Another Christmas Treasury

Today I'm sharing this awesomely Christmasy treasury I was just featured in...

I think it's my favorite one so far!  Perfect mix of red, green, and white!  The maker of this treasury is Ginette Brosseau, of Montreal.  A very talented photographer whose work you can check out here in her shop on Etsy.

I'm listening to Christmas music today and sitting here knitting up a big batch of cat scarves.  I just came up with a fun idea for tomorrow's post: my top ten favorite Christmas songs.  Can't wait to share them on here with you.  Hope everyone has a happy Monday today!  Drive safe if you have to go out...a lot of us are getting some really wintery weather.  :)

Getting in the Christmas Mood

I've really been getting in the Christmas mood around here.  I painted my nails the other day, to look festive and sparkly for the holiday craft fair I helped out at yesterday.  What a fun but very busy day it was.  It's always fun seeing everyone all dressed up in their most shimmery, sequined and Christmasy colored sweaters, scarves, earrings and pins.

I've been knitting these red and green cat scarves pretty much constantly.  And listening to Christmas music while I work.  Also watching the occasional Christmas movie!  Today I put in While You Were Sleeping, one of my favorites.  It's the perfect blend of 1990s, winter, single woman with a cat in a cute, tiny apartment in the big city, happy-lovey welcoming family vibe, and romantic comedy. 

 
I keep seeing Sandra Bullock's sweaters, scarves, and hats in this movie and wanting to knit them to wear for myself!

Everyone seems to love the little scarves I'm making and I've even received some very cute customer images of faraway kitties modeling their new scarves! 

Photo Credit: Christina C.

Photo Credit: Kelly W.

It is so cool to think about my little knit creations traveling to places I've never been.  (These two lucky kitties are from way out west!)  I bet there are some really embarrassed and/or annoyed felines walking around wearing these this month, but it is worth it, seeing how darn cute they look.

And I love this Etsy treasury I was included in.  The colors are so cheerful.

 It was called "Country Christmas" and was created by Cyndie, who runs the very neat shop called Vintage Envy on Etsy.

It is looking so wintery outside today.  It's the perfect day to be inside where it's warm, listening to Christmas music and knitting.  Right now my cat Janey is curled up in a ball, sleeping peacefully.  So peacefully she was starting to twitch her mouth, like she was dreaming about drinking something really good, like warm milk or eggnog or something!  :) 

I hope you are all staying warm and happy out there, whatever you are up to on this very wintery Sunday afternoon.  I'm planning some relaxing activities this week, making hand drawn Christmas cards for friends and family, and maybe baking some cookies or trying out a new holiday nail polish design.  Have a great week and try not to get too overwhelmed with the holiday busyness!

Winter Day at Home

Today was a very wintery feeling day.  It wasn't snowing, but the day was so dim and cloudy and cold, I was glad I didn't have to run to town or be outside very long in it. 

 I was feeling pretty inspired looking around Etsy today and decided to make a treasury:

It's somehow comforting, yet unbelievable that it's already December.  I did a lot of processing today about the change of course my life has taken this past year. 

The change of course has been for the better.  I feel like I've gotten back in touch with what's important to me and it's hard to look back and not get emotional at how far I've come from where I was last year around this time.

Last year on this day I was running my first craft booth at my local holiday arts and crafts fair, selling my knit and crochet things, and hand drawn holiday cards.  I was in a pretty stressed out mental place.  I had just ended a long and dysfunctional relationship and was struggling to find myself again. 

Then

Now

I had a lot of hard work to do on myself and it's really paid off.  I'm so thankful that I have a close family who have really supported me this past year.

I am proud of the new person I'm becoming as I continue to make wise choices and not beat myself up about my past decisions.  I'm excited about my plans for my future. 

I hope your year is ending on a thoughtful and glad note, like mine is.  I know we have a whole month yet until the new year is here, but I'm already feeling the fact that this year is coming to a close.

My new venture into making sweet things for pets is well on its way.  I recently opened a new Etsy shop called Janey in the Meadow.  I named it after my dear cat Janey, who is almost 10 years old now. 

She is a special companion to me and has been through a lot.  I adopted her as a kitten from the humane society in 2004.  She has a very feisty and bold personality and will not think twice about biting if she doesn't like what's going on.  She's a tough girl and she loves to run around outside and take walks with my dog Gilbert and me.  She likes to hunt field mice out here in the country, and her favorite flavor of canned cat food is turkey with cheese.

I was petting her one day, about two weeks ago, as she was curled up on my bed and I thought how cute she would look with a little winter scarf on.  I immediately went to work knitting her a sparkly royal blue tiny scarf and just couldn't stop smiling when I finished it and put it on her.  Let me be clear, Janey was not smiling...just me.  My sister thought it was a cool idea and militantly encouraged me to make more of them and put them up for sale so other people could love them too.  So I did.  I worked very hard to knit up a quick inventory and open a new shop devoted to pets, and on November 15th I opened for business.  It's been nonstop ever since.

I'm so glad to be making these cute things.  I somehow don't get tired of knitting these precious little scarves for cats.  Janey has been my faithful model, for all the new color designs.  And my mom's cats, Lynxy and Molly, have helped out too. 

I have a dog scarf design in the works... and Gilbert will be modeling that for me soon.  Yesterday a customer sent me a picture of her cat wearing one of my scarves and I was so giddy I couldn't contain it.  It is so cool to be able to make things I love and share that with other people who love them too!

I'm already brainstorming some future designs for Valentine's Day and spring that I can't wait to get started on.  I wonder how long Janey is going to tolerate this?