Mama In Progress

Envision

2012-03-09T09:14:00.001-06:00

What I love the most about this house is the light.

And the potential.

I've spent a little too much time envisioning the canning that will happen here in late summer and early autumn (and how much easier it will be now that I have more than two tiny squares of countertop!), the upcoming celebration for Baby Girl, the crafting parties sure to happen around the kitchen table, and stockings hung on the mantel in anticipation.

Slowly but surely it's coming together- we have two more rooms in need of just a little more unpacking/organizing (hopefully to be finished today), then only two more rooms to fully unpack. Brian is on a mission to finish by next weekend and he and the boys have been working like machines taking care of what I can't. I sort what needs to go where, make them a list and off they go, moving boxes and sorting onto shelves... *loving* this teamwork.

Yarn Along

2012-03-07T00:00:00.000-06:00

{Yarning Along with Ginny again this week}

I started this little February Sweater for Baby Girl right after Valentine's Day, sized it up a bit and got right to knitting... then realized as my yarn cake got smaller and smaller much faster than expected that I hadn't bought the second skein needed to accomodate the sizing up.

Chalking that up to pregnancy brain.

I finally got back to the LYS for a second skein and got back to work on it. Another 5ish inches in the lace pattern I think before the garter edging. This little cardi is my absolute favorite knit to gift little girls so I absolutely had to make one for Baby Girl. The lace is super easy to memorize, and now that I'm on my fourth knit through it I practically have the pattern memorized in entirety.

I also have to say that I may have developed a Berocco Vintage problem. I picked up this lovely purple last December and when I went in the other day to grab a second skein of the purple I walked out with four more skeins of Vintage worsted and one of Vintage DK. It's just so lovely to knit with! And it's all going toward baby things so that makes it acceptable, right?

As far as reading I'm mostly reading school-related books right now- reminding myself about the Kindergarten thing since Ezra will officially start school with us this year and making plans for second grade with Ender. I know it's early for most folks to be planning and buying for school, but I'm trying to get everything organized before baby gets here, starting with the lists for what we want to accomplish next year and from there deciding on curriculum. More on that soon, since I can't seem to stop chatting about our school plans while I'm in the midst of planning them.

In Need of Entertainment?

2012-03-05T08:38:00.000-06:00

What do you do when you have two little boys that are

oh so tired

of helping their poor mother unpack box after box?

Put them to work with the swift and ball winder.

Suddenly work doesn't feel so much like work.

{Yarn is:}

Kollage sock-a-licious in Grape

Berroco Vintage in yellow for baby's Puerperium Cardigan.

Here

2012-03-01T08:27:00.001-06:00

We're here.

The important things are unboxed, like the kitchen and the bathrooms. Our next priority was getting the studio set up since I had to go directly into teaching Monday morning. We were able to work on the school area a bit on Saturday night, but not well enough to start back to school on Monday. Maybe by tomorrow there will be a little bit of math or that sort of thing going on around here. Or maybe we'll just wait until Monday...

It's a bit of a crazy week this week in the studio as our recital is just a few days off, but next week starts the slower schedule that we all need for a few weeks before baby shows up.

We're spending every evening trying to get one more box put away, or figuring out how we will best use a particular space. Brian has been a champion un-boxer (surely they give out medals for that sort of thing!) while I've been a champion at, well... sitting on the couch and telling him where things go. Taking it easy as per my doctor, but still trying to get the house into liveable shape.

I haven't been knitting much these last two weeks, but I've been thinking a lot about it and missing it dearly. I have two skeins I need to wind- one for the next baby project and the other for the next pair of socks- the February sweater I started about two weeks ago for the baby is on hold until I can get my hands on another skein of Vintage. I don't know what I was thinking when I thought I could size the pattern up and STILL get it all done in one skein. I'll call pregnancy brain on that one.

I promise some pictures just as soon as I locate my camera.

Moving

2012-02-20T12:08:00.000-06:00

It's here- the big moving week!

We're packed and ready to go, but now we have to do the actual "going". I plan to be in this space if I can, but my list of last minute things seems to be growing and growing. School is canceled for the week, and I'm sure knitting time will be sparse... but oh so worth it to be in the new house!

I plan to be back in time for the Yarn Along on February 29 if I don't make it in this week, but we'll see if I've found my yarn by then. And seeing how clothing, towels and dishes might have to come before yarn, it might be interesting.

See you soon. :)

First Snow

2012-02-17T07:33:00.000-06:00

Our first actual snow of the year and it waited all the way until FEBRUARY to show up!

The best part of homeschooling?

Being able to abandon "the plan" to take advantage of what might be our only snow this year.

There was sledding and snowball throwing,

Snow angels and trying to bury the cat

(and being surprised that she didn't enjoy it...)

And best of all- the hot chocolate at the end. :)

Yarn Along

2012-02-15T00:30:00.000-06:00

{Yarning Along with Ginny again this week}

All the back pain I was having last week resulted in a diagnosis of "too much stress" followed by a strict order to get myself some relaxation. Of course, we're getting ready to close on both of the houses in just a few days, then there is the studio recital about 3 weeks from now followed shortly by my husband switching to a new work shift, and... oh yes- the regular every day facts that we have work and school and have to make sure people have clean clothes to wear and decent food to eat....

Who has stress?

Certainly not me.

Little did I know that my husband had planned an amazing surprise Valentine's Day/Anniversary weekend that included a little bit of shopping for the baby and a LOT of relaxing (including a prenatal massage for me) long before the week of crazy back pain. I rested, read and knit (and bought anniversary yarn) the whole weekend, and my back is much better for it. The rule of the weekend was no talk of work or house stuff, and it was GLORIOUS.

I finished Legend amidst all the relaxing and moved on to Crossed by Ally Condie. I read the first book in this series last year, and this one has been on my request list at the library ever since it was announced.

Still working on my socks, but I'm decreasing to the toe- hoping to finish it up tonight, then on to blocking and wearing.

And I cheated and cast on another baby sweater for Baby Girl before finishing that sleeve on the pink cardigan. I know, I know-- but the yarn is Berocco Vintage and it was BEGGING to be cast on- if you had seen the looks it was giving me from the pile of baby yarn you'd understand. It's another February Sweater, but a little bigger than the pink one.

P.S. There is more Vintage staring at me, this time in yellow.

Learning In Progress, January 2012

2012-02-14T07:56:00.000-06:00

I thought I'd start sharing a record of our work each month, partly for me to keep track, and partly because I love reading about other folks' plans.

Ender is 6 years old and in first grade. We do math, handwriting, faith and violin daily, and spread the other subjects out throughout the week.

Ezra is 4 years old and having a K4 year. I only require that he listen while we read something during the day, but because he loves to write and draw he also chooses to work out of a workbook of his choice or to draw or do projects with us.

Faith:
Reading Ender's weekly assignment from church every week.
Memorizing through the Wingrunner book for Awana, pages 80-end, then working through the review verses.
30 minute Bible Study with Brian each week, Genesis 1 & 2.
Ezra- memorizing his weekly verse for Awana Cubbies.

Math:
Ender- trying his first timed subtraction sheets this month and increasing his speed a little at a time.
Completed Singapore 1.
Completed Lesson 1-24 in Saxon Math 1
Learning to write dates.
Ezra working with dominoes and dice to match numbers.
Both- playing Too Many Monkeys and Monopoly Junior.

Language Arts:
First Language Lessons (FLL) lessons 1-13
Copywork and narrations based on our history, science and literature readings
HWT (yellow)- p. 20-48
Ezra: Moveable Alphabet practice with CVC words, working with short vowels.

Science: (this month was science light while we focused on history)
Both: learning to use our new microscope, looking at many *many* blades of dead grass.
Narrating from Christian Liberty Nature Reader K, letters F-I
Read independently from the Christian Liberty Nature Reader 1, p. 6-10

Geography:
Scrambled States of America game
Memory work- the names of the continents and oceans

History/Science/Literature: (These are read together unless marked IR)
Fables by Lobel
If You Lived in Colonial Times by Ann McGovern
Benjamin Franklin by D'Aulaire
K is for Keystone by Kristen Kane
P is for Peach by Carol Crane
And Then What Happened Paul Revere? by Jean Fritz
G is for Garden State by Eileen Cameron
Betsy Ross and the Silver Thimble by Stephanie Greene (IR)
Everybody Needs A Rock by Byrd Baylor
N is for Nutmeg by Elissa Grodin
Listened to Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

Memory Work
The Caterpillar by Christina Rosetti

P.E.:
Ender: PeeWee Basketball 1x per week
Ezra: Indoor soccer 1x per week

Fine Arts:
Ender: daily violin practice
Draw Write Now 1: Girl, Boy
Lots of free art time.

Ender's Free Reading:
Magic Treehouse: Dark Day in the Deep Sea: first 7 chapters
Frog and Toad Are Friends
Big Blue Book of Beginning Readers by P.D. Eastman

How Much

2012-02-13T08:04:00.000-06:00

Progress!

We are as packed as we can be, down to about 2 small boxes worth of things in the kitchen (since I'm still working at the house and need to eat there every day that will be the last thing packed).

We've been taking the opportunity to part with things we no longer need or use and passing them along to family and friends if there is still value there, but also throwing out what is truly worn out. We don't want to move anything we don't love or truly need to the new house. The boys were champions about giving up toys to their younger cousins to make room for their new love of legos and we found ourselves saying again and again "just because we are going to have more space in the new house does not mean we can keep more stuff."

We say it just as much for ourselves as for the boys. It isn't the things filling the house that make the home- it is the people and their relationships. Too much stuff to maintain takes time away from those relationships. I mean, would I rather spend my time picking up all the toys/folding mountains of clothes or being able to play games together or head outside? No contest in my mind.

Moving makes me seriously wonder why we had as much stuff as we had. We have lived in this small space for over ten years and have tried to be very careful about what we bring in, to cull what is no longer needful, and to take care of what we do have. Neither my husband or I are "keepers" by nature, but we did have things we were finally able to part with after letting them hang around for a few years (or more- I can think of at least 5 boxes that have followed us for the better part of our 11 years).

And Ginny's post was so timely for me- I have one child who very freely gives his toys and other things away but can barely part with any piece of art he's ever made (even if it's the tiniest of scribbles of the tiniest scrap of paper) and the other one who doesn't part with anything without a fight- and we're trying to be wise about how to approach it respectfully with them. I don't want to take away or throw things out if they are truly important to the boys, but at the same time we just can't keep every little paper.

We came up with a few ground rules that everyone agreed to before we started sorting and that helped us tremendously:

1. Anything broken will be thrown away.

2. Anything that doesn't have all of its pieces will be thrown away.

3. Art work is limited to your art box. Anything that doesn't fit can't stay.

4. If no one has played with it in 3 months it goes into storage. (If we don't find we need it in the next 3-6 months it goes on to a younger cousin).

If an argument came up over any little thing I could remind them of the original agreement, and it worked shockingly well. There were still some sad moments over things that were broken and couldn't be saved (mostly things that Nana had given them... nothing truly important, just the fact that Nana had given it to them made it meaningful), but overall they cooperated beautifully.

Quiet Weekend

2012-02-10T07:44:00.000-06:00

You know, I think we're going for some kind of record for doctor visits this week.

In the last 4 days we've been to our family doctor, to my OB, to the ER and to Labor and Delivery... everyone is fine now including Baby Girl (she's doing great!), but we're all taking it easy and trying to get some rest. It has been a LONG week. Ezra's goose egg is starting to go down (that would be the ER visit), and I'm starting to feel much better this morning.

Hoping for a quiet weekend... probably full of knitting and pinterest and movies and all the kinds of things I can do from the couch or the bed.

Knitting by Memory

2012-02-06T08:33:00.000-06:00

In my imagination I'm the sort of knitter who keeps a beautifully arranged notebook that includes every knitting project, always listing the needle size, making detailed (never cryptic) notes about little changes I make along the way, always including a little yarn sample and NEVER losing the ball band with all its critical info...

The truth is, I often knit on the go. A row here and there, or while my son is reading out loud to me from one of his readers, a few rows while I'm waiting on a student who is running late- that sort of thing. I do get a few evenings a week to knit for more than a few minutes at a time.

I could take a little notepad with me or something, but I just don't. I could even take a few minutes to type in a note or two into ravelry on my phone, but I just don't. I remember well enough to pick up where I left off as long as I do it in the next few days, but the only things I regularly mark are anything with a chart.

A word of warning: knitting by memory is one of those inadvisable things.

Like swimming with sharks or something.

Remember when I left the almost-done sock at home over our trip? But I had the yarn for sock #2 along and my bag of DPNs, so I went ahead and started sock #2. Not a problem, right?

Except that I was knitting from memory and I *surely* remembered that I was knitting on size 1 DPNs and I remembered *precisely* where I had started in the color repeat.

Except that when I got home sock #1 looked terribly different than sock #2 and I realized that I had started at the wrong color repeat (which at worst makes the socks fraternal- and I can live with that) but most egregiously had knit sock #2 on size 1 DPNs while sock #1 was knit on size 0 DPNs. I thought at first that the difference in size was because one was knit on metal needles and the other on bamboo because SURELY I would never use the wrong needle size. Of course, I didn't realize this difference until I had finished sock #2 on the size 1's Wednesday night and picked up sock #1.

If there is such a thing as a happy turn of events in this cautionary tale, it's that the finished sock #2 fit better than the not quite finished sock #1, so I actually ripped out less by ripping out the original sock. That counts as a happy ending right?

After a weekend of catch-up knitting (around packing, Ender's basketball practice, a birthday party for my nephew, church and the never-ending laundry....) I'm happy to say that I'm blissfully knitting as if this is sock #2 and not sock #1 version 2.

A girl can pretend, right?

Day in the Life of Our Homeschool

2012-02-02T08:55:00.001-06:00

I loved posting about our typical homeschooling day last year. Although much has changed for us this year, it has still been a good year.

This past year has been full of transition for our family. We are expecting a new baby, we are selling one house and buying another but living temporarily with my father-in-law to help his transition to single life after losing his wife last September. All this would probably best be labeled "disruption" but it's been a good lesson for our family in doing with what is necessary and right rather than what is routine for us.

We are not a traditional homeschooling family- my husband and I both work full time- so our schedule looks different than other homeschooling families in a lot of ways. I do have to plan pretty closely for certain days of the week, or sometimes if a day gets swallowed by doctor appointments and work things we will do some schooling on the weekend. The most important thing is that my husband and I work hard to pull this together even on the weirdest weeks because it is important to us to educate our boys at home in these early years.

Our son Ender is in first grade this year. He is expected to complete his "daily work" each day, which takes about 70-90 minutes depending on if we are learning new concepts in math. If anything gets ditched off of our schedule it is history and science this year, not because those things aren't important, but because in his first grade year our priorities are math, reading and handwriting.

Ezra is 4.5, having a K4 year. Ezra is expected to sit with us at the table for the first part of our morning (about 20 minutes) while we talk about the calendar and seasons, discuss what we will be doing that day, and do handwriting. At some point later in the morning he and I do a little bit of phonics work, but other than that he is free to be part of as much or as little of the school day as he would like. He spends a lot of his mornings drawing. The goal of Ezra's year is for him to start folding into the routine of the schooling morning while expecting age-appropriate things from him.

7:00/7:30- Up for the day. The boys and I get ready, have breakfast and do a few light chores before we start our learning time. My husband leaves for work about 2 hours before we get up.

8:30- We generally get to the table to start work by 8:30 and after talking about the calendar, seasons and our plans for the day, we work in whatever order the boys would like. At this point in the year Ender knows what is part of our daily work (and must be done first) and we work through that pretty seamlessly. He usually chooses to alternate work that involves writing with work that doesn't. Our daily work includes Math, handwriting, reading practice, writing/grammar (right now in the form of FLL/WWE alternating days), faith, and violin practice.

10:00- We take a little break, usually for a snack.

10:20- We read together from a history, science and/or literature title. I keep themes in each of these subjects for each quarter. Ender (and sometimes Ezra) narrates from one of these readings about once a week.

