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Holy Holidays

Yep, I backed away from both knitting and blogging for the Holidays.  It is, at least for me, a time to be with people, not sort-of-listening as I knit, or trying to steal a few extra minutes away to write.  So it was that I more completely and fully committed to family during the break.

It all began on December 12 when I flew from Vancouver to Minneapolis, Minnesota and met in person my grand daughter for the first time.  Here we are celebrating that meeting

Grandma Jan and M finally together
Of course, Mom had dressed her in the charcoal and red Sunnyside/Tenacity sweater I'd knit and had M in the too cute for words Rufflefbutts in red.  It was great to finally meet this little girl.  She developed a lot in the 19 days I was there; I am going to really miss not seeing that development in person in the future.

There were lots of moments like these:  (Photos removed)


There was a very small bit of knitting, I finished the Waffle Blanket from Tin Can knits.

This photo done to sell the pattern; at least you can see the texture

I knit mine in green and Mom used it often in the holidays when M was dressed in red.

I didn't really photograph the blanket but the focus from my POV was right here.

There was also time with my family of origin in Wisconsin.

Part of the Wisconsin clan

And one morning the hoar frost which is common in Wisconsin was beautifully ethereal.  This was actually a morning photo; I love the hazy sun rising in the background.

Hoar frost on the farm

But most of all there was a lot of this type of goofiness from Dad.  He still maintains his wonderfully light spirit, even with the pressures of home ownership and fatherhood.  Now that we've made it to 2014 I will be heading back to knitting in earnest, but today I'll be reflecting on what a great 19 days I just had.  Thanks to every one of my family and friends who helped to make it memorable.  And hats off to 2013, it was a pretty fantastic year; one I won't take for granted.

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