Current Events

There's nothing really special going on here today and I thought it was time for another update, so here you go...

Knitting:  Mandie and Caleb's afghan is moving along, although slower than I'd like.  As of last night, it was 14 inches long and is starting to feel like I might actually finish it someday.  It makes my hands hurt to knit for too long, so I've been breaking it up into several small knitting sessions instead of one long one each day.  Seems to be working so far!
I've pretty much put my sock knitting on hold, so no update on the Mockery socks.  Sock #1 is still at the heel turning.

Pookie asked me this morning to knit him some fingerless mitts like the ones I made for Midge last year.  He knew exactly what he wanted - black with rainbow stripes, a little tighter than Midge's, but just as long.  He was so disappointed when I told him they'd have to wait! 

School:  The Boy is doing very well with American School (correspondence high school) and has an average grade of about 95%.  He's completed a couple of courses, including Essential Math.  He just sent in his final for that class and he was at 99% before, so I expect he'll finish the class in the high 90s.

*proud Mom face*

The other kids are doing very well, too.  Scooter is nearly ready to start high school and we'll very likely enroll her at American School, too.  I thought about reusing The Boy's books and just designing my own exams, but one of the big benefits of American School is the diploma.  If we reuse the books, she'll get a good education, but not a diploma.  She can still take the GED, but it's not quite the same thing, you know?

Pibb will be starting fifth grade very soon - probably in the next six weeks.  We're just slogging through the last of the 4th grade book and making sure he understands some of the math concepts before we push on to the next level. 

A project I'm really excited about is history timeline binders.  Each kid gets a three ring binder, with divider tabs for different time periods.  Inside each divider we'll make a timeline and then do pages with more information about the individual entries.  We're going to start them this coming week, so look for more details in a future post.

Midge is still struggling with reading, but I took him in yesterday for an eye exam and now I think I know why it's been so hard for him.  The doctor said that he can see clearly, but its hard for him, so he's putting so much effort into just seeing the letters that he doesn't have enough focus left to really be learning the sounds.  I ordered him some reading glasses and I'm looking forward to seeing just how much better he does with them.  

Bryant's job:  He's been at his current job for about six months and it's going really well.  He's traveling a lot, taking classes and teaching classes.  In fact, I suspect he's working on the slides for his class this afternoon right now!

*proud wife face*

Household:  Have you seen the movie The Money Pit with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long?  Yeah, that's kinda how it feels lately...

A few weeks ago, our heater died.  The estimate to replace it was far more than we could afford at the time, but between scrimping together what we could and a personal loan from a great couple, we were able to order a replacement last week.  It was installed a few days ago and while the new system is significantly smaller than the old one, it is far more efficient and should do a much better job.

Almost immediately after the heater crapped out the kitchen ceiling started to leak like crazy.  The roof over the kitchen/garage join has been problematic pretty much from the beginning of time and it's really just given up the ghost now.  So we're going to rebuild the roof in that spot, then put in some flashing and new shingles.  Plus, we'll insulate the atticway to help avoid the ice dam problem. 

However, the roof leaking has damaged the kitchen ceiling enough that it needs to be replaced.  But, the people who installed the ceiling didn't seem to know what they were doing, so replacing the ceiling means replacing the walls, which means replacing the kitchen cabinets, countertop, etc... 

Late in the summer we'll be gutting the kitchen and replacing pretty much everything but the floor.  Oh, and we're keeping out fridge and stove as they are both pretty new. 

As much as I hate having to spend so much money, I'll be happy to have a kitchen that is a little more up to date and that I can choose colors, materials, etc... 

Oh, and our current kitchen has almost no electrical outlets, so we'll remedy that, too!

Craftiness:  I'm currently planning three parties (one in April, one in May, one in September) and I'm loving it!  I've been whipping up sample invitations, party favors and decorations like crazy.  I'm tempted to post all my projects here, but then when it's time for the parties, there won't be any surprise left!  So I think I'll hold off on posting too many projects, at least for right now. 

I will say this, though - I went to Michael's yesterday and bought a pad of 180 sheets of scrapbook paper and I had to force myself to sit down and work on school stuff instead of just playing with it all morning!