10:45- A few days a week we head out the door about now so that I can get to work at my music studio. On those days we listen to an audiobook in the car on the way there (Prince Caspian currently). The boys spend the early afternoon with their grandmother while I teach until their dad gets home from work around 3:30.

On the days when I work a little later we get an extra hour or three to work on projects and explore things we've learned. I *love* this free project time because it is where much of our new learning is connected to the old. Sometimes they work on their own on whatever it is they're interested in, and sometimes we are all together.

Their time with Dad in the afternoons is spent on all sorts of things- time outside, finishing up work from the morning (not often, but as I've had more doctor appointments for baby we've had days where morning work leaks to the afternoon), chores, and a little more reading practice for each of them. Oh- and did I mention play time? Lots of play time.

How does your homeschooing day look?

Yarn Along

2012-02-01T08:13:00.000-06:00

{Yarning Along with Ginny again this week}

I haven't made it much farther on the striped socks since the last post- maybe a few more stripes on the gusset, but I'm still not quite to the toe yet. I have another inch or so to go before I start the toe. My prime knitting time is in the evenings after the boys are in bed, but these last few nights I've gone to bed pretty quickly after they did, trying to catch up on some of the sleep I missed over the weekend.

I did get a few minutes to pick up the stitches on my February Baby Sweater so that I can add the second sleeve, but I haven't really started the sleeve yet. She's ready though for as soon as that sock is finished and the little sleeve won't take long.

I am still reading Legend. I got side tracked by looking through organizing and house ideas for the upcoming move and ignored the book this week, but I'm pretty close to the end. I also got a stack of fiction from the library that I've had on order for awhile, so I need to get reading! I ordered several different things awhile ago- probably 10-12 titles- assuming they'd all come in at different times since that's how it usually goes. After waiting about two months and not having many reading options, I suddenly have seven novels waiting! I'll take that as a sign that I need to get reading!

Weekend

2012-01-30T16:02:00.000-06:00

We had a phone call Friday morning. What started a few weeks ago as a little bit of fluid in my grandmother's lung became more and more complicated as more doctors got involved.

She has been a breast cancer survivor since the late 70's, but it's back over 30 years later, this time metastatic and aggressive. That is a phrase we know all too well- what it means, how long it means, and how serious it is. We jumped in the car and the boys got a quick lesson in the states between ours and hers.

She's in good spirits and we'll know even more about what is going on in the next week or so as the last tests are done. It was so good to see her and that whole side of the family. Of course, in our hurry to pack and go as quickly as possible, I didn't bring the camera. I wish I had so we could get pics with all the cousins.

If there's anything good about many many hours in the car it's the knitting time. I planned to take the striped socks with me for the perfect amount of knitting brain power expended- enough to keep my mind off of things until we could be at the hospital and know more about what was going on, but not so much that I had to really really think about what I was doing.

The only mistake was that I left the in-progress sock at home.

Seriously- how does this happen?

{Although I'm grateful that we all had toothbrushes and enough socks and underwear...}

I did however have the skein for the second sock- not really sure how I packed the second skein but not the sock itself, but that's how it ended up (I found a beautiful 2/3 finished sock sitting on my bed when we got back last night). I did have my bag of DPNs with me though, so I was able to start the second sock. (another mystery- why did I pack the DPNs?)

I didn't knit the whole time obviously, but I'd say that's a good amount of progress over one weekend- from "zero sock" to "almost done sock".

I also spent some car time finishing up school-ish plans for just after baby is born. School plans might be a bit foolish, you say? Well, it isn't so much "school" plans as "make sure there is something for the boys to do that helps them stay out of trouble" plans. It's all independent stuff- some new art supplies, some new books and movies, some projects that might fill an afternoon... Things to do so that there isn't as much trouble to make.

Not that little boys EVER do such things.

Inspiration

2012-01-26T06:19:00.000-06:00

A few bits of Inspiration from the past weeks...

:: Mama-made pajamas... I'm imagining making several of these tops next fall/winter for baby girl

:: Reasons Why I Hate School... why our homeschool doesn't really look much like real school....

:: An easy to make scrub for that winter skin...

:: Ginny's art post provided me with inspiration for our baby girl's room

and a potential source for art prints.

:: Practical ways to establish prayer in your Home

:: A great art supply list (and a giveaway if you get in on it today!)

:: Homemade playdough - I'm planning this for a fun first project in the new house next month.

Yarn Along

2012-01-24T23:11:00.000-06:00

{Yarning Along with Ginny again this week}

I think I'm out of my reading rut now and I have Legend by Marie Lu to thank for it. It has been a really fun read! I'm not done with it quite yet, but it did inspire a few more titles to read after I'm done so I'm well stocked.

Yes, that stripey thing you see is another sock. If you're keeping count with me this is the THIRD one this year and I'm already 1/3 of the way through the foot. It's my "knit a row here and there" project that hangs out in my purse and goes everywhere.

And the lavender? That's the Pearl Shrug that I started around Christmas. It has been in timeout for a few weeks for refusing to cast on properly when it came time for the left side. Now that we've worked out our differences it's back to happy knitting.

Please tell me I'm not the only one to give my knitting time-outs! Sometimes I just need to take a break so I can regain some perspective before tackling a problem. I usually have about three attempts in me before I lock a project away for awhile. A lot of times I can then come back and actually solve the issue (and often wonder why I had that weird problem in the first place...)

Do you give your knitting time-outs?

Finishing

2012-01-23T07:58:00.000-06:00

We're packing for real now that the move is getting truly close and I worked last night on packing up my backup stash.

Yeah, you read that right.

Backup stash.

When we picked up and moved within two days in the fall I quickly set myself up with possibilities- three projects that were on the needles but "resting", 2 different lace weights, about 5 fingering weight choices- two sweaters worth of worsted weight yarn... plus all my needles so that I could do whatever I wanted. Plus I acquired baby project yarn once I found out we were having a girl since most of my yarn runs to the red/green/blue range for my boys.

It's quite hefty for not being my main stash, especially with me being the project knitter that I am. I just don't buy yarn if I'm not sure how I'm going to use it, and all of this yarn has a purpose... but the other yarn... the REAL stash is hanging out in the back of my mind, mocking me.

I packed it up in a tote, ready to go when we move, but easy to break into should I run into an urgent knitting need. I'm choosing to see this as an opportunity- an opportunity to get moving on a few projects that have been resting for longer than they should, some for good reasons, others... not so much. I want to get to work on my knitting goals and on all that stash busting/UFO finishing we're doing this year.

Like this cute little thing...

I began knitting it for my niece in April of 2010, for her birthday in September. And then I realized that my guessed-at gauge for a one-year-old was totally not working out and I abandoned it and re-knit the pattern with different yarn so that she still got that lovely sweater.

All that little pink cardi needs is a sleeve and then our sweet baby girl will have her first cardi. Maybe it's a great thing that I abandoned it to re-knit for my niece?

There's an almost done vest that I really love, and a grey pullover that is half a sleeve shy of completion, a few baby hats that just need a little bit of seaming, buttons for a cardigan, a little bit of weaving in ends on this and that.

I have 8 (EIGHT!) projects with needles actually in the project, and at least 4 that just need a bit of finishing. Think that will keep me busy until we move next month? (Besides all the packing, of course!)

FO: Mint Socks

2012-01-19T10:17:00.000-06:00

Project: Mint Socks (aka the 2012 Socks)

Pattern: Silver's Sock Class

Yarn: Knitpicks palette

Needles: size 2 DPNs

For: myself (because I knit selfishly in January and February after the Christmas making)

Notes: I cast these on just after the new year, and was determined to finish, because, well, I felt defeated by socks last year and I didn't want to miss my sock goal for a second year in a row. So I spent one whole day on the first sock and then found little bits of time here and there for the second (since whole days of knitting just don't happen that often). I grafted the toe of the second sock last Saturday for a total of 11 days on this knit.

The cuff is a little baggy for my personal taste (and if I would have swatched to check out the fabric type I was getting I would have seen that that would be a problem with this particular yarn on this particular needle size but I'm a notorious non-swatcher on stuff like this), and on the next sock I'm taking time to be sure that the gusset shaping turns out a little more narrow for the foot by decreasing a little more or starting with 60 stitches instead of 64.

I'd guess having around 25 hours in this pair (within an hour or two either way) but I did a lot of "knit for 20 minutes in the car" type knitting on the cuff and gusset so it's hard to really calculate((and I'm just not the kind of knitter to keep track of that sort of thing). It's been about a year since I knit a sock so while I'm familiar with the construction I did have to stop and think and calculate a little bit as I went.

Things I learned: I should have used a smaller needle for these. They turned out fine for size, but this particular yarn would have probably done best with a 0 for a denser fabric (and I know this is not the best yarn for socks, but I'm okay if they don't last that long). You'd think I'd know to swatch by now, but... not so much. Does it help if I promise to swatch for the next pair?

I really tried to figure out why it is that I've stalled out on socks before, and I couldn't really pinpoint that particular problem. Maybe I'm just not ready to knit fancier socks yet and need to spend some hours knitting a few pairs of vanilla ones so that I get to that "plain socks are boring; I need something more interesting than this" place that I've gotten to with other project types.

Overall: Good knit! I think I learned enough about what I want from the sock shaping to get my desired fit on the next pair.

Yarn Along

2012-01-18T05:58:00.000-06:00

{Yarning Along with Ginny again as I do most Wednesdays...}

Sorry for the flash pic, but January sunlight is just not being kind to me this week!

The mint green socks from last week are complete (more details later in the week), and I'm trying another vanilla pair, this time in worsted weight for a faster knit and thicker sock. I know it's nothing fancy, but I'm going to try the heel a little differently and see if I like the fit better. After this I think I'm going back to a bit of baby knitting, but I've got to take advantage of the sock knitting mojo while I have it, you know?

I'm reading on my kindle again this week- Organized Simplicity. I was just about to buy a copy of this book when I saw it come up for free on kindle and took advantage. (It's no longer free to everyone, but as of this writing it's free for Amazon prime members). I've just started it, but already found a lot to love.

My 4-year-old is responsible for the Knitted Monster book. He's in love with all things Stitch (as in Disney's Lilo and Stitch) so any kind of monster or alien thing is something he equates with stitch. When he saw this book on a highlighted knitting display while at our library the other day he said I *had* to get it for him. He looked through and picked a monster for me to knit on the way home- so maybe a knitted monster will be up next?

Yarn Along

2012-01-10T23:32:00.000-06:00

{Yarning Along with Ginny…}

Last Friday night we were worn out.

Three weeks of packing plus work plus Christmas will do that to you.

We all needed a break from everything going on so my husband made the executive decision to keep us all home last Saturday with our only plans being meals. Brian watched the game and he totally handled the laundry, the boys spent most of the afternoon outside, we watched a movie and played some games... and I spent the day knitting. I promise that I did feed everyone at mostly appropriate times (and made a new favorite for dinner) and a few of those knitting hours were spent outside in a chair so that I could knit while supervising children, but I'm serious about the all day knit-fest.

That mini knitting retreat was the best remedy to if-I-have-to-pack-another-box-I’ll-scream-itis ever.

By 10 p.m. I was grafting the toe of the sock that only been a 4-inch cuff at 8 a.m. that morning. I might actually reach my tiny little sock knitting goal this year! And the bonus is that this was stash yarn, which totally counts for the stash challenge.

How has your knitting year started off?

And Other Things

2012-01-09T08:33:00.002-06:00

I have three clipboards of lists- one clipboard for the studio, one for homeschool, and one for "life". My lists include menu plans, calendars for the next three studio years, future knitting projects, the second grade booklist I'm working on building, the recital list for this year, and the most important list of all... our list titled Direction.

It's our goals for the year. These are goals by and for everyone in the family because most of all what I want for our home is reationship and community. Everyone's opinions and efforts are valuable and helping each other accomplish what we set out to do builds that community.

This list isn't complete (it never has been- sometimes you don't know what is important to you to get done until September...) but it gives us the direction for our year so that we move together into the new year. Some of it is vague or pretty obvious, but *I* like having it down on paper. Not everything will happen, but we'll work toward everything as we can.

The first third of our year is already pretty full, taken up with packing and moving and baby having. The months following that have a very distinct "nothing" planned as we get to know the newest member of our family, and then in the early fall we move into another official school year, this time with two official students.

Mostly I'm sure much of my year shall be spent on getting the new house to become OUR house and creating new learning and making areas there. I am *excited* about our new learning area at the new house! No longer will we be stuck in a room far off from the action, but our school day will be close to the most important room for our family- the kitchen.

I have a far-off and lofty dream of being unpacked within 6 months of the move (hey- it's a goal, okay? You can stop laughing...) but I will have a new baby just two months after the move, so we'll see how that one turns out.

I'm planning to re-establish our usual eating habits. Over the last several months of time spent at the hospital, then hospice, then away from our home as we help my father-in-law adjust to being on his own for the first time in 40 years, our eating habits have been horribly disjointed. We'll be moving again soon and after the move we plan to get back to our normal pattern of homemade food, eating in season and fresh as much as possible.

We have a family project in the works- something to last through the year, finding places for old traditions and maybe adding something new as the new house becomes our new home. More to come in this space as we work on this in the coming months.

The boys have big plans to try out soccer and basketball this year, but of course to still play baseball in the summer. Ender endeavors to be outside "pretty much all the time" and Ezra has plans for some serious art work, including making a whole book.

And my husband? Well, he's talking about going back to school for a third time... maybe this fall, maybe not. We'll see how that one turns out.

For the most part we're planning a pretty quiet year- mostly getting used to the changes from the first part and re-establishing ourselves as we set up in a new place and add another little one. I'm taking a lot of time off from the studio when baby girl gets here and totally resetting my work schedule in the fall... It's a lot of change in one year, but I can't even explain the excitement behind it, particularly knowing that this is a big step forward toward the intentional life we've been building.

Yarn Along and Knitting Goals

2012-01-04T07:44:00.000-06:00

{Knitting along with Ginny this week}

Yes, that's a new shawl and *not* the mittens I'm supposed to be finishing...

One of the lesser known side effects after a long stint of non-knitting is cast-on-itis, which made it's way to my house for several days last week and got in the way of finishing my mother's Christmas mittens (which are now 2+ weeks overdue, ahem).

So now there are mittens still on the needles (though not that long from complete- 4 hours maybe?), a shawl begun, and because of our BABY GIRL news I also cast on a little sweater, and I'm up to two hats that need their bands sewn on. And I also knit up Schmatta over a few hours (though it still needs buttons).

The only problem is that I have no "easy knit" to take along on the car- the kind I can pick up and put down as the boys need help with math or legos or that I can knit a row or two on while waiting on that student that's running 3 minutes late. So I *really* need to start something else, right???

I hit New Years Eve and realized I was fishing for yarn to cast on *another* project without thinking about all the projects currently in the works and I did stop myself. I work better with a plan and if I had continued casting on I would have put myself into a knitter's coma. I really don't do well with more than 4 or 5 projects all waiting to be finished, but neither do I do well with committing fully to just one knit.

I started out intending to make a project list to put in my Rav queue, but then I was grumpy trying to narrow myself down to certain projects, so it really became more of a goal list:

1. Complete 12 knitting projects by the end of the year. I'm admittedly aiming small, but we will be moving again in the first half of the year AND having a baby. There's canning season (and I just don't knit much then) plus I'd like to make friends with my sewing machine again at some point...

2. Knit from stash for most projects this year. As I said the other day, my stash has hit an uncomfortable level for me and I really want the finished projects that are intended to come out of that pile of yarn. This isn't restrictive- I can still buy for other projects if I want, but most of this year's knitting will be from stash. Kelly is running a fun linky for this sort of thing- join up if you want to play along too!

3. Complete 1 pair of socks. I love the idea of knitting socks and last year set out to knit at least 6 pair before getting derailed. Apparently I just don't have sock-knitting mojo. I planned for just 1 little sock per month last year, and I got about 2 socks in (and not even two socks of the same pair!) and called it quits. There are fit problems that I need to solve before I seriously move forward on sock knitting, but I'm determined to get 1 good pair for myself this year.

