{Yarn Along} February 20, 2014

Ok maybe things are a little crazy here...4 books going and 4 projects pictured!! Joining Ginny!

Reading: Keeping Chickens by Ashley English, Free-Range Knitting & At Knit's End by Stephanie McPhee, and Song of the Lark by Willa Cather!

Knitting: I finished Fern's Big Lace Scarf, my Hats for All, a heart patch, and now I have started this super cute Little Project Bag!

Whew!

Trying to post my yarn along on Wednesdays is just not going to happen. Yesterday I came to peace with that after our full day (LLL meeting, homeschool co-op, nephew to sing Happy Birthday to, scouts...). The nice thing that comes out of that crazy day is that Thursdays have turned out pretty mellow, staying home, plenty of knitting time, and even time to post my yarn along!

Everything in there time and season, it just works better that way!

{this moment}

A moment I want to pause and savor from this week!

{this moment}

I think Sunday is a good day for me to post a {this moment}. So let's try this out since this is the end of my week looking forward to all the new craziness to come!

Happy Sabbath!

Yarn Along

Joining Ginny for the yarn along today!

So....we hit the end of January and now it's February, and in true mid-winter fashion I put things on hold and started some new. I've not abandoned the shawl or The Monkey's Voyage just paused (but I am still contemplating frogging the shawl and maybe using the yarn for this cowl). 

I started this blue scarf for Fern last week, I've ripped rows out a couple times and it is a project you have to be aware of what your doing and count a bit so it is slow going. And because of that I started another hat, for me this time so that I had something to knit while watching the big game (and Mansfield Park the other night...). I am reading Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (one of my favorite authors of all time), it is part of her "pioneer trilogy". I have read the other two many times as they are my favorites but I've never read this one. I am reading it for a book club. I also picked up Keeping Chickens by Ashley English at our local bookshop yesterday and dove right in first reading the chapter on taking care of chicks and then started the coop chapter before i fell asleep with my nose in it! My chicks are ordered, 6 buff orpingtons and 6 black australorps! So exciting!!!

Easy Peasy Useful Crafting!

For Chirstmas my family surprised me with a Kindle Paperwhite! So exciting!! 

In January we decided to go on a little road trip and so of course I wanted to take my kindle with the book I was reading. But the night before as I was packing my "front seat" basket I realized I did not want to just throw it in! I had not settled on or justified the cost of a cover so...I ran into my sewing room with an idea!

Luckly I had felted this sweater and thrown it into my fabric bins for a future project (I pick up all wool seaters from Goodwill when I come across them).

At first I was going to cut a square out of the bottom body part but then I realized there was a golden idea here!! The sleeve! Less sewing (remember it was the night before and I do have everything else to pack)!!

So I cut it off and sewed up one open end. Easy peasy!

Then I grabbed a small hair rubber band from my drawer and sewed that securely on (still on the wrong side).

I turned it right-side out and sewed on a button (measure how far down according to your tablet).

Slip it in!

And off you go!!! 

The wrist band was a little tight at first but a little stretching and use has made it better. But it is still tight enough to be secure which I like, no slipping out!!

Yarn Along!

Yarn Along!!

This may sound silly but keeping up with Ginny's yarn along helps me keep up with the knitting and reading that is always on my list of wants to do!

I'm still reading the same books, there has not been much time for reading in the last couple weeks. But I have gotten a bit of knitting in, I whipped up this little hat from the last Taproot magazine for miss Leili. It was a good pattern I will do again. 

And I'm still knitting on this scarf/shawl that I'm still not completely sold on, but I still feel compelled to continue. Maybe it will surprise me at the end or....

It has finally started raining and now we have a winter weather advisory for tomorrow so maybe I'll get a little knitting or reading in. We need it, are praying for it, and will be fasting for it this Sunday, moisture that is. We need lots of moisture. 

Happy Wednesday!

Derby!

In our family we LOVE Derby Day! It is a big event on our calendar and so it has been for years now.  We have built 8 cars and competed in 9 races (one year Riley got to go on to compete in the district race). 

Jake had the same excitement and sadness Riley experienced in his last race. Jake was ready to race and take on the competition! He named his car Whiplash!

