This year, we went into a nearby woods to gather cedar boughs for a Solstice wreath. We spent time walking with the trees and visited a labyrinth, we even found a ‘possum jawbone which now has a place of honor on our nature tray (which remains completely out of hand). With nothing but those boughs and a bit of twine, we crafted a beautiful wreath that graced our doorway for the last few weeks. Over the last few days, we’ve both noticed that it’s lighter a bit later. Those tiny shifts have added up and now the Solstice season feels over to us. So we brought it down and burned it in our firepit, enjoying the scent of the dried cedar and sending our thanks up with the smoke.

We love having tea parties – usually Earl Grey for me and “Owl Tea” or maybe chamomile-lavender tea for Little Owl.  Grandma (my mama) gave me this tea set for Christmas and I love it so much.  And this time, at Little Owl’s request, we lit some lotus incense.  “I bless for you peace.  I bless for you happiness and heart and I love you,” she said, cupping her hand over the incense and holding it to my forehead.  Best tea party ever.

So much magic.

“Pattern” – my own. She loves them. I wish I’d done them a bit differently, but, as I said, she loves them. And as a four year old from Texas, does not yet have sufficiently established ideas about mittens to notice that the thumbs could be a bit better.

One of Little Owl’s new hats – this shape reminds me of a pakol, which amuses me endlessly.

Little Owl’s Christmas penguin.

This is Tiger, for my niece, Tiger Lily. (That’s her nickname because Little Owl taught her to growl and it is a big part of her repertoire.) I used this adorable pattern by Louisa Harding.  The only change I made was to screw up the ears.

Here’s me modelling Little Owl’s crazy candy can hat.  She loves this yarn.  She has asked that I also make an elephant with it.  Naturally.

And here we have a picture of a sleeping Little Owl modelling a mitten.  I made up the pattern even though I’d never knit mittens before.  I don’t know quite what that says about me but suspect it indicates a pretty high level of cussedness.  Anyway, I wanted to make sure it fit.  It did.  (I don’t know why I didn’t take pictures of trying it on her with all the DPNs still in, before it was finished.)

And here we have a tiny bunny.  Little Owl always wants to give her friends knit toys for their birthdays.  We poked around on Ravelry for one sweet friend, and finally Little Owl settled on a bunny.  A really tiny bunny.  With a blanket.  A purple one.  And a blue blanket.  I wound up not using a pattern, of course, but it was a hit.

I knit a mountain of stuff for holiday presents, but never got around to taking pictures.  Oh well.  After all, there are only so many pictures of hats and scarves that actually need to be posted.

I have been freaking out a little bit about Little Owl’s art lately. I am so in love with her emerging style.  Here we have an elephant and a kitty cat.  There’s tons more but I know better than to start posting everything.  That way madness lies.

Look!  November tomatoes and delightfully delightful fingerless gloves!  Who doesn’t want that!  If you buy my fingerless gloves, your tomato vines will keep producing until the New Year!

Here’s the link!  Sorry for all the exclamation points.

Ms. Knit-It-All’s Etsy Store of Excessive Yarn

I think Little Owl may share my love of this season.

I wanted to make the altar without the need to purchase anything – I often find it frustrating how consumption-driven children’s crafts are, so this was all about upcycling. Dried flowers from Little Owl’s birthday party and a cut up Shiner Cheer six-pack carton made for some pretty great materials.

We had a wonderful time talking about days long past, remembering stories of family who left this life before Little Owl would remember them or before she was even born. What a beautiful day this is.

Apologizes for the quality of the pics – my current photo editing capabilities are nil, to which I say screw it, I’m posting anyway.

I love that I can feel winter in the night air, in the little shifts happening around me, but that the impossible colors of summer are still with us. This is my time of renewal, my setting out, my beginnings. With relief from the heat suddenly comes my new year. Happy Samhain!

May your day be full of the wonder of the new year.

I just happen to be taking commissions, so if you’re overcome with grief at not winning just let me know and we’ll see what we can do to assuage your pain.

It is also hard to get around to blogging when your small child has very reasonable but also very time-consuming needs.

It is, in addition to the above, hard to get around to blogging when you have been seized by some kind of berzerker knitting frenzy and Can’t. Stop. Knitting.

It is just not possible to take cute pictures of your own hand doing cute things while wearing armwarmers, no matter how weirdly long said arms may be.

All that being said, I have made a crazy pile of armwarmers, among other things. 

And I think I’ll give a pair away.

These are 100% wool and will fit just about any adult.  Leave a comment – with a link to your blog if you have one! – and I will pick a winner using a random number generator.  Which may involve asking Little Owl for a number.  We’ll just have to see.  Let’s say I’ll pick a winner this Friday.