Hello All! I am really excited about writing and sharing this post. I am normally not a huge movie watcher, but this time of year I get really nostalgic and love rewatching some movies from my childhood that I just absolutely love. Without going on too much with this introduction here are some of the movies I adore watching this time of year.
This movie is not just one that is from my childhood, but was one from my parents as well. It was something they were really excited to share with me as I was growing up. The songs are catchy and the characters of the Miser Brothers are just the best! Just writing this I am already humming some of the songs. This movie starts off with Santa giving up on delivering presents because he was advised by his doctor after falling ill and he also feels like no one cares anymore. From there, many try to prove him wrong and the shenanigan’s go from there.
I don’t know why, but when I think of the Grinch, this is the version I think of. I don’t think of the animated version. I think of Jim Carrey and him walking back and forth in the mailroom lecturing Cindy Lou Who. Also, who can say no to the cute puppy that played Max. This is another one that I hum along to the songs as well. It just sets up the feeling of the holidays for me.
While I will say, I do very much enjoy the most recent remake in 2019. This is the version I loved from a very young age. This is also one of my all time favorite books and I read and watched this movie so many times and this is just a comfort cozy watch for me. It is like coming home. Sometimes with the chaos of the holidays it is really nice watching something that I know what is going to happen, I know what is going to be said, there is no surprises at all. I just feel really comforted while watching.
This is again a really festive and funny movie in my eye. What happens when your workahaolic dad you have nothing in common with or spend any quality time with ends up turning into Santa Clause after Santa falls off your roof?! It is just a really fun adventure story as well as a really heart warning story about a son and father.
Hello and welcome to a little post where I am going to share the 9 things I plan to make in 2023! If you are not familiar with this, pretty much you just pick 9 things you really want to make in the new year, new years resolutions of sorts. Most people plan to make more overall, but this is to help focus on the projects you are either really excited for or you need to get done in the new year. For me I don’t have any HAVE to makes, but I do have 9 things I really want to create this year.
The Projects
9 by 9 grid showing pictures of all projects and their names.
Kuutar Beret by Sari Nordlund, I was gifted two skeins of yarn this year and I really wanted to find a project I was able to use them both in and I ended up coming across this beautiful hat! I have never made a beret before or even worn one fort hat matter, but I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it! This beret almost looks like there is a flower on top of it, it is a combination of lace work and cables.
Karelia by Midori Hirose, Last year I bought a kit for thing sweater thinking I was going to have time to make it for my holiday sweater, well turns out I did not. I do want to still make it though and my new goal is to have it done in time for Valentines Day. I am thinking this mainly because I bought the kit with the main color being in red and I can’t think of any other holidays that would work for off the top of my head. I also really feel like the flower motif running along the yolk is a bit romantic.
Soldotna Crop by Caitlin Hunter, this is another sweater I bought a kit for. I picked up a kit from the wonderful Voolenvine Yarns. I fell in love with her color scheme she used a while ago. The one day I got a notification in my email that she was making kits and I knew I needed to put in an order. I lucked out and was able to snag a kit, she sells out fast. My goal is to have it done in time for Summer 2023 because of all the fun pattern color work would really be nice and fun!
Velvet Mirror Cowl by Andrea Mowry, I was hoping to make this one done before the weather got to cold, but my goal is to get this one done ASAP so I have something to keep my neck warm when it get super cold out. I also really want to use this project to practice my two handed color work. It is small and I feel like it will give a good deal of practice, without it being too much. The color work is also pretty straight forwards, it is mostly geometrical shapes such as diamonds and chevrons.
Winnow by Olivia Sczepanik, I have a sweater quantity of yarn in my stash and I needed to pin it to a project after I decided to not make something else. I was flicking through one of my issues of Pom Pom and came across this open cardigan sweater. I have never made an open cardigan, but I fell in love with the cables and new this is the project I was going to use the yarn for instantly.
