Grey Scale...

The last morning of 2015, time for reflection...

I don't 'do' words very well. 

I'm in the middle of a grey part in my life. Not bad, not great. 

'Lagom', you would say in Swedish. 

At least there are always pictures to be made...

See you in 2016!

(with hopefully more to say and a bit more color to share...)

You can already start to see a little bit more color in the last two pictures...

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Louvre..

Click! to enlarge...

Just in time for a two day visit to Crystal Mountain (where a ton of snow has been falling!), I finished this Louvre sweater!

Cascade 220 yarn in two colors was used. Definitely not my favorite yarn, but a good and fairly cheap option, although a little dull... The slipped stitch pattern on the front looks impressively difficult, but it is really easy to make.  I also really like the p3, k3, p3 stitch pattern in the raglan which continues on underneath the sleeves. A fun pattern that I wouldn't mind making again, but then in a lighter yarn maybe. That would involve a lot of counting though, so maybe not... <wink>

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So, the Holidays have started. Miss M. already came home a week and a half ago and Master C. arrived home on the Greyhound bus  a few days ago on the one day where the passes were open. Yes, a lot of snow has been falling in the mountains and yesterday we even had big flakes coming down here in the lowlands! Nothing stuck of course, but those large flakes are so exciting! {smile}

I hope everybody can find some peace in these dark days and joy too of course!

***

A Masterpiece...

Click! to enlarge...

Yesterday I finished Mr. G.'s hat called Collision designed by Tora Froseth. Boy, the fingering weight (very thin), the color (very dark) and the cables (very fiddly) did not make this an easy knit, but oh so satisfying. It truly felt like I had finished a Masterpiece! {smile}

Below you can see the true color of the hat. Yarn is by Hazel Knits in Entice. The color is Twilight, absolutely gorgeous! The description says: "Twilight is inspired by the soft glow of light emanating from the sky, just as the sun dips off the horizon. Hits of turquoise peek through a layer of deep blues and black."

I still have a little less than half a skein left so now I can start contemplating what else I can make of this yarn...

So Much Rain...

Remember what I wrote last week: last day of frost with lots of rain in the forecast. And boy, was I right! We've had rain pretty much non-stop for days and days and yesterday it happened: our little town become an island in the Snoqualmie River Valley. This has only happened to us twice before (both in the first year we moved in), so this is quite exceptional. We were actually cut off from all the roads and so my lovely hubby got to spend a day at home, which was kind of nice actually. {smile}

The weather was super mild yesterday and completely dry for a change! (except for the enormous thunder & lightning storm that came through at 6:45 am) We had a lovely three and a half mile walk around the area and it felt almost spring-like...

This is the Tolt River. It didn't flood too badly...

This one of our main roads. You can see the water made it all the way to
where the truck is standing. This is about half a mile away from the actual river bed!

Tolt River again...

This morning some of the roads are starting to open up, but the one that we use most of the time probably won't open until late tomorrow or maybe even Saturday. No matter, as long as we can get out. Miss M. is flying back in from L.A. this weekend so we have to be able to reach the airport of course! 

I wanted to go out on my bicycle today to have a look at the north end of town, but guess what? It is raining again and it will do so for the next three days!!! 

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In other news: this weather is great for knitting!  {smile} I made quite good progress on that "Collision" hat I'm making for Mr. G. in fingering weight (Hazel Knits Entice)...

On the left: Tuesday, on the right: Wednesday.
The color on the right is a bit closer to the original...

And the Louvre sweater is coming along quite nicely as well! Sleeves are next...

Louvre... The filters I used on this picture gave the sweater 
some blue and brown spots which are not there in real life...

But what about my poncho project you ask???  I made it to the mid-way point (25 inches!), but I just couldn't see myself wearing the thing! Last weekend I decided to completely rip it back to the beginning! Yes, that was a very tough decision, but now I'm starting to look around what other pattern(s) might take my fancy. This is how far I got...

Still love the two yarns, but they will have to become something else...

And while I'm busy knitting I'm listening to the Pentatonix Christmas record: love it!!! (especially "Mary did you know")

One Last Frosty Morn'...

20F / -7C this morning! This will be the last frosty morning for a while since the rain will be returning again tomorrow. I ventured outside in my slippers and robe again to catch some beauties...

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In the mean time, Thanksgiving came and went. It was wonderful to have all four of us back together again. Miss M. will be back in less than two weeks and Master C. will return a week later, so we will not have to wait so long this time... 

We went out for dinner together, celebrated Thanksgiving with my extended Dutch family, cut down the biggest Christmas tree in our family history (11 feet / 3,3 m tall!) and used bungee cords to keep it up, went shopping (we bought four sets of Christmas pajamas between Miss M. and myself....), did some baking etc. The kids both have lots of finals coming up so some studying was done as well, but all in all we just plainly relaxed!

Master C. & Miss M.

Our tree to be!
(Yes, we should have known better...)

Trying to keep the tree upright...
(Miss M. is holding the bungee cords here.
later they were tied to the bookshelves...)

Tadaa!

Family life...

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Another Frosty Morn'...

26 degrees Fahrenheit this morning, just right for some more frostiness...

We're in the middle of our Thanksgiving Holidays over here. Miss M. arrived Monday night by plane from Los Angeles and Master C. arrived mid-day on Wednesday, by car from Spokane. 

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my Dutch aunt & uncle and some of their friends (also Dutch) yesterday and it was a lot of fun hearing all the stories from 'ye olden days'. (they were all one generation older than ourselves) We enjoyed lovely food but mainly we just enjoyed each others' company...

Today we're going to venture out to our local Christmas Tree Farm and do some chopping. The best day of the year we think! {smile}

First Frosty Morn'...

Oh yes, colder temperatures have arrived! Miss M. will be coming home in a couple of days. The temps in Los Angeles are around 86F / 29C right now and we're waking up to just below freezing...

Good thing she has fleece sheets on her bed!  <wink>

PS: All pictures are straight out of camera, so no editing whatsoever.  

(you know how much I like to edit!)

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Reflections...

                                          Reflecting on all that is happening everywhere around us...

The morning after the storm. We're in the middle of yet another flooding event, the third one already and the biggest one this season so far. We still have roads to get out but that number is down to two. All is quiet now, the sun is even starting to come out and our power is on, not so for thousands of others. Counting our blessings...