What have you been up to lately?

Weapons of Mass Distraction

Warning:  The following links may take up an outrageous amount of your time... So grab a drink and some snacks before you start clicking.

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1872  This one is called Dinosaur Comics - and it's exactly what it says it is.  But hilarious.

http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/  If you have small children, if you live just off the beaten path or if you just enjoy gorgeous photography, give this blog a shot.  It makes my heart happy each and every time I read it.

http://www.spritestitch.com/  Geeky crafty fun - what more could you want?

http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/creative-reuse/50-creative-reuse-ideas-to-keep-you-busy-this-weekend-122566  There isn't much that can't be upcycled and this link will give you lots of great ideas!

http://www.foxyblunt.com/Default.aspx  Foxy.  Blunt.  Perfect.

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/wab/Christmas+4/  Hands down, the best Christmas video ever (and the inspiration for next year's Christmas cards)!

http://smallnotebook.org/  Organize, declutter and minimize the "stuff stress" with this site.  While I don't think everything here applies to most people, there are tons of helpful tips and ideas.

http://www.graceisoverrated.com/  I adore the printable journal pages offered here (and the funny stories that often accompany them) - I've printed and colored and journaled in quite a few of them.

http://freepatterns.k1p1keepingyouinstitchesstudio.com/  It's a little bit of a pain to navigate, but this site is a treasure trove of knitting patterns.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/  One of my very favorite recipe sites - do not read this if you're hungry or dieting...

http://www.oneprettything.com/  More crafts than you can shake a stick at.

http://www.danoah.com/  Single Dad Laughing - often hilarious, always thought provoking.

So, did you click any of those?  Or were you so bored you're ready to go scrub the toilets just for something to do?

Knitting in 2011

Two of my siblings are getting married this year (YAY!) and I'm making them each afghans as wedding gifts - they helped pick the patterns, so don't worry about keeping secrets.  This blanket will be for my sister, and will be knit in a white yarn that has small green, blue, copper and silver flecks in it.  I'm making the ribs six stitches wide instead of three because the original blanket is baby sized and I'm making it significantly larger, so I thought wider ribs would be more appropriate.  I think it's going to be quite gorgeous when it's done!

The other afghan is for my brother and will be a little more involved.

This one will actually be charcoal grey and slate blue with black skulls on it!  I can't wait!  This is done in strips, instead of one large piece, which will make it much more portable - perfect summer knitting!

I'm hoping to finish both of these projects quickly enough to have time to learn how to knit two socks at a time on one long circular needle - very exciting!

So stay tuned for lots of knitting posts!

Make a Mockery of Me

This photo was taken about 15 minutes ago and represents two days of knitting.  So far I've completed the ribbing at the top of the leg, one full pattern repeat and started the next repeat.  I realized after I took the pictures that I hadn't included anything for scale, so please note that those needles are size 1 or 2.25 mm - about twice as thick as the average toothpick.

This pattern is very simple - a perfect sock for this time in my life.  I recently finished my Christmas knitting, but I won't be able to start my next afghan for a couple of weeks, so I needed a project that wasn't too complicated, but would give me phenomenal results - this is it! 

I'll continue to post pictures and updates as I can.  If we're friends on Ravelry you can see them there, too!

In which we discuss knitting...

As I sat down with my computer this morning I thought to myself, "I know I should blog, but there's just nothing going on."  And then I thought of Simon Pegg's character in Hot Fuzz - "There is always something going on!"  So...

Gift knitting is going fairly well.  I'm cutting it down to the wire, as usual.  My last two projects are in the works, one is just over half done, the other is just shy of it.  Both are simple enough that I can pick them up and put them down as I want to, which might be part of my problem.  It's easy to put them down whenever I feel like it because I know I can just pick them back up when I have a moment.  So I put them down far too often...  I'll do a post about the individual projects after they've reached their intended owners.

I'm already itching to start my post-Christmas sock knitting!  My sister-in-law gave me some gorgeous sock yarn this summer and I can't wait to start turning it into socks for myself.  The pattern I chose is called Mockery (which I thought was pretty fitting for me) and should show off the yarn nicely.  The yarn is here and is actually the colorway pictured at the top - Invercargill #1810.  Gorgeous!  And it's super soft and delicious!