4. Learn to knit lace with bobbles. I see lots of lace shawls I really love that include bobbles, so I want to learn. I've made 1 half-hearted attempt at learning but really didn't have the time to sit down with it and gave up quickly. I will have the time this year at a couple of points- I just have to sit down and do it!

5. Learn to knit colorwork using both hands. I have done a small amount of colorwork, but I know I need to learn to do it holding one color in each hand. It will go faster and I'll ultimately be happier because of it. I just can't seem to get even tension with it yet, but I want to practice "the right way" this year so that I will do more color work.

6. Learn the uses of other cast-ons and use them in the right situations. I rely heavily on the long-tail cast-on for pretty much everything because it's the cast-on I'm comfortable with. I've used other cast-ons when called for, but I want to really know why and when to use other cast-ons.

7. Improve my finishing techniques. I'm decent at kitchener stitch and mattress stitch, but I'd like to learn the three needle bind-off and sewn bind-offs.

Is this the year that I finally knit a fair isle sweater?

Learn to spin?

Take a chance on a steek?

Not sure. But I'll be sure to share if I do.

What are your knitting plans for this year?

Stashing

2012-01-02T16:07:00.001-06:00

I recently had occasion to pack up about 70% of my knitting stash and realized exactly how much I have.... several shawls worth, a couple sweaters worth, countless balls of sock yarn, plus the recent acquisition of yarn towards baby projects. It is certainly NOT as much as a lot of yarn stash-ers have, but it has definitely outgrown the space I have dedicated to yarn, and that means I need to get knitting before I buy anything else.

See, knitters include people of all stashing types, and I just happen to be one of those folks that tends to stash for planned projects. When I get a little bit of yarn money together I plan the next few projects I'd like to make and then order accordingly. I don't have yarn money available to me at all times- it tends to come to me in chunks at a few different points in the year and I try to take advantage so that I never go without knitting. Because of this buying trend I typically only have a few projects worth of yarn in my stash at any time. I'm not really sure how this big of a stash took hold- I know some of it was a gift from a friend, some from my mom when she de-stashed (she's a quilter who knits on great occasion and recently got rid of a lot of yarn she's sure she'll never use), and some happened when we moved suddenly to help take care of my father-in-law after my mother-in-law died. I took some things with me from the stash, but bought more when I didn't have what I needed at the time... so I kind of have two small stashes right now- the one at our house and one at my father-in-laws... but when you add two small stashes together it equals "not so small stash" and that is just not good for me (or the storage space I have for yarn!)

I'm planning to knit from stash for as long as possible in 2012, not out of some kind of knitter's torture, but because I have lots of yarn intended for projects that I *really* like and want to see made. I also have some WIPs that were started last spring or summer that didn't end up getting completed (even though I do tend to be a finish-the-project knitter) and I'd like to see those finished. I'll buy new yarn if necessary for something, but the bulk of my 2012 knitting will be knitting with what I have on hand.

What kind of stasher are you? Am I some kind of weirdo? I really don't buy yarn just because I see it and like it- I'm always worried that I'll find the perfect project for it and then not have enough of that perfect yarn, or worse that I'll never make it into anything and it will sit in the stash for another decade or two. I can't stand to buy something (especially something beautiful) that will go unused!

2011 in Books

2011-12-29T08:27:00.175-06:00

Can I just start by saying I look forward to this post all year long? I love to read, but it was one of the first hobbies that got lost after my first son was born. I realized about a year later that the only thing I'd really read in that year was a parenting book or two, and made a serious shift. Now I keep track every year, at least of my fiction reads. I tried to better track my non-fiction reads this year, but looking through the list I noticed several titles were missing (I know I read at least 5 canning books)... I'm going to do better next year!

My goal is to read 20 fiction titles every year and this year I made it to 23. I read a lot of YA titles- a lot were recommended to me by students, and some I was reading "ahead" for my kids. I really like to keep up on trendy titles so that I know exactly what we're dealing with when my kids ask to read them. Now that Ender is starting to read some chapter books on his own I know that day is just around the corner for our family.

What was the best new (to you) author you discovered this year? Suzanne Collins. I read The Hunger Games trilogy in May/June and it is definitely one of my favorte series now. In fact, I plan to read it again next month in preparation for the movie release this spring.

What was your favorite new (to you) series? The Hunger Games Trilogy, as I mentioned above. Second place goes to Gone and it's sequels by Michael Grant. Those books are *not* for everyone, with a sci-fi lean and some horror elements, but it was well written with some interesting characters. I am NOT a horror fan at all and there were places in these books that I was glad I was reading during daylight (but I know I'm a little more easily freaked out than most).

Book that made you cry? The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I think this book renewed my faith in well written non-fiction.

Book that made you laugh out loud? All Wound Up by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Hilarious for knitters. :)

Book that totally changed your perspective on something? Canning for a New Generation by Lianna Krissoff. I've canned a little bit in the past, but usually just freezer jam. This book opened me up to feeling like a lot of different things were not only possible but pretty darn easy... and sooooo worth it to be eating our own food through the whole year, rather than only in the summer!

Best homeschooling book? The Core by Leigh Bortins. This is such a balanced approach to what we are looking for for our family. The Well-Trained Mind was a great jumping off point in pointing us toward materials that fit us well, but it feels so strict in what *must* be accomplished each year, and that is not always true for everyone- and that kind of restriction always makes me instinctively feel like it won't work for us.

While I'm not necessarily interested in joining a Classical Conversations group with my very young kids, we will be using much of the method here. My boys already love to memorize, and the fact that it only takes 24 weeks out of our usual 40 week school year means we have 16 weeks to explore interests or really sit on one week of material if they find something they really like.

Worst book that you managed to finish? Um, I don't really read bad books any more. If I listed books that I've started but not finished my reading list would be significantly longer. I used to feel compelled to finish everything, but my TBR list is just way too long and I want to get through the good stuff, you know? I did finish The Red Pyramid, but I had to push myself through. You know, Rick Riordan's stories and characters are really interesting but the writing is just bad. I do want to know what happens next but at the same time, the writing skill makes me groan and I have to put it aside for something else for awhile.

Most disappointing Book? Matched by Ally Condie. It felt like it was written to try to fit in with the Hunger Games fans, but it just doesn't resonate the way Hunger Games does. Many of the characters are flat or seem to be there just to help the plot get to the next point.

Best book-that-was-better-than-the-movie? Hahahaha... Twilight. Not even a close race. I'm not a huge Twilight fan, but I did read them again after a discussion with a friend (who suggested that I wasn't remembering the books accurately since it was about 2 years ago that I read them through in the course of a week). Just like The Percy Jackson books, the Twilight books have a compelling story but are badly written and I'm concerned about the underlying message of Bella and Edward's relationship. But the movie? I don't know how anyone who watched the movies knew at all what was going on.

Most over-hyped book of the year? Delirium by Lauren Conrad. It was a great idea, but felt flat to me.

Best young adult book of the year? The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Book You’ve been meaning to read for years and finally got to? The Artemis Fowl books. My husband has told me for ages that I would like them, and I finally read the first few this year.

Read aloud that the family enjoyed the most? Charlotte's Web! What a fun read.

Best non-fiction? I read a lot of really good non-fiction this year, but the one that I think is going to really affect our family is The Rhythm of Family by Amanda Blake Soule.

All-around best story of the year? The Hunger Games again. I know, I know. Broken record, right? I just really liked this trilogy!

Book that you feel is so integral to your library, you’d even pay full price for it? Real Learning by Elizabeth Foss, 3 R's by Dr. Ruth Beechick, and The Core by Leigh Bortins. I pull these out every few months as I plan the next quarter's goals and book lists.

Complete List for 2011:

Goal: 20 fiction books

Fiction:

1. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (January)

2. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (January)

3. Worst Case by James Patterson (February)

4. Stolen Children by Peg Kehret (February)

5. The Magic Half by Annie Barrows (February)

6. Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix (February)

7. Redwall by Brian Jacques (March)

8. The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan (May)

9. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (May)

10. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (June)

11. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (June)

12. The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer (June)

13. Gone by Michael Grant (July)

14. Naamah's Blessing by Jacqueline Carey (July)

15. Delirium by Lauren Oliver (August)

16. Matched by Ally Condie (August)

17. The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan (September)

18. Hunger by Michael Grant (September)

19. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling (October)

20. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (October)

21. The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan (November)

22. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer (November)

23. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (December)

Non-Fiction:

1. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (March)

2. Decision Points by George W. Bush (March)

3. Respect the Spindle by Abby Franquemont (April)

4. The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer (April)

5. Sew Liberated by Meg McElwee (April)

6. Canning for a New Generation by Liana Krissoff (May)

7. The Core by Leigh Bortins (June)

8. The 3 R's by Ruth Beechick (July)

9. Real Learning by Elizabeth Foss (July)

10. The Rhythm of Family by Amanda Blake Soule (October)

11. All Wound Up by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (December)

Yarn Along

2011-12-28T09:05:00.062-06:00

{Knitting with Ginny this week...}

While I was in the middle of ripping and re-knitting mitten thumbs, I picked up a super fast project: Schmatta. Quick to memorize, quick to knit and best of all? My 6-year-old contributed a few stitches every few minutes, and at one point even did a whole row. He told me he was ready to move past finger knitting and this was the perfect opportunity for him to knit a little without feeling like he had to do a TON to finish it. It was really my project and he "just helped", which was the perfect amount of work for him.

I picked up Wendy Knits Lace yesterday but haven't had a chance to do more than glance through it. I'll be sure to share more when I get a chance to look through projects (and probably knit one!)

I did finish All Wound Up by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee over the weekend. I'm already a big fan of hers, so it's probably not shocking that I really liked her latest book. How can you not like a famous knitter who very openly shares her knitting boo-boos, even when it might be a rookie mistake?

Not only do we share a birthday (June 14 FTW!), but as I was reading a few of the chapters in All Wound Up I felt like she'd been peeking in my windows stealing bits of my life... or that we're long lost twins born years apart... I too recently had the great time of no knitting due to stress and grief and as hard as it is to believe that a serious knitter would totally stop knitting for months, it really did happen. My *husband* even noticed my lack of knitting and tried to get me to knit again!

I'm making plans for baby knitting that I'll share soon, and also making a list of UFOs for the 2012 stash busting/finish your UFOs challenge. I want to be ready to go on January 1!

Do you have any knitting plans for 2012?

Christmas Postcard #4

2011-12-26T20:07:00.001-06:00

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas Day!

We spent the day playing a few new games found under the tree. The current favorite is Ruckus, but we also had great fun with Too Many Monkeys and Sleeping Queens. We also played Bananagrams and Scrambled States with Ender, and those were fun too, just not something that Ezra can quite participate in yet.

Ender learned how to keep score, and we ate way too much pie and baked ham.

And now it's back to "regular" life this week, except that I'm not working this week. Instead the work for this week is getting the house back to where it should be after several days of celebrating with family and friends.

And knitting.... lots and lots of knitting!

Christmas Postcard #3

2011-12-24T08:59:00.017-06:00

One of my favorite things about this season is getting to re-read some of our favorite books.

Merry Christmas Eve to you and yours

and a

Happy Christmas Day tomorrow!

Christmas Postcard #2

2011-12-23T09:14:00.002-06:00

Christmas Postcard

2011-12-22T10:12:00.001-06:00

The tree is up...

Each child has a new ornament for the year, a tradition my mother-in-law started with her kids...

The boys were so pleased to use Nana's ornaments this year.

When they had finished Ezra said,

"I think Nana would like this tree."

He's right.... she would have loved that they decorated it for her.

Yarn Along

2011-12-20T23:28:00.000-06:00

{Yarning Along with Ginny this week...}

Well, I didn't make my December 17th mitten deadline, but I sure gave it my best shot. So I gave one wrapped thumbless mitten and she laughed and totally understood. See, my mom is a quilter and she knows that time can get away from you or projects can just go unexpectedly.

It was just the time thing thank goodness. With a few extra rehearsals and the wedding rehearsal and wedding itself I just didn't have the time and I was a little more tired than I expected to be every night (and really shouldn't I know better by this point in the pregnancy?) The project is progressing beautifully and better than expected- especially since I'm not exactly known for my colorwork. It's my second ever colorwork piece, so I wasn't going in with high expectations. I'm just really loving the way this is turning out and I'm making sure to do it right even when it means ripping back a needle worth of stitches because I forgot to lock down a long strand.

It's hard to show what you're reading when it's on the kindle, but I'm reading Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's latest All Wound-Up and really enjoying it. Her blog is one of the few I read the second it shows up in my reader (and may have sent some of her latest blog posts on gifts for knitters to my husband- to the point that he told me what my Christmas gift was to get me to stop sending him knitting blogs...) so I'm really enjoying the essays in this book so far.

How goes your Christmas knitting?

2012 Knitting Challenge

2011-12-16T08:41:00.000-06:00

Kelly is inviting us all to participate in a Stash Busting/Finish your WIPs Challenge for 2012. Anyone here have need of that? I know I do!

I don't keep nearly as large a stash as most people- my yarn is usually bought with the intention of a certain project (except for sock yarn, which I always buy enough for at least a pair of socks, but occasionally more for baby knits). However, not all of those projects come to fruition, so I do have about 2 rubbermaid totes worth of yarn in a variety of weights, some still assigned to certain projects.

And I've recently ordered yarn for the baby that I'm going to count as stash since I have grand plans (read: not all of it will actually get knit in time and chances are likely that half will land in stash!)

Another part of the challenge is finishing WIPs.... and I have to say that I have a few of those... Please tell me I'm not the only one who finishes a project but then takes a month (or six) to weave in ends, stitch a seam or add buttons! I have a lot of projects that are in that final finishing stage but just haven't quite made it through the last hour it would take to make them truly finished.

It's a sickness really.

So are you in? The rules aren't strict (you can still buy new yarn if needed, it's just to encourage each other to work from stash!) and most everyone has some stashy build-up to take care of.... what do you say?

Yarn Along

2011-12-14T09:44:00.001-06:00

{Yarning Along with Ginny again this week...)

After 2 (too short) evenings of work on the Christmas mitten (and 1 evening of starting over 50 gajillion times because that's how it works around here) I'm about 3 rows from the decreases. I was hoping it would go this quickly on the first mitten, because my schedule completely crowds up starting today and that second mitten might be difficult to finish by the Saturday deadline.

This mitten is Rigmor's Selbu Mittens, and even though I'm carrying both colors in one hand it's going a little faster than I thought. I really will try to learn to carry one color in each hand with even tension at some point, but not on a Christmas gift. I just can't give a handknit gift with wonky tension.

I'm still in re-reading mode, finishing up Eclipse and on to Hunger Games this week. Because I'm knitting more I'm reading less since those hobbies have to share the same limited amounted of free time I have. I did just download a copy of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's newest book on the kindle though, so I'm sure I'll be reading that too this week.

Christmas Knits

2011-12-12T07:07:00.001-06:00

Last year I knit 7 items for Christmas, including 2 sweaters, 2 pairs of slippers, a shawl, a hat and a scarf that was the most challenging lace I'd knit up to that point.

Today is the day where I admit that I haven't made a single thing for Christmas.

That really can't come as a surprise seeing as how I haven't been knitting or sewing *anything* until about a week or so ago, but I am actually supposed to be busy making for Christmas and I've been slow to get going. I whittled the list down, and I think it mostly includes a couple of simple sewing things that can be whipped out in a few evenings.

Plus a pair of mittens, that can't just be whipped out in an evening or two.

See, my mom wants mittens for Christmas and I finally got some knitting mojo going.... so I'm going to go for it. So I guess the real question here is whether or not I'm crazy to try to knit a pair of mittens by next Saturday.

PROS:

Worsted weight yarn already purchased
A pattern ready to go
Who doesn't like a crazy deadline once in awhile? I can totally work under pressure.

CONS:

My normal work schedule (aka not a lot of time)
Stranded color work (which I cannot yet do 2 handed with even tension, so I do it 1 handed, therefore slower)
My usual need to re-start a project about 3 times before I get it off on the right foot. (Because, well, I can't just be finishing projects without some kind of obstacle right? I just like to get the frustration over with early...)

