The wind has been hitting our house pretty hard. It wasn’t until I moved into the country when I figured out the importance of knowing where the wind is. We are south facing, which is great for a northern climate. It means those cold, cold winds are blocked by the little woods behind us. However, we are totally exposed to the south, so that means when the wind is coming from the south, our house is crazy cold, and we can’t seem to shake it no matter how much wood we add to the fire. The only solution is wear wool at sit near the fireplace with a hot drink. When the snow is nice and powdery as it is right now, it also means that the driveway in the front of our house fills with undrive-able snow about every 3 hours or so.
So yesterday we were snowed in. We missed our homeschool co-op. Knut had meetings all day in town, so he walked to the end of our driveway where his dad picked him up. He could have plowed our driveway first, but what would be the point? It would just fill in again in a matter of hours, if not minutes. Later in the afternoon it slowed up a bit and Knut and his Dad plowed the driveway and then Knut and Silje got to go to town and run some errands as I prepared for some moms to come over to hang out after bedtime.
All the windows in the house were shaking the other night and it woke me up over and over again. The next day we all had cabin fever pretty bad. We’ve been cleaning a lot. The antidote to complaining in this house is serving one another, so that’s what we do.
As for my jobs, I’ve been making recipes found on Pinterest like crazy. I’ve been pinning for years, but I don’t always cook them. This last week I’ve made:
Cheesy Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole (I made 3 of these in bulk, and stuck them in the freezer for later…so I hope we like it.)
Chicken Bacon Wild Rice Soup (I made a triple batch of this as well, but I changed this soup significantly. I think I’ll make a post later on to talk about the modifications. We ate one of the batches and it was y.u.m.m.y. The other 2 batches made it to the freezer for later as well.)
My freezer meals were completely depleted, so I was very happy to make a big batch of wild rice and stick all those meals in there.
I’m planning this weekend sometime:
Also, I’ve been cleaning my sewing room. Actually, I think I’m going to rename it. Before I claimed it as my sewing room, it was referred to as “The Laundry Room” mostly because it’s where the washer and drier live. It took Knut quite awhile to be retrained to refer to it as “The Sewing Room” since it had been his mom’s “laundry room” for so many years. However, I knit more than I sew now. I still love sewing, but I thought I could move the sewing machine over to the side: accessible but a little out of the way. Then I cleared off the desk area and made a space for my laptop and spreading out notes about various knitting patterns. My knitting projects and notes about projects are all over the house, and I thought that maybe I could use the sewing desk for awhile as my knitting space.
One of my favorite knitting designers, Carrie Bostick Hoge, has a blog called Madder and she refers to her knitting design space as “her studio.”
And since I want to be just like her, I think my sewing room may be referred to as “My Studio” now. I love the sound of that.
I organized my yarn scraps from various projects. (Can you tell I’m SO over this winter yet? Just for eye candy, look at this post from last summer. I mean…come on. Look at that color! Look at the DIRT!) I took quart sized mason jars and organized the scraps by color. I love it. They’re so pretty. I really don’t use my straight needles much anymore, and I’ve stored them in this vase for a few years now. But my kids use them a lot for their knitting, which is nice. That way I don’t have to lend them my expensive circulars.
Speaking of which, I ordered myself a new set of interchangable needles. I have Hiya Hiyas now which I do love, but I thought it would be nice to have a wood set as well for certain types of projects. They’re being custom made in Vermont and I feel a little snooty for even saying that, but I’m so excited!! They won’t be done until August or so, because the waiting list for them is that long.
I hope you are all keeping warm!
Kristen says
March 7, 2014 at 2:01 pmooh tell us how you like the needles when you do get them! I’ve always been partial to metal (I also have Hiya Hiyas) but I’ve wondered about branching out into other types and people always rave about the Dyak Craft ones.
And I have a vase for my straights in my crafting room too – great for decorating with needles that, truthfully, I don’t use much any more.
Donna says
March 7, 2014 at 5:28 pmI love how you put the yarn in the jars! Very creative. I think we are all wanting some color in our lives these days. I cant’ wait to hear all about your new needles.
Diana Crump says
March 7, 2014 at 6:46 pmYou will love your darn pretties. The wait is long but they are lovely.
elizabeth says
March 7, 2014 at 7:10 pm🙂 I am partial to the bamboo needles myself, though I Have used other types (plastic, metal mainly)… knitting is a joy! So nice that you have space to work from!
I hope that the wind dies down and warmth comes soon!!
Mom says
March 8, 2014 at 12:05 amWe are definitely keeping warm! 🙂 I’m sure it’s a good feeling to have your “studio” all set up!
bookworm-Mary says
March 8, 2014 at 3:39 pmI love the yarn scraps in mason jars– so colorful and cheerful in the dreary weather!! And they’re easy to access, so you know what you have, if you get into a scrappy project! 🙂