Well, it seems like it's either feast or famine around here. One month I won't go away and the next I've got nothing at all to say.  One of the benefits of NaPloPoMo (curse its ever-present nagging!) is that I was always looking for the next thing to write about, a habit I dumped --with obvious consequences--as soon as the 31st rolled around. 

What, you might well wonder, have I been doing this month?  

First, we have been watching birds.  We set up feeders in the back yard and, should I bother during breakfast to look up from my book (Out of Oz, right now; yes, I'm enjoying it, but I'm parcelling it out in small doses so it's not over too soon), I can watch the birdies.  There is even a pair of binoculars on the table if I want a better view.  These are not our best binoculars, which hid first under an extra pillow I use to support my iPad when I'm sitting in bed (I keep the pillow on the floor normally, right on top of the binoculars), and then--after I discovered them next to my side of the bed and issued apologies to everyone who had been accused of concealing them-- hid in plain sight on top of my dresser and still have not made their way down to the table where they might be of some use.  But they do give me a slightly better view of the birds, as does the camera, although that doesn't help me until I put the pictures on the computer and blow them up big enough to see.

In addition to the jays, we have our usual chickadees, a very red cardinal, a wood pecker, and several bluebirds, but no pictures of them.

The rest of the bird watching is done here:

The chickens are up to their usual tricks, which is to say they spend the day pecking at the dirt and wandering in and out of the coop.

If they haven't seen snow in a few weeks, they tend to forget about it and then the next time it snows they are shocked and spend most of the day trying to decide if it's safe to go outside. If you look beyond all the chicken wire, you can see Laverne (or Shirley, I forget which and they don't seem to know either) standing in the doorway unwilling to venture out into this strange white world.

Her sisters didn't have the same problem,

but you can tell they are disappointed that there are no snacks hiding in the snow.

They are over their solstice blues, though, and egg production is back in full swing.  We are averaging 4 eggs a day and I've started using them as a dinner staple again instead of hoarding them like precious jewels.

Winter has also brought on a manic need to knit.  I spent the first week of the year obsessively cataloging and listing and ordering all the projects I intended to finish this year.  I prioritized them and set monthly goals and printed up a chart to fill in along the way, and when I was done with this New Year's organizational party, I started knitting.

January's goals were to finish Sullivan, which you can see below.

It is all done except for the blocking and-inexplicably- the clasp.  I was sure that I bought a pewter clasp at Hemlock this year, but I can't find it any where. I have also lost track of the magic thingy that helps me thread drawstrings through waistbands after they get pulled out in the wash, which might explain why my children have stopped wearing their sweatpants.  But that's not important.  The point is that I will be going out tomorrow to hunt for a decent clasp or pin for the sweater, and my mother has promised me that as soon as I do this, I will find the pewter clasp.  So all will be well.

Goal 2 was to keep up with the mystery knit-along, and I have done that:

We are now three clues in and I am anxiously awaiting the go-ahead to add more beads.  It turns out that I adore them and I'm starting to wonder what else I could decorate with these glassy marvels.

Goal 3 was to knit another skein worth of yarn into my Ugly Duckling Afghan.  This is the project that I started out of spite when I ordered three skeins of yarn in a color that looks like barf.  I am now in possession of 9 skeins of it and you can see below how much I have left to knit this month. Yay me.

In fact, I am feeling so optimistic about meeting my knitting goals, that I cast on for a bonus project, which is this marvelous little bandana shaped cowl-thingy.

The only thing left on my list (aside from some random weaving, which I have totally neglected this month) is some spinning.  But I still have 5 days left, and I'm off work for a bit, so I might even get that done too.  In the mean time, it is impossibly late and my husband is wondering if I know that my children are still awake.  I wonder what his children are doing?