I started last night and have, well, not much to show you (I was busy getting that "start over 3 times" out of the way), but I'm hoping for some pretty awesome progress by tomorrow.

(I'm secure in the knowledge that my mother loves me and will totally understand if I only have half a mitten done by the 17th when we have Christmas with that side- as long as the full pair is delivered before 2012 I think we'll be okay.)

He

2011-12-09T07:49:00.003-06:00

God is good.

He is good all the time.

Even while you tuck a sad little boy back into bed for the fifth time that night.

Even when little ones bicker from the moment they wake.

Even when the habits and activities of yesterday no longer bring peace and calm.

Even when needed quiet is nowhere to be found.

Even when the dark looks so very dark that you can't possibly hope for light.

God is good.

He is good all the time.

Yarn Along: More Baby Knits

2011-12-07T00:00:00.018-06:00

{Yarning Along with Ginny again this week...}

My little Stella Pixie Hat from last week just needs a bit of sewing and then it's finished. I don't know why I put off the sewing bits, but I'll get it done in the car this weekend as we head around town to family things. I don't know why I worried that it would turn out too big, but I think it turned out perfectly for a newborn to wear home from the hospital.

Next up are some baby socks to match the hat, which I'm sure I will also start in the car this weekend if not during rehearsal on Thursday.

And my real knitting concern has been with trying to find the perfect coming home cardigan to knit for baby. We are planning to find out the gender at our next ultrasound if possible and that will help me decide greatly. I'm pretty sure it will be the Jasper Diamond Hoodie in a beautiful grey if baby is a boy, and if baby is a girl? I'm undecided. There are so many gorgeous baby girl knits that I just can't settle on anything. I'm used to knitting for my boys and having less than 10 patterns to really choose from.

I'm still reading the Autobiography of Henry VIII, but very slowly as I've been falling asleep early all week (and practically slept Saturday away...). The Hunger Games arrived this week from the library and I'm planning a re-read of that trilogy before the movie is released in the spring. So I'll either jump in and read Hunger Games over a few days (probably in the car this weekend- I can't even begin to say how many family things we have going on this weekend and next since the last of my brothers is getting married this month!) or read the Henry VIII book in a hurry so that I can move on to the Hunger Games.

I'm sure I'll be back with more baby knits next week, though my gender-neutral list is pitifully small. Not long now 'til we find out what this little one is!

Thankful

2011-12-06T07:59:00.000-06:00

:: Our first dusting of snow arrived overnight, much to the excitement of two little boys. (Followed by disappointment that it is truly just a dusting and can't be made into forts or snowmen.)

:: Praying over our house, that the sale goes through as planned in the next few weeks so that we can move into the house we really love (and have offered on)...

:: Ezra is learning to read and *loving* it. Little by little we work together and it's the perfect amount for each of us I think. I stressed too much about this process with Ender and I refuse to stress this time around.

:: Thankful for yarn and fabric and the other textiles that bring warmth to our home. I truly love having so much handmade in our lives, and along with a giant word of THANKS that my desire to knit has finally returned. Perhaps the sewing bug will return just in time for Christmas?

:: I'm feeling movement from the baby at least once a day now. Only two weeks until we find out if this little one is a girl or a third little boy (and whether I can give away all my boxed up boy things before the move or if they will be working their way through one more babe in our family...)

:: I'm thankful for the chance to work less after baby is here and spend a lot more time with my kids.

:: I'm so thankful that we have the option to keep our boys home and educate them in the way we feel best. I love that legos are mixed in with math and reading and that we can put some "normal school" aside in December to learn about the truly important- spending our school time instead helping our church help our community.

:: I am thankful that my mother-in-law "Nana" established the importance of the Christmas season in my husband's heart when he was a young boy and that we can carry on many of the traditions she started in her absence.

:: And most of all, in the midst of all this change that would usually send me screaming, I'm thankful for just that- the change.

A house that will really fit our family and the life we live.

Boys getting bigger and finding out just how much there is to learn about the world.

Adding a new little one in what seems to be a long while but is really just one more season away...

And the thought of moving and settling into a new house just two months before baby appears?

Not even a little scary.

Casting On

2011-11-29T23:00:00.000-06:00

{Yarning along with Ginny for the first time in awhile... }

I honestly thought I wouldn't remember how. Casting on, I mean. I thought I'd have to look it up again, but the yarn just kind of twisted around in just the right way and as long as I didn't think too hard about it it just sort of worked.

I guess three months away isn't long enough to shake the knitting knowledge out of my brain.

This little white knit is most of a Stella Pixie Hat. I've made one before for a nephew (who will be turning 2 soon!) and this went onto my baby knitting list pretty much the second I found out I was pregnant. This pattern is available for free, but the book it comes from is so very lovely- be sure to check out Vintage Baby Knits if you have any babies needing adorable knits. Once we find out the gender in a few weeks I can move forward on some of my favorite knits from that book.

I've actually read quite a lot in the last month (Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan, The Core by Leigh Bortins, The Rhythm of Family by Amanda Blake Soule, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling) but my current reads are Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer and The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George. I saw the newest Twilight movie, so I started to read the books again. For some reason I've been doing a TON of re-reading in the last several months and I'm not generally a re-reader. I'm kind of stuck for new titles and I'm definitely feeling the pinch, especially in the lack of good fantasy or historicals that aren't just romances dressed up as historicals.

What are you reading right now? Any suggestions for me?

Flexibility and Fairy Tales

2011-11-28T07:48:00.002-06:00

When I last posted about homeschooling I had just made a few changes to our plans and we were moving forward.

I'm so glad we did.

I didn't know at that point that I was pregnant and since I've spent much of the last three months pretty sick in the mornings, school has been different. But what is homeschooling if not flexible, right?

Oh, lessons are getting done, but not necessarily with me at the helm- it's definitely a team effort lately. I've been doing what I can in the mornings (which ranges from supervising one or two things from the couch to completely finishing our lessons for the day). Thank goodness for a husband who doesn't mind giving a math lesson or supervising a 6-year-old's copywork after getting home from work.

The big change that made this all easier? Going more literature based. Our science, history and L.A. are all literature based now and even when I'm not at my best I can still sit on the couch and read a book. We do projects related to our books as the boys think of them, or even better I send them off to do their own thing and overhear them playing "Sailing on the Mayflower" or "Charlotte's Web" or "George Washington". You know they really got it when it seeps into their play.

Fairy Tales

Over the past month or so we've been working through a little unit on fairy tales. Our goal is familiarity with the tales, but we're also taking the opportunity to work on Ender's primary habit to build right now: retelling a story.

After our first time reading through the story I ask leading questions, kind of retelling in my own words and asking him to help me fill in the gaps. We read the story again a day or two later, and I retell again, but ask him to fill in even more for me than he did the first day. A day or two later I ask him, "Tell me the story of ..." and I help him fill in if he missed anything important. We have made notebook pages for a few of the tales, but that's a project he can choose to do- it's not required.

I chose versions of the tales for rich language but also based on what was available at our local library. We are fortunate to have a fantastic library system here so I try to take advantage of that whenever possible. Many thanks to Elizabeth Foss and her fantastic book lists (Primary Cycle B) for giving me a great place to start.

Cinderella by Brown

Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Brett

Little Red Riding Hood by Schart Hyman

Rapunzel by Zelinsky

Rumplestiltskin by Zelinsky

The Sleeping Beauty by Schart Hyman

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves by Jarrell

Three Billy Goats Gruff by Brown

The Three Little Pigs by Galdone

We're taking a little fairy tale break once December is really here so that we can focus on our Christmas favorites, but we'll pick up again in January to finish up with The Frog Prince, The Emperor's New Clothes, and a few others before we move on to Tall Tales in February.

The REAL Reason to Read

2011-11-21T07:11:00.001-06:00

Ezra decided suddenly that he's ready to start blending and has been really loving the moveable alphabet lately. He's been having a "reading lesson" with me in the morning and practicing again at night with Brian. At first I thought his sudden interest was because he's the only one in the family that doesn't read now, or that all the literature exposure was really soaking in...

But no. It turns out that the only reason he wants to learn to read is because "Ender gets to stay up for 20 minutes with his light on because he is reading."

So the real reason to learn to read is to stay up late.

Just so you know.

Going Again

2011-11-17T18:06:00.001-06:00

I made strides toward knitting the other day- I printed a few patterns for the baby that are gender-neutral with the full intention of casting *something* on that night. But I only have a little bit of my stash with me and the other part that had the baby yarn is at the other house still.... so no cast-on. I'm starting to worry that I don't remember how.

At first my husband rejoiced in the lack of knitting.

"The phase has finally passed!"

I don't think 3 years counts as a phase...

"No more old lady knitting jokes!"

There wouldn't have been any in the first place if you hadn't supplied them...

"No more tetanus shots due to knitting needles!"

Touche, sir.

But then he genuinely started to worry because I still wasn't knitting, plus I am pregnant which I had always warned him meant I would kick into high knitting gear before baby arrived...

He finally asked why I haven't been knitting and I told him the story I've told everyone who asks, and oh MY have they asked. I am just now realizing how often I knit in public and how most everyone I know (even casually!) thinks of me as "the girl who knits". And the public story is this: I'm just so very tired with the pregnancy and I've been going to bed pretty much the second the boys are down and when I *am* awake and have nothing to do (which happens... not that often) I pretty much only have enough energy to sit there and try to keep my eyelids open.

Brian finally said to me about two weeks ago- "You know, you're not going to bed that early any more- you definitely have time to knit again if you want to."

And while he is right, the knitting absence is really due to a whole other reason.

I was knitting this for her, and while I finished in time to gift it, she didn't make it to the Christmas it was supposed to be gifted on.

And I just haven't been able to get up the energy to go again.

Thoughts

2011-11-07T10:01:00.000-06:00

:: Growing a baby is a lot more exhausting this time around. I'm older, have two active boys, working, homeschooling... I'm still getting to bed pretty much as early as possible after the boys are down (and occasionally before thanks to my husband), and when evenings are your free time to knit and write and think, well- those things just don't happen.

:: I thought I'd be knitting or sewing again by now. It's like all the creativity has leaked out of me these last few months. I know I have Christmas gifts to make and yet I haven't started a single bit. I can't seem to get the motivation going even though I know time is ticking. Calling second trimester energy in 3... 2... 1...

:: I'm starting to think ahead to next school year and looking at materials so that I'm somewhat prepared before baby gets here. I want to be mentally ready for what needs done before baby is here and have the skeleton of the plan written out, maybe a start on booklists too. Then I can work on things after baby is here a little bit at a time over the summer. The hard part is figuring out *what* to do, and that's the part that must be done before we bring baby home.

Thoughts include: continuing in Singapore math, Writing With Ease, and the elements of our day we love (like reading aloud together and art projects),

I'm also looking into All About Spelling 1, and trying to decide a direction for our history program for next year (I'm kind of leaning towards a year focused on explorers and how they explored (and probably going into ships and navigation and that sort of thing). I've also been considering doing a year of ancients, but I planned that for this past year and scrapped it at the last minute- it just didn't feel right, and I'm still thinking that it isn't for us at this age/grade level.

:: As if we don't have enough to do right now, we are getting ready to put our house on the market. We have been tight here ever since Ezra was born, but now with another baby coming we really need to look at a new place with a bit more room. So we've made our list of things to work on to get everything sale ready and now we're spending the weekends trying to make that happen.

:: I know that life moves on around us even when it seems like time stopped for us. My google reader is super full even though I'm not back to writing regularly yet, and work goes on just as it always has even when I'm not sure how to get one more day in, and little boys need to run and play and be outside while outside is an enjoyable place to be. Everything keeps going and we're still trying to get back to routine and "normal".

We are working out of that "time stop" more and more each day, and lately that means far more good days than bad days. And after getting some extra (and much needed) sleep this past weekend I think we're on a steep upswing this week. :)

Warm October Daybook

2011-10-11T11:55:00.001-05:00

Because I haven't written a daybook since last February

*and*

I'm trying to get back to a more daily writing habit...

Outside my window... another day close to 80F! It just doesn't seem like fall for real with the past week full of mostly 75+ degree days.

I am listening to... Knitpurlgurl podcasts while I drive to and from work. Her laugh is so cute and I love that she includes so many bits of the fiber arts world in her podcasts. I'm primarily a knitter, but I do dabble in other fibers, so it's nice to hear about other fiber arts too.

I am wearing... a long black and pink skirt and a black tee-shirt. This is probably my last week in "regular" clothes, but I'm trying to put off moving into maternity clothes a little while longer if I can...

I am thinking... about how to re-adjust our school schedule. We took time off when my mother-in-law passed away in early September, but we've also only really done school about 3 days a week over these last few weeks because of this morning sickness. Some will be put off til January, some cut, and some just rescheduled... sorting all of that out is taking some time.

I am reading... Harry Potter 6 again.

I am creating... a baby. And a new school schedule. I'm thinking fondly about knitting though...

Always learning... I don't know why I'm still amazed by this, but my kids still choose to learn new things when left to their own devices for a time. While I've been sick Ender has been keeping up on his 20/20 goal for the Book It program with very little reminding from adults, they've both been building all sorts of structures after reading Amazing Buildings, and they are also working on adding artwork to their "animal notebooks". We've spent this month reading fairy tales together a la one of the lists from Real Learning, and it has been lovely to "do school" in such a way.

Around the house... We're still getting settled in, but are starting to feel more at home lately. Especially with the re-doing of the bed situation- a new mattress was exactly what we needed and suddenly sleep is that much more accessible.

Baby news... 11+ weeks, strong heartbeat and hopefully a decrease in morning sickness on the horizon. I've been told that this is the week with the craziest hormones morning sickness wise, so I'm seriously hoping that is true.

I am planning... more time to sleep. Certain things like school and work can't really move in the schedule, but pretty much everything else is out until I start feeling better.

I am praying... for my new little nephew Malachi. He was born this past Sunday at just over 36 weeks, but only 4 pounds and 9 ounces. He is healthy aside from weight, but his weight is the concern. He's doing the typical newborn "lose a little, gain a little" dance, except that he doesn't have much wiggle room in this area. We're praying for his weight to stabilize and consistently gain so that he can come home!

One of my favorite things... Frozen peaches. They seriously *always* taste good, even at my queasiest.

A few plans for the next week... have I said SLEEP enough in this post? Seriously I'm trying to be really tough on myself to be in bed, lights out by 9:30 so that I can get enough sleep

Lost Season

2011-10-10T11:45:00.001-05:00

I wrote last week about how strange it seems that fall is here, how summer disappeared without our notice and now I have to say that I think this whole season may be lost too.

I don't think I've really taken pictures in several weeks, aside from a few clicks here and there, and while the boys are just as busy as ever I am down for the count. Thirty hours or so in the studio every week, homeschooling in the mornings, and the necessary appointments for eyes and teeth and baby add up to very little time to just be... and evenings are lost too, for as soon as I am home from the studio I am into bed to try to be ready to start again in the mornings. This pregnancy has certainly been the most tiring of the three. Thank goodness it will end with a new baby!

So thankful that...

:: Brian has taken over dinner for this season (since I am teaching every night in order to be more available in the mornings).

:: I can start a load of laundry in the morning and it is dried and folded and put away by day's end without any further work on my part.

:: Ender is reading all. the. time. Allowing him to stay up for 30 extra minutes as long as he is reading has paid off big time.

:: The second trimester isn't that far off... and hopefully this morning sickness and fatigue will ease up a little around that point.

:: Our family has been blessed with another nephew over the weekend - that makes the count 6 boys to 1 girl. We need more girls! (***hint to the baby***)

There sill isn't much new knitting, but I have been trying to be really diligent about sleep and water, which will pay off in a bigger way than new stitches.

I was sent this video by a friend, and thought I'd share here too:

My husband watched it, looked at me and said, "Why don't you knit that fast?" I thought about trying to explain to him that she knits continental and I knit English and that there are speed things that English knitters just can't do even though I'm a pretty fast knitter... but I know that would have just led to his eyes glazing over.

