Happy New Year, everyone! I had a vivid flashback on New Year’s Eve to 25 years before, Doug and I walking through Potsdam with two young children, watching the crazy excess of fireworks that the occasion provoked, surrounded by speculation of whether Y2K might crash the computer networks, and thinking how utterly weird it was to have a year that didn’t begin with ’19’. And now, here it is, 2025, the children are grown, I can barely stay awake to welcome in the new year, and I fear that my weird-o-meter has been blown to smithereens. Things change so quickly, and yet, here we are.

I missed most of the end of the year stuff that I usually post here, like my annual mitten post and the round-up of knitting projects. The last year ended on a sad note for us. My step-father, Stuart, died on the 24th of December, 2 days before his 91st birthday. Stuart was a lovely man, a hugely supporting presence in my life, and a great grandfather. We will miss him.

In the interest of completeness, and because they are terribly cute, I do want to show you my final finished project of 2024, a pair of mittens for Leah.

These are the Robinia Mittens by Anne Ventzel. She published the pattern just as I was finishing up my Anne Ventzel knit-a-long project, showcased in my last post. I liked the pattern instantly, and this was confirmed on my trip to Aarhus in mid-December when I was able to try on a sample pair at the yarn shop, Yarnfreak.

I purchased the yarn, Filcolana Peruvian, a worsted-weight wool, in a lovely blue and yellow combo, and cast on as soon as I returned. They are not only super cute, but they are fun and very easy to knit.

I realised after I took these photos that Leah is posed in a “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” tryptich. And have you noticed how well they match her coat?

Tomorrow I go back to work after a strange and stressful Christmas break. I was very tired and feeling burned out before the break, and then we had a lot of sadness to deal with. Not surprisingly, I ended up getting sick. Doug has been suffering from knee and hip problems. Emma was not home, which was also sad. On the other hand, Leah has been home for a month which has been lovely. Here we are in Henley-on-Thames:

And here we are (with dinosuar!) in London at the Natural History Museum:

I am busy planning out my next knitting projects. I have a few things still on the needles which I hope to either finish or frog, and I intend to cast on some new things soon. Kate Davies announced a new knitting club yesterday, which I imagine will spark some ideas. I am planning another pair of mittens or two. Leah has managed to co-opt one of my shawls (see above photo), and since Doug also adopted one, and Emma managed to go home with two, I think I may need to cast on a new shawl for me. So, life goes on, with a New Year in front of us. There are certainly some weird things coming our way, and many challenges, but also there is family, and craft, and intellectual pursuits to keep our hearts and hands and heads engaged.