Thursday, December 25th, 2025 01:56 pm
I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday, and that the dark time of the year is full of light, cheer, and coziness.

And if you don't celebrate Christmas I still wish all that for you on this lovely Thursday.


As a Christmas gift to whoever would appreciate it, I've made my novella Midwintertide available to read for free for the public. I originally shared it only for specific tiers in my reader membership last year, but this year I'm making it fully available from now until Epiphany (January 6th).

If you are interested in reading a seasonal novella about how my characters Jules and Ghia first met, you can do so on Ream or on Patreon.


Behind the cut: pictures of my puppy Sirius' first visit with Santa Paws!


He was scared but we still got a smile. )
Thursday, December 25th, 2025 04:31 pm


Title: Between the Snowflakes
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (ACD)
Rating: Gen
Length: 400
Characters: Holmes & Watson, OC
Summary: Holmes has a young client on Boxing Day.

Read more... )
Thursday, December 25th, 2025 02:43 pm
[community profile] icons is hosting a Friending Meme.
Thursday, December 25th, 2025 02:32 pm
Today is cloudy, cool, foggy, and wet.  It rained last night and water is still dripping from the trees today.  Also the thermometer-hygrometer peripheral for our home weather station has died, so we need to see if that's available as a replacement part.  :/

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/25/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/25/25 -- I hauled the last large branches to the ritual meadow.  Then I started the long process of raking the parking lot.  

EDIT 12/25/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/25/25 -- I did more raking in the parking lot.

I've seen two squirrels in the trees.  I've seen several cardinals flying around.

EDIT 12/25/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

It's drizzling again.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.
 
Thursday, December 25th, 2025 01:16 pm
Christmas Lockbox

If there is anything you need to get off your chest, to let go so that you can get on, you can safely do it here. This post will be open for anyone, all day--but then tomorrow, it goes away. No judgement, no recrimination. Just a free space for anyone who needs to vent. And if no one does, nothing is lost!


Basically, this is someone's "Hard Things" post for holiday stress. Brilliant.
Thursday, December 25th, 2025 01:09 pm
This Conversation...

Bokeh is that creamy blur of color and light at the forefront and background of an image. It's that Out of Focus area, which draws your eye to the crisp subject... a car or face.


Now there's an obscure but super useful word for something we see quite often.  :D

Thursday, December 25th, 2025 01:38 pm


  Click to embiggen  


(If the card refuses to load, click here to open it in a new tab).
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Thursday, December 25th, 2025 04:22 pm
 


Title: Minor Injury
Fandom: The Fantastic Journey
Author: 
[personal profile] badly_knitted
Characters: Jonathan Willaway, Varian.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Set after the series.
Summary: Scouting around together while their friends make camp, Varian and Jonathan run into a bit of trouble.
Word Count: 787
Written For: Challenge 498: First Aid at 
[community profile] fan_flashworks.
Disclaimer: I don’t own The Fantastic Journey, or the characters. They belong to their creators.
 
 


Thursday, December 25th, 2025 04:14 pm
 


Title: Celebrating With Friends
Author: 
[personal profile] badly_knitted
Characters: Jack, Ianto, TARDIS, Others.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1816
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Despite being far away from earth, some customs die hard. Ianto and Jack still make a point of celebrating Christmas every year, preferably in the company of family or friends.
Written For: Challenge 247: Customs at 
[community profile] fan_flashworks.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
A/N: Set in my Through Time and Space ‘Verse.
 


 
Thursday, December 25th, 2025 03:27 pm
Merry Christmas for those of you who celebrate: In Sweden Christmas Eve is the big day, but as I worked in the evening we didn’t do much. My parents came for lunch, and it was all very nice anyway. We don’t go in for lots of gifts, I gave my husband and son a sweater each, because that is what they both wanted. And my husband gave me a book. It was written in the 1950s and is an analysis of the bodies, jewelry and clothes worn by king Gustav Vasa, his three wives, his son Johan III and his second wife. They all lived in the 16th century, and the book is probably only of interest for a history and costume history nerd like me.


Working was thankfully slow, and as I work evening today as well, I hope to have another slow workday. I plan to check out Yuletida and see if there is any fanfic that interests me. I hope you all have a lovely day, regardless of how you spend it!

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Tuesday, December 23rd, 2025 07:41 am
My yarn stash is starting to get a bit intense.
When I started crocheting and then knitting I assigned my stash to a rather tall bookshelf. And I thought surely that would be enough.

...then I had to steal a couple shelves for my cotton.

Now I must confess it's 1.5 bookshelves and rather large tub in my closet.

How did this happen?

  • Typical impulse buying - I freely admit to being an impulse shopper, especially before becoming a mom. I see something pretty and I want it.
  • "Treat yourself" mentality - After becoming a mom, I then use the line of logic "well I don't get to indulge much, let me buy this pretty yarn".
  • Scarcity mindset - ran into a couple of yarn shops that went out of business. The tariffs and change in the de minimis lead to a rather large haul from hobbii before the deadline.
  • Crochet uses a lot of yarn - Usually when I obtain yarn, I have a project in mind. About 60% of the time it's crochet which uses a ton of yarn compared to knitting. Add on to the fact that I'm not the smallest person and it'll add to the stash
  • A handful of gifts and donations - in my mind this added to about 20% of my stash. I'm not sure if that's accurate and hopefully I'll learn more as I start this journey.

My strategy for next year is to do a "1 ball in, 1 ball out" approach. Because realistically, I know myself. Also I think this will give me some better insight on how fast I use up yarn. I've been going through a few ideas on my Ravelry queue and favorites and I'll talk about that more on another post.

 

Sidenote: Feeling a bit self-critical that this post isn't longer. I swear i used to be able to write so much more in a shorter period of time. Hopefully, this is just reengaging muscle memory and will get back into the swing of the things.