I finished the last hat and scarf set yesterday and actually had a chance to sit down and relax with a little knitting of my own. I love knitting with Lion Brand’s Thick and Quick yarn. It’s super bulky so it knits up quick, and it’s super soft, warm, and washable. It ticks all the boxes for a cozy winter hat that will last for years and years.

My tally for the year in knitting gifts is twenty-three hats, six hat and scarf sets, seventeen Christmas stockings, fourteen scrubbies, one pair of slippers, two pairs of socks, and a crocheted trivet. Not bad when you add in a king-sized quilt, two month-long camping trips, and mowing two farms. This between furnace repairs, a totaled car, and a new roof. It has been a REALLY busy year!!!

I had to put the shop on vacation while I was doing the last big push to get this stuff finished because we got into that grey area where it was too close to Christmas to receive something on time. I certainly wouldn’t want someone to buy something and be disappointed that it didn’t arrive on time. I still made some sales on special orders, but for the most part, I’ve taken the month of December to just play with yarn.

Now that the gifts are taken care of, I can get in the kitchen and start baking today. I went over to The Pig yesterday and got fresh flour. Mine had grown stale as I haven’t been baking nearly as much as I used to. I looked at my weight on a graph yesterday. One graph show just this year, and the other shows 2017-now. I had a huge weight gain between 2017 and February 2020. Those are the first years Mr. FixIt and I were together and set up housekeeping. I think the term is “fat and happy”. I baked and ate and baked some more. Then Covid struck and Mr. FixIt’s two strokes helped me feed my emotional eating machine till I finally got a handle on it in March.

I think I am at a point where I can bake now without fear of “going off the wagon.” I’ve learned a lot about the “why” of eating and can easily enjoy fruit instead of dense sweets without feeling deprived. Because every once in awhile, I indulge in a goodie and don’t feel guilty about it. Life is too short…eat the cookie. Just not a dozen cookies, and maybe some fudge and sugared nuts, and brownies. All things in moderation.

So that’s what I’ll do today. Bake…and feed the neighbors!

🎄

”“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”“

Luke 6:37-38 ESV