Life has been hectic. We’ve all been sick, I’ve spent hours and hours working on a special project, we’ve taken all the Christmas decorations down, and yesterday we celebrated two birthdays. It doesn’t look like much, but the illness part has taken a lot out of me, particularly with the youngest sleeping poorly (and misery loves company).

I finally finished my mom’s Christmas present and mailed it today. After she has had the opportunity to see it I will do a post with pictures. I’ve taken all kinds of in-progress photos and uncharacteristically have been unable to share any!

Yesterday Pickles turned 11 and Father had a birthday too. Given that Father has joined me in the low-carb lifestyle the cake was entirely for Pickles. He only specified chocolate, so I got to copy a cake I saw on a Pinterest years ago:

Talk about simple! While Father took the older five to Cheesecake Factory the two youngest helped me decorate the cake. I think Mittens ate as much as she put on.

I’ve been working on a knitted shawl. From the shop’s Facebook page:

I make it a goal to use as much gifted yarn as possible, partly because it’s frugal and partly because I enjoy the challenge. Figuring out what to do with some unusual yarn (that you never would have purchased yourself) is broadening, leading you to try new things. (There are a few exceptions: Red Heart Super Saver and its ilk go straight into the donations bag. I’m not a yarn snob but there are limits.)

I’ve had two skeins of this art yarn for a year and I’ve had no clue what to do with them. The shawl I just made for my aunt inspired me and I decided to see how it would go as a shawl. I think it’s making quite a cozy one! For art yarn it’s exceptionally soft. The wide range in fiber weight only adds interest; it never would have worked in a swatched pattern.

The funny thing is, I’ve watched so many episodes of Time Team while knitting it that whenever I look at the yarn I immediately think of Iron Age round houses, Roman occupation, ditches, and the phrases, “stone the crows!” and “ooh arr.” 😄

I also mailed my first ever package to Switzerland today!

The weather here has been pretty uniformly cloudy, damp, and chilly. Kind of what you would normally associate with mid-March in a normal part of the world. We did have a lovely thunderstorm the other night which made for a nice change. It’s been a while since I’ve seen that much lightning.

I’m hoping that life starts getting back to normal soon!