His hard work and building paid off! He won every heat and so he won first place! What a way to go out! He also received an award for "Sleekist Car". 

Mostly I think others are just glad our family will not be competing next year, but we are all bummed. Maybe we will have to find a way...

Walking

It's January, in the Great Basin, at the foot of the Sierra Nevadas. We should not be walking everyday in sweaters and hats but it is beautiful  and wonderful. This is just out our front door, literally! I grew up by the sea, my dad and grandpa were sailors. But these mountains, this dessert, that river. I love it here. 

But please could we get back to winter, we REALLY need the moisture, and it would be great if all the fruit was not killed this year by late snow.  

It's that time of the day again and so we are off out the door!

Have a great day!

Yarn Along

Joining Ginny! I finished the gnome hat and sweater for Scarlett and have it all packaged up to mail today! It is easy to wip up all this knitting when you have a hubby doing all the driving on a road trip!

I started a new shawl/scarf out of this dreamy Plymouth merino! I am a little concerned that the yarn is a bit too bulky to show off the open work of the pattern but I'm going to wait a bit longer to decide to frog or not...

I am continuing reading The Monkey's Voyage but also threw in for something a little lighter Free-Range Knitting thanks to Lisa!! It's hysterical! 

Yarn a Long

Joining with Ginny again today!

I finished the gnome hat for Scarlett and have dived into the little vest/cardigan to go with it. Same yarn, using the "in threes" pattern in 0-6 mo. size.

I have started a new book this week, 

The Monkey's Voyage: How Improbable Journeys Shaped the History of Life. It just came out yesterday and was written by a friend's husband. Commentary to come!

Creative Time!

This is my current place for most of my creativity, it is an old desk I found garage sale-ing with my mom and sister, its in my bedroom, it faces the backyard, and it is basked in the most glorious sunlight most of the day during the winter. My other creative place, my sewing area is in the far north end of the house and looks out to the front yard. Its cold too (partly due to the fact that as we discovered recently there is no insulation in that part of the ceiling)! So sewing has not seen too much action lately.

So creative time! I decided this year that instead of buying a pocket calendar that did not meet my needs or was even remotely me that I would MAKE one! Crazy I know but even crazier is that I am not alone!!! There are a lot of other creative people out there doing the same crazy thing. Like this AWESOME gal! So I looked and researched and thought about what I would want exactly and then I went to work. First came the collaged cover with lots of meditative layering of modge-podge. Then how to organize the actual calendar part. I did not want a week by week, so I did months with enough space to write. Each month is blank so that I can fill in a couple at a time in whatever color or fashion I want. And spaces for notes, because I do that a lot and I did not want to fill in the margins with too many notes. I then  braved the cold north of the house and sewed a simple line down the center as a binding, easy as pie! Making time for a little creativity feeds my soul and soothes my spirit. Even better when I get to enjoy my creativity with something useful and used.

And so yes I now have 4 calendars (3 wall & one pocket), maybe I'll be on top of our activities more....or maybe not, I already forgot about a meeting this morning and ended up late! Oops!! 

Happy New Year!

Yarn Along

Happy 2014!! 

Did you get your new calendar up? I got two (out of three) up. 

My goal was to finish My Life in France before the new year and I did just before I drifted off to sleep and missed all the hoopla at midnight. ;) 

Joining Ginny again today! 

So today I am starting Wild by Cheryl Strayed, it's been on my shelf waiting since my birthday in July. I am excited to read about a trail on this side of the country! I've read a couple on the Appilacian trail (some day I'll do part (or all) of it), but maybe I could do part of this trail sooner (since I live closer to it)! Sunday I cast off on Fern's hat and she has been happily wearing it since. Then after a New Year's Eve trip to Jimmy Beans I started in on a new baby gnome hat and vest for a good childhood friend whose daughter is due to make her entrance this month. These are my least favorite needles (given to me) but most used needles as they are the size I use for these baby hats. Maybe someday I'll sit on them (and the twin pair I have too) and then I'll buy a wooden set of size 7 needles. One can hope! ;)

Merry Christmas Card Readers!