Anyway, I know this season will pass and while it probably won't be the most well documented, we'll still enjoy it and learn a lot and grow together through it.

Yarn Along

2011-10-05T11:18:00.000-05:00

{Yarning Along with Ginny...}

I finally got a chance to block my Omelet shawl. It has been done for weeks and weeks,

but I just hadn't had time to get a good blocking in.

I have a really fancy blocking system where I spread out towels on my living room floor and then pin right into the floor. High tech, huh?

And for those of you who fear for the straight lines where my (yo k1 yo) is, I took these pics when I originally pinned it to try out different edges- I promise I blocked them straight!

And the full pic- I took several pictures during the blocking to try to decide exactly how I wanted to curve the bottom edge, and this one was really uneven... I went through several options before really settling on how I wanted those edges worked out.

It's settled now and drying... I'll get unpinned pictures up soon.

I have to say that watching lace bloom feels like magic every.single. time. I know I knit it and at the same time it seems like the lace just appears out of that blob of yarn.

And this is why I'm now a lace knitter.

Because it's MAGIC.

There hasn't been any baby knitting really yet. I'm still so nauseous and tired that I'm pretty much schooling the children in the morning, then working in the afternoon and evening and falling into bed so that I can get up and repeat it again the next day. Oh, plus having to eat a small meal every two hours to keep the nausea under control. Keeps a girl busy.

But I do have serious baby plans thanks to your contributions last time around- thank you so much!

There are so many great baby knits out there.

In reading news I've been working my way through Michael Grant's Gone series. I just finished #3 last night (Lies) and need to pick up #4 from the library. I'm sure I have a pretty impressive holds stack waiting for me there because I just ordered all of our October and November school books also... I'm also waiting on a copy of the newest biography about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I studied him and his writings very seriously throughout high school and I am so excited to have yet another great biography to explore.

So what are you knitting and reading?

Welcoming Fall

2011-10-03T12:01:00.000-05:00

We must really be into fall now.

It's in the changing trees, that increased desire to knit warm things, the crisp air when we step outside to feed the cat and check to see if there might be one last tomato or pepper... and it came with a sneakiness we don't usually know.

I'm trying to think of where summer went. This is the first year since the boys have been part of our family that we didn't have a big celebration to welcome fall, making a big deal about that last trip to the pool and trying to squeeze out another few days wearing shorts and flip flops before jeans become a necessity.

We got it together in time to make a last camping trip over this past weekend with family and aside from one scary encounter with a rattlesnake (thank goodness for a quick-thinking uncle with a canoe paddle!) it was just what we needed for a low-key celebration to end one season and begin another. A little bit of fishing and canoeing, cooking hot dogs over the fire, little boys pretty much rolling in the dirt all day and *loving* it, and playing lots of board games into the wee hours made a perfect welcome to this new season.

Yarn Along: Baby Knits

2011-09-20T22:59:00.001-05:00

So, now that the cat is out of the bag (or the bun is in the oven or whatever you'd like to say), I can finally talk to you about all the baby knitting I am not doing. ~~Morning sickness~~ all day sickness has pretty much taken over, but I'm now on day 2 with my new best friend Zofran and have begun again to think fondly of repetitive motions such as knitting.

Since it's hard to share pictures of non-knitting, there won't be pictures, but there are a lot of links to yummy baby knitting.

Let me first say that I did nothing crafty when my boys were born. I learned to sew the summer Ezra turned one, and then to knit that fall. So I'm not one of those knitters who has woolens to pull out from previous babies. This baby is going to have to be freshly woolen-ized.

Second, I have to say that gender-neutral sweaters and cardigans are kind of a joke. It is just not as easy as picking a "girl color" or a "boy color" and going for it, because the little details can scream one gender over the other.

{And as a side note on gender: My 4-year-old thinks that if the baby is a girl she'll have pink or purple hair (being a girl and all) even though all the girls he knows have normal colored hair. And no- it doesn't matter how many times we point out that he wasn't born with blue or red or green hair. He has his own little universe where bizarre genetics play a big role- like how he thinks his "blonde" cat is his long-lost twin brother.... because they're both blonde, you see.}

I've lined up a few favorites that I think can go either way in a "babies don't really care" kind of way and I have ideas for neutral colors- a soft heather gray, a creamy beige, perhaps even something white...

Puerperium Cardigan

Sweet little Kanoko Pants

Milo (which I think breaks the afore mentioned gender neutral joke)

Garter Stripe Baby Socks

hats, hats, glorious hats...

And a much longed-for knit: the Hemlock Ring Blanket. I have loved that blanket for a long time and now there is finally a baby to receive it.

So two questions for you:

1. What is on you "absolutely must knit" list for babies?

2. What are your favorite baby yarns to knit with?

I'm looking at superwash for some things, but that is not a necessity- super comfy and soft is key.

{Yarning Along with Ginny even though it's been a few weeks and this is not my usual type of Yarn Along post. As long as the Zofran continues to work there WILL be knitting to show next week.}

Here and Back Again

2011-09-19T08:01:00.002-05:00

First of all, THANK YOU. Your comments, your emails... Just thank you.

The memorial was held at the end of last week followed by a trip to bury her ashes in her hometown where she wanted to be buried. We are glad to be home and I think we're all glad to be welcomed by a "normal" week this week. We'll ease back into school a bit, and Brian and I both go back to working our full schedules.

I'm catching up here and there. I spent yesterday afternoon revising our homeschool plans to account for very little "real" schooling in the last month, and I opened my google reader with the intention of catching up, but with over 1000 new posts in 2 weeks, that isn't likely.

And there hasn't been a lot of knitting or reading these last few weeks with all that's been going on. It's partly because of recent events, partly because of having to commute to work for the first time in 4 years (a time suck that I'm trying to rectify with listening to knitting podcasts and sermons), partly because of trying to put our priority on being present with the boys, and partly because I'm totally exhausted all the time.

I thought the exhaustion thing was normal at first- all the hospital time, driving a lot, and being worn out emotionally made sense. But after having some other pretty obvious symptoms I'm happy to report that the current knitting drought is for good reason- we have another little one joining our family this spring. I can't even begin to tell you how excited we are, though feel a little curiosity at the timing. What an interesting expression of God's tender mercies poured out on us just when we need them most.

Soon

2011-09-13T10:25:00.000-05:00

My mother-in-law passed away over the weekend.

It was as peaceful as such a thing could be.

We're planning and having the memorial service this week, spending time with family and friends, and then planning time to catch up on life.

We will be back here soon.

New Normal

2011-09-05T23:28:00.000-05:00

We picked up and moved house this past weekend.

It was a surprise move, but we got people together and made it happen in just a few hours.

My mother-in-law is home on hospice and after discussion we decided it would be best for my husband's dad for us to be there with him full time. So we're out at their place for the forseeable future.

The good thing was that we only had to move the boys' beds and a dresser furniture-wise, but I did have to re-pack the school room I spent early July setting up for the new school year and re-established a school table here in the "new" house. Otherwise it was mostly clothes and a few beloved toys, and of course all my yarn...

Yes, I'll admit. The yarn was packed before my clothes. And I didn't bring all of it. If I really need something that got left behind I can pick it up any time because I'll still be working out of our house during work hours (where my studio is) but I did bring far more yarn than I can knit in the next 3-6 months.

I'm not sure if that was overkill or smart planning. I'm leaning toward smart- because, you know, there could be a yarn apocalypse at any moment.

I'd generally offer a picture of the new digs here, but my camera is still in a box, and to be honest there just hasn't been a lot of picture taking between all the packing and unpacking.

The general points are:

1. The boys now have 5 acres to run around on and they think they are in heaven...

2. Because now they have a cat and are making grand plans for a dog now that we have a yard (we'll see about that...)

3. I started to knit the sweetest little baby socks.

4. I have to drive to work for the first time since 2007. I know. What a hardship, right? I'm just really used to my commute being the 20 seconds it takes me to walk from one room to the other. Mostly I'm worried about my poor brain remembering to bring everything I need to bring.

5. We're glad to be here where we are so needed.

Now we're trying to get into a new routine here and a little bit back to normal.

Finishing

2011-08-31T09:09:00.000-05:00

First things first: thank you so very much for the kind comments and emails. Monday was a very difficult day, as late that afternoon after several tests they determined that my mother-in-law's cancer has progressed to the point where it can no longer be treated. She will be released to full time hospice care just as soon as they can coordinate it- hopefully before the weekend. Her care at the hospital has truly been phenomenal and we are so thankful for their help as we move to the next stage. It is likely that she only has a few weeks left (they are giving us 2 months at the very outside).

Monday and Tuesday we spent 12+ hours with her at the hospital talking with doctors and hospice, and in between all that we waited. She sleeps a lot right now because every conversation take all of her energy.

Waiting apparently leads to a lot of finishing for me.

I bound off the Omelet shawl last night (no word on when it might be blocked) and I also finally got buttons sewn on my Little Red Cardi. I'm within a couple of rows of finishing my Back-to-School U-Neck Vest as well. I'll share pictures as I have a chance to snap some.

My husband had to go back to work this morning, so the boys and I are also taking the morning to catch up on life a little bit and then I'll head back to the hospital this afternoon and the boys will go hang out with their cousin for awhile.

Thank you again, and I'll be back in this space soon.

Unraveled

2011-08-29T09:36:00.000-05:00

I had plans for this month.

This one month vacation from work was meant for spending a lot of time together in the kitchen, swimming every afternoon, reading for as long as we wanted to (because there was nowhere we had to get to on time), and maybe learning a little something new for math.

And I had plans to paint more, to sew and knit without feeling like my creative time was crushed into little pockets of stolen time, to get through closets and collections that have been ignored for the last year in order to simplify by just having less stuff...

But then last week happened and we hit a wall of too many days sitting in a hospital room, trying to walk the halls quietly, little boys being shuffled off to friends and family one too many times.

And even just getting to the every day things seemed like a miracle all week long. Laundry done, cleared kitchen counters, empty trash cans... amazing.

And I found myself overwhelmed all week long by what is happening in that hospital, by what is happening in my home as we show up here pretty much just for a quick meal, a shower and some sleep, by what is happening in my head as I hear that insidious alarm screeching: "This is not in the plans for this week, and now you have so much to catch up on..."

My husband gave me and the boys that gift of "normal time" on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. (And I did the same for him and the boys on Sunday.) We caught up on the barest necessities of housework (namely clean underwear for all) and then took off to the pool. And even though my brain was pounding with an ever growing list of things that should have been done, I gathered my boys and we talked and cuddled in bed in the middle of the afternoon reading together and watching favorite shows and playing board games and just being silly together. And while we talked and cuddled and built lego towers I did something that just needed to be done:

It was a perfectly fine sweater, no mistakes, no reason that it sat within 2 rows of being finished for over a year except for the fact that I'd knit it before I knew much about fitting a garment to my actual self (not my imagined self) and it was two sizes too big.

I can't explain it really except that I had the overwhelming sense that ripping out that sweater while drinking hot chocolate and reading The Six Wives of Henry VIII would restore some balance to me.

I know. It makes no sense, but it was indeed true.

My husband came home after a long day at the hospital to boys tucked quietly in bed and me on the couch ripping a nearly complete sweater down to two skeins of yarn. He took it all in and said,

"Should I ask what happened here?"

And I told him, "All you need to know is that I feel much better now."

And it is definitely being re-knit.

On Hold

2011-08-26T14:57:00.000-05:00

I think we've been home for about 5 seconds in the last 3 days. My mother-in-law was admitted to the hospital again on Monday, but all we knew that day was that it meant she would get the fluids she desperately needed and they would try to better figure out her pain issues.

We did not know that we would spend most of the last 48 hours in her hospital room or in the surgical waiting room. All is as well as it can be for now, but now we wait and see how the procedures from yesterday help in the next 72 hours. Thank goodness for the wonderful kindness of family and friends willing to hang with our kids and show them a great time.

We spent this morning at the hospital decorating the room to make it a little more home-like: hanging drawings from the boys, putting out a few important photos, and adding fresh flowers. She's going to be there for awhile, so we wanted to surround her with reminders of the people that love her and things that make her happy.

The boys and I are having a "normal" afternoon today. A little time to recover the house and the laundry, time to play and run, and a regular home cooked dinner. Maybe we will hope for a quiet weekend too?

Yarn Along

2011-08-23T22:55:00.042-05:00

Yarning Along with Ginny (as usual)...

That blob of yellow that looks like nothing much? It's the Omelet- just a few tiny rows shy of completing the lace and then the massive bind off. I can honestly say that I'm not looking forward to it, except that it means I can block it and wear it!

I'm aiming to finish in the next few days so that I can block it over the weekend. Then the lace will open and actually look like something instead of a blob of holey knit fabric.

I'm also knitting along on the Back-To School Vest and have just a bit to finish on the back before I work the neck edging and armholes before calling that one complete too. And the gray Poet's Pullover is in need of just one more 1/4 skein to finish that sleeve. I aim to get to the yarn shop tomorrow so that I might finish that sleeve while we spend time waiting at the hospital this week. I did originally buy enough yarn for the pullover before I started it, but I think some of that wool became socks for my husband while I wasn't thinking clearly about it being "assigned to a project" yarn. PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one who does that sort of thing!

For our reads this week I'm on to Throne of Fire and I'm still reading Charlotte's Web with my boys. We are enjoying it very much and Ezra is especially in love with the goose's speeches.

I did a count of my reads for this year and I'm already at 16 novels. My goal is usually 20, so I think I'll be good to reach it this year. I've been heavily reading YA the last few months but I want to get back to some good historical fiction. I am lacking for titles though! Thoughts?

Gray

2011-08-22T09:59:00.000-05:00

Today is gray.

Today is gray, but it doesn't have to be.

:: 3 pints of salsa made this weekend

:: More painting complete (with more coming today!)

:: Down to the last 1/2 of a sleeve and then seaming on my Poet's Pullover.

{and I'm pretty sure I'm a tad short on yarn, so there may be a quick trip to the yarn shop today!}

:: And the beginnings of a shawl chart...

Changes

2011-08-19T08:57:00.000-05:00

We've been living our homeschooling plans for a few weeks, lightly at first and then in the full schedule, and we've made a few adjustments to the original plans. As I explained in that original post I don't feel locked into our lesson plans, but I do need a plan for the quarter to provide a bit of structure for our family.

First up: Successes so far...

Math. We are using Singapore 1 and we both love the set up. It is visually uncluttered, the amount of problems per page are perfect for Ender, and it has great pacing and learning through hands on work before doing the workbook pages has been key for us. One of the big questions I had about choosing a math curriculum was about whether or not we would actually need the teacher's manual- after all, how hard is first grade math?

I have to say- DEFINITELY invest in the teacher's manual. Not because the concepts are difficult, but because it includes so many different ways to incorporate math games into your lessons. There have been just a handful of lessons that we've needed a little more written work and I've improvised some problems on the white board for him to do, but otherwise I'm very happy with this curriculum so far.

Handwriting. LOVE LOVE LOVE Handwriting Without Tears. This is the first time ever Ender hasn't complained about having to write! I required very little writing of him last year and he always disliked it. He is using the Kindergarten book right now and if he keeps up his self-established pace he might make it all the way through the first grade book also this year!

Phonics. We've continued with phonics work in the Victory Drill Book, but Ender's fluency in reading has really taken off in the last 6 weeks so I'm backing off on the phonics for a bit. We'll still use this book for practice if I come across a problem in his reading, but right now he's reading out loud to me for 5-10 minutes every morning and 5-10 minutes for his dad in the evening and doing really well.

Science. This plan has been so delightful that it's been the inspiration for the changes I made to our history program. We've been working with our first quarter theme of ponds and creeks, reading, going outside, narrating about animals and facts that we're learning and it's just been so much fun. I do think we're going to revisit this theme again for a week in the winter and then another few weeks in the spring and summer to really understand the lifecycle and changes.

Ender has been reading from the Christian Liberty Nature Reader 1 for some of his independent reading and we've been using the K reader for narration material.

