This Week

The past week or so is the first length of time where I could apply the word "normal" after having illness in the house for so long. I think we caught up on pretty much everything but laundry- but when is that ever really caught up? We got back to a normal amount of school work too, and that was a bit rough. After having the better part of 3-ish weeks either completely off or only keeping up on math and reading, going back to the full schedule seemed a little rude to the boys.

I swear the last few days completely vanished. I'm not entirely sure that they actually happened, to be honest. It's been a blur of lots and lots of lessons and extra lessons for a few coming twice in one week to be extra sure they are ready for this weekend's recital.

And now you know where my brain has been- on recital. Just a few more days until that big day, and then there will be 7 full days with no students and no work schedule- just a few adventures the kids and I have planned.

On the Needles...

My knitting time has been more limited than usual so I'm still finishing up the little February Baby Sweater for my soon-expected niece. I am looking forward to starting something new, though. Do I make myself finish a Shapely Boyfriend sleeve first? Maybe...

I read...

I finished Julie of the Wolves and I got a copy of Sally Melville's latest book to savor over the next few months. I've been keeping myself from jumping right in, because I know I won't want to emerge for many hours.

Learning all the time…

April is the month of school related deal making. It's when I find myself saying things like, "if you do double math every day this week we can take extra time off in May..." and other things like that. The funny thing is, this time Ender actually took me up on it and said that he wants to finish his math book by the end of April so that he can take all of May and June off. I told him that was fine by me as long as he does xtramath during his months off. And because he loves xtramath a deal was made and he's already made himself a chart of how much he has to do each day to finish in time for his goal.

In the Kitchen...

I think I made my last round of semi-pureed baby food Monday night. Ellie is really mostly on table foods already, but some foods she likes as purees haven't quite made it into her rotation on the tray yet in their whole form (like broccoli).

Inspiration...

I'm aiming to start working on a few sewn things for the kids in the next few weeks if I can get myself together in time for Kids Clothes Week. People are pinning some very lovely things on the KCW boards.

Watching (Spoiler Free, of course...)

After approximately 1 million people told us we should, we finally watched the first season of Big Bang Theory. And it was hilarious- except for watching Leslie and Leonard play the violin and cello in one episode. That was painful. I have learned to never watch when a t.v. character "plays" a string instrument. It's always terrible. I've been told that Benedict Cumberbatch "plays" a respectable fake violin in Sherlock, but I'm not that far in the series yet.

Garden... 

If it ever decides to stay above 50F here for more than 3 days in a row, I'll get going on this category. The plans are made, most everything is ready, we're just waiting on the weather to make up its mind about what season we're in.

This weekend...

Recital weekend! So I will see you guys again next week after my brain has cleared of all things recital.

Inspiration

My brain has been just about everywhere this week- the studio recital is fast approaching, we're almost to Ellie's first birthday (!!!), I'm working on the planning for our next school year, the baseball season starts next week- leaving us with a month of soccer/baseball crossover... April has suddenly become a super busy month just 4 days into it.

On my mind...

  

:: Collecting School Materials 

{Loving Half-A-Hundred-Acre Wood}

:: A little girl's birthday

:: What to knit next...

        {1}  {2}   {3}

Easter Yarn Along

{Yarning Along with Ginny to share a current knit and the book I'm working my way through.}

I finally managed to get some little pink buttons onto little Miss Ellie's shrug to go along with her Easter dress. This is the Little Scapulae pattern by Kelly Brooker at knit.so.quaint and was a crazy fast knit. It was done almost before I realized I was knitting it.

{I keep promising this little girl that some day she WILL have hair.}

It really was a beautiful Easter day. The weather actually acted like it knows how it is supposed to be this time of year- but only for Easter day and then back to being cold and windy.

I got my hands on Sally Melville's new book Knitting Pattern Essentials on Monday and have only had about an hour with it since. I have great plans for this book over the coming months! I'm just about finished in the studio for this school term and the next 4-ish months are lightly scheduled work-wise so that I can finally dive into a long term project- studying my way through this book. I'm sure some of the process will end up in this space to share with you. I'm ready for some new technique and understanding more of the technical work behind the knitting I do.

This Week

Posting quickly as today is Good Friday and we will be occupied through the weekend. Everyone is better except for me at this point. I was hoping to be mostly back to normal by today, but now I'm hoping for Easter. Life just doesn't run very well when the Mama is sick. It has been a lesson in the family pulling together for everything to be ready for this weekend, and I can gladly say it has come together, even if the food may end up a little less homemade than I'd like.

On the Needles...

Just the little February Baby Sweater I'm working on for a soon-expected niece. With being sick this week there hasn't been much progress, but I'm ready to start the sleeves as soon as I can stay awake in the evenings after the kids are in bed.

I read...

I read Hatchet early in the week and I'm reading Julie of the Wolves at the moment. I'm having a hard time understanding why Julie of the Wolves is classified as a juvenile novel instead of a YA novel considering some of the elements involved.

Learning all the time…

Just the basics this week, I'm afraid. I just couldn't manage more, but didn't want to lose a full week of school.

In the Kitchen...

Chicken noodle soup, anyone? That has been the mainstay of the week. I made a gigantic batch last time I made it and froze a ton- it was wonderful to be able to pull it from the freezer this week.

Inspiration...

I'm so excited about Sally Melville's new book! I'm waiting for it to show up in my mailbox- hopefully Monday!

I'm also collecting technique tutorials on my Knitting/Spinning Pinterest page. Do you have any tutorials you have found invaluable?

Watching (Spoiler Free, of course...)

I've been vaguely aware of basketball games being watched in our house, but mostly I've been sleeping. I did manage a Doctor Who episode the other night.

Garden...

We are still waiting for snow to melt. We are getting some more normal temperatures for this time of year the last few days, but we're supposed to drop back to around freezing again on Monday. All the plants around here are really confused.

I didn't get to...

So many things, but it will all have to wait for days where I am closer to fully functional.

This weekend...

It is Easter weekend, and Ellie's first Easter, so we are quite full. I am truly hopeful to be mostly better by Sunday.

Yarn Along

{Yarning Along with Ginny, sharing a read and a current knit. Would you join us?}

After illness trickled back into our house early last week and took a swing at me this time, knitting went to the backburner. I think I got a few rows of the lace work in on the February Baby Sweater I'm knitting for a baby shower, but mostly I went to bed early. Actually, I'm still going to bed early-ish in an attempt to recover more fully. That unfortunately also means very little reading. I'm pretty sure I read about 2 pages of Julie of the Wolves in the whole week combined.


When I picked it up again, I got down to the bottom garter edge only to find I had to break into the second skein about 2 rows before the bind off. Disappointing. Or maybe that's just me and the tiny bit of OCD that most everyone has about something. I would have loved the neatness of binding off that edge with the first skein and then joining  the second skein at one of the arms, where I would have had to join anyway.


If I have enough yarn leftover from this project I'm hoping to do a little matching hat. I really love knitting for littles, especially the newborn variety.

What are you knitting this week?