Lulu Bear Knits

Summer!! It's summer!! Sort of!!

2011-06-02T08:01:00.000-07:00

Well, we have made it through our first official year homeschooling. There were field trips and ballet recitals and library visits and lots and lots of glue projects. It's been wonderful and I am so happy with the choice we made to do this. I'll give you details as the summer goes on, but for today, I want to share a knitting project I've been working on.

My Gramma has been knitting for 65 years. She doesn't do it much anymore as it really is hard on her hands, but knitting has always been there for her. Especially when life gets challenging. It is her constant. It has become that for me, too. Recently, she gave me all of the yarn she's been saving in her attic and eaves, collecting it for most of those 65 years. My house has been insulated with this beautiful yarn for a while now, and I finally decided that it is'nt doing anyone any good sitting in a plastic tub out of sight. So I am knitting it up. Most of it. Some of it I'll pass along...My Gramma likes a good sale, and well, sometimes there is a reason the yarn is on sale. I recently finished a project for my little one, that I'd love to show you.

It is Helena and with a few changes to the pattern, I managed to use all of the yarn except for about 13". I made the button band thinner and knit the sleeves last, dividing up all the yarn that was left. I was so happy with the way it fit and that the color was so great on my girl.

Well, the sweater sat in my work basket for a while, waiting for the "perfect" buttons. Yesterday I figued out the solution. I went into the top drawer of my Great-great grandmother's sewing machine (the one she used to sew flour sacks for their store,)and looked through her buttons. She gave the sewing machine (and those buttons) to her daugter -- my Great Grandma-- a wonderful woman who lived more than a hundred years and taught me cursive. She then gave it to her daughter -- my Gramma. Then from Gramma to my Mom, and Mom to me. All of us had touched those buttons. So, I pulled out 3 of them. I wonder what they were on before they made it to the button drawer.

Now they are on the sweater, made from my Gramma's yarn, on her needles, I knit for my little girl.

The best laid plans...

2010-09-26T17:39:00.000-07:00

My pal and I sat down at her table and discussed and drew pictures and figured out what to spend our week sewing. So many ideas! So much fun planning with her!
And then the coughing started. So, now a week later, there is nothing to show you. Well, I could show you my sketches, but you don't really want to see those. If my pal had a blog, I would send you over to her, to see all of the fabulousness she has created. But sewing projects from me? Well. I've got plenty of nothing. So I think my kids clothes challenge week will happen in a little bit. When we all stop with the coughing and can focus on things a bit better. I know you don't mind.
Happy notes:
Little one had a very happy day pretending to be Rupert Bear and got to sleep at a normal hour.
I made a huge pot of soup so that I wont have to cook dinner tomorrow night.
My Gramma comes to visit on Tuesday.

What I did on my Summer vacation

2010-09-12T18:33:00.000-07:00

The highlights: sewed, knit, picked berries, burned strawberry jam, swam, swam, swam, collected sea glass, shells, and sand, read a great book, read some not so great books, made more strawberry jam -- this time no burning, picked blueberries, made blueberry jam, got really excited about all the jam, sewed more, knit more, cleaned off my dining room table, got my very own computer, saw friends, caught fireflies, went to the farmers' market, played games, saw my Gramma, ate crabs in the backyard, celebrated some birthdays, rode bikes...

A very eventful uneventful summer.

And now it's back to school time. The phrase is a bit of a misnomer for us. We homeschool, so really...there is no "back to" school time. It's just a continuation of what we have doing. This is our first "official" year. But I think that I've come to realize, that for us, nothing really changed for the first day of school. We just did what we do. We had a big ta'do with pictures and everything for our first day of homeschool co-op, but the school part, the everyday learning, that just moved on at its own pace. No stop or start to our year. It's nice, and a bit unsettling (for me) at the same time, since this is not the norm I grew up with. But the great thing, and the thing that helped me to know that we are doing the right thing for us, is that it is the norm for little one. She loves the way she gets to learn new things. It is so much a part of her everyday. It would be like having a first day of tooth brushing picture after brushing her teeth for 5 years. Arbitrary. And yet, a good reason to pause, and mark this time that is going by oh so quickly.

