In the above photo Rowan is helping me to undecorated the Christmas tree. It's such a weird feeling. The kids were asking me why we were doing it and I told them that Christmas was over, which was hard for them to wrap their minds around because every day kinda feels the same to them I think. What makes yesterday "the holidays" and today just a regular day? Rowan also keeps impatiently asking me when his baby sister will be born. She's due in February and all fall I've been telling him "in the winter" and "after Christmas" and now that we are very much in deep winter and it is officially after Christmas he is ready to meet her. We all are but we have several weeks to go still.
The timing does feel a little odd to me as well, just because it's a New Year and a part of me feels like it's a good opportunity to do a bit of reflecting followed by goal making and planning, but I've done it and all that I've come up with is that this is probably my last year with a newborn and therefore my only goal is to slow down and enjoy it as much as possible. Relish in every single magical newborn moment and not worry out about anything else. Of course I'll have to keep the business afloat, but I've come to love the distraction and purpose that running my business gives me while I'm spending all of my time caring for a new baby. I don't know what exactly the year has in store for us, I have made zero plans, but I know that it will be full of slow days and simple pleasures. I can't wait!
We had a terrific holiday season this year. The boys are at such great ages to really make the most of it. The boys are back at daycare today and I already miss them. I'm going to take this week to ease myself back into work. Our annual Boxing Day Update was a whirlwind of fun and I've got loads of orders to ship, bit by bit I'm going to start packing up orders and shipping out yarn (I'll probably start next week, though it will take me a few weeks to get through all the orders). I have handmade Christmas gifts to blog about and new WIP's to share with you, all in good time! To get the ball rolling here is a quick rundown of the gifts I made:
1) scrappy socks for my brother. I love how these turned out! Ravelry project page here. 2) also for my brother (I drew his name in our gift exchange this year) a woven scarf, Ravelry project page here. 3) Vanilla is the New Black socks for Chris, Ravelry project page here. 4) gorgeous socks for my mom, Ravelry project page here. 5) Oh! And I somehow missed the socks I knit for Dad in this collage, Ravelry project page here.
And a few more fun things for the boys! 1) matching Christmas pj's (opened on Christmas Eve!) and cardboard houses (a huge hit!). 2) Rainbow mitts for the them (and me!) Ravelry project page here. 3) A set of nesting dolls personalized for Rowan. I'm really proud of these. I completely copied this pin and love how they came out! 4) You can barely see it because that unicorn kinda steals the show, but there is a denim whale tucked under Rowan's arm in that last shot, made using this tutorial.
I had a ton of fun making some non-knit handmade gifts this year. It's a weird thing to admit, but I feel like for the past 12 years all I've done by way of arts/crafts is knit! Knitting is such a part of my everyday life and it satisfying my creative itch so I haven't missed exploring other crafty interests, but painting that little set of nesting dolls, and playing around on my sewing machine has reminded me of how deep and varied my love of craft is. I will never not knit, but maybe taking a night off here or there to paint or sew or stitch in some other way will happen more often in the future. But don't worry, knitting will always be my one true crafting love. ;)