Fine Arts. Violin practice, art (some structured and some free) and composer study is going well. I so haven't gotten the artist study thing together yet. We may ditch it for this year, but we'll see if I can get that going next quarter.

Now the changes...

Language Arts. I'm refocusing our plans to literature. We were planning some literature yes, but as I thought more about what I wanted our first grade to look like, the more I felt like our plans just weren't as literature-rich as I was looking for. Instead of having "lessons from literature" I wanted to actually read the literature. So we've put the formal grammar learning off a year and instead I've inserted a unit on Fairy Tales, another on Tall Tales and another on Fables. We're also reading longer chapter books aloud together, but I feel like this approach is going to be much more what we're looking for this year.

I was kind of on the fence about including these this year anyway, but because of the above changes I did decide to forgo First Language Lessons and Writing With Ease this year. I like the curriculum and I think we could work through it slowly this year, but after working some with the material I think he'll retain it better next year and we won't have to go so slowly. Instead I'm pulling the beginning principles from WWE and having Ender narrate once a week to me after one of our read-alouds. I write down the narration for him and he illustrates. Mid-year we will likely move to using his one sentence narration as copywork.

History. As I wrote above, our science plans have been such a great match to our family's style of learning that I decided to pick a history topic for each quarter and then to read widely on that topic. After much debate back and forth (between me and my husband) and then finally a post from Jen that was perfectly timed for our discussion, we decided to hold off on the chronological progression a la Well-Trained Mind approach to history until 5th grade.

Right now we're focusing on people and places in history and specifically in areas where Ender is interested. So, yes we've been learning about Egypt this quarter (mainly pyramids) at Ender's request, but we're also going to spend time with a few of the American founders next quarter and on to a tour through the 50 states before taking a quarter to work back through the continents and make sure we remember the main points that we learned last year in addition to some new ones.

I'm keeping the geography section of our social studies in tact, because both Ender and I have been very excited to do that work and read from that book list.

I will likely share booklists as we complete "units" so that I can include only sources that we found useful.

Yarn Along

2011-08-16T23:02:00.000-05:00

Yarning Along with Ginny, sharing a current knit and the reads for this week....

First, thank you to the folks who emailed and commented Monday about my mother-in-law. Your prayers and kind thoughts are greatly appreciated right now. We were able to get her home on Saturday and she is set up with a wheelchair, an adjustable bed and now will have home healthcare every day to ease the burden, specifically on my father-in-law.

I know I said I wasn't casting on anything new last week, but with all the hours spent in the car back and forth to the hospital plus the actual time in the hospital I got to points on all my UFOs where I needed to focus- shaping, finishing, lace... and I just couldn't have that along with me during the last week. So I did cast on the Back-to-School U-Neck Vest, another by Stefanie Japel from the book Fitted Knits. This is my third knit from that book and I *love* how clear the directions are. I've made my way through the 2x2 rib and I'll be able to move on from that section tonight.

We're reading Charlotte's Web together right now in addition to quite a collection of books on pond life, superheroes and dinosaurs (totally not in the same book). I am reading Tim Gunn's Guide to Style because I have none. I mean, I know what I like, but that's totally not what I wear because I'm a mom and in my work life I work with kids. I need to be practical but also professional looking without looking like I'm trying too hard.

The thing is that I have a coordination problem- I just can't coordinating off the top of my head unless it's very obvious- all the same color, or black with a color, or white with a color. My "uniform" seems to be jeans and a nice black shirt. And my hair? I'm in ponytail land right now and I really don't want to be. I'm really not looking to be trendy all the time, but I do want to look nice. My goal is to decide what my basic go-to pieces should be and then build from there. I'm willing to make many pieces, but I'm not opposed to buying pieces if they will be backbones of my wardrobe.

I need help, y'all! How do you mix mommy-hood and style?

Valuable Skills for Knitters

2011-08-16T09:17:00.000-05:00

When I first started knitting the simple act of completing a row felt like triumph, and for a long while I felt like completing a few rows in a day accomplished a lot of progress... until I heard other knitters talking about how many inches they knit each day. Boy, did I feel slow. And then I took on my first adult-sized project. It was one of the patterns that first drew me to knitting- the famous February Lady Sweater.

I started to work on it and got through 90% of it over a few months- why didn't I finish? Well, I'd made so many mistakes on it that I just couldn't bring myself to complete it. I know now that I'm not the sort of knitter that can make a quick fix and ignore little mistakes, but working on that first sweater that was the advice I was given and it made me never want to work on the sweater again. It sat there with 1 sleeve left to go for a LONG time before I did the right thing and ripped it out. The yarn is washed and waiting in cakes for that sweater to be re-knit (and it will be, because I love it so much!)

I thought I'd share some of the things I learned in knitting that failed sweater that have proven to be incredibly valuable to me in my current knitting.

1. Know who you are and where you're at.

I'm the sort of knitter that would rather rip back and fix mistakes than move on with a quick fix. Call it perfectionism if you like, but it's certainly not the crippling kind. I just don't like to be stared down by mis-knitted sweaters. A friend of mine is quite the opposite. If she discovers that she's off by a stitch at the end of the row she looks back through to make sure she hasn't actually dropped something that's going to pull out and then she'll just quickly add those missing stitches and move on like nothing happened. The thought of ripping and reknitting a few weeks of work makes her ill.

It doesn't matter what type of knitter you are, but take the time to really know and embrace your true identity so that you can move forward taking advantage of your natural strengths. This knowledge is liberating! Even though plenty of knitters speak with bitter anguish about trips to the frog pond I don't feel bad about ripping out because I know I will be happier with the finished product. That doesn't mean that I don't sometimes banish projects to UFO timeout (sometimes it's healthy to take a break from misbehaving knitting) but ultimately I know that I'll never finish that item if there is a glaring mistake and even if I did finish it I would NEVER wear it.

2. Learn to "read" your knitting.

This radically changed my life. Remember those glaring mistakes I told you I made on my FLS? Yeah--- part of it was due to not really knowing the difference between the front and the back. When it was time to divide for the sleeves I did, but then I was confused- which was the front and the back? I threw a flippant "it kind of looks all the same" out there and moved on only to understand later that it DOESN'T look all the same, especially not in the lace repeats...

So what is reading your knitting? It's knowing what each stitch looks like after it's made so that when you look back you can "read" it and know that you did a knit stitch or a k2tog so that you can find your place again. This skill is what allows me to stop in the middle of a row even if I'm knitting lace. I can always read back through my knitting to figure out where I'm at again.

Great pictures of different stitches are available at Techknitting and videos for each stitch are available at knittinghelp.

3. Keep track of your progress.

Keeping track of each project is one of those little admin tasks that many people agree is a good idea but most of those folks never actually do. Have you ever had a project you started and had to set down for some reason- only to come back a few months later totally unsure of where you left off? Um, yeah. That used to be me.

I got tired of that though and started keeping notes. This looks different for everyone, but I mostly mark up the pattern. If it's printed I mark off rows on the pattern or write in the changes I've made to a portion. If the pattern is in a book I generally have a big post it note on the pattern where I mark rows and changes.

I also have a notebook that holds my life (not just knitting) and I frequently jot down a quick note in that notebook about what row I'm on in a project for easy pick up later.

You can also use the notes section of the project pages of ravelry. All you have to do is type up a quick sentence or two about which row you left off on or how your project is going. I try to put all my notes about changes and pattern likes/dislikes into the notes section by the time I'm finished with a project, because those noted have proven so valuable to me when other knitters include them on their projects!

4. Read your pattern all the way through before you start.

This was my number one mistake in the beginning of knitting bigger projects. I would get part way into a project only to discover that it was FAR more complicated than I was capable of accomplishing at the time, or I would discover some tool or needle size that I didn't yet own.... yes, a lot of patterns come with a list of skills used and a list of supplies needed, but it's super easy to accidentally leave one little thing off that list that makes it difficult for you to complete the project.

Save yourself a little bit of trouble and read ahead.

5. Do projects you love- you won't regret it.

I'm just going to say it- your first project does NOT have to be a scarf! It seems to be a popular first item, but I'm not a scarf person and probably never will be. In three years I have knit precisely one scarf - the lovely Kernel- for a Christmas gift for my mother-in-law last year. I started out knitting nothing and moved on to baby-sized things- they're small so you finish faster and you still run into skills like grafting, seaming, lace, and shaping.

You *can* start with a scarf, but you can also start with a baby blanket or a sweater or a simple shawl. What's important is to choose a project you really love. I don't spend my time knitting things I "should" knit- I only knit projects I really like (or special requests from my boys, because who can resist a request from your kids for something handmade???).

What have you learned in your knitting journey that has been valuable to you and your progress as a knitter?

Quiet

2011-08-15T00:47:00.000-05:00

Since last Wednesday we have been to the hospital more times than we'd care to count to help care for Brian's parents. My mother-in-law's cancer is very aggressive and there has been complication after complication in recent weeks.

We've spent the time we've had at home over the last few days staying quiet and trying to string together peace between hospital visits. There has been sleeping in, comfort food, lots of read alouds, and yes- knitting too (alongside keeping up on dishes and laundry- the two never-ending chores!)

We worshipped yesterday at church alongside friends and we praise Him who makes all things new.

I'll be back in this space tomorrow.

Yarn Along

2011-08-10T08:10:00.000-05:00

Yarning along with Ginny and sharing a current read as well.

Another excellent picture in my bathroom mirror...

The Textured Tunic, now with buttons! I really love this sweater- it makes me so happy every time I see it. I am going to make an attempt at some better pictures as soon as the sun shows up again. It has been raining much of the time for several days now (and thank goodness for the cooler temperatures that has brought!), plus my photographers have been gone again! They decided yesterday was a great day to stay out til bedtime running around town so I ended up taking my own mirror pictures. Lovely, eh?

I'm still hard at work finishing items from the UFO basket. A pair of mittens is done and the plans for this evening include either finishing up a hat or sewing buttons on my little red cardi as well as knitting a bit on something else- maybe Omelet?

I finished Delirium this week. It is another in the genre of books set in the not-to-distant future where something has dramatically changed the world so that it is similar to our own, but obviously not like ours a la Hunger Games or The Giver. The book is well written and an interesting idea, but there were serious pacing problems. It started far too slowly with world building and by the time it actually developed a good pace and interesting story line it started the decent to the conclusion and the conclusion was completely disatisfying. If it would continue to another book in a series it might be able to be redeemed, but it appears to be a stand alone novel. I've been reading a lot in this genre this year and it seems to me that Delirium is an attempt by the author to hop on the bandwagon of this trend in YA fiction without much of an attempt to hide that fact.

I started Matched by Ally Condie last night and it's already a much better pace and plot. I got about 1/3 of the way though last night which is always a good sign for me- Delirium took me forever to read because I just wasn't compelled to read it.

I hope your current reads are in better shape than mine were last week!

Mama Retreat

2011-08-08T08:16:00.000-05:00

Back in June when I turned 30 my husband got me the most awesome present.

A full day and overnight to myself.

A little "Mama Retreat" if you will.

We talked last spring about how much Ezra wanted to go on his first tent camping trip and how much Ender was looking forward to camping again this year for a "just the boys" weekend. But planning and going on the actual trip got lost in the shuffle of life until this weekend.

It was a little last minute, but I helped them get packed and sent off as long as they promised to call and tell me how much fun they were having.

And then they had such a great time that they stayed a second night.

And me?

I spent my time on a two-part knitting mission:

1. Find great buttons for my two recently finished sweaters.

2. Get as far through my UFO basket as possible in 1 weekend.

In the basket:

Poet's Pullover (needs 1 1/2 sleeves)

Ender's Mittens (needs thumbs and 1 cuff)

Ezra's Mittens (in need of thumbs)

Tappan Zee** (need to finish sleeves that I wanted to add)

Ezra's winter hat (needs to be decreased and finished off)

Omelet shawl (most of the last chart)

The basket is a little emptier this morning, and I've declared this a week of Finished Objects. I resisted the urge to cast on something new even with 4 sweaters and several shawls worth of fresh yarn staring at me. That basket is going to get knocked down to zero before anything new gets going.

**Oh, Tappan Zee... I'm seriously considering ripping and re-knitting the whole project. It's a fast knit so time isn't necessarily the concern, but I started knittting it before I knew much about fit (and I'm still learning, but know so much more than I used to!) and it doesn't fit well. It's overall too big, but especially in the shoulders, which makes it look like it's swallowing me... So I'm thinking. If I rip I'll definitely reknit with that yarn and that pattern because both are fabulous- I just made a really poor sizing decision.

Operation Find Buttons was also a success- now to get them sewn on!

Life By the Numbers

2011-08-05T06:17:00.001-05:00

In the last 48 hours:

10 music students taught

9 stitch markers dropped while working on the Omelet Shawl (thank goodness for plastic straws!)

8 pounds of peaches ready to be made into jam

7 episodes of Mad Men watched (while spent on #6)

6 hours of re-organizing the school room to get rid of broken toys/mostly filled notebooks/things we no longer use or the boys have outgrown

5 calls to try to fix problems with the fall schedule in the studio

4 loads of laundry washed, folded and put away

3 hours in rehearsal

2 hallways freshly painted

1 finished Little Red Cardi minus buttons

Sewing a Kindle Cover

2011-08-04T06:42:00.005-05:00

One of our recent acquisitions for homeschooling is a kindle. There are several books we are planning to use for school this year and in the next few that are available as free or nearly-free e-books. After weighing the cost both ways it was decidedly cheaper and more convenient to go with the kindle.

It doesn't hurt that this will also cut down on our purchase of physical books {you know- the ones we just don't have space for in this little tiny house}. What I needed next was a cover.

As most sewists do I have scrap material from projects and a bit of a fabric stash too. I dug in there and came out with a little bit of an older Alexander Henry lion print that I love along with a little bit of leftover quilt batting and muslin.

You will also need about 12 inches of bias tape to finish the top edge as well as a button and whatever you'd like to use as a button loop. I used about 4 inches of bias tape for my loop because that's what I had on hand at the time.

I cut all three layers to the same size. The kindle is about 7 1/2 inches by 5 inches so I cut my rectangle to 8 3/4 inches by 6 1/4 inches to account for seam allowance.

1. Sew together the muslin layers (or whatever you choose to use for lining.) on 3 sides, leaving one of the 614/" sides open. I used a 1/2 inch seam allowance and then trimmed the edges down. If you use a heavier fabric you can trim the corners down for less bulk, but I didn't have any problem with leaving mine untrimmed.

2. I embelished the outer fabric with beads and embroidery- you can do this step or not, but I like the extra special something it lends.

3. After embellishing the outer fabric I stacked one outer panel on top of one piece of batting and stitched them together around the outer edge. Do the same with the other outer panel and batting.

4. Place the outer panels together with right sides facing and sew them together on the left, right and bottom sides, leaving one of the 6 1/4" sides open like you did with the lining. Trim the bulk from the edges and corners and then turn your little bag right side out. I used a 3/8 inch seam allowance here.

5. Slide the lining inside the bag you just made out of the outer fabric and batting. Line up the seams and top edges (pin if necessary) and then stitch around the top edge. This stitching won't show when you're done- it's just to hold all the layers in place.

6. The next step is to make a loop for the button and to bind the top of your bag. I used a little bit of left over packaged bias tape but you can use anything you like. I cut a length for the loop that would fit around the button I wanted to use plus about 2 inches. Make sure when you place the loop that you place it on the inside of the bag and upside down like shown above, lining it up with where you'd like your button to go on the other side.

Pin the loop in place.

7. Cut another length of bias tape for the top binding with enough extra to be able to fold the raw ends under. pin it in place.

That will make a nice bound edge with that little loop sticking out of one side.

8. Attach your button to the side you'd like it placed on, and your loop should fit right around that button.

Slide your kindle in and admire your beautiful case!

Yarn Along

2011-08-02T22:59:00.001-05:00

Knitting along with Ginny this week...

I've been a sweater knitting fool here. My little red cardi is down to needing about 2 hours of TLC to be finished- one more sleeve and I'm done! Then ends to weave in and buttons to hunt down. I'm heading to another LYS this weekend on a serious button quest because last weekend resulted in ZERO buttons for my lovely green textured tunic.

