{"id":77,"date":"2026-01-02T23:51:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T23:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/?p=77"},"modified":"2026-01-02T23:52:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T23:52:26","slug":"holiday-break-shenaningans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/?p=77","title":{"rendered":"Holiday Break Shenaningans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Wow. 2026, it&#8217;s hard to believe it&#8217;s already here. And yet, it feels like it took forever to get here. What a year 2025 was, but let&#8217;s not recap that for now. I work in academia, and that means around the holiday I get to enjoy a bit of a break, and it&#8217;s come that time where the days have started running together and time has become fully meaningless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> Normally, my breaks are filled with running around and driving several hours back and forth to visit family and friends that I no longer live near. This break wasn&#8217;t too different, though I&#8217;ve made myself slow down and enjoy days of doing &#8220;nothing.&#8221; Nothing for me usually still means crafting in some kind of way, and I really wanted to finish the big blanket project I had started over the summer, so that was my big push the last week of the year. I managed to finish it and I am beyond thrilled with how it turned out! It&#8217;s the size of a queen-sized bed, and EXTREMELY cozy. (Freyja agrees too; you can&#8217;t see her but she&#8217;s the lump in the top-left corner of the blanket!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hildeblanket1-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-78\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hildeblanket1-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hildeblanket1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hildeblanket1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hildeblanket1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hildeblanket1-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hildeblanket1-1320x990.jpg 1320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I adore Lilla Bjorn&#8217;s patterns, as they are filled with intricate designs, fine details, and engaging rounds, and this is not the first blanket I&#8217;ve done from her. Hilde&#8217;s Flower Blanket is kind of an heirloom project, and by the end, each round was averaging well over 900 stitches, with the last ending on over 970 stitches. Isn&#8217;t it just stunning? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hildeblanket2-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-79\" style=\"width:436px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hildeblanket2-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hildeblanket2-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hildeblanket2-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hildeblanket2-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hildeblanket2-1320x1760.jpg 1320w, https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hildeblanket2-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For this project, I took advantage of the closing sale from Joann Fabrics (RIP Joann&#8217;s) and bought 3 balls of Lion Brand pound of love. Of course, I ran out two-thirds through, and ended up buying two more balls to finish up the project. I only had a few yards left when everything was said and done! This blanket will be a gift for a family member, but I have half a mind to do it again with Sheepjes yarn&#8230; but I&#8217;m not quite there yet. My wrists are pretty sore still from this project, and I don&#8217;t want to overdo it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve been binging True Blood for the first time too; it&#8217;s so bad, I can&#8217;t stop watching. I&#8217;ve been breaking it up with a rewatch of Schitt&#8217;s Creek, which holds up SO well. And the episodes are short, so it&#8217;s a nice way to take a quick break without committing an hour of my life to the couch. I&#8217;ve also worked on other small projects, and have been working on setting up my 2026 Bullet Journal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alas, my break is almost over, and it will be back to work next week.  I&#8217;ve been sufficiently lazy, and now I&#8217;m looking forward to what 2026 will bring. Goals have been made, some achievable and some lofty, and intentions are set for the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My mantra the last couple years is the same one I&#8217;m taking into this year: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Be curious. Be patient. Be kind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Happy 2026 folks, and may your year be exactly what you hope it to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wow. 2026, it&#8217;s hard to believe it&#8217;s already here. And yet, it feels like it took forever to get here. What a year 2025 was, but let&#8217;s not recap that for now. I work in academia, and that means around the holiday I get to enjoy a bit of a break, and it&#8217;s come that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-life"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80,"href":"https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions\/80"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluewatercatstitches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}