When those are done I'll be working on Mandie and Caleb's wedding afghan.  She chose the pattern and yarn (a complete departure from Reva and Michael's afghan - I chose the pattern and yarn and they had no idea I was making it).  The yarn is white with green, blue and copper flecks - very pretty!  When I knit Reva and Michael's afghan, the focus was on the twists and curves of the cables; the yarn was really just a vehicle for displaying the stitches.  Mandie and Caleb's afghan has a very simple stitch pattern, so the focus is on the yarn instead.  I'm excited to see how it looks all knit up!

Huh.  Apparently I had something to say after all...



Knitting and Kidlets

I asked for blog suggestions on Facebook this morning and thus far, I've gotten only one response.  "Knitting??? What's going on the with the kiddos?"  So here you go, Kelly...

Knitting:
The vast majority of my knitting in recent days has been gift knitting.  That's why there's no real update or information about it.  I will say this - the project I'm putting most of my effort into is made with yarn from recycled pop bottles and is crazy soft.  It's also deep charcoal grey, which I'm absolutely loving!  The pattern is simple enough that I can knit it without looking at my needles, but interesting enough to make a pretty finished fabric.  That's really all I can say - I'm not sure if the intended recipient is a reader or not.

I have one other gift knit in progress - it's green, a wool blend and has cables.  The recipient of that one is a reader, so that's all you're getting there, too. 

I did spend a few minutes last week learning how to make a ballband dishcloth.  For those of you who don't know what that is, here's a link to a photo.  I've always been afraid of working with two colors at once and have only done it in one project (but in that project I was making stripes, so I just carried the unused yarn up the side), this is different.  I've spend a lot of time on Ravelry and other sites looking at these cloths and waiting until I felt ready to try them.  But then I realized what I was doing - I have a tendency to put off anything I'm unsure of and I know myself well enough to know that if I didn't just jump it, it was never going to happen.  So I grabbed two contrasting yarns from my stash and set to work.  Remember a few sentences ago when I said I spent "a few minutes?"  Yeah, that's not an exaggeration.  It was super easy and I felt like a colossal fool for being so nervous about it. 

I did rip out the one I started, but not because it wasn't going well.  I ripped it because I'd just grabbed two yarns from my stash and they didn't work well together.  But I bought orange and black yarn this past weekend, so I'm hoping there's a Halloween colored ballband cloth in my near future. 

As far as the kidlets, there's not a lot of change going on.  The Boy has been itching to find someone to play D & D with, so we're looking into a game store nearby that hosts lots of groups for everything from Magic games to D & D and everything in between.  I'm hoping to get him involved either there or a youth center around the corner.  He has a hard time meeting people and socializing is not his forte, so I have been pushing him to pick something to get involved with.

Scooter has decided to learn Draconic (the language of the dragons) and has been studying a lot.  We found and printed a Draconic alphabet, as well as a list of over 100 common words for her to work with.  I'm sure that'll be a great asset to her when she's applying to colleges...

Pibb has been reading a series called, "The Last Apprentice" by Joseph Delaney.  The books are between 200 and 400 pages each and there are seven or eight, although he's not finished with the series, so I imagine there will be more.  He spends most of his time either playing with Legos and Bionicles or reading.  It's very gratifying to see him enjoy reading - it was extremely difficult to teach him to read.  He was convince he couldn't do it for a really long time. 

Midge is struggling with the same thing.  He knows the letters and he knows some words, but he's sure he isn't able to do it, so he barely tries.  We've just started a program of learning 10 new Dolch sight words each week.  Every day he has activities with the words (one day he gets to play with my alphabet stamps and "write" each word in his word journal, one day he gets to write the words with colored pasta, etc...)  The idea is that by the end of each week, he'll have learned 10 new words, learning all 220 Dolch words and 95 commonly used nouns by the end of the school year.  He's also had more interest in reading lately, asking for two or three chapter books each day and I think that's a good motivator for him.  He wants to know the stories, but I don't have time to spend 5 hours a day just reading to him, so he's having to try to read them on his own. 

