Rayen

Last week my guy and I went to Snooky Park in Lady Lake to walk. We love this little gem of a park in the old town area, as it's quiet and very serene. The walking trail around the park's four acres is about a half a mile in length. We usually see seniors, young moms with strollers and joggers at the park, so it's popular but not too crowded. There are squirrels everywhere, and their antics are cute. As veterans my guy and I also feel a special connection here. Snooky Park is dedicated to Atticus "Snooky" Blanton, a young man who grew up in Lady Lake and left to join the Navy. He was overjoyed to be assigned to the Arizona, and wrote home about how excited he was to be sailing to Hawaii. Sadly he was on the ship on December 7th in Pearl Harbor, and was killed at just 21 years old. If you're looking for a nice place to take a little walk, have lunch or watch the squirrels, I recommend visiting this lovely place.

The second lot of yarn I thrifted online last month arrived; let's see if it's as nice as I thought. Oh, yes. Ten skeins of clean, odorless yarn with labels, all but one are worsted weight. They are in mint condition and as beautiful as anything I could go and buy retail. The lot included three skeins of Starlette worsted in denim. Multiples are always great because of course they make larger projects. This Caron Colorama O'Go is the only bulky weight skein. I've always wanted to try one of these since they came out. I got two Premier Sweet Roll tri-color skeins, a yarn I also haven't tried yet. The colors of most of these yarns go well together, so aside from the O'Go I could make a decent-size throw out of them. Now for the numbers. This is what this yarn would have cost me if I purchased it new at the store: Lion Brand Pound of Love (Thistle) -- $15.00 Starlette (Denim) -- $4.99 each Deborah Norville Everyday Soft (Cold Mountain) ...

I made a scrap variegated yarn basket that stretched from December 31st to January 1st, but for my first official crochet project for the new year I'd like to use some yarn from this lot I thrifted back in November. I have seven brand new skeins of Mandala Ombre in Serene, one of my favorite yarns, that were in the lot. They retail for $8.77; by thrifting I was able to get them for about $1.50 each. I'm going to use them to make a throw for a dear friend, since I used the same yarn to make a pair of slippers for her. I think this free printable pattern from Mary Maxim is perfect, especially as it was designed for this brand of yarn. I've also made two other throws using this pattern and it works up fast and beautiful.

Last week my guy and I went to walk Daytona Beach, which was mostly (and eerily) deserted. This is what our beaches used to look like when I was a kid. It was a beautiful day, cold and breezy but calm. It feels like 2026 is getting off to the right start.

On New Year's Day I finished making a big beautiful basket out of scrap variegated yarn ( video tutorial here ) so I could stow some thrifted skeins of Mandala Ombre and other yarns I want to work with this month. I also got started on my calendar tote bag project by deconstructing a black canvas tote, pressing it and lining it with batting. I'm waiting on one last lot of yarn I won last year to be delivered; it seems to be bouncing all over the country. When it finally lands I'll show you the skeins and figure out the value. In the day job department, my editor approved my initial pitch for this year's big series project, so now I'm working on getting my new delivery schedule approved and thinking about how I want to write up the outlines. I detail all the things I work on in a project before I start it so I know everything in advance. My editor is also super about pointing out any flaws or logic problems, and helping me refine the ideas. 2...

Last year I picked up this pretty furoshiki in case I needed to wrap any holiday gifts. As it turned out I only gave physical gifts to my guy, and none of them quite fit the furoshiki. So now I need to use it, and I think I'll make it the center of an improv quilt. Here's one of the quilts I made for a friend. The design is my own, and the first time I tried building a quilt around a furoshiki. I think it's one of the prettiest quilts I've ever made. Here's another furoshiki-inspired quilt I made a few years ago. With two completed quilts I feel confident that I can make this latest acquisition into something fun -- maybe in dark blue, black, gold and white colors. Stay tuned to see my design and the fabrics I choose for the project.