I just go down my list of favourite blogs on my sidebar and click on your blogs there.  I guess my point is it's a slow way to do it rather than just check into the feed and see what's new, but I have no choice.  And I hate this slow process, it seems to take me forever to visit everyone.

Anyway ... boring stuff. 

 

Our days had dropped back into the sub temperatures these past two weeks (-20C), but today at last we had a reprieve, and it's hovering just below 0C again (at least I see drips coming off the roof!).  This is the type of weather for the maple sap to start to run.  Cold nights and warm days.  How I loved helping my parents with this springtime ritual even up until a few years ago when they still had their country property.  All the grandkids would help in some way too, and it was a guaranteed week of sitting in the woods before the vat of boiling syrup in front of the fire.  I wrote a post about that here if you're interested in a little extra reading.  Now I rarely visit a maple sugar bush unless my nephews come for a visit from BC, but they won't be coming this year. 

The dog is getting his walks, but it's been a struggle, and now we have to deal with heaps of salt tossed on the roads (why?!).  The Town hardly put any salt on the roads all through the tough part of winter, but now they're just pouring it down thick.  Poor pup gallantly limps along until he can take the stinging pain no more and stops with paws up.  By the time we got home today, he was just a sloppy mess from the road salt and the mucky snow.  March tends to be a messy month don't you find?  So into the laundry tub he went ... he just fits ... and a good soapy bath ensued.  Then he raced upstairs and tore around the house for a good five minutes just because he felt so good.  I lay his mat in the sunshine and he warmed up and dried off fairly well.

I've been working on bits of knitting, and have made up some little mittens to go with some baby hats I've knit.  These will all be heading off to LILY once I get the mittens done.  I picked up some variegated yarn (Lion Brand) and really like how the brown/pink/white combo works up.  The baby mitts look so cute in this colour too.

 

There was also this blue/green combo which worked up in a very boyish looking hat ...

 

 

... so I made one mitten to go with it ... yep, ran out of yarn and I'll have to get some more.  This is the first mitten I have knit in the round, and although it looks okay, I was a bit lost when I had to cast on a couple of stitches above the thumb.  I have trouble reading knitting instructions even now.  After the little blip there, the number of stitches was off for the rest of the top, and I was glad to be done with it.  The worst part about mittens is, if you have trouble with the pattern, you still have to suffer through the making of another one.  Hopefully the second mitt will work up easier.

 

 

I had a ball of "oatmeal" yarn too, so I tried that with the blue/green.  I knit one round blue/green, then one round oatmeal.  I love how it turned out.  I would like to have a scarf made up this way.  I have a book that has a scarf knit in the round using this same technique, and that's why I tried it here.  It gives it a very rustic look, don't you think?  If I made a scarf this way I would get some 100% wool rather than the acrylic (although the acrylic is quite soft, and this is what LILY requests, I prefer the natural fibres myself).

 

 

 

Then I made another headband using the brown/pink/white one row, and the oatmeal for every alternate row.  I didn't like the look of it as much as with the blue/green.  There was too much white in the variegated yarn already, so the oatmeal didn't show up as well.  It just made the whole thing look rather muddy.  I made this for my daughter who told me the headband I made earlier kept sliding down off her head ... this one is made in the same way, but I cast on 104 stitches instead.

 

 

And then I had a few scraps of pure wool from my Mom's stash and my own stash, so I whipped up another tea cozy.  This is for my two-cup tea pot ..

 

 

 

 

It goes nicely with my one-cup tea pot.  I have a few of these cute brown tea pots :)

 

And that's it.  I'll knit up a few squares to send off to LILY too, and that will all go out sometime this month.  I usually just send squares, but I noticed other people were also sending hats, so I decided to do something a little different. 

 

Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you're all having a great week,

 

Wendy