Pookie is sweet, as always.  His main focus lately seems to be Legos and following his brothers around.  He's been paying attention when the bigger kids do school and has started recognizing letters and sounds without my formally teaching them to him.  He also knows all the numbers 0-9 and can write them on his own.  He loves to pretend to visit the ice cream store and is constantly bringing us pretend ice cream to eat.  Maybe I should take him to Cold Stone again....

And now I need to go make breakfast burritos (for lunch), but I'll be back tomorrow with a recipe!

Revealing

I remember very clearly the moment when my sister, Reva, told me she and Michael were going to be married. I'd met him once or twice, but not really gotten a chance to get to know him well. But I'd seen the way he looks at her, the way he treats her like she's the most amazing person ever and the way they sort of revolve around each other. I was so happy for them!



Then I got to thinking about ways I could express my love and happiness. I wanted to give them something unique, something no one else would give them. I didn't want to pick something off a gift registry (although I will admit to buying a bridal shower gift off the registry), so I turned to my favorite hobbies.



I was kicking around Ravelry.com (if you knit or crochet or have any interest in either, I can't recommend this site enough) when I saw "IT." In that moment, I knew this was the one, the gift I really wanted to give them. IT was an afghan made up of columns of alternating cables. One patterns is called the XOXO cable and is exactly what it sounds like - stacked X's and O's, made by cabling. The second cable is far more complex and appears to have several strands weaving in and around each other, with "rings" made by wrapping the yarn around the cables. I don't know what the name of this cable is, but it is gorgeous.








So here it is, the big reveal. I was so excited to give it to them that I failed to take any better pictures. LOL So please imagine this with the ends all woven in and blocked enough to straighten the edges. The color is a bit deeper green in real life, with just a hint of grey.

Below are some interesting tidbits about the afghan, so read on, if you're curious.

Started March 30, 2010, completed knitting on August 17, 2010, finished weaving in ends and blocking on September 13, 2010.

Total time to knit: 4.5 months

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease (wool and acrylic blend) in color #177, Loden

Needles: 40 inch bamboo circular needles in size #10

Yarn used: 13.5 balls of yarn or 1.58 miles

Stitches per row: 296

Finished size: 4 feet wide by just shy of 6 feet long


Times Pookie and I snuggled under it, in progress, to read: countless


You may recall that several times during the making of this afghan, I was cranky about it. I got overwhelmed quite a few times and nearly gave up on it once or twice. But each time I got fed up with it, I reminded myself that this was meant to be an expression of my feelings for my sister and her new husband, that it wasn't always easy, but it would be worth it.

It's kind of funny, I hadn't considered how much my family would have to give for this project, too. When I was ready to start, I figured out (with Bryant's help) how many rows I'd need to finish each day to be done with the knitting before our vacation Labor Day weekend. And some days I made my goal, but some days, life got in the way. As the wedding got closer, I had to put up to 8 rows a day into it, leaving me very little time for anything else. I can't tell you how many times The Boy made dinner or Scooter helped Midge with his schoolwork and any number of other similar situations. So while I did the actual knitting, every single person in this family helped. And no one complained. They all seemed to understand how important this project was.

And when I put that very last stitch in place, my heart swelled with pride. I'd actually finished a massive project! I'd actually mastered this complex cable on only the second project I'd ever used cables on (the first being a pair of socks for my Gram last year - not a lot of cables and nothing complex there)!

So Reva and Michael, I hope this blanket will keep your bodies warm and the love and happiness I knit into it will keep your hearts warm. We love you.

Unrelated Ramblings

I know, I know, I was supposed to post vacation pictures over the weekend... I got distracted.

And right now, I just don't feel like digging through those gazillion photos, so instead, I'm going to write about completely unrelated things.

The Project: Those of you who know me well are aware that The Project has taken up the vast majority of the last six months of my life. On a daily basis I spent up to five hours on it (and that's in addition to school, chores, cooking and the rest of my regular life) and finally, after what felt like a million years, it is complete. I'm not going to reveal it quite yet, though, and I'll tell you why - because I'm just too stinking busy! Between the usual stuff and Bryant's job change and my baby sister's wedding and everything else, I simply don't have the time to write a post that would do justice to such a large and deeply personal project. I expect to be posting about it early next week, so please be patient just a tiny bit longer.