I am fortunate to have 3 "L"YS's. The closest is about 20 minutes from me, then the other two are about 45 minutes from here, but well worth the trip every few months. And of course they are in 3 different directions. I made a trip to the closest one last weekend and didn't find any satisfactory buttons for the project so I'm making the 45 minute trip to the one with the best chance of having great buttons on Saturday. Five buttons for the green tunic and six for the red cardi... and if they don't have a good option I'll head into Joann's and Hobby Lobby close to home.

I didn't include it in my sweater photo, but I just started reading When I Lay My Isaac Down on the kindle. I'm also finishing up Delirium, but it's easier to take the kindle places lately since it also carries many books the boys like too. I made a case for it so that it stays safe in my purse (I'll post the tutorial later this week) so it pretty much goes everywhere with us now.

Next up in knitting is mittens. I'm mostly done with the boys' mittens, but I need to get to my own before long and then on to hats. There are so many mitten patterns I love that I'm having a very hard time narrowing it down.

Do I go with the Fiddlehead Mittens that were one of my first favorites on ravelry? Or how about the 5-1 mitten from the Magnificent Mittens book I love so much? Then there are the Ruba'iyat Mittens that I actually cast on last fall but then ripped out, and many more. Suggestions? Favorite mittens of yours?

August

2011-08-02T06:01:00.002-05:00

We've been practically living at the pool the last few weeks in this heat.

Today is supposed to hit 104 without the heat index. I can't imagine how hot it's going to feel with the additional humidity.

We've made and eaten popsicles almost every day for the last several weeks.

I don't see that trend ending any time soon...

Only five more days of work in the studio this month before we take time off

to really enjoy these summer days,

to work our way into the school year with grace,

and to prepare our hearts for the things coming our way this year.

Try New Things (It Won't Kill You)

2011-08-01T11:38:00.000-05:00

When it comes to trying new things I'll admit it: my natural reaction is to just say no. I've had to learn to be flexible over the years and to roll with what comes. That's how life is, right? It keeps moving along whether we adapt willingly or get caught up in the flow kicking and screaming. So in the name of making life less stressful I choose to go along with what comes our way. It makes for quieter living and I'm a big fan of that.

The thing is, that natural bent toward saying no to the new leaks into every area of your life, even the places that don't matter as much in the grand scheme of things. After all- since when did messing up a knitting project affect your value as a human being? There's no reason not to be adventurous in knitting and yet it's easy to find yourself congratulating yourself for even learning to knit in the first place. You tell yourself that just knowing the knit stitch is enough because the very thought of trying to learn lace or bobbles or cabling gives you a little panic attack.

And another moment of honesty: while I feel pretty daring in my knitting endeavors, the very thought of steeks makes me want to pass out.

But it's still on my list of things to try some day, probably following Elizabeth Zimmermann's recommendation to lie down afterwards.

It all comes back to my knitting philosophy:

You can always take it back out if you make a mistake.

If it doesn't work you can just try again.

Pick a Project and Go.

It really is that simple. The key is to pick something you really love- a project that you feel drawn to every single time you see it. One of those projects for me was the February Baby Sweater and I learned a *lot* from it. A little bit of lace, more about sweater structure, button holes- it was a good project with just the right amount of difficulty for where I was at the time.

So how can you find a project that is going to help you gain new skills

without being too difficult for your skill level?

1. Read the directions all the way through.

After you find that pattern that you love, read through everything in the directions- every last little line. Check out the new skills you'll need to learn and take a few minutes to watch videos on youtube or knittinghelp.com to decide if you're ready to attempt those skills.

2. Practice on a swatch.

Not sure if you can do it? Try a swatch. Cast on 32 stitches or so and knit in stockinette for several rows. Then try out the new skill. Try out yarn-overs or bobbles of k2tog- whatever it is that's making you nervous. On a swatch it's okay if your count is off or it doesn't look like anything and it gives you a chance to practice practice practice until you feel comfortable.

3. Know when to quit (and try it again later).

Sometimes you might over-reach and go for something a little too big for where you are right now. That's okay- remember that you can always rip it out and try again. I attempted a lace vest that was waaaaay beyond me about two years ago and I ripped it back several times before giving up completely. It's back on my list for this fall because after a little more beginner lace work and more experience with sweater construction I feel much more confident about working on the project.

How do you feel about trying new things? Nervous? Adventurous?

What have you tried lately that's new to you?

Yarn Along

2011-07-26T23:56:00.001-05:00

Joining with Ginny again this week to share my current knitting and current read...

Yes, it's another sweater. It's from the same book as my Textured Tunic, but this time it's the Short-Sleeved Cardigan with Ribbing. This red bulky yarn sat on my desk for about 5 seconds before I was ready to knit it up, but I kept to my deal of finishing a UFO before starting anything else. So the Textured Tunic was completed last Wednesday night (weaving in ends AND seaming included!) and I started this beautiful red cardi on Thursday. The Textured Tunic still needs buttons though- I'm making a button finding trip this weekend and then I'll be sure to share the finished sweater. I find myself desperately wishing that we weren't in the middle of this crazy heat wave- I want to wear my new sweater!

As for books, I finished Naamah's Blessing 2 nights ago and last night started Delirium by Lauren Oliver. I've heard a LOT of good things about this book, particular in comparison to The Giver which was one of my favorites as a student. I've been reading Just So Stories with my boys before bed and that has been such a pleasant way to end our days.

I'm also still working on my Omelet Shawl one little row at a time. I haven't had much quality lace knitting time lately though- I keep having "stockinette" knitting time, you know what I mean? Lace takes a little more concentration for me and I just can't work with lace while I'm also reading to little boys, or they're building forts all around me. Just one more week of work in the evenings to finish the fall studio schedule and I'm back to quiet evenings of lace knitting.

Do you have certain projects that you can only work on in quiet? I'm better about lace now- it used to be that I could have absolutely no distractions, but now I'm okay with having the t.v. on in the background. I just can't have the boys running around or stopping me mid-pattern.

Inspiration

2011-07-25T20:39:00.000-05:00

:: Getting ideas for our school room from this gorgeous playroom/studio.

:: A printable packing list for kids- perfect for my kids ages and a little older!

:: A brilliant post on exactly *how* to go about planning an education full of living books.

:: A mosaic using colored egg shells that we plan to try out soon.

:: A rhubarb syrup recipe I think we might try making tomorrow afternoon to use up the rest of our rhubarb.

Project Triage

2011-07-24T23:52:00.001-05:00

We've been busy the past few weeks.

Well, I've been busy. The boys have been playing and making their own fun and I've been painting walls, canning, knitting, making LOTS of lists, getting ready for the school year, working on an updated business plan, re-organizing closets, slimming down the boys' toy options, scheduling the next year in the studio, and generally having if-I-don't-get-this-done-right-this-second-it-will-never-get-done-itis.

It started as a panicky feeling about two weeks ago and after all this work (and not feeling like a lot of progress) I called a halt to it Saturday night and spent a few hours doing project triage.

I think this is the part where I admit that this feeling comes over me about twice a year- it's a "finishing mode" that shows up when my project list hits critical mass (about 50 projects past where my husband would prefer it be). It rather conveniently hits me mid-July right as I go into major planning/scheduling mode for the studio and just before the month I take off from the studio to spend with my family before stepping back to the full time schedule in September.

It looks a little different each time I do project triage, but this summer it's all about index cards, baby:

The Breakdown:

:: SEVEN (!!!) unfinished knits that are over 80% complete and just need that last little push.

:: FIVE (!!!) unfinished sewing projects that are at least half complete.

:: A stack of "house" cards- one room per card with a list of the stuff that has to happen in there, closet re-organizing, painting, re-arranging, decorating, needs curtains... some of these things (like painting) must happen in the summer months while I'm not having clients in and out of the studio five days a week, but some tasks can go into the school year if need be. I'm mostly concerned with accomplishing what must be done in that month when I don't work.

:: Business stuff. The summer session ends mid-August and we don't start the fall session for a full month. My goal is to be completely set for the fall and spring sessions by August 1 so that all of August can focus on family, house and crafty things.

:: Other projects that are time sensitive- canning is the most timely thingon that list, so that must be done when the food is available. We hit the farmer's market on Saturday mornings so I'm making plans for the next several weeks to get there a little earlier and then focus Saturdays on food.

We're setting up a temporary daily rhythm of school first thing in the morning, (we started very lightly last week and will increase over the next few weeks to the regular amount for the school year) followed by whatever house project is slated for that day. then some time in mid-afternoon to do whatever we'd like together (the pool is the most popular option right now!) and family time starting around dinner time when daddy gets home. I still work some over the next three weeks, but generally only 3-4 hours a day, three days a week.

Saturday is dedicated as "kitchen day" for preserving and Sunday stays (as always) our day for church and family.

And around that is the crafting. After spending some time in the evenings with Brian I've been working towards *finishing* projects, not starting. Some of those knits are ridiculously close to done. And even more staggering? I have yarn for another nine projects all ready to go, planned out, purchased, even wound into cakes. the sewing will kick into high gear once we get into that month long break. I have two little boys in desperate need of some pajamas and other clothing for fall!

The Newbie Knitter's Guide (Part 2)

2011-07-22T09:32:00.000-05:00

In case you missed it, Part One (Getting Started) is here.

The Newbie Knitter's Guide, Part Two-

Make it Easy

There isn't much out there that can make learning a new skill super easy (if only there was a magic *learn to knit* pill!) but you can make a few choices along the way to make the process simpler.

Pick a project that doesn't give you the vapors.

Feel a bit ill at the thought of trying to tackle a sweater? Does the prospect of a huge afghan make you feel faint? Then don't choose those projects. Recognize your limits and work within them. There are *tons* of projects available that use a lot of garter stitch (just the knit stitch) and as you feel mor ecomfortable you can try some new techniques. There's no reason to force yourself into new and exciting knitting territory if you dread it- you'll never want to knit again.

So what kind of project should I choose? A scarf, right? I hear that's the first project every knitter should do.

Um, I didn't. I've actually only ever knit one thing that could be considered a scarf and it was of the lace variety. It totally doesn't count as a traditional scarf.

Rule number one here: you don't really have to do anything in any certain order once you know a few basics, and you'll be practicing the basics on any project you pick. My best advice is to go pattern hunting on ravelry and favorite a ton of projects and patterns on there. When you have an idea of what you like read through several patterns to get an idea of the skills required, then decide if it's something you are up to trying.

Remember- the worst thing that can happen is that you have to rip it out (undo your knitting) and start again. You always have a do-over!

Seriously- where should I start?

Okay- a few suggestions:

:: Stella Pixie Hat- a baby hat that is knit flat and then sewn together at the end. This was one of the earliest hat patterns I tried and it is still one of my favorite baby gifts to give.

:: All kinds of dishcloths: plain (plus the options for something a little fancier), with a yarn-over, and two dishcloths with a pattern (the last one is one of the first dishcloths I made)

:: a garter stitch baby sweater: Pie

:: Okay, okay.... a scarf: Merci Scarf

If none of these strike your fancy, I recommend you look around and pick out something that is fairly small so that you can accomplish it pretty quickly. Setting out with the goal of knitting a huge afghan is certainly possible, but that can be one looooooong goal.

Remember: You're new (no matter your age or crafty skill)

Give yourself room to make lots of mistakes without guilt or those sneaky words "I should know by now...". If you spend your knitting time beating yourself up instead of practicing knitting you won't get very far and you won't have the desire to continue learning.

The truth is that even as an experienced knitter you have times where you totally mess stuff up, have to rip out, or make a mistake when you honestly should have known better. Some knitters are comfortable leaving little mistakes in there. I'm not one of those people so I rip out with impunity and go again.

Don't be ashamed of watching the same technique video again and again.

There were knitting days when I just watched the knit stitch video again and again, holding my yarn and frowning. I've done the same with the M1 video, various cast on videos and most recently the different seaming videos as I tried to decide how best to seam my Textured Tunic.

If you're an experienced knitter, what were some of your first projects? If you're a beginner, what project are you planning to start with?

The Newbie Knitters Guide (Part 1)

2011-07-21T09:36:00.000-05:00

I received a few qestions about learning how to knit over the past few weeks so I thought I'd share a little today about how to get started. I shared earlier in the week about how I got my start, but I thought I'd also share about the helpful bits I've come across and what I would tell my newbie knitting self now that I have three years of knitting behind me.

The Newbie Knitter's Guide, Part 1 - Getting Started

Learn from great resources.

On the ravelry boards you can read about a TON of different ways that people have learned to knit, but it all seems to boil down to a few certain methods:

1. Books like Knitting for Dummies or Stitch and Bitch.

2. Videos from Knittinghelp.com or youtube.

3. A friend or relative or Local Yarn Store (LYS).

For me it was a combination of books and videos. I don't know many people who knit in real life that are also local to me, so I essentially taught myself using books and videos. I'm pretty visual, so between those two resources I was in great shape.

I have learned a few really great things at my LYS though, including a super stretchy bind-off for socks and also got help with sock construction when I was having problems with my heel turns.

And because I simply can't move on to the next section without mentioning this life-changing site, go right now to ravelry.com and sign up. I'll wait until you get back- promise! If you're on the fence about whether or not knitting is for you ravelry will convince you- online access to thousands of patterns, many of them free, just about every bit of yarn information you could ever need, super helpful forums...

Just go.

Thank me later.

Use decent materials.

Your knitting experience highly depends on the materials you use. Certain yarns and needles are more comfortable than others (and this is slightly different for different people) so it's important that you use materials that offer you the best experience.

In my experience helping new knitters get started wool yarn and bamboo needles are the most forgiving. Wool has a little bit more ease to it than other yarns and the bamboo needles "grab" the yarn a little so that you don't have a heart attack due to stitches sliding off the tip of the needle.

You don't have to spend a ton of money to get started!

I have always been on a serious budget for hobbies- my sewing and knitting purchases come from birthday/Christmas/mother's day gifts almost exclusively- so I know what you're thinking when you're looking at all that yarn and noticing what looks like the very same blue for $5 cheaper. There's a reason that yarn is so much cheaper- you're getting what you pay for, and it's not very easy to work with.

I know, I know-- you don't want to put a lot of money into a hobby you might not stick with. But spend that $5 extra and knitting will be a truly different experience.

For the budget conscious, take a look at Joann's and Hobby Lobby if you have them close to you. Joann's runs regular 40% off coupons in the newspaper and I used these coupons to slowly acquire bamboo needles (Clover brand). You can also find some wool there (I like Wool-Ease). Hobby Lobby also runs good sales on their needlework section periodically and they also carry clover needles. Hobby Lobby has a store brand of wool that I like called I Love This Wool that is a nice beginner wool

If you don't have either of those stores near you another great option is knitpicks.com. They have yarn in a variety of prices, but their Wool of the Andes worsted weight is about $2.00 per ball. Their shipping is reasonable and purchases over $50.00 have free shipping.

I mentioned before that needles are a preference, but bamboo has a little more grab than other types of needles so it is a little easier for most beginners. There are also acrylic needles and metal needles available, with varieties of each type.

I own and regularly use Boye metal needles (I use the double point boye needles for socks) and I have Addi Turbo Click interchangeables that I use as often as possible. I do use my bamboo clover needles some (especially in larger sizes of double points for sleeves and such) but mostly stick with the Addi's now. Knitpicks has a "try it set" of needles that includes 1 set of each type- acrylic, metal and wood- if you'd like to try knitting with each kind.

I'll be back tomorrow with more tips on getting started.

Do you have something to add to this post? Have you found a great starter yarn or a bit of advice to add? Any questions you want to make sure I answer?

Yarn Along

2011-07-19T23:00:00.002-05:00

Yarning along with Ginny, sharing a current knit and current read...

I was so sure that I'd have my Textured Tunic finished by this week, but I ended up taking the Omelet shawl with me on our little road trip across the state for a wedding over the weekend instead of the sweater. I did make great progress on the shawl, but I haven't done much on the sweater because of that. I did get a little time yesterday to get pretty close to finishing that second sleeve, but I need another hour or so to finish it.