Missoni Accomplished by Espace Tricot, When I was first learning to make sweaters I honestly was HORRIBLE at buying the correct type of yarn. I ended up having so much leftovers from a sweater that I could make a whole other one. Did I mention how bad I was? Anyway, I have enough to make this cute and fun sweater so I am thankful about that. I am really glad that I had enough of both colors because I found out the yarn I have is discontinued and I really want to do the three giant wavy lines across the body.
Woodlark Shawl by Fiber Tales, This project is going to be a huge deal for me. The first being it is the first item I am going to be making and steeking. Steeking is where you knit something in the round with the intention of cutting it after you are done you have a flat piece of knitting. This shawl is knit in the round, at the end you reinforce the section you are going to cut, then hope you did a good enough job and cut all the hard work you have done. It is scary, but I feel like it is something I want to give a go, at least once. It is always fun and sometimes terrifying to try something good, but how else will you learn? I did find a pattern to practice on that is a cup holder so I might knit this first and steek that one, but we shall see what I decided to do later on in the year. I also really love the color work on the shawl. It has a mix of natural themes such as leaves and flowers, but geometrical patterns as well. I also really loved how busy it was, but toned down depending on the colors you choose.
Travel Mode 2.0 by Susanne Sommer, this year I was lucky enough to go to a yarn festival. I decided I was going to pick up yarn from a bunch of different venders to make one project. I felt like this pattern will really show off all the different yarns nicely by having huge color blocks and serve as a really nice and usable memento of the fun I had.
Underwing Mitts by Erica Heusser, This is something that is kind of in the same vein as the velvet mirror cowl. It revolves around a lot of colorwork with some duplicate stitches, but is also a project time I have never made before. Mittens. I am not sure why, but mittens are something that seems to be really difficult, whish is odd because I have made hats, scarfs, sweaters, socks, and a few more things. For some reason this intimidates me. But, I feel like after I concquer two handed color work this will be a lot less intimidating. Baby steps. Also, the really beautiful moth front and center on these mitts was just so beautiful.
Anyway, those are the projects I really want to make in the new year. I know in 2021 I made about 36 projects. In 2022 I have made about 20, maybe a few more. I have not done a full count in a bit, but I feel like I can for sure get these 9 done and then add in some more spontaneous projects as well. As with reading, I am a complete mood knitter.
With all the gift giving coming up, I thought it might be a good idea to maybe share some of the last min. gifts I have made over the years. Please note, the prices of these patterns are accurate for when it was written and are subject to change.
Free Crochet
Easy Crochet Velvet Twist Headband by Tiffany Brown Ravelry | Website, this was a really fun and easy project. I really loved working with a super-soft yarn and I have actually made it with a wool based yarn as well and loved it just as much. It is nice and simple, but has just enough interest with the twist.
Crochet Velvet Infinity Scarf by Daisy Farm Crafts Website, I ended up finding this pattern to make with the headband above. The simple, but very affective stitch pattern was great. It went fast, but also kept my interest throughout.
4 Fun Stitches for Chunky Crochet Cowls by Daisy Farm Crafts Website, this is actually a four in one pattern and I made every single one. They are all great ways to try new stiches and also get something gift worthy at the same time.
Paid Crochet
Merci Cloth by TL Yarn Crafts Ravelry | Website, Sadly, I was so excited about gifting these I forgot to take a picture of them. I ended up really loving these and so did the people I gifted them to. I have even made a few replacements as well.
Jessie Stash Basket by Toni Lipsey/TL Yarn Crafts Ravelry | Website, this is a great present that is quick and easy to make. Not only that, it is great to load up with someone’s favorite snacks and treats. After that it is great to hold different things as well. I made one for myself and gifted another and I used mine to hold my TBR.
Free Knitting
Apiarist Cowl by Claire Borchardt Ravelry | Website, this was the first time I made cables and it has such great and clear instructions. It is fun and engaging and looks a lot more complicated than you would think at first glance. While it has a lot of patterning, it being a cowl is perfect for a quick gift.
Steek This Coffee Cozy by Rachel Molenaar Ravelry, this is great for two reasons. You get to practice steeking if it is something you have never done before and a person you love gets a really nice cozy for their mug. This was a hit when paired with the persons favorite tea/coffee.