Knitting: I started a scarf for myself - it's a farrow rib pattern, so very simple and squishable! The yarn is gorgeous, a deep purple that shows flecks of reds and blues when the sunlight catches it. But, then I put that on the back burner for two reasons. 1. I'm not a scarf person. I just don't feel comfortable in them. I think they're quite beautiful and some people (Mandie and Reva, I'm looking at you) make them look effortlessly stylish. I'm just not one of those people. 2. I have what might be considered a mountain of gift knitting to get done, some for Christmas, some for other occasions.

And, behind all of those other projects, I still have Zoe's socks going. They sit in my Mario lunchbox, waiting to be grabbed on the way out the door. They're perfect grab and go knitting, so they travel with us quite a bit. They've been to the beach, to Mayfield, several parks and Bryant's office this summer. One of them is ready to have the heel turned, the other is still in the leg portion, but they are both coming along nicely. I suppose one of these days I should just sit down and focus on them - I could probably have them done in a weekend if I focus.

Cross Stitch: When I finished The Project, I headed straight back to my first crafty love - cross stitch. I'm currently working my way through the "Amid Amish Life" trio from Cross Stitch and Country Crafts, 1987. No, I'm not a procrastinator...

I have finished the first one, "Hanging the Quilts" and am currently working on the second smaller panel, "Tending the Garden." The two outer panels are the same size, about 9 X 14. The center panel, "Visiting the Neighbors," is 14 X 14 - I haven't started that one yet, although I did buy enough fabric to do all three. I'm probably about a third of the way through the second one, so I feel like I'm making good progress.

Cooking/Baking: I've tried a few new recipes lately, but nothing really worth posting. I made crusty baguettes, but they weren't as good as I would have liked, so the quest continues for a perfect recipe.

I got up a few days ago and realized I was completely out of taco seasoning, fajita seasoning and nearly out of garlic bread seasoning (I have no idea why that was on my mind first thing in the morning) so I mixed up some more of each. By the way, do any of you use a homemade blend of seasonings for those things? Or other things? I love blending ingredients myself - I can control the sodium level, which is super important to me and I can tweak the spices to create a blend that's perfect for my family. If anyone's interested in the recipes I use, leave a comment and I'll post them.

School: I'm feeling kind of ambivalent about it lately, like our current system just isn't doing it anymore. And that's something I love about homeschooling - I can change it up whenever I need to. So I'm looking at a few options, little things that I think might make it a little smoother and easier for all of us.

The Boy, by the way, is doing extremely well with his new school. He's completed his first subject with an overall grade of "A" and is halfway through his second subject with a cumulative grade of 100%! Go ahead and take a moment to imagine my proud Mom face...

Reading: I'm currently reading "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams. Actually, the copy we have includes the first 5 books from the increasingly incorrectly named trilogy - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything; So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish; Young Zaphod Plays it Safe. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend at least giving it a shot. Douglas Adams' sense of humor is highly developed and his writing style is unique.

This book is one of Bryant's favorites and in reading it, I've found that I "get" so many of his jokes that I didn't understand before. Things he's been saying for years make so much more sense and are hilarious now!

All the rest: I've been feeling kind of funky lately. Not really bad, just off a bit. At first I thought I was getting sick, now I think I might just be mental. So if I come off as slightly nuts, just nod and smile.

Blessings in disguise

There are a lot of "every problem/failure is an opportunity" type sayings out there. And to some extent I think most of them are true. But, I also think that sometimes a failure or a problem is just that. Sometimes the only thing to learn is how to deal with disappointment.

I had one of those experiences yesterday. I had been knitting a hat for The Boy in the spring - it was a new winter hat and he chose the pattern and yarn. I had it nearly finished when I started The Project and so it hibernated for the summer, waiting until I was ready to work on it again. Two days ago I picked it up and, after a quick refresher on the pattern, dove back in. I finished it yesterday morning and knew, just knew in my heart, that it was wrong.