2013 Year in Review!

* Riley turned 12 in February hurling our family into the world of Young Men's & Boy Scouts! Riley prepared himself well and received the Priesthood too. He enjoyed Boy Scout Camp this summer and completed both the 15 mile mountain bike Flume Trail up at Lake Tahoe, and the 25 mile Verdi Loop road ride! He is my awesome helper!

*April took Mom to HAWAII!!! For an early 15th anniversary celebration Grandpa M. braved our crazy crew & Dan bought an airline ticket for me so I flew over and met him (he was there on a charter). 4 blissful days on Kona with my lover!  

* In May we took a "Family Vacation"!! With Dan!!! We meandered down to San Diego to our favorite beach house aka: Grandpa's house!! A week laying on the beach, playing with cousins, and wearing sandals in May was awesome! We also had some great adventures in our adventure-mobile along the way, Tufas at Mono Lake, hiking inside Panum Crater a rhyolitic plug-dome, Manzanar National Historic Visitor's Center, and Fossil-falls lava tubes to name a couple!

* Sweet Leili turned 4 in June! How did that happen!! Again she got two birthdays as Dan was away for her actual birthday. But she is not complaining!! She got a two wheeler and was off on two wheels not to long after that!

* July brought an AWESOME family reunion in Provo Canyon, my Grandma J.'s favorite place to take all of her grandkids! Then down to our favorite 4th of July spot! Grandma's house!

On the way home we stopped at Great Basin National Park and got to explore the Lehman Caves and see petroglyphics & pictograms.

Danna's birthday in July brought PRE-APPROVAL for purchasing a home!

*Ok are you paying attention...the end of July brought our pre-approval letter and for Dan's birthday at the end of August we moved into our NEW HOUSE!! Can you say whirl wind!! We bought a great 1960 ranch on a 1/2 acre in the most AMAZING neighborhood! We have seen deer, quail, mountain lion tracks in our front yard, bear scat in our back yard (they caught one a street over in Nov.)! We are close to the river and close to a county open space. Dan left 4 days after we moved in and was gone for a month jaunting around NYC and London!

* October brought us Miss Fern's 8th birthday! She choose to be baptized on her birthday and dad flew in just in the nick of time to get to the church! Fern has been taking a sewing class and has been knitting up a storm!

* Super Man Jake turned 10 at the beginning of November!! I got to take he and three other friends on a birthday hike, it was awesome, they were goofy, and I survived! Success!! Jake has turned into a reading machine, he has 6 books going currently!!!

*In november we also welcomed two new kittens into our family! They are so sweet and wonderful! Rose is content to cuddle and let Leili carry her around (we also have to be careful as she is a garbage disposal and will eat anything)! Bryony is sassy and fun to play with (she just chews everything, including chewing an ear bud off of Dan's set)! Petunia and Zinnia are tolerating the new youth, the bunnies Daisy and Dandelion don't really care as long as they get fed and get new hay.

We wish you all our love and good wishes and we hope you enjoy love, light, & simplicity this Christmas Season!
XO

Not a creature was stirring...

...except the bunnies and kitties...

We braved the snow last week and drove up into the mountains to cut down our own tree, it was a magical time to stand in the woods with my family and listen to the silence. My house is not often silent, even when the kids are in bed there are the cats scurrying around and the train. At night it is quiet enough to hear the train. 

I love to look at the tree all lit up in a darkened house with my kids all in bed. Things are so busy around here that somedays I never look at the tree during the day! But at night I take a breath. Find my center. 

I hope you are finding a couple breaths during this Christmas season. 

XO

Yarn Along

Joining Ginny again for her Yarn Along!!

Right now I'm reading, "My Life in Paris" by Julia Child and I'm knitting this cute slouchy hat for Fern in Cascade 220 Heathers color #9453. Shhh, don't tell her!!

XO

Nativities

Such a pause...sadly that is what happens when your computer implodes and saving up for another takes time. The last few post I did off my phone but lets just say posting anything with more words than a text is cumbersome at best and down right frustrating at times. But today my lover left his computer at home and I've finally memorized the password! Yippie!

Today is just a short post, I'm gearing up for our Christmas card post so stay tuned!