Paid Knitting
Musselburgh Hat by Ysolda Teague Ravelry | Website, this is one pattern I feel like a lot of people have made. I have made multiple of these hats and they take me between a week and a week and a half. They are really great because they are double thick and you can use whatever weight you have on hand. In my case I have always used fingering weight and it was a great wayu to use that special skein of yarn I didn’t know what to do with, but I loved.
Christopher Bunny by Susan B. Anderson Ravelry | Website, this is a really cute pattern to make for a little one or just someone who really loves animals. The pattern is so detailed and has pictures throughout to guide you. I really loved this personally because I never knit a stuffed animal before this and I was not overwhelmed in the slightest. There are also video tutorials that go along with it.
I hope some of these are able to help you out with some last min, gift crocheting or knitting! I know I had a ton of fun when I made each of these. Sadly, a lot of these I made before I was keeping track of my creations by taking pictures so I don’t have pictures of share of each object. I also sometimes get so excited about gifting them I wrap them up before snapping a picture as well. OOPS!
Hello and welcome to my BUJO for the month! This month I went festive for the fall season and really embraced pumpkins. This past week I ended up going to my local box craft store and really fell in love with the art style of this pumpkin craft paper I came across called Pumpkin Patch Paper. I decided to grab a sheet and used it to decorate this time around, which I actually ended up kinda loving so I might do it again next month. We shall see! Anyway, here is what I did for the month of October.
I decided to keep this month’s spreads very simple since chances are I will have a lot going on. December is always a ton of fun, but it can be overwhelming at times. To keep things a bit calm, I figured I would keep things clean and organized. For the monthly calendar I just labeled it December 2022 and gave each day a rectangle on a single page. On the page opposite I decided to add some craft paper that has a blue background and images of blue holly, snow, pine sprigs, and a cut of a berry spring repeated throughout the page. I had used this method to decorate my BUJO the past few months and I have really been loving it.
Monthly Goals & Advent Tracking
Goal Pages, Monthly Notes, and Advent Tracking
On the left hand side I broke the page into two sections. The top is to keep track of my monthly goals I have for myself. These include setting up budgets, connect yarn to projects, read a book, complete 24 days of Blogmas, bake cookies or another sweet, and create goals for 2023. I already completed a few of these, but have quite a few to complete still. Under that I made a space called Monthly Notes, I usually save this spot to write down fun and exciting things that have happened over the month, almost like a memory dump of sorts. It is really fun to look back at.
On the right hand side I reserved to keep track of my advent projects this year. I have three that I am thinking about activitly doing this month, but I am thinking I will be only doing two. The two I know I am doing for sure are the 24-Stripe Socks. This is where you knit a single stripe on the socks per day. These will be my Christmas socks. I picked the 2022 Advent 24-Stripe Yarn by Freckled Whimsy and I plan on using a pattern called Spinifex Socks by Helen Stewart (Ravelry). The second one is a 12 Day Advent from MadlineTosh where you get the choice of 4 patterns and the yarn to complete that project as well as a few other goodies dealing with the yarn arts. I don’t know the patterns yet, so this should be fun to find out on December 1st! The last one that is a long shot is to use my minis and leftovers over the month of December to make the Anthology Throw (Ravelry), also written by Helen Stewart. I have a feeling I wont be doing this one, but just incase I wanted to add it. I plan on coloring in the days I actively work on each project to see how I keep up with these projects.
On both of these pages I ended up using up the leftover craft paper to add some pops of color as well. I thought it would be fun to tie everything together and add make things look a bit cuter. As you can see, I really kept things bare this month, I usually have a habit tracker and some other lists, but like I said December tends to be a little much so I wanted to go easy on myself. But, there you have it, my bujo spreads for the month of December!
Hello and welcome to a mid-month check in on my current reads and WIPs I am dedicating my time to. I already finished a few book, woohoo! But, I picked up a new read this weekend as well. While I am not reading luckily, I am working at a study pace, which makes me happy. As for making I have a few things on my needles, but one I am really focusing on. I hope you enjoy!