I was careful, I followed the pattern exactly. My yarn and needle sizes were as recommended, I measured and followed the tips given by the designer. And yet this hat barely fits Pookie. I'm sure you can imagine my disappointment.

There were no new techniques or concepts in this pattern, I didn't look at it as a learning experience. I don't understand what went wrong. The only thing I can make sense of is that the pattern itself is faulty. Somewhere in there, a number is wrong or the gauge is off.

So, while I'm not impressed with how this hat came out, I'm learning to deal with the disappointment of a knitting project gone awry.

And Pookie sure does love his new hat.

Updates

The Project: Nearing completion and starting to feel a little more real. Sometimes when I choose to do a large project or make a big commitment, it feels a little surreal. This project has felt that way until recently. I've often thought of it as a "someday" thing - like someday I'll finish it, someday I'll actually have to call it done, someday people will see it and judge my talent by it. However, as it seems like it'll be done in about a week or so, someday is coming up pretty stinkin' quick! And that makes me nervous. As long as it isn't done I can still change it. I can still tweak it and try to fix the things I perceive as mistakes. But the moment I say I'm finished, there's no going back - that's it.
On the upside, I'm very much looking forward to reading again. I haven't read for pleasure in months. I've read for school and I've read things like recipes and tutorials, but I've not just sat and read a book since March.

Buntings: The male is sitting on the bird feeder right now, but the female hasn't been seen in over a week. I suspect she's gone and I blame the cat (who also obliterated an entire family of squirrels from my front yard).

101 Project: I've been working on a few of these, but just haven't gotten around to posting about them. Look for a 101 post next week, if you're interested.

Health: I've lost 2 lbs this week - the healthy way. We've deviated from the SBD a couple times, but for the most part we've stuck with it pretty well. Mr. Wonderful is really sick of salads, so I've been looking for other lunch ideas for him (he's kinda picky, so it's tough) and that seems to be helping.

The Boy: He's doing very well with school, although I'm struggling a little with the school itself. We originally enrolled him for three years, 10-12. However, because we're homeschoolers he would have to take a test to opt out of the 9th grade classes. No problem, except that those tests are expensive and if he should happen to fail one, he'd still have to pay to take the class. It actually cost less for us to enroll him for the full four years than for him to be enrolled three years and take the required tests. He's okay with it, though, and says he's looking forward to getting more subjects.

Scooter: As always, she's either got her nose in a book (usually a field guide of some kind) or she's exploring outside. She's really into rocks right now and has been obsessively collecting interesting or fossilized rocks. She's doing well with her schoolwork, too, and recently had a "light bulb moment" about multiple-digit multiplication. It's so much easier now because she finally gets it. This is something we've struggled with for years and the last week or so has been much, much more pleasant when it comes to math time.

Pibb: He's been very interested in WWII lately, so we've spent a fair amount of time talking about different planes, tanks and other military weapons and strategies. He's been responsible for the breakfast and lunch dishes for a while now and he's getting better about making sure they're actually clean instead of just dunking them in the water and calling it good. Last week he asked if I'd teach him how to do the laundry, too. Of course I said yes - I love it when they like to do chores.

Midge: Midge is our little artist. He loves to color and draw. Mr. Wonderful's mom bought each of the kids a Moleskine notebook and Midge has filled his with drawings of everything from ninjas and zombies to trees and flowers, as well as self-portraits. He's struggling with reading, but is getting more confident. For whatever reason, he's convinced himself that he can't do it and that has slowed us down quite a bit. I'm certain that he can read, he just needs a little more time to be sure of it himself.

Pookie: My little Lovey... he's very affectionate and sweet, although he's got a little temper when he wants to. He's been spending a lot of time with Legos lately and has come up with some pretty amazing creations. He has a hard time getting the tiny ones apart, though and often asks Scooter for help. He's been learning his letters and is getting quite good at recognizing his name (his real name and his nickname), as well as some of the rest of our names. He loves to sort things by color (or other means) and will often sort bags of candy or beans. It's hilarious to watch because he gets really serious and won't let anyone help him or eat any until he's done.

So that's a brief overview of what's going on in my life right now. If there's anything you're curious about or want more information on, feel free to leave a note in the comments and I'll see what I can do.