For Christmas, my sister and I made National Park quilts for my parents, sister and brother-in-law, and niblings. 6 of them were small lap quilts, with a simple print, batting, and a backing that we sewed. The last was a queen size quilt for my sister’s camping trailer – it was a challenge putting it together in my small house. We put it up on quilt frames, but it sagged, so ended up pinning it on the floor.

My knitting adventures for 2025:

1) I made a pair of flip-top mittens out of yummy Malabrigo Rios yarn. The thumbs took forever to figure out (I think I redid them 10 times between the thumb gusset and the thumb flap issues). I adore the cables. Pattern here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/gabriella-7

2) Frog & Strawb hat that was a kit from the Rose City yarn crawl a couple of years ago – my first attempts at colorwork! I’m attempting to make a matching pair of mittens right now, but I have to do some maths to convert it. Yarn is Penelope, a wool and silk blend, which is super soft and squishy. Pattern here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/frog–strawb-hat

3) Lace top. This took up the majority of my summer. It’s a unique construction where you start under the bust, knit down, and then pick up for the bust and knit up for the arms and neckline. I made an “design flaw” where I twisted my yarn overs, thereby making the lace much more tightly woven, which means I don’t have to wear an undershirt, and it worked perfectly. I also added a lace panel at the neck because it was a little too revealing. The neckline is a little wider than what I like, but I enjoyed the pattern enough that I’m tempted to make another one. Yarn is Queensland Coastal Cotton Fine. Pattern here: https://www.ravelry.com/…/kari-blondetopp—kari-lace-top

4) I used my left over skein of the Queensland and made dish clothes when I was in Montreal and Ottawa for a medical conference – great way to pass the time. Pattern is available on the wayback machine and is not worth the $5 on ravelry, since she didn’t create the pattern (it was a pattern from her mother-in-law’s neighbor).

5) I had just a little left to make a Palpitations heart. It was such a fun and simple project that i want to make a whole collection from my yarn scraps. Pattern: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/palpitation

Stats: 170 books read in 2025, including 24 audiobooks, which equals 48,554 pages and 280 “hours” (I listen at 1.25x pace, so it’s a little less) of reading.

Favorite fiction: Atmosphere, The Night Circus, The Island of Missing Trees, This Summer Will be Different, Sorcery and Small Magics, If We Were Villains (which is best read after listening to Judi Dench’s voice doppelganger talk about all of the Shakespeare plays).

Favorite nonfiction: Midnight in Chernobyl and Challenger by Adam Higginbotham (listen to the audiobooks), Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench (again listen to the audiobook), A Walk in the Park (ditto), The Book of Alchemy.

Biggest disappointment: James. And Yellowface.

Only two books I DNF: Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders and You, Again by Kate Goldbeck.

I had two main goals: 1) listen to 1 nonfiction audiobook a month and 2) to read for at least 5 minutes every day. Besides continuing the daily reading, I haven’t decided what my goal for 2026 should be. Ideas?

Click to read all of my oh so pithy reviews by month.

Musicals/plays/opera seen:

• Kimberly Akimbo – sweet story, the main actor was so good, forgettable music
• Hamilton – there’s nothing like seeing it live – I still can’t get over the choreography.
• Life of Pi – so glad this wasn’t a musical – the puppetry was amazing
• MJ The Musical – meh. The actor playing Michael Jackson had an incredible voice, the audience was electric, but there was absolutely not grappling with who Michael has turned out to be and it was boring with a lot of MJ songs.
• & Juliet – my favorite of the year. It was beautiful and fun and electrifying, and the songs worked so well with the story.
• Some Like It Hot- I’ve never seen the movie?? It was fun.
• Shucked – someone described it as the HeeHaw Show on steroids. They weren’t wrong. I had people absolutely cackling around me, and the couple next to me left at half time. I was close to leaving, but some of the songs were lovely…
• La Boheme – absolutely GORGEOUS production at the Portland opera with such a stunning set and costumes.

I did not go to NYC to see a bunch of musicals like I wanted to. 🙁

TV shows watched:

• Only Murders in the Building (season 4) – four seasons in and still a delight. And I love Jane Lynch in it.
• The Residence – so much fun. What an utter disappointment that it was canceled
• Andor (season 2) – I wish we could have had another season, but I thoroughly loved what we got. So much complex story telling and character development.
• Doctor Odyssey – I will miss seeing Joshua Jackson’s abs and they were cowards for not giving into the throuple, but man that was painful from a medical perspective.
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (season 3) – so many complex and mixed emotions about this one. On the one hand, I love every single character and want to squeeze every one of them. On the other hand, I could have done without the pseudoscience and “destiny” – at times, it felt very much like it was pandering to the anti-woke crowd.
• Poker Face (season 1) – fun weekly murder mystery show. I’ve enjoyed the cameos a lot.
• Galavant – always worth a rewatch. And always angry that it was cancelled. My residents/fellows have never heard of it, which is a crying shame.
• Heated Rivalry – it sounded like a show that I would like. I was not prepared for the obsession or the flood of emotions with every episode. It’s perfection.

Movies watched:

• Star Trek: Section 31 – what a disappointment and an under-utilization of the magnificent Michelle Yeoh)
• Thunderbolts – aww, thoroughly loved this one and the found family/friendship. I could watch all of the Yelena shows
• Superman – again, was not prepared for David Corenswet’s blue eyes and dimples
• Star Wars: Rogue One – it was so fascinating watching it again after Andor, although I had obviously forgotten a lot. I thought for sure that Luthen’s character was from the movie.
• Merrily We Roll Along – I mean, I can see why it was one of Stephen Sondheim’s least popular musicals. But GroffSauce was adorable, DanRad was fantastic, and give Lindsay a medal for making so much out of her very limited role.
• Wicked: For Good. The new songs were forgettable; it probably could have been 1 movie, but I cried as always as for good, and Jonathan Bailey was absolutely delicious.

Travel: Montreal and Ottawa where I got to see some favorite friends, Michel and Claire and their beautiful family.

Puzzles: 4 – the 2000 piece Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, a 500 piece puzzle of San Francisco, and then a 1000 piece puzzle of Multnomah Falls that was very hard.

National Parks visited: slow year for national parks. Zions National Park, Organ Pipe National Monument.

Other travel: Northern Utah and my grandparents’ old place and Arizona a few times

House updates: new roof and new solar powered blinds for the skylights (boo. The blinds are nice though); new curtains in the bedrooms that my mom and sister sewed, new blinds in the living rooms.

Yarn stashed: Joann’s and Craft Warehouse went out of business, so… And there was a fiber festival at the Multnomah Arts Center… Plus I had to buy yarn when I was up in Montreal too… And then my mommy got me yarn in Argentina…

Favorite new hangout: Lucky Lab Pub on Thursday evenings with the Northwest Wool Circle where we eat pizza and knit or crochet.

Visits to the beach: 1

Auroras/Northern Lights seen: 0. Nada. Zip. Stupid clouds.