And then comes the seaming.

I'm a seaming wimp, I have to admit. I can do it, but I seriously do just about anything to avoid seams. I'm trying not to do that this time around. It's only sleeves right? And then weaving ends and adding buttons.

I'm reading a few things right now (Naamah's Blessing and Patchwork Style) but I'm also back to my beloved mitten book. I started looking at mittens back in June but never actually got to them. This time I'm starting to think more seriously towards fall. The boys need a few pair each and I definitely need some... now to decide how much color work I'm actually interested in doing for little guys that may just lose their mittens as fast as I can knit them...

Becoming a Knitter

2011-07-18T08:42:00.001-05:00

I've been asked a few times about knitting- how to get started, how to learn new techniques, how to learn to knit lace- and I thought I'd tell you a little about how I got started.

I've been knitting since the fall of 2008. I kind of tried it out once or twice before that but because it didn't work right the very first time I tried it I abandoned it. Maybe I should admit here that I'm a recovering perfectionist. I've been known to be a habitual hobby starter and not so much a hobby stick-with-it-er due to that darned perfectionism, but when I tried again in 2008 I was determined to really learn.

I started with Knitting for Dummies and decided that I didn't want to "make" anything- that set my expectations too high for something I was just learning. So I cast on a certain amount of stitches (maybe 40 or 50) and went for it, knitting row after row after row until it felt automatic.

Then came the endless purling- which I was convinced I would never be good at.

After that I tried a couple of dishcloths- a knitting friend recommended that I try that next and while it was good to learn the yo (yarn-over), I wouldn't recommend using cotton yarn that soon. Your materials really do matter while you're learning and cotton isn't very forgiving. I also turned out a few patterned dishcloths that required knitting AND purling on the SAME ROW and I thought I'd die before finishing one properly.

It was at this stage that my husband said, "Aren't hobbies supposed to be relaxing?" as I muttered to myself and ripped out mistakes only to re-knit and have to re-rip...

But I was determined, so I went forward.

I made a few little baby things, a few projects here and there, and then I read my first Elizabeth Zimmermann book (Knitting Without Tears) and felt like a light really went on. I can't explain it fully, but it changed the way I was thinking about knitting in general:

You can always take it back out if you make a mistake.

If it doesn't work you can just try again.

What a relief! This informs my attitude on pretty much everything crafty now.

So I went for it- mittens, cardigans, sweaters, shawls, scarves- and I know that somehow I'll sort out what I need to know as I learn more about knitting. There have been certain projects that have really stretched me as a knitter and helped move me in a certain direction, but I certainly want you all to know before I start waxing poetic about my knitting knowledge- I've learned everything I know from books, ravelry, youtube videos and the videos on knittinghelp.com. I'm soooo not an expert, just a girl who seriously loves to knit and doesn't mind feeling a little dumb while I learn something new.

So I'm planning to answer some of those knitting questions I've been asked later in the week. If you want to ask something please comment with your question so I can include it in that post!

For more on becoming a knitter:

Getting Started (Part 1)
Getting Started (Part 2)

Strawberry Lemon Preserves

2011-07-15T00:18:00.000-05:00

I have to say first that this was the most yummy smelling thing we've made in the last several weeks. My kitchen still smells like strawberries and lemons.

These strawberry lemon preserves were made following a recipe from Canning for a New Generation. I really love this book. Easy to follow directions, recipes organized by season, and it includes recipes for vegetable canning, not just fruit. I have a real thing for cookbooks organized seasonally (Rustic Fruit Desserts got me stuck on cookbooks organized this way) and that makes certain cookbooks trump others in my heart.

Looks like we needed to try to get just a little more foam off the top...

Kristen asked how we were canning our strawberries this year. The plain strawberry jam we canned is freezer jam with a packaged pectin. This is the way we've been making our jam for the last few summers, but I've been reading more about canning without a packaged pectin, and now I'm leaning that direction. The strawberry lemon preserves are the first fruit I've canned without packaged pectin and it was pretty simple.

We have a lot of plans for canning without a packaged pectin this summer, so I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Yarn Along

2011-07-12T22:50:00.002-05:00

Yarning along with Ginny again this week...

Back again this week, this time without contortionist photos. I gave Ender a quick talk this morning about how to aim the camera, stood him on a chair and told him to go for it. Not too bad, right?

This is the Textured Tunic, totally unblocked, fresh from being wadded up in a pile while I work on the sleeves. We've been watching all the Harry Potter movies over the last several days in preparation for HP7 part 2 on Friday so I've been working on the sweater every time we watch. We watched HP6 tonight and I made it about 3/4 of the way through that first sleeve.

And yes, my extra skeins are IN my project bag this week. No "out of yarn" emergencies in the last 7 days. We'll see how long until I have to reset the counter.

Reading wise? All I can tell you is what's on my nightstand waiting to be read.

The past week has been a bit of a blur between the birthday party, a husband down with bronchitis, all the strawberrry canning, a child down with pneumonia, and a few organizing projects I should NOT have started while we were in the middle of all that other stuff.

On my nightstand waiting is Naamah's Blessing and Patchwork Style. I've started them both but haven't gotten far. I'll get back to reading after getting through this work week and finishing up a few projects.

Strawberry Jam

2011-07-11T07:31:00.001-05:00

Our kitchen has been quite busy the last few days!

We were finally able to get our hands on some strawberries this past weekend and we took the opportunity to restock our supply of strawberry jam. Last year we made 8 half pints thinking that it would be enough since Ender and I are the only serious jam eaters in the house, but Ezra joined us in the jam eating and we gave a few away... so we ran out around February even after trying to be careful in how we used it.

So this year we made jam plans.

And not just more strawberry jam. We checked out a few different books from the library and I ended up buying Canning for a New Generation. Ender and I have been through that book many many times in the last two weeks and let me tell you- that boy has serious plans.

:: Plain strawberry jam

:: Strawberry lemon preserves

:: Strawberry rubarb jam

... and plans for blackberry and cherries and peaches if we should come across good ones.

We spent Saturday making the plain strawberry jam:

And ended up with 7 half pints and 1 pint, just because I ran out of half pint jars.

Total miscalculation on my part.

We're planning another10-12 half pints of jam from the strawberries because as much as Ender and I love to eat jam I think we love giving it away just as well.

Cake Day

2011-07-07T06:24:00.002-05:00

Ezra's celebration is on a weekend, but the real birthday came during the week.

But what's a birthday (or any day ending in "day") without cake?

We made Cake in a Jar right after breakfast,

giving it plenty of time to cool for a lovely post-dinner desert.

Add a little ice cream and sprinkles

(or whipped cream, icing, fruit, jam... whatever you'd like)

and it's your own personal jar of YUM.

At least that's what the new FOUR-year-old calls it.

Yarn Along

2011-07-05T23:15:00.000-05:00

Yarning along with Ginny...

I *heart* vacation knitting time.

I took the Textured Tunic sweater intending it to be the main project for the trip. Maybe I'm funny like that but I always have to have a backup project on a trip. It makes me sweat just thinking about wanting to knit and having time to knit but having nothing to knit for some crazy reason.

I knit in the car on the way down and got through almost all of the stockinette on the body before the split for the front and back just in the car. Everything was humming along, traffic was cooperating, the boys were happily occupying themselves in the backseat, I was at a really great part in my book- and I found myself thinking that I would certainly make it through the body and at least get started on a sleeve on this trip. And then I let myself remember that the boys would surely get up to go fishing without me once or twice and that would give me three or so hours to just sit on the porch of the cabin and knit... perhaps even on a second sleeve...

I think I would have made it too, but I ran out of yarn.

Yep- RAN OUT OF YARN.

{This is where I remind you of the importance of the back-up project, people. Let me be your lesson!}

I bought plenty of yarn, folks, just didn't pack more than the skein I was knitting off of, because I always have to forget something crucial on every trip. The bright side is that it was only forgotten yarn this time and not forgotten toothpaste or toilet paper.

So the Omelet Shawl received a promotion from back-up plan to priority one. It is now mostly through chart D and after that I have only one {very large} chart E and the bind off to go.

In our stack of reads this week is part of our first block for science this year. I had planned to start with animal study, but Ender has been asking so many questions about skeletons and muscles that we're starting with the human body instead. We would have gotten there later in the year anyway- why not go for it now?

We're starting where we always do by reading and talking and I'm sure a project or two will show up along the way. As we get into it and I see exactly where his interests lie I'm sure we'll turn to homeschoolshare for some printables and maybe a lapbook.

So I have to know... am I the only person to make sure I have a back up project on trips?

I will admit that I rarely get to that second project, but I was so grateful to have that shawl along this time!

Because Sometimes You Need To Run Off

2011-06-30T08:21:00.000-05:00

We tend to plan trips- even weekend trips- a long while ahead of time. Brian just isn't terribly spontaneous about that sort of thing. We planned a 4th of July weekend trip to the lake way back in January, but as his mother has become more and more ill we planned to stay here.

It seemed wise a few weeks ago when we made that decision, but we've come to realize in the last week that we just need time away, even for just a few days. After long weeks of helping out while my mother-in-law has had various procedures, including the beginnings of a treatment that led to the discovery of more tumor growth, we need a mental break from cancer. The next month will bring more surgery more chemo, more time together as we try to help each other through.

We picked up our plans again and we're heading out early in the morning.

We need a few days dedicated to

:: being outside

:: swimming

:: fishing

:: looking at cool things in the creek

:: sleeping in

:: staying up late

:: roasting marshmallows and hot dogs...

Because sometimes it's a good thing to step out of the every day,

To focus on a place and people you really love

And just be with them without the every day laundry and work and worries surrounding you.

Yarn Along

2011-06-28T23:38:00.000-05:00

Yarning along with Ginny this week..

Wow- I had the hardest time getting a decent pic of this sweater that would actually show the true color of the yarn AND me without a goofy expression on my face. I'm ready to start the 3 purl rows before I head into several inches of stockinette on my Textured Tunic. We have our last baseball game of the season this week and I'm thinking I can make it through an awful lot of stockinette in that one game as long as it's not too humid to knit.

Must teach 5-year-old to photograph my knits so I don't break my neck trying to get pictures like that...

Current reads?

We started a little family reading contest about ten days ago.

We're trying to encourage Ender to read and he's pretty motivated by contests of this sort, so we're using it to our advantage. Brian has also had a hard time getting back into reading fiction after reading so much for school the last few years so he's in on it too.

Our first family goal is for everyone in the family to read 5 books at their level. Ezra is still being read to of course, but Ender is aiming to read 5 level 2 readers of his choice from the library.

The contest so far:

Brian: 1.5 novels

Me: 2.5 novels (I'm almost done with Gone)

Ender: a few pages shy of 2 readers

Ezra: 5 (and beyond since we read 2 or 3 books every day...)

The reward at the end of this family goal is TBD, but I'm thinking some ice cream, a new book (he's checked out this DK Robot book from the library three times now so maybe that one?), maybe an outing to the local water park, something like that. Suggestions? We don't want to go super big since we plan to repeat the contest with different perimeters, but I do want a reward an almost 6 year old will actually feel is worth all that reading effort, you know?

Weekending

2011-06-28T08:54:00.000-05:00

I can hardly believe my boys were ever this small...

:: We spent one loooooong weekend cuddled up in bed, Ezra and me, sleeping a lot and taking medicine to helpfully get him back on the mend. Friday and Saturday were really rough with seeing the doctor and figuring out medications, but since then each day has been better than the last. Last night was the first night of relatively few wakeups and hopefully each night gets better and better.

:: I cast on for a Stephanie Japel sweater during one of Ezra's naps on Saturday. I've had the Textured Tunic in my queue for about a year- I love so many projects from her book Fitted Knits that I used a bit of birthday cash to get a copy of the book. I'm currently planning about 4 projects out of the book- to start with. I'm almost through the basket stitch section of the body- I think maybe 3 or 4 rows and then I'll be on to the stockinette portion of the body.

:: Yes, I'm still working on the Omelet shawl, but I just couldn't work off a chart over the weekend with a sick little guy. I needed to work on something I could pick up and put down without worrying about where I was on the chart or in what row. This sweater was really easy to get going and also to take breaks at pretty much any moment.

:: I blasted through a bunch of reading (benefit to spending 3 or 4 days mostly in bed I suppose)- I'm much further along in John Adams and also most of the way through Gone by Michael Grant.

:: We missed our planned day to pick blueberries and raspberries on Friday so we're trying to re-set plans before the end of season. Our local places to pick our own are generally only open to the public one or two days a week so it takes a bit of coordination to find a day that works for our little group of berry pickers. Hopefully this week still!

::I finalized school plans over the weekend.We're starting school next week on Tuesday with a light week of getting back into a few basics. before fully starting back on the 11th. I've made a few changes to what I thought was our completed plans, but for the better. When I started breaking things down into terms and then weeks we had too many things going some weeks and not enough in others. So there have been a few adjustments for what I think is going to keep us really organized this year.

How was your weekend? Anything interesting going on at your place?

Sick

2011-06-24T10:57:00.000-05:00

We've had bits of "run down" and "under the weather" popping up around here the last few days and last night it all came together in a big way- all four of us are down with something. Ezra and I have been hit with the worst of it, Ender is okay, but happily enjoying time on the couch, and Brian is well enough to work, but really tired by the end of the day.... fortunately he works at a company with a great "work from home" sick policy.

So, movie day anyone? In between providing plenty to drink and munch I think movies, card games and knitting are the order of the day.

Yarn Along

2011-06-21T23:30:00.000-05:00

Yarning along with Ginny...

I knit a little sleep sack for yet another nephew-or-niece-to-be last night. I used the basic idea and measurements from Button-up Baby Wrap and worked it to a few more reasonable numbers, mostly length.

The yarn is a mystery worsted weight I was given awhile ago- it is mostly a foamy blue but also has little flecks of pink in it. I'm waiting to add buttons until we know if the new little one is a boy or girl when the baby makes an appearance later this year, because I think that will make all the difference in whether or not it looks more boyish or girlish.

I think the pink shows up a lot more in the pictures than it does in real life- I did give it the ultimate test of "does it look like a boy item or a girl item?" by asking my almost almost 6 year old son what he thought. He thought it looked like a baby thing and it didn't matter, so I trust that.

Or maybe he's just used to his mom asking him weird questions about her knitting and he was trying to appease me so he could go back to building his latest lego creation.

I'm on to another new read- another Artemis Fowl novel: The Eternity Code. I know, I know, last week I was so excited because I'd finally gotten my hands on Catching Fire so it looked like you might see it or Mockingjay in my pictures this week. Not so. I started Catching Fire on Tuesday night, finished it Wednesday and started into Mockingjay and finished Mockingjay Thursday night. I still worked my regular schedule and I promise that I remembered to pay attention to my children in the midst of the reading frenzy.

I stayed up waaaaaay too late doing it and I did not really bounce back from those three really late nights in a row until yesterday. I did cheat and break my caffeine fast on Thursday morning- day three of that madness. I just can't stay up til 3 a.m. any more, and certainly not for three nights in a row!

I'm also investigating mittens in preparation for winter already. I need to do them in the summer I've decided, otherwise mittens sit on my craft table waiting for woven in ends until January, and by then we've needed to have the mittens on actual hands for three months. So I'm moving the mitten knitting timeline forward to June in an effort to prevent all that.

I've checked Anna Zilboorg's Magnificent Mittens and Socks out from the library so often in the last year that I've had it in my posession for a grand total of 8 months. If you refer to a book that often you should probably own it, you know?

5 Ways to Encourage Summer Learning

2011-06-20T06:57:00.013-05:00

I'm writing at Simple Homeschool again today, this time about some ways to encourage learning over the summer months.

From my post:

Summer months are spent differently in every homeschooling family, from a full stop to schooling all the way through- and all kinds of variations in between.

No matter where you fall on that spectrum, the summer months can be a great time to try on a different education style or go for a project you might not try during the regular school year.

These are a few ideas designed to bring learning into your summer, no matter what type of summer schooling family you might be.

Please join us and let us know how you keep the learning rolling over the summer!