So, in other news

Jade with Craft Hope has put out a fantastic book. Check it out. It's lovely and amazing, just like Jade. (ps, that's my Hope Note on page 50! ACK!)

Elsie Marley is having a kids clothing challenge week that I've signed up to try. An hour a day, you work on kids clothes, sewing, knitting, whatever. It sounds fun to me! Wanna play too?

How was your summer? What's happening this Fall?

And we're back!

2010-04-08T18:08:00.000-07:00

Hello! The sun came out and we ran outside. RAN! After months of crazy snow and winter sicks and grey grey days, we blinked in the bright sun and spring was here! YeeHaw! Park days! Boat days! Picnic days!

The news...let's see, we put some snow peas in the ground (they worked out well last year,) the sage and parsley came back (BONUS!) and I have been drawing up little garden plans to get things just right...I think that it's going to be a mostly herb year for me. Maybe some hangy tomatoes too. My dog really loves to play with them, so I need to get them up off the ground. Last year, she ate (well, just played with until they went flat) every tomato we grew. Seriously. So, this year, maybe one plant for the dog-ball tree and three for us to eat.

I have been sewing up a storm. I made little one's spring dress, from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. The Flower Girl Dress. Gotta say, I love this book. The pattern was easy to follow, easy to alter, and a blast to sew. I made a short version as well for a little play shirt for little one -- cut up some cotton kids curtains to make it -- why are you humming songs from The Sound of Music? Maria Von Trapp had it dead on. If my little one wants to climb trees and totally demolish this little shirt, well, that's what summer is for, right? Second time around fabric is wonderful -- and very very soft, too. And did you know that cotton baby leggings make great summer jammie shorts for thin 4 year olds? I cut the bottom off of a gazillion pairs of baby jammies and gave the new short edge a little lettuce ruffle. Cute! From the cut off part of the pants, I cut a shape and appliqued it onto light cotton camis. TaDa! Matching jammie sets for the almost 5 year old!

More sewing stuff...Jade over at Craft Hope has set up another project. This one is sewing bean bags for the Liberia Orphan Education Project. Alphabet bags, shape bags, number bags -- I am making mine out of felt and stuffing them with aquarium gravel. They are so fast and easy to make. If you are crafty, or know someone who is crafty, please stop by Jade's site. You will be so happy you did! PS, you can pre-order her Craft Hope book now on Amazon!

In other news...In January, I got my very first Moosewood cookbook. Wow! It was so far out of my comfort zone. I couldn't pronounce half the food in there, let alone imagine how it would taste. So, in the spirit of trying something new every month, I have been cooking out of this cookbook since January. Not one miss. Every recipe so far -- even the ones that I was sure would taste like a foot -- has been great. Beyond great. My daughter, with very strong opinions about food, has been loving kale. Kale? Yep. This is really fun figuring out great new (to us) foods. Bonus (I am calling it the Moosewood Effect): had to buy new jeans. 2 sizes smaller! That was really fun.

Hope all is going well with you, too. How has your spring been? What's growing in your garden?

Ahhhh Fall

2009-10-16T18:47:00.000-07:00

So, Fall. I love it. Every September I want to sew corduroy skirts and sharpen pencils. I love the crunchy leaves, and the hmmmm-should-I-wear-a-jacket-today-or-no kind of weather. I get really productive in the fall. We went apple picking and ended up with enough pie filling for 12 apple pies. I have to remember to put the jars in the freezer before the pie filling ends up in our morning oatmeal (not that that would be wrong at all.) Crafting up a storm (an announcement is pending on that front!) too: little sewn notebooks, Morsbags, holiday presents, Project 5 of Craft Hope, sewing fall skirts and jammies for the little one...and on and on and on.

Fall is kind of like the first hill of the roller coaster. You are click clicking up the track and thinking oh boy oh boy oh boy with your eyes squashed shut. It seems to be taking forever to get to the top of the hill so you open your eyes and look around. What a view. Wow! I can see the whole park from up here. Oh look, there is the funnel cake stAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! Whipped headlong downhill into the holidays (fun yes, but sometimes a blur and not alot of time to focus on the little moments).

