Yes, please.

To a new year, that is. :)

Like many, many others I've seen - I don't think 2013 was the best year ever. 

Still here in one piece though so I can't complain too much. 

Onward to 2014!

Oh, that might be a little unfair though because the holidays were quite nice 'round these parts and I've enjoyed the break. A nice finish to the year is appreciated after the depressing grind of the middle parts, yes?

I tried to put up my little 'Charlie Brown' tree in place of the 'missing' large one. Yeah. Someone kept knocking it over and trying to chew the electrical wires to the lights so that only lasted a few days before I packed it away again. So I was not wrong in my assessment of Fitz's abilities to behave with a tree - any tree. PLAYAS GOTTA PLAY.

 I kept the twinkly lights up in my picture window so at least we had that. (They must come down now though because he was caught trying to chew the light bulbs today. Grrr.) I did manage to put up most of my stitchy ornaments still. (See above.) I usually have a garland going around the banister and downnnnnn the stairs - works nicely for pinning ornaments it turns out. On the other side of that part of the bannister, I had my wee knitted stockings and sweaters up...

Turns out as long as I have a tiny bit of twinkly lights and my handmade ornaments up somewhere in the house, I don't miss the tree all that much. (I still want one again next year though.)

Oh, in lieu of any major gift giving this year, we decided to upgrade our phones so all pictures are brought to you via my smashing new iPhone. That newest version has quite a lovely little camera on it, doesn't it? Sooooooooo much better than my 3+ years old last iPhone. (The camera on that was laughable. And I haven't had a speck of space left on it in monthssssss to do any updates or add music, etc. And goodbye waiting a full minute for apps to open up!)  It served me well but I'm quite glad to move on from it. :)

So what did I do with my break? Gosh, a whole lot of nothing. IT WAS LOVELY. 

I finished one book. Just one.(Art history book. Boring to 99.9% of people, I'm sure.)

Started/finished one ornament. Just one. 

(L*K stocking design. Called for threads, random linen that I don't quite love but it will do and I added my own mini buttons. The linen has blotches of pink, blue and brown on it and it's origins are TOTALLY unknown. Anyone?)

Ha! That might be it. (I also finished a scarf just last night that I started last summer but it's still damp and can't be photographed in all it's glory yet. He will have to get his time in the sun, so to speak, in the next post.) Oh! I did catch up on three months worth of Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair magazines that were 'piling up' on my iPad. And I rewatched Series 4 of Downton Abbey because the hubby never caught it on the first go round. (Yikes. Did not love that Christmas special though. *snooooooze* Just me? Anyone?) And, course, there were lots of kitty snuggles and endless mugs of hot tea. :)

This week has been less of a break though because I've doing some New Year's cleaning and getting set up for 2014 with my business. Just really tossing things about and giving everything a good scrub. Took me 3 days to finish upstairs and now I get to start on downstairs. (Bleh.) Some things, like the linen cabinet, were an epic disaster. So glad they are all sorted out again. (I don't have to cringe anymore every time I go in there for a hand towel or a new set of sheets. Bless!) Back to work this weekend though. All good things must end at some point.... maybe? Or is that a really depressing view of things? Heh.

Oh! I have to post the hubby's last woven scarf as well. Another one I would have liked to keep for myself, for sure. The colors are ridiculously off in this photo but it's already gone on to someone else as a gift so it will have to do.

This one is all Paton's wool in a sock weight. The warp (length) is the gray yarn in the fringe and the weft (left to right) is the top most yarn in this pile from March 2012:

God love him for using up more of my yarn stash. It brings a tear to the eye, it does. *sniff*

I could - conceivably - get to the end of it now before old age. IMAGINE THAT. 

I just need a solution for my cross stitch stash now. :)