Seven Quick Takes

Join Jen at Conversion Diary for more quick takes.

 

~1~

I joined in on Olympic knitting: Here with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's group and over at Ravelry too. My project is the Thorpe hat. It includes 2 techniques I haven't used before- stranding and reading a chart. We'll see how this goes!

 

~2~

Do children outside of tornado alley play "I think I see a twister over there!" ?

Just my kid, you say?

I should have known.

Tornadoes have been on Ender's mind all week and he declared it his new project.  We found a DK Eyewitness book about Weather that has led him into wanting to know about all kinds of weather. The really cool thing? He's so interested in this project that he asked the librarian for help on his own for the first time. She did look at him (and me) a little funny at first, but showed him where to look for weather books.

And just so you know- "REAL tornadoes can't happen in the winter but "snow tornadoes" can. They're really hard to see though. Most grown-ups can't see them."  Ender is a fount of obscure information. 

~3~

The boys get to meet their new cousin this weekend. My sister K is being released from the hospital some time this evening and she invited the boys to come see baby Lucas sometime this weekend. They have seen pictures of him and Ezra is getting pretty good at saying his name- "woo-cussssssss". For some reason he holds onto the "s" for ages! It's very cute. 

~4~

I've seen enough recommendations of The Craft of Baking in the last few weeks that I finally got a copy from our library. WOW- I think I found the book I'm going to bake through this spring/summer. Ender practically started tagging pages for me, so that was a pretty good sign.

 

~5~

My mom gave me a huge bag of yarn- a lot of it is mystery yarn, but I think I'll figure it out. There's everything in there from super fine to super bulky- I've already assigned some yarn for socks, and I think there is enough between two colors in there for a baby sweater for my new little nephew.

 

~6~

Anyone remember that non-verbal toddler I had just a few months back? We were scheduled to go back for a re-evaluation on Ezra's speech this month, but I'm pleased to say that there's no need now. Ezra needed to be putting 3 words together by this month and in the last 3-4 weeks he's moved into at least a few full sentences a day. It's still a lot of pieced together words for most of his communication, but a few times a day he pulls out a complete correct sentence. It's really nice to hear after worrying about him this long.

 

~7~

I'm in a reading slump. I've read about 3 chapters of 3 or 4 different books and nothing is working. I'm still waiting on the next Percy Jackson book from the library and I'm out of historical fiction. Boo-hoo, right? Having nothing to read just means that I'm knitting even more, as if that's possibility. Knitting is about all I'm doing right now outside of work and caring for littles. Suggestions anyone? I'm willing to try anything to find a good book!

Little Jayne

 

Meet Little Jayne- the hat Ezra has taken over. Ender changed his mind and decided on a different pattern for his hat, but Ezra *loves* having a hat just like daddy.

 

This is just the smaller size of the Jayne hat I made for Superman. To quote the pattern designer "I feel that to make it a better hat (with really nice yarn, or without the loose strings which dangle from the ear flaps) is to miss the point." So it's supposed to be a little bunchy and "off". I made my Jayne hats with Redheart supersaver yarn as the pattern calls for and they were really fast knits. I had to make some number adjustments to the pattern for Superman's hat (the man has a strangely shaped head), but Ezra's fit great in the smallest listed size.

 

*** And a baby update! baby Lucas was born yesterday in the late afternoon. My sister K ended up having a c-section for her son and everyone is happy and healthy! ***

Ender's Guitar

Last week Ender made a rockin' guitar.

 

 

Ender has been playing on my guitar a little bit in the last few weeks and when he saw the project for this guitar in 50 Science Things to Make and Do, he announced "this is my project today!"

 

We used a shoe box, a paper towel roll, about 8 rubber bands and LOTS of duct tape. Add on a sharpie to draw strings on the guitar neck and you have a guitar! The duct tape strap was his own invention, and he made a duct tape loop on the end so it can be removed from the neck of the guitar.

 

**and a quick update on K's baby- the induction didn't work; they're trying again this morning. Maybe a nephew today? It would be a cool birthday 02/10/2010. :) We're hoping for that birthday since all the cousins so far have a double number like that in their birthdate. :)

Stella Pixie Hat

 

I finished this Stella Pixie Hat in the last two weeks but just last  night put the button on. I made it with a super soft wool/cotton blend for my soon-to-be-here nephew! Hopefully there will be shots of an actual baby in the hat very soon.

This Week

:: Our family is playing "secret valentine". We're trying to find loving things to do for the people in our family without that person seeing what we're up to.

 

:: We're making valentines for our out-of-town family. I think water colors or tempras might be the tool of the day.

 

:: This sounds and looks amazing. It's on our list for Saturday's cooking schedule.

 

:: We're choosing from Valentine's Day projects at the Crafty Crow- whatever strikes us as interesting that day!

 

:: As I'm learning more about quilting I'm learning a ton about using color. I'm a simple gal when it comes to color and I tend toward the same colors again and again. One of the things I've been trying to do in the last few months is to branch out to other color families and extend the palette of colors I draw on. I really love the color combo in this quilt from Oh Fransson! So not something I would have combined on my own, but I really love how it works and it has given me some interesting ideas for a future project. I've been sketching. :)

 

:: We will be welcoming a new cousin this week! He was due awhile ago and his mother (my sister K) is VERY ready to meet him. Her doctor isn't willing to let her go any longer overdue so K is being induced tonight. We're praying for good health and a manageable labor for her first child. Hopefully there will be yummy baby pictures in this space soon!