I like the downhill a bunch. I love the climb to the top.

Phototropism

2009-08-11T20:39:00.000-07:00

Ever since I embarked on this journey, I have been learning new things about drying clothes outside.

Some were pretty obvious ::
Towels line-dried feel like plywood, but smell like summer.

Some were not quite so obvious ::
Where I live, it gets pretty hot midday, but because of our big old oak trees, the backyard is completely shaded. If I don't hang towels out first thing in the morning, they aren't going to be dry before nighttime.

Some extra info I have stumbled into ::
Cotton kid clothes only get a little crunchy, so everyone thinks that I starch and iron them (!!).
It is still as much fun to run through the sheets now as it was when I was a kid.
My linen closet smells like the one at my Grandmother's lake house (that is a really good thing.)
I love looking at all of my knit dishclothes hanging out.
I prefer the kind of clothespins without the spring.
If you hang something too close to the bird house...er...you probably will have to rewash it.
2 cleats and a rope make a fantastic "retractable" clothesline for far less money than the spring loaded ones that won't hold their tension.

I really like doing this.

What I did on my summer vacation.

2009-08-07T17:09:00.000-07:00

I know. It's not quite over yet. But the big trip we have been waiting for has come and gone. Last week, we went up to Langhorne PA with my brother and his fam and went here. It was so much fun! Little one kept tapping my shoulder and saying "Can you BELIEVE it? We are getting to see the REAL ELMO!" I thought she was going to lose her cute little mind when he walked by in a parade. My little one is a bit reserved and likes to feel out a situation before stepping in. I figured that she would maybe wave to some of the characters and then grab my leg for a while. Well, she saw Elmo, ran over to him and kissed his hand!

She is still talking about it!
The really cool thing about traveling with a 4 year old is that everything is an adventure. We went to the grocery store to get some "special room breakfast and dinner picnic" things. That was met with "WOW! We have never been to this grocery store before! Their apples are nowhere near their bananas!" Very cool. One of her favorite rides? The Shuttle-ride (that would be the van we took from the hotel to the park.) This was such a great vacation. I am so happy we went.

It did get me thinking, too. There are so many cool things to do where we live (even going to the post office can be a big deal for us -- more about that later.) So, we bought a sketch book and that has become little one's passport book. Everywhere we go -- like the library or the local museums -- we get a stamp and a brochure if they have one. When we get home, we write in the book what our favorite parts of the trip were. We have taken to calling this the "Let's see where we end up" game. We get in the car and "see" where we end up. Yep. I usually have a plan where that will be, but she doesn't know it, so if the place I thought of is closed or whatever, we just keep going until we find something cool to do. Wednesday it was a Jousting (!) tournament. I'd never seen one either. Loads of people, tailgating with big fancy hats and summer drinks. I could very much get into this sport. We saw a yellow ladybug that day too.

The post office trip happened before we left on vacation. Jade from Craft Hope --who I have decided is some sort of super hero, wielding a glue gun and knitting needles and spreading joy across the planet -- just finished up Project 3. While our usual suspects couldn't come over to play, everyone gets pretty far flung in the summer, friends sent over stuff to send along to Jade. You can even see the little squares I knit for hankies on the Craft Hope site. They are the red and white stack. I made them cotton because, well, they would be soft, hypoallergenic, and er, absorbent. I remember being floored by the sheer volume of spit up babies are able to achieve. Sorry. That was kinda gross. But really, it is just amazing! Where do those tiny little babies keep all that ick?? Ok. I'll stop. Again, sorry. The point here is that we got to help out some more friends we have never met, that live in places we will probably never go, all because of the amazing efforts of Jade (who's third baby is due any minute!) Seriously, people. A superhero.

