A Little Getaway and a January Finish

On Thursday we drove up to the Summit at Snoqualmie Pass, elevation 3022. It's pretty snowy up there, isn't it? And the best part is there's not even one flake at our house!

Can you see the lady and her dog?

Here's my first finish of 2021.  It's a blanket for a very special little boy who was born on December 29th. It's our Chicago daughter's newest nephew, and we know his parents. That's it for today.  Happy Sunday!

Surprise!

Please don't faint! I know, I don't often post 2 days in a row, but I wasn't done sharing my pre- Christmas finishes. Today is our youngest grandson's 9th birthday, and I topped off his gift with this guy.

I also made this cowl for our daughter for Christmas and this bracelet for her birthday which is 3 days after Christmas. The shawl pattern/kit was created by our nephew's wife, Kate. She has a knitting shop in MN called Harriet and Alice named after her 2 grandmothers.

I got the bracelet kits from Earthfaire.

This bracelet was a birthday gift for a good friend.

Those bracelets were so much fun I ordered some more kits,  this time from Caravan Beads because Earthfaire had run out of them.  Have a fun, creative day!

Happy New Year!

 Where does the time go? The holidays are over, and I can finally share my finishes, but it's been almost a month since my last post. We had a quiet Christmas but not a quiet New Year. Our local neighborhood goes crazy shooting off fireworks, and this year the noise was louder than ever and went on for several hours. I am glad we don't have a dog! But, I sure can understand why everyone was glad to see 2020 go!  

Earlier this past week, we had a fun adventure. During December and January bald eagles gather in trees along the Skagit River which runs through the town of Rockport. The eagles like to feed on salmon that come down the river to spawn. Rockport's a couple hours' drive from here, but we decided to go see if we could find them. (The last time we made this drive in late February and were too late.  We saw only one eagle then and that was on the drive back home!)This time though we lucked out!  The birds are a little hard to see from a distance, but we must have seen at least ten.  Dick caught a few photos.

Boy, whatever they've done to Blogger sure has made things difficult! Sorry about all the white spaces!  So I will go on and try to post some of my finishes.  I made mittens for the Chicago grandkids,

and hats for the the local ones. 

The patterns are all on Ravelry:  mitten pattern, the pink hat ,  and the cat hat . ( I added the eyes and nose.)

Well, that's it for now.  I need to post more often before I forget all the tricks!  Right now I need to get back to my knitting.  A new baby arrived, and he needs a blanket!  Happy New Year! Take care all of you, and stay well.

More Finishes!

 I've done lots of knitting lately since most of our usual activities have been cancelled.  The saddest victim  was my volunteering at the UW hospital as the whole Arts in Healing program has been cancelled.  And I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye.😢

Before the recent lockdown, we did get to Cannon Beach, OR, one of our favorite getaways.

As you can see by the waves, it was very windy along with a King tide.

And there are still lots of bunnies that allow you to get close enough to almost pet.  The city has posted a "do not feed" law, but the bunnies seem to be surviving well on the grass!

These were for a tiny preemie who is doing OK, thankfully.

There have been quite a few babies to knit for lately.

I spent most of October on the Sharon Shawl and Cowl and have enjoyed wearing the cowl on our walks.  Have any of you tried these patterns?  I found them challenging! They were also a great way to reduce my stash a little bit.

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Well, I think that's about all of my October finishes. Next time I'll share my November projects, but now I need to get back to work on the Christmas projects.  Will I ever learn to start earlier?

 

Our Friday Feline

 

It's About Time That I Posted, Don't You Think?

 Where does the time go? We are fine, but it seems like the days slip by without me posting or reading any blogs.  Our days seem to be busy with lots of walks (even in the rain!) and lots of Christmas knitting on my part.  Hope all is well with each of you in this crazy time! And now I'm noticing lots of changes on Blogger.

Yesterday was was exceptionally clear.  Do you recognize this snowy mountain?

It's not always clear weather here though.  Here's the view from another recent walk! The city in the distance is downtown Seattle.

On a recent walk in the nearby woods, we were amazed to see all these mushrooms. This tree was covered with them!

Two finished projects!

On these chilly days, Ginger loves this spot under the computer right on the register when the furnace is running.

Well, it's almost lunch time and then more knitting to do, so I will sign off and do some catching up here soon.  Stay well my friends!

Finally! Our First Adventure Since Covid Hit!

Last week we finally got out of the house, and it wasn't for grocery shopping! We hopped in our car and went to Deception Pass which is a beautiful spot not far from here. It was a beautiful day, and we even did a bit of hiking!

We stopped at a wayside on our way and discovered an amazing tree. This sign explains it's history.

 Once this tree was once 200 feet tall with a trunk that is still 20 feet in diameter! It was chopped down sometime in the 1800's, and all that's left now is this stump. Thankfully someone preserved it!

This is the landmark bridge that you cross en route to the park. It connects Whidbey Island to Fidalgo Island. It is unusual in that it has both saltwater and freshwater shorelines.  It's also fun to explore.

 

We hiked down to this beach. It's a great hike; it is, however, uphill all the way back!

There are lots of interesting old trees all along the trail.

 We made it down to the beach, and here I am resting up for the trek back uphill. As you can see there are lots of trees that have washed up on the beach. It was great to get back out into the woods!