More socks

We made our way to Planet Comicon over the weekend. a portion of the con was dedicated to Star Trek and getting the majority of the cast together for an event hosted by William Shatner. I am not the big Trek fan in the family- that honor goes to my husband- but I do know the shows pretty well, particularly Deep Space Nine, so I was able to listen in on those panels and know what was going on. Wil Wheaton was gracious and charming for the second year in a row, and we also got to see Jewel Staite3 (also charming, and very very funny) and attend a few of the author panels for both books and comics.

I, of course, spent the panel sessions knitting. I worked mostly on my virtually impossible to photograph Exploding Socks but also cast on a new pair in a yarn that may end up looking better in the skein than as a sock. It is Pattons Kroy FX yarn in the Clover Colors colorway and I'm really enjoying watching the yarn change on the micro level as each stitch passes through, but it's not quite the same effect on the macro level. I also considered the fact that I've knit a lot of striped socks lately and that may be messing with my color changing expectations a little. To be honest, it doesn't really matter how they turn out- a completed sock is a completed sock, and I'm all about sock gathering right now.


More handknit socks, not less. It's all in the manifesto.

To Buy or Not to Buy

I came across a new fabric line called "Plum Sweet" by Blackbird Designs from Moda. I just love it. It is so sweet and I thought it might make an "oh so cute" little girl quilt for one of the granddaughters in the future.

I am pretty project oriented, which means I only buy when I have a plan for the fabric. The plan may be for far off in the future, but there is usually a project plan.  The thing is, manufacturers often do one run of a fabric and when it is sold out it is gone. Forever. 

That isn't a big problem unless you finally get to the project many years in the future and find you have not bought enough of your favorite fabric and now you can't find it anywhere. You can try to add other fabric lines to it and that can work, but it is still sad to not have enough of your favorite fabric. 

So after seeing the Plum Sweet line, I needed a project to really justify the fabric. I found one at Bunny Hill- just enough "I have a project!" to justify the purchase in my mind.

 I ordered my 32- fat quarter Bundle from Stash Addict Quilts. This was my first order with them, and when the package arrived I found  a few small extras included. That was a happy surprise and coupled with fast shipping made for some great customer service.

Crazy Pants

 My boys have developed a special disease called yarn blindness. I've heard this happens in homes like ours. There's yarn in strange places, it seems to be everywhere as my projects move through the house with me, and to be honest, I have yarn blindness too. After awhile you just don't notice the skein of sock yarn on the kitchen counter next to the bananas and paper towels. This was bound to happen.


Because of this, the boys really don't notice what I'm making- unless it's for them. Then they notice each individual stitch and absorb every ounce of knitting information they can as it pertains to that particular project. Funny how boys can focus when they want to, right?

Since the exploding socks are the only ones on the needles at the moment, they've been following me around, begging for a few stitches at a time. I wish I could work a little more consistently at them, but the last two days have been lousy for use of my hands.

The boys were working on homework last night at the kitchen counter while I had the privilege of cleaning out the refrigerator. We were each doing our own thing, when Ezra suddenly piped up.

"Are those the next socks you're making?"

He pointed to the socks on the counter, and when I said yes, his eyes grew giant and he stuck his lips out in a way that I can only describe as classic Ezra.

"Don't you think they're kind of crazy pants?"

Why, yes, I do think so. Thank you very much, son.

{Yarn :: Pattern :: My Ravelry Project}

One of the things I challenged myself to do with socks is to be a little bolder about color choices. They are JUST SOCKS after all, and if you can't have fun with your socks there is a problem to be had.


The thing is, I'm all about neutrals in my wardrobe. I do a lot of "jeans and a black t-shirt" and branching out beyond that takes a real effort on my part. So I'm trying to branch out with socks.

These socks are a little crazy pants, but I like them that way.


Book of the Week: The Immune System Cure by Lorna Vanderhaeghe, given to me by a friend in our quest to help solve my medical mystery. I actually have quite the "Immune System" stack on my night stand at the moment. Some of it seems helpful, some of it I'm not sure about. Some sounds a little hokey and silly, but I'm reading everything, because it doesn't hurt to at least read about it.

Midnight Fiber and Fabric, Episode 3: Spring WILL Come!

Show Notes:

Find me on Ravelry

Midnight Fiber and Fabric Podcast Ravelry Group

My New Year Socks

Spring WILL come! Socks

Nerd Girl Yarns- Blue Box Exploding Colorway

Exploding Socks

Maggievienna's Beautiful Log Cabin Squares

Food in Jars (the site)

Food in Jars (the book)

Preserving by the Pint by Marissa McClellan (released TODAY! 3/13)

Sciarpone

My pinterest board for sewing for my daughter

My Style pinterest board

The Amazing Thing About the Way it Goes by Stephanie Pearl McPhee

Planning Ahead: Homeschooling 2014

It's that time of year again- February is over, but spring isn't here yet. One spreadsheet is everywhere in our house, printed fresh every few days (after a gazillion changes) so I can pour over it in spare minutes.


It's all about school for the upcoming year.


The thing is, we're still in the thick of this year, and now up to the part of the year where I start to feel like we'll never "be done", which is a little silly. See, we school essentially year round with breaks taken as needed through the year. We're never "done", but it's nice to move through material and end up with a stack at some point that shouts, "You've completed something big!"


So, I'm refreshing my schooling brain so that I can think good thoughts and finish out this year strong, while getting ready for next year.

The two books I come back to every single year are The Well-Trained Mind and Real Learning. Combined they provide the backbone for education in our home.


If you only take one thing from Elizabeth Foss's book Real Learning, let it be the literature lists. We use her lists for audio book selections when possible, and read-aloud if they aren't available on CD. They are rich and lovely book lists, utilizing picture books into later years- which I have not seen on other lists. Picture books are so very valuable in the later years and we shouldn't confine them to the 2nd grade and under crowd.



The Well-Trained Mind is my reminder text to keep the main thing the main thing. It is so easy to get into a "buy the best curriculum" scurry instead of recognizing that education is best when it is direct and uncluttered. The Well-Trained Mind forums can be an extremely helpful source of information. I'm currently researching elementary French options for next year, and there are dozens of threads to search through on that one topic that have provided almost as many options as there are posts. These forums are the first place I go to when I need to get started on researching a school area we want to pursue. I also appreciate that many posters there are considerate of budget and will mention costs associated with programs.



So for now, I'm trying to refocus the rest of our year, March- May. I picked up the Astronomy book from Memoria Press at my local curriculum store last night and we're going to focus heavy on science for a few weeks, as well as spelling. We will still study our other subjects as well, but we're going to put some focused work into spelling and science since those two subjects have gone a bit lax over the last 2 months.