Small Projects

I really do enjoy January quite a bit. I always think of the month as clear and cold and sunny, and I feel as though I can see everything with fresh eyes. Don and I have already done some serious purging of books and clothes this week, and the kitchen cabinet contents are scheduled for the chopping block next. All this clearing out (and the peaceful feeling of having the Christmas rush behind me) leads toward much inspiration for whipping off some small projects and general improvements.

First up, since I became an expert at the crocheted hat before Christmas I decided to make a hat for each of Amy's baby dolls. This is the second one in progress. Each doll has a slightly different sized head so some fitting is necessary, but that aside each takes no more than 30 minutes. My kind of project.

Today Amy and I went to Michaels and I found just the basket to cure the case of hives I was getting each time I walked past the heaped-up-tumbling-over pile of hats and mittens on top of the icebox near our front door. It is a constant battle to keep this surface free for use for those in-transit things like bills to mail or library books to return. Winter schtuff had completely taken over and it was making me crazy. Happily, baskets were 50% off today, so for a mere $1o I seem to have solved this problem.

The top of this book shelf is currently pleasing me so much I had to take a picture. Pre-Christmas it was getting totally overrun with very uninteresting knick-knacks. Cleared them all for Christmas decorations and opted to just put a few back. Much better. New addition: Very finely crafted wooden pencil holder from my very talented brother. Desk space is at a premium, so instead of pencils I found some pretty little (fake) flowers for it and it is a display piece for now. I think it's just right.

This rug is not terribly interesting but I had to include it because it was my first reasonably successful attempt at crocheting in the round without it turning into a hat. I increased rather randomly but it seemed to work out. This was made with all the leftover yarn from aforementioned Christmas hat projects - it's all Lion Brand "Wool-Ease Thick-and-Quick." Really liked working with it! I put this rug over the seat of the rocking chair that Ollie sleeps on to mitigate the fuzz-to-butt transfer that was becoming a problem for any humans who wished to sit in the chair.

And last but certainly not least, the most important small project of them all...

... the baby that is being miraculously constructed inside of me while I sit here eating Christmas cookies. I had my 20-week ultrasound yesterday and got a good long look at the little one, and even a few 3D (or do they call it 4D?) views. The tech couldn't get me a clear face picture because someone kept putting his or her hands in the way. Oh, and yes, we are taking the old-fashioned option on this one - resisted temptation and decided not to find out the baby's gender. We did find out with Amy, and were glad we did, but thought we'd try it the other way for this one.

While I still have to wait a week or two for my doctor's visit to go over the particulars and make sure everything really does look okay (those ultrasound techs are annoyingly tight-lipped), we were thrilled to really watch this little baby and know that everything is progressing smoothly. How marvelous!