2022 So Far; #Snow + Creativity With #Music & #Crafting + #AmWriting

I got two Christmas cards too late to get them in my post about the holidays.  Both cards came from online friends.  So, before I tell you what's been going on in 2022 so far, here's a photo of the two cards:
 

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It tried to snow late on the evening of January 4th.  But it was more sleet than snow, and didn't come to anything.

 

They promised it would try again over the following few days though, so I was hopeful for snow to enjoy.  It was certainly cold enough for snow... 

Finally, on January 7th, all my hoping and wishing paid off, because we got some actual snow!

 

Which, unfortunately, we forgot to grab a photo of.

 

Admittedly there wasn't much, and the ground having been rained on so recently when the snow fell meant most of it was gone as fast as it fell.  But there was enough so I could go catch some snowflakes as they fell, and I managed to scrape together a small snowball.  So at least it was snow worth mentioning.

 

Of course, I'd have liked more.  And it would have been nice if it hadn't warmed up just enough that what I woke to the following morning was rain rather than more snow.  But you can never have enough snow in my opinion, so I'd be telling you I wish we'd had more even if we had a foot of snow.  LOL!

 

Besides, the rainstorm we had next day was awesome to listen to.

 

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I've used most of my Christmas money to get a few craft supplies I want for spacific projects.  In particular wool in certain colours to knit a cosy for my new teapot.  My old teapot has a purple and blue cosy to match the fact it's purple, so I want to make a black and orange one to go with my black "Witches Brew" teapot.  I thought those colours would be appropriate for it.

 

I haven't started making the cosy yet, but it's right near the top of my crafty to-do list.

Well, I don't actually have a to-do list exactly.  I've not bothered to make a list of the projects I want to get done.  Though several times I've wondered if maybe I should.  But there are a lot of them, and this tea cosy would be right near the top of the list if I did sit down and make one.

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I've been learning to play the keyboard since some time in December.

 

I'm not all that good yet - in fact, far from it.  And half of what I can play is only the start of various songs.  But I'm slowly making progress, and trying counts.  So, here's a clip I did at the start of January of me playing the only things I can play in full (though hesitantly, and far from perfectly).

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Another new thing I've started doing is learning to loom knit.

 

They do it on one of the crafty calls via the ACB, so I decided I'd go along and see if it sounded like something I'd like to have a go at.  It did, so I used the birthday money I hadn't spent yet to buy myself a little set of knitting looms (since it was one of the few things I didn't inherit from my Nan when I got her craft stuff).

 

The knitting Zoom classes/sessions are usually held on Thursdays (needle knitting one week, loom knitting the next) but they had a special beginner loom knitting class planned for the second Saturday in January (so, this past Saturday) and I was able to get my loom in time to join that.

 

During the class we did a small piece with just a couple of rows to learn how to cast on, knit the basic "E wrap" loom stitch, and cast off.  Now I'm attempting to make a scarf with the loom.  It's one of those that will be double thickness, because I'm knitting a tube, and will darn the ends closed when I'm done.  Since scarves were what I did first for both needle knitting and crochet, it felt appropriate.  Only this time the scarf will be for me, rather than for my doll, Jo (who no longer has the multiple scarves I knitted for him growing up, but is currently sporting the crochet scarf I made last year)

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I'm also working on two crochet projects.

 

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One is a crochet blanket, which I started working on at the end of last year.

 

Originally I was going to do several squares and stitch them together, but then decided to do it differently.  If I just keep going with my square so it gets bigger and bigger until I'm happy with the size of it, I won't have to worry about sewing the squares together, so I'm doing it as one solid piece instead, because I liked the idea of avoiding needing to sew the squares together later.  LOL!

 

It's coming along slowly, partially because I'm working on so many other things, partially because I'm very slow with crochet, and partially because I forgot which way around the differences worked when it came to US vs UK terms for the crochet stitches, so am doing UK double crochet, which is US single crochet, instead of US double crochet, which is UK triple crochet, which makes the stitches more tightly woven (if you know what I mean) and the rate it grows at a little slower.  Oh well, never mind.

 

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The other is a mug hug, which - for anyone who doesn't know and would like to - is essentially a mug cosy.

 

That's about half finished, even though I only started it on Tuesday with the ACB crafters in the most recent crocheters call, because it's a much smaller project so obviously takes a lot less time to complete.

 

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In other crafty news: I finished the pillow cover I was making out of the tortoise print fabric I got for my birthday.

 

Well, one side is tortoise print.  The other side is plain purple.  Either way, here it is:

By the time you're reading this post, it should be among the throw pillows on my sofa.

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Another thing I finished is this baby cardigan (sweater to those of you outside the UK).

 

 

The cardigan was among the partially done projects I inherited from my Nan along with her craft supplies, so I wanted to finish it anyhow, because I’m trying to finish up some of the partially completed projects – Nan’s ones, as well as my own – in between working on new craft projects.  But, on top of that, a family friend is having a baby in a couple of months, so I wanted to finish it to give to that person for the baby.  I won’t name them, since – though chances of them doing so are slim – there is a chance the friend in question might see this, and I don’t want them to know for sure it’s for their baby until I’m ready to give it to them.

 

Anyway, Nan had knitted most of the cardigan, but I finished it off and put the buttons on it.

 

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I made a decorative round dishcloth/doily thing too, which I haven't had a chance to get a photo of yet.

 

 It was one of the projects the ACB Crafters knitting group was working on, and it sounded like it would be a fun one to do, so I decided to make one with them.  It’s a really simple pattern, so was quick to knit up (even for the beginners in the group).

 

It’s officially actually supposed to be a round decorative dishcloth, but because of the type of wool I used it’s better as a doily than a dishcloth - something I was aware of when I started, but decided I didn’t care about.  I could have gone and fetched a ball of my cotton yarn so it would actually be a dishcloth, but decided to just use the first kind that came to hand for my first time doing it, and use it as a decorative doily this time instead.  I can always make another using cotton yarn at a later date if I want one to be an actual dishcloth.

 

Anyway, I'll get you a photo of that soon.

 

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And, yes, I've also been writing from time to time, though admitedly not a lot.

 

I'm not sure what to say about that though, because there's not really anything to report other than the fact a bit of writing has been happening here and there.  I'm slowly moving writing projects closer to completion, but nothing is at the point where I really have much to share with you about it yet.

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Other than reading (I'm on my third book of the year, and so far enjoying what I've read this year) the general day to day tasks, playtime with the petkids (Lilie was almost as excited we got snow as I was) and the other ACB calls I've been attending (which include Saturday night kareoke) that's pretty much what's been going on around here since the start of the year.  So, 2022 is off to a great start for me.

 

I hope you can say the same, and have been enjoying plenty of the things that make you happy.