Now that the summer is winding up, my thoughts are turning to school and what we will be playing with this year. I think some backyard explorations are in order this year. I got this amazing book from my in-laws for my birthday (along with so many other fabulous things I will share with you soon) and am so excited to do all of the activities in it. We have been taking these little string walks from the book, which are such fun. It's how we found our yellow ladybug. You take a little bit of string, and put it in the grass. Pretend you are tiny and walk along the string -- you can use your fingers as legs, that's always fun -- and see what you find on your teeny tiny hike. We keep doing this one, because since it is August and crazy hot, we don't really want to move around that much. So, we get a little lemonade and have fairy hikes. I think I might show the kids in our homeschool co-op this one. It really is a nice way to slow down and see things you normally miss. Also, Blue Yonder's Book of Days is on my wish list for this year. You really have to check this out. I think it's going to be wonderful for us.

So there you have it. I never really have an answer for the What have you guys been doing this summer? question. All evidence to the contrary, right? Really though. I guess that all the little tiny things my family does are the important things to us. But how many people want to hear the details of our grocery shopping adventure?
That's why I love you guys for reading this. Till next time.

I can't wait until August 7

2009-06-10T20:37:00.001-07:00

She's a movie!

22 legs, 11 heads, and a ton of heart

2009-06-09T17:41:00.000-07:00

So today, I put a big old box of fun in the mail. Little one even threw in a note to the Vintage Chica.

The back of this note says Thank You. It is because of you Eren, and your friends like Jade, that we can have this honor of helping others and seeing beyond our own very small world.

Let me start a week ago...

3 fantastic friends came over for a night of craftivism. Everyone brought fabric, supplies, and enthusiasm. One super mom even got her kids involved by trying out our project with them before we all got together. We spent the night -- 'till about 1:00am -- talking, cutting, and sewing a total of eleven dolls to send off to the Craft Hope project. I just stumbled across this project online, much the same way I stumbled across these friends.Well, I didn't find the friends online, but you know what I mean. They are the kind of friends you know really REALLY want to have, and you can't believe how lucky you are that your paths actually crossed at the perfect time. I know you have friends like that, too.
Anyway, these very different, very creative women gave up a night of sleep to help out kids they will never meet. I am forever grateful to them for doing this. I like to do what I can to help, and I love that I know people that want to do the same. My favorite question at the end of the night...
"What are we doing next?" My friends rock.

My kitchen looks like a slasher movie.

2009-05-30T17:18:00.000-07:00

Today, I went with the fam and some friends to pick strawberries. This was my first time doing this (as a grown up, when the "you can only take home what you can carry" rule doesn't really help limit things much.) We had such a good time. Chatting, picking, watching the kids get completely covered in strawberry juice -- they were the stickiest, cutest vampires I have ever seen. Well...18.5 lbs of berries later, I am up to my eyeballs in macerated strawberry guts. Strawberry cream cheese, strawberry vinaigrette, strawberry puree, 2 kinds of strawberry jam, and I still have about 12 quarts left. I am freezing the rest. I think I'll make the world's biggest margarita. The thing is, I thought this all out. I said to myself this morning, self, since you are going to be in the kitchen anyway, you might as well pick up some battered and bruised tomatoes for sauce. 2 bankers boxes full. 16 quarts of tomatoes. I am thinking about painting the kitchen walls with the leftovers. That might be kind of fun. After I finish of that world's biggest margarita, right?
It really is fun, though. And I only get to (have to) do this for a few months to have summer and spring all year long in my freezer. Speaking of that, due to the Red Debacle of 2009, my husband is out at the hardware store pricing freezers. I guess the Get-a-ton-of-produce-they-are-so-cheap argument is a flawed one.
Hey, I did my first load of laundry on the line this week. It was great! I thought that I was out of luck this week, as we were supposed to have big rain everyday. Well, Wednesday afternoon the sun broke through. I grabbed the little one and my freshly washed cleaning rags and towels (they are so cute -- most of them I knit to get over the precious knits syndrome) and hung them (the knits not the kiddo) on my retractable line. I have to say, I was really proud of myself. We ran through the towels and smacked our hands in the middle of them just like I remember doing at my Gramma's house when I was a kid. It was fun, and because there was a little breeze, nothing turned out too crusty. All in all, a good start to the Clothesline Challenge. I'm sitting at 20% dried on the line. Cool. I should have taken a picture. Next time I will. Just have to charge my battery. And really, you don't want to see the kitchen right now. Trust me.