My Current Reads
Ghosts of Maine T.M. Gray, I just started reading this over the weekend so I don’t have too much to say. I am enjoying the way the book for a few reasons. The first being the formatting. It is perfect for picking up here and there in between all of my other obligations. The stories I have read so far have been enjoyable and I am excited to read more of these tales, especially since spooky ghost season is coming up soon. I love reading ghost stories this time of the year and the formatting mixed with the tone of these stories has been a perfect mixture for me. I can’t wait to continue reading it.
My Current WIPs
Color work yoke sweater hanging on a ladder next to a dresser with a plant on top.
I am currently working on my Alpenglow sweater. I am just about to separate for the sleeves, so good progress is being made. This is my first time doing color work, so I have been moving along very slowly, but now I am moving along. I am hoping to finish this sweater before the end of the month, but we shall see how much time I actually have to work on it. Things are looking promising though, so I am leaning towards being able to make thus goal.
Hello and welcome to my little home on the internet! Today I am sharing my BUJO spreads for the month of September. This month I felt a bit more inspired than I usual, so my bujo has a lot more detail than it has in previous months. I am really happy that I felt inspired because it ends up being so fun doodling and felt less like a chore that I needed to complete. Anyway, here is what I did!
Calendar page and September 2022 Dashboard with mushroom doodles.
This months dashboard I ended up making an entire page a calendar and on the other side I doodled a bunch of mushrooms with the heading September 2022. I ended up picking mushrooms because in September where I live I tend to see a ton of them growing.
Habit tracker with mushroom doodle. Weekly Knitting Goals with four sections that look like notebook pages.
The next page I ended up adding a habit tracker, just to see if I would use it honestly. I am going to track taking my vitamins, 10,000 steps, yoga, reading, and making. I ended up continuing with the theme of the month and drew a giant mushroom to take up the rest of the space on the page. Now, the next page I am really proud of. I have my weekly Knitting goals, I honestly should have made it maker goals, but I know that for the future now. I ended up making room for 4 projects to work on and made the trackers look like notebook paper. It came out better than I expected so I am planning on doing it again because I have been enjoying it so much.
Monthly goals and Random Notes Spreads
These last two pages are ones that will get filled out as the month goes on for the most part. The one page is my monthly goals where I would like to read 4 books, I left the titles of the four books blank so I can read whatever I would like. The next two goals are knitting related where I would like to finish my current sweater WIP called Alpenglow and start another shawl called Pressed Flowers. I ended up doodling another mushroom towards the bottom of this page because while I like having goals for the month, I don’t like making goals just to fill up a page. The second page is just a space to keep random notes, it is usually where I write fun things I did or see so I remember it.
Hello and welcome to my blog! I am just taking a moment to write some goals I have for myself this upcoming month. This month I feel like I am already ready to say goodbye to the heat of summer and embrace the light chill in the air of the start of fall later in the month. I don’t know about you, but I am already noticing the days getting shorter. Anyway, with all that in mind here is my intent for the month of September
Reading Plans
This month I would like to finish my two current reads, Maledictions: A Horror Anthology by Cassandra Khaw and I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy. I mentioned yesterday in my Monthly Digest | August 2022 post that I have really been enjoying both of them for different reasons. I am about 30% into both of them so I feel like I will fly through the rest of both of them.
Crochet and Knitting Plans
Collar and start of zigzag section of the colorwork yolk on needles and balls of yarn attached.
This month I have the goal of completing a sweater called Alpenglow I by Andrea Mowry. I have never made a colorwork sweater, but so far I am really enjoying it! It has been engaging so I don’t think I will have a problem finishing it up.
Random Goals
As for my random goal of the month, I really would like organize my space a bit more. I did a lot of unhauling of books, items, etc. because I had to downsize. While I was able to take some things out of my space, I kind of just shoved things where ever they would fit instead of organizing. So it has been a little difficult finding items and my space just doesn’t seem to be working for me. I feel like it is going to take some time, but I really want try to tackle it. or at least most of it, this month.