I love nativities, between the many of them and the many nutcrackers I have collected over the years you can imagine just how my house is decorated. Most of my nativities have a special memory or story, this one is my favorite. It is a ceramic one from Olivera Street in downtown LA. My mom bought it for me in 2002 when i spotted it in the window of one of the little shops.

Another favorite nativity, completely opposite. This one is plastic, little people that I mail ordered in 2001 for Riley's first Christmas. It is one of my favorites because I love to see the kids all get excited and how they change the positions of all the characters. Riley was always insistent with how it should look, I would put it away at night set up much like my set is at the top and then in the morning he would fix it so that everyone was facing in looking at the baby Jesus. Riley taught Jake and Fern well, that is how it looked for years. But Leili has different ideas and it is always changing. This is how I found it today, a little old school little people and animals from our castle joining the mix!

Tomorrow will be the 120th anniversary of the Nutcracker Ballet first performance in St. Petersburg Russia for the Czar Nickolas on December 18, 1892. As I type this the beautiful strains of Tchaikovsky's ballet are wafting in from the other room, thankfully my kids love it too! Today we took Leili to her first performance of the Nutcracker, or to me more precise the Peanutcracker! The local ballet company does midday performances for school kids, it is condensed, and narrated. Leili was riveted and watched the whole hour long performance and has since told me she wanted to jump on the stage and dance! Last year we went to the full length ballet but left Leili with friends so we were all excited to get to include her this year. Maybe by next year she will be able to sit through the full version! I can hope!

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

Knit-a-long

Another week another project but still the same book! I started my Botanical Cowl in this skein of Plymouth Yarn -Stiletto gifted from the lovely Lisa! Thanks Lisa!!! XO

I am really enjoying Anna Karenina and I am down to about 200 pages!! But unpacking and house settling has sadly decreased my reading and knitting time. Everything in its season!!

Knit-a-long!

So I thought why not join this week with Ginny at Small Things. I'm knitting and reading and knitting...all between packing boxes to keep my sanity! Yes we are moving again! But this time it is a happy move, into our own home with a whole 1/2 acre! 

This week I've finished my Simple Yet Effective Shawl, knitted up a couple gift dish cloths, and am getting ready to knit up the Botanical Cowl with this beautiful birthday yarn (actually last years birthday yarn because I've been searching for the perfect project for it!)!! And I'm still enjoying Anna Karenina and then I found this cute story book at the library, Knit Your Bit. It's about boys knitting for soldiers during WWI. This book is not twaddle, it is written very well and was enjoyed by all of us!!

Hold the Presses!!!

No big surprise here, another adventure by car...but wait...can it be? YES! Dan went on our adventure!!!!!

Back down 395 we went, destination: sun, sand, and Grandpa!

But first the adventure!

I've blogged about Mono Lake before, it is one of my favorite, most beautiful places. One of those places that makes you catch your breath and forget about any troubles or thoughts for the shear beauty. This was the first time Dan had been there, we were all so excited to share it with him!

I have become quite expert on balancing on rocks and using the self timer on my camera for family pictures all over the place, what fun pictures we get!

If you count from the left the taller tufas to the fourth where it seems a bit wider on top than the others, then you are looking at an ospry nest that had a mama and eggs! Please forgive me that I forgot my zoom lense in the car!

After a crazy night sleep with three to a bed we stoped at another favorite spot that Dan had not seen ether, Manzanar the Japanese Internment Camp near Bishop Calif. Fern and Leili earned their Jr. Ranger badges!

This is the obolesk that was erected to commemorate all those who lived here and for those who died. Amazingly facinating history. The paper origami cranes are for peace and  healing, arn't they beautiful!

Most likely my favorite family photo of the trip! This is Fossil Falls, you should have seen the comedy of this photo! I had the camera balenced on top of the van, after I pushed the button I had to jump down, run 50 feet and climb up the rock! All in 20 seconds!! It took more than one take!

With Dan with us we ventured further than before since we had muscles with us to help if I could not get everyone out, Jake was a happy camper!

When I look at this picture all I can think is, "Oh, the adventures he will see!"

More to come from our family vacation!