Clothes lines and rainy days

2009-05-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

I just took the Clothesline Challenge that I found here. I am starting out at the novice level. Sounds like a good push for me. 10% of my laundry on the line is doable, I think. Towels, and Sheets to start. I've got a little tally sheet tacked up next to the washer so that I can be sure to keep myself honest. The rainy days part came after I committed to the challenge. It's supposed to rain for the next 6 days. Ack!
A side note...I now have pea plants taller than my 4 (!!) year-old little one. She gets so excited going out to check on our garden. Every time we go out there and the plants are a bit more lush and flowery, she is sure that a garden fairy has been there. I asked her one time what kind of fairy she would be. "An everything fairy, Mama." Nothing stops this kiddo. I love her spunk! Hmmm....it's 9:30 and I think I am going to knock off for the day. Time to knit some scrubbies and get some sleep. My brother and fam are heading back across the bridge tomorrow. The weekends (even the long ones) just go by too fast. Gramma heads out on Tuesday, but as promised to come back during the summer to play with us. I wish there was a way to slow down the time when they are all here and really enjoy each minute. It all really just whooshes by. My Gramma and I did get a great chance to hang out together in the kitchen on Saturday. We made dinner for the troops -- 7 grown ups and 4 kids. It's funny, but we are so in sync (but not in a boy band way) in the way we cook, it wouldn't have mattered if we were cooking for 2 or 20. We just stirred each other's pots and added stuff here and there and it all was great. We giggled our way through it all. Maybe it was the wine, but it was a very silly time! My Gramma is fun. No doubt about it.

Chives!

2009-03-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I grew something! So, I have a famously brown thumb. People have long teased me that if we lived in pioneer times, my family would have wonderful toys and clothes and furniture, but nothing at all to eat. This is pretty accurate. Or, at least it was until about 20 minutes ago. Little one and I planted some seeds. Chives. I have never done this before. So we filled a bucket with dirt and put in probably way to many seeds (is one packet per 1/2 gallon bucket excessive?) and we dutifully misted them daily. The packet says that they should sprout in 7-9 days. Well...that came and went and our faith that we would have chives began to waver, but we kept at it, and 16 days later we have cute little shoots. 20 of them! We are so excited. We grew something here! Well, now I am all puffed up from this success and we are off to the local hardware store to buy some seed packets for outside. Because lets be honest, you can't feed a family on chives alone. Or can you? hmmmm.....

Blinking at the bright bright daylight

2008-12-04T16:21:00.000-08:00

So, the last what month and a half (!?) I have had back to back to back colds. Yay first year of preschool. I feel like I have slept through Halloween, and Thanksgiving. I don't want to jinx anything, but I think I might be on the other side of the sickness now. By golly, I am not, I mean NOT, going to miss Christmas and Hannukah. This is the most fun time of the year for me. I am sewing and knitting and cutting up loads of bits of paper like a fiend. Sorry, no pictures. Most are gifts, so under wraps (haha!) until January.
I did manage to peek my head out every so often for a day or two over the past few months...Here are the highlights.

Went trick or treating...we hit about 6 houses. The first one, little one wanted me to ring the doorbell, hold her hand, and say "trick-or-treat" by house number 4 she was running up to the door "HURRY UP MOMMY!" and banging until they opened it (promting a very brief talk about patience.) She had a great time. Came home and ate 8 M&Ms, watched The Great Pumpkin and went to sleep. Next morning, she forgot all about the candy!

My little niece turned 3! Can't believe it. I mean she just got here! It was a Tinkerbelle party, and my fabulously talented sister (in law) made the most amazing cake. She was out-to-there pregnant too. Where did she find the time and energy? I think she has a secret plutonium supply that she just dips into evey now and then. In addition to the cake...there was glitter! Glitter tag. I don't know if it went exactