No Idea What This Means, But I'm In

I know, I know - I've barely started December Hat and already I'm looking around to see if there's anything in the works for 2020.  And - there is!!!  Home to Year of Hats (and the Year of Mitts, which I'm sort of glad I missed), Kelbourne Woolens has just announced that 2020 will be the Year of Gifts!  

Again, I have no idea what this means, but I'm all for a series of fun, smaller projects, each of which uses 100g or less of yarn.  As with the hats, this is a great way to use those random, single skeins of yarn that otherwise just tumble around in the stash.  

Speaking of the stash - I'm never going to make that Dale of Norway sweater that the U.S. team wore for the 2002 Olympics, which kit I had acquired in 2002 (the receipt was still in the box so I have this embarrassing confirmation).  It is still gorgeous, but - for so many reasons - all that lovely Heilo will be reassigned.  It's possible that I could use parts of the charts and the yarn for a cowl, so I'll let that marinate for a while...  

Also - I need to start giving back to the other knitters.  I've used project notes from Ravelry for so many patterns now, and have found them to be so helpful and, in some cases, project-saving.  I've made some mods that I thought were pretty cool, so I should send those out into the world for others to see.  I won't back-fill much, but I did start out with Warmup Cowl (ironically, no mods!) to practice the process, and will probably add the CWA and CutTheScraps as well.  I don't think that will change much about what I write here though!

I don't have any wildlife news to report, but there are still ladybugs everywhere.  Some of these critters can get through small cracks between the logs of our house in their quest for a nice place to rest or be warm.  Usually I hunt them down and do away with them, but the ladybugs are different.  First of all, they have great PR - a sweet name and a jaunty exoskeleton.  And - they are all for good. What do they eat?  Nasty aphids!!  This means I'm supporting organic aphid control every time I circumvent a ladybug as I vacuum or walk across the room, or am surprised as one takes flight suddenly and randomly!