Warmer Wrists and New Years Lists

It's been mostly overcast here the past couple of weeks, which I love.  Living in what feels like the land of eternal sunshine, I appreciate every rainy day we get.  Still, when it's cooler like this, I don't mind the occasional ray of sun.  

The cats love to get outside and nose around...well, as much as they can, from a 2nd story deck.

Our little mallard family is back, same time as last year!  And, like last year, we have three males and one female.  I was curious about that, and it turns out that the proportion of male to female ducks is uneven.  So it's typical to see one female with many males.

It was so warm this weekend (65 degrees!) that we planned to go down to the pond and play Scrabble.  It looks so pretty right now with its little swaths of leaves. 

Rain moved in, though, so we stayed inside.  One group around here that seems to love the rain is our turkeys.  I see them every day now, digging through the leaves or flying across the pond for a better selection.

I also spotted my favorite "stray," Clothilde, the other day!  She isn't really a stray.  I'm nearly certain she belongs to one of my neighbors.  She dutifully heads home after a walk around the woods here, and I always love to see her.

Since it's finally, sometimes, dipping into the 30s at night, I've gotten to pull out my hot water bottle (hooray!) and my woolens.  I've finally organized my hand knits in one place, and it's almost like seeing an old friend to open the lid and see a long-forgotten hat or pair of mittens.

I finished knitting my wristlets.  It was a really pleasant knit and I didn't use a pattern, just lots of tiny leftover balls of scrap yarn and size 1 needles.

My cast-on was 56 or 57, I think, and they're a perfect fit.

I can pull them down so that the ribbing is over the base of my thumb, but then my fingers get cold.  I'm considering adding an afterthought thumb. I would snip a few stitches, put those live stitches on needles, and knit up a few rows.  Then I would basically have fingerless gloves.  I'm going to try these out for a few more days and see what I think.

I just ordered my planner for 2017. 

I am an unapologetic maker of New Years resolutions.  I set challenges and goals for myself on an regular basis, and my favorite time of year to evaluate my life and really set forth a robust set of challenges and goals is January 1st. 

2016 just wasn't a great year for me, but I'm determined to work hard and make major changes in my life in 2017, or at least cultivate a sense of acceptance for those things that I can't seem to change.  Here's to a great new year!