Fifty one days until the first day of spring! And we had a real nice snow on Saturday morning. About eight inches of the white fluff to blanket our whole area. With my eye sight finding the way from the barn back to the house was a challenge. Everything was white. The fire pit was even buried now. And that butterfly garden winter interest was no longer visible. Thank goodness the ‘ugly’ old lilac bush was still sticking above the snow for something to aim at. It made me think of the winter days of long ago. The stories of Great Grandpa shoveling himself a tunnel to and from the barn each time he went out to milk the cows. I am thankful my milk comes in a jug in the fridge!

Practice stitch study has been a long time coming. I don’t think there is a crochet stitch that would be new to me. But practice I did. The idea is to make a reversible item. For those unfamiliar with the art, the front and back looks fairly identical. Of course, I can even find the backside of the oldest crochet doilies, because I know the stitch directions. But, my husband can only tell the backside by the stripes of a mosaic crochet pattern. So study I did.

In this technique the stitch is wrapped around the whole previous row so that the back mirrors the pattern. There is a technique of continuous flow that uses blank spaces to create a true reverse imaging affect. I find that option to be much “pixelated” and the pattern seems less defined to me. It took me a couple rows to figure out where the stitch should be placed. I am happy with the result.

Then after two sleepless nights, still not sure why, I found Sunday to be a day of complete rest. Yes, I played piano for church. No, I did not help my hubby with any of the kitchen duties. Yes, I tried a nap. It was unsuccessful.

In defiance of winter, my life always has some touch of spring. Here below is the window planter in the library. The aloe, and mother in law plant are doing well. The kalanchoe is putting on some blooms to wag it’s tongue at the snow outside. The little canna seeds are sprouting. Some took longer than others. So thankful my hubby could score all the seeds with a razor to get the process jumpstarted. The canna lilies in the greenhouse look a little tough. Giving them some bulb tone fertilizer has helped. Though it took nearly a month for them to bounce out of their winter duldrums.

February is literally just around the corner. This month is more seed started. And the greenhouse gets rearranged to make room for seed started in the grow beds. So it’s time to put January to rest and find new happenings to consider in February. Unfortunately it is not time to say goodbye to the bitter cold as this week proves to put on some more records. Brrr.