Hello and welcome to a monthly recap post that takes a look at my reading, crafting, and random things I did this month. This month was a ton of fun and relaxing at the same time. I was able to spend a lot of time outside enjoying the summer weather, but also enjoyed some time cooling off indoors with a good book. Anyway, here are some of the things I was up to this past month!
Reading
Finished The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager, I read this with my friends Jenna and Reg earlier this month. I was slow to get into it, but once I did it went pretty quickly. I think what made it hard to get into was the fact I was not a huge fan of the main character. To be fair they are a untrustworthy narrator because of their drinking very frequent, so I think this was the authors point. Personally, I am kind of sick of this in thrillers. Apart from that I really enjoyed the lake setting, it really lent itself to the story. I was able to clearly picture the scenes from the pages and felt that each person we met had their own personality. I did really enjoy the use of lore in this story, it was interesting and really engaged me in the story.
I am currently in the middle of Maledictions: A Horror Anthology by Cassandra Khaw and I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy. I am really enjoying both of them for completely different reasons. Maledictions is a wonderful collection of horror short stories that is great for when I don’t have a ton of time to sit and read. On the other hand I’m Glad My Mom Died is a nonfiction book written by a now grown child actress sharing her story. With this book, I really enjoy being able to dedicate time to reading it.
Crochet, Knitting and Crafting
Textured socks on sock blockers with contrasting heels and toes.
This month I ended up finishing a complete pair of knitted socks! I decided to follow a pattern this time around instead of doing a plain sock, I ended up using Picnic Blanket Socks by Helen Stewart. All her patterns are just wonderfully broken down line by line with stitch counts and % progress shown. They are really great patterns for when you are trying as new technique and want more than just the section ending count. These were a ton of fun to make, the texture was super easy and I can’t wait to wear them this winter.
Gray cropped tank top with bows on the straps
The second item I completed this month is the Georges Top by Johanna Gehrisch. I have some mixed feelings about this pattern. While I was making it I came across some things that I would change if I were to make this again. I would complete the bottom section on the round then pick up stiches to do the shaping. I also had to do ribbing around the bottom so the bottom did not curl, if done again, I would do a folded hem, the only reason I did not this time was because I didn’t know if I would have enough yarn. When finishing this pattern, at the time of making it, there was not a lot of guidance, did not tell me how far up to stich the halves together. I ended up guessing the the section I would do in the round in the future, well turns out I needed to do it higher for this items to sit correctly. Some guidance would have been helpful in that regard. Do I like this item? Yes, I do. Would I make it again. No, idea. I really loved the pattern, but having the lack in support towards the end was a bit of a turn off. If I did make it again I would remove the bows and make it longer as well as the changes I mentioned above.
Life
Kindle on table and dog sitting by feet of the reader
This month I was able to get a new ereader, if you want some more detail you can see my post called; My New eReader. Overall, I am loving using this, I take it everywhere and I really feel like I get more reading done. Yes, even though I only finished one book. Also, because it is not a computer screen I feel a difference in my eyes, they don’t feel as fatigued after a longer reading session.
A milestone I really wanted to celebrate is the fact that August marked one year of knitting. I did a post over on my twitter celebrating it as well. It is so hard to believe I have only been knitting for a month and have created things I never thought I would be able to and have fun challenging myself. Some of the more notable ones include a red textured and cabled shawl called the Saraya shawl, a textured brown shirt called Anker’s Summer Shirt, a gray shawl with eyelet details on the edge called the Kari Shawl and lastly some socks I am very proud of with contrasting heels and toes that I made from memory based on a vanilla sock pattern.
Rock beach next to the woods and water
One of the most relaxing things I did this month was taking walks outside and just enjoying nature. While there were some VERY hot days, it was great to just get out and walk on the days it wasn’t too bad or in the morning or evening. I took the above picture on one of my walks.
Hello and welcome to my blog! Today I am going to take a moment to share some of the books I took with my on vacation! I don’t know about you, but I love reading on vacation. The new environment is just a wonderful place to get lost in a book. This summer I decided to only take a select few, even though I wanted to fill my suitcase with only books. Anyway, here are the books I decided to take with me!
Picture of Lapvona hardcover and I’m Glad My Mom Died on eReader
Lapvona: A Novel by Ottessa Moshfegh, I recently picked this book up when visiting a local bookstore that is a mixture of new and used books. I picked this up because of the unusual cover and read the description and it sounded very interesting. It seems like this books is going to be a mixture of fiction and fantastical, but also a little bit of horror.
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, I enjoyed watching her on tv when I was younger and honestly I saw she was coming out with a book a while ago and knew I wanted to read it before really knowing how dark the topics within the book were going to be. From my understanding, her mother and her did not have a great relationship (I mean read that title!) and was taken advantage of. I am glad that she has written her story and I look forward to learning more about her personal life in her own words.
Hello and welcome to my little spot on the internet Today I am going to take a moment to share with you my new eReader. My last one, which you can read about here: Let’s Talk | 6 Month Review of Kobo Libra H2O, was one I really loved. Unfortunately, that one has ended up malfunctioning. It was constantly getting stuck in a bootloop and I was not able to use it consistently. So, it was time to move on and get a new one, especially since I have recently had to downsize my book collection to about a forth of what it was. I am planning to really shift to digital books because my lack of space, but I do have about 13 physical books still on my shelf waiting to me to read.
Kindle paperwhite signature edition box
Now, my past eReader was a kobo and I absolutely loved that thing and how easy it was to work with my local library. So, you might be thinking, “why is there a picture of a kindle there?”. Well, with a lot of thought I ended up going back to kindle. There was a lot of thought that went into it, but here are really the main points.
I really loved my Libra H2O, sadly Kobo does not make the model I fell in love with and to be honest I was not really thrilled with the newer models they were coming out with. I went with this model for the physical buttons, backlight, and screen size. They do have a similar model, but it was more money with not a lot of differences for me to personally pay more. The next reason was not being able to go to a store and get a giftcard to buy books. I try to spend within a budget so this is the easiest way to manage how much I spend on books. When I got my kobo I read I could get giftcard at a store, but that is no longer an option. Lastly, the integration with my library was a huge selling point because getting kindle books was so difficult at the time I was buying my last. In recent years, this has changed.
So with all of that in mind I looked at some alternatives and settled on a Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition. It has a similar size screen, I can buy gift cards to load on my account to buy books if I wanted to, and my library has a ton of great books I can load it with. I also had the ability to wait for a very good sale and ended up getting a bundle and saving money.
Contents of the box, kindle paperwhite signature edition, quick start guide, charger/sync cable
So, I made my tough decision, I actually thought about it over a month and waited for a good sale to finally pick it up. I ended up getting the ad free version with my bundle because, well I didn’t want ads on something I own. Inside the box came a quick start guide and a cable to charge the devise via USB or sync with something on my computer. But, my bundle came with a wireless charger stand and a cork cover as well that came in a different box. I have never had anything with wireless charing so I have been having a blast with this, but to be honest I have only needed to charge it once so far and I have had it over a month at the point of writing this. Not to bad!
Holding kindle ereader showing covers of current reads and knitting on lap at the beach. Current Reads: The House Across the Lake, Ninth House, Billy Summers,
I have already bought this eReader out and about with me. I have bought it on a few trips to the beach, it lives in my bag, and has even gone on vacation with me already. It has worked marvelously, I was a little worried about the sun and the screen getting funky at the beach, but all was well. I have found the size to be good for me and the auto backlight is pretty on point as well. I will say the sleep button would have been nice on top because it can be a bit awkward at times to wake up the device. I also have read that people have put their devices to sleep on accident while reading, thankfully I have not done that, but I can understand how annoying it is. As with my previous eReader I will do a bit of an update once I have used it for longer, but for now I am happy with my purchase and look forward to a bunch of reading!
Classic Bhaer 