This Week

This week should probably be titled "wow- it's really gone, isn't it?" because that's how I feel now that Friday is here. We officially started this school year on Monday and after we finish today's school session I'm going to spend a chunk of the weekend revising a few plans to better address the boys' needs and rearranging some things to better accommodate Ellie's epic toddler-ness. We have a gate and closed doors to keep her with us, but we need to divide and conquer a little better so that she isn't left with chunks of time playing on her own next to us.

I am out of the music studio for the month which helps us get a good start on school and also a good time to get household projects done. This week was kid rooms and their closets. Ellie's is happily finished and I have a good list of what she needs clothes-wise for this winter. The boys... well, I wasn't so thrilled to find the explosion that was formerly known as their closet. If anyone has fabulous suggestions on helping boys keep their stuff from multiplying into other stuff, please let me know. One of the boys would be a complete neat freak if he had his own room. The other one doesn't notice giant piles of transformers and legos and clothes even when you point them out to him. 

I'm finishing up the fall registration in the studio today and tomorrow too, and once that's done I can truly relax and enjoy the rest of August off. 

On the Needles...

I have made very little knitting progress this week unfortunately. I mentioned in this week's Yarn Along that I bruised my hand earlier in the week and that pretty much shut down my knitting for the moment. It's feeling somewhat better and I was able to spin some yesterday without very much pain, so I'm hoping to get back to knitting a little bit in the next day or two as long as it continues to feel better. My projects in progress are still the little Striped Cardigan for Ellie, the Doctor Who Kernel, and the little hat for my niece that I shared on Wednesday.

I read...

Spinning in the Old Way by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts and hunting for another read after finishing Ready Player One.

Just Keep Spinning…

I have two balls of singles finished on this white wool. When I finish the next ball I think I'll go ahead and wind the three into a plying ball and ply before going on to more singles. I started spinning the first single with the intention of spinning a 3 ply yarn and using it to knit something for Ellie, but the more I've thought about what to do with this fiber as I'm spinning, I really just want to use it to work on more technical skills. So I'm going to spin a 3 ply as soon as I finish the current single, then I want to practice spinning from the fold with a horizontal draw. After watching the Fiber Beat video and reading more about it I really think it will be a useful technique for me. I listened to the old Fiber Beat podcast with Priscilla Gibson-Roberts and she talked about "older" spinners sometimes needing to use the horizontal draw because of the stress a vertical draw can put on the neck and shoulders. I struggle with tension issues across my shoulders as a musician and need to protect my arms as much as possible for my career. Adding tension through spinning won't help a thing, and I think horizontal draw will be healthier for my arms in the long run. 

Learning all the time…

Two wildly weird things happened in our homeschool this week as we got started with the new year. 

Weird item #1: My super artistic Ezra really loves math. I'm a little surprised by that to be honest, but he was really sad that we played some math games instead of having a formal math lesson on Wednesday. 

Weird item #2: Yesterday we had a light school day just like we will have once I start back to the studio schedule in September. We finished for the morning around 11 and went on with our chores and lunch and working on house projects in the afternoon. The boys asked around 3 or so if we were done with school for the day. They were disappointed to find out that we were, and they both asked if they could please have some homework. That was the first time I've ever had homework requested of me.

In the Kitchen... 

I read Ginny's pickle post with great interest. I have Canning for a New Generation also, and I'm finding myself in the same cucumber situation- a decent amount of cucumbers to pickle, but not enough to really pickle the sort of batch called for in canning recipes. I'm hoping to sort out some numbers and try it myself over the weekend.

Inspiration...

I started collecting dyeing links on my Knitting and Spinning Pinterest board. I'm not ready to jump in just yet, but reading and thinking about it.

Watching (Spoiler Free, of course...)

We've been watching Brain Games episodes that we DVR'd not long ago. Ender in particular is really interested in them and has enjoyed trying to figure out how each "trick" works before the reveal. 

Listening...

I downloaded all the Fiber Beat podcast episodes and have been listening to them in order from the beginning while working on the kids' rooms this week. There are so many great interviews to listen to! I'm in the middle of the one with Anna Zilboorg at the moment. 

Garden...

We have several cucumbers now, a jalapeno, and several little tomatoes. Ellie was so sweet to watch- her excitement over spotting a little red tomato had us all laughing, and in fact laughing so much that we didn't notice right away that she was picking anything that was even sort of red. Some of our tomatoes will be hanging out on the counter for a little while to ripen fully.

In Stitches...

I *really* need to get to the machine. I have a stack of things cut for Ellie and the boys and Ellie needs the winter stuff soon. Our weather is crazy cool for August and it's just another reminder that fall is coming and soon we will all need scarves, mittens, hats and long things.

I made myself buy some knit fabric so that I can learn to sew little leggings for Ellie. I have never sewn with knit fabric before, so I need to make an appointment with my mom so she can help me get going.

I didn't get to...

A few things on my organizing list didn't happen this week, but the important things (the kids rooms completely cleaned and starting school) did. So I'm letting go of the other things and purposely forgetting that I mopped the kitchen TWICE on Wednesday and by Thursday morning you couldn't even tell.

You know, I include this category because I think it's important to recognize in our blog posts that life isn't always full of finished projects and gorgeous gardens and life coming together every single day. I don't know about you, but even when I have a really successful week and accomplish a lot of the things on my list I rarely find myself in a place where everything is completely finished. There is always tomorrow and next week for those things.

This weekend...

I'm meeting up with friends on Saturday morning, then the family plan is to spend Saturday afternoon outside taking care of weeds in the garden and one of the beds we haven't gotten to yet this year that is seriously out of control. The boys are hitting a baseball game and I'm hoping to catch up on some knitting if my hand co-operates. Maybe?