Long Pause , Many things

Christmas , came and went.. seems so long ago..

Each year I make up a wee winter village and it changes every year...Sarah created a town a few years ago...so this one is my version of winter wonderland.....

It was lovely to have S and M with us for the family meal...and Christmas day...we did miss JKB, and hung a big "J" on the tree....so she was with us in spirit... altho we did know she was having a great time on her journey in south OZ...with 30 degree highs!!

This is our Christmas Eve feast...a little of this and a little of that..
This year I vowed not to overspend and to try to get back to handmade items if I could get them done in time...

My big endevour was to knit a pair of slippers for each of my family... these were felted clog slippers. I took a lesson at our local wool store and off I went...

Here are SWB's slippers...freshly knit...and I almost forgot to snap a "before" shot before popping it in the washer!! you can see part of it is wet already, as I yanked it out out the washer. They are deliberately made 3 sizes to big...to accomodate all the shrinking that happens in the felting process..

Here they are after 3 agitation cycles in the washer... still soapy
After a couple of more agitations and sizings...here they are in the rinsing stage , in the sink.
Next is the 'stuff them full of plastic bags' stage and s l o w dry them... oh, that's a felted hat I finished as a Christmas gift to my pal L...

Once they are all totally dry...the bags come out of them and a gentle brushing occurs...it's so amazingly that you can't see any stitches!

Sarah's earthen green clog slippers all done...

and JKB's tourquoise clog slippers all done...

The backyard light display...which greets us each evening when we come home from work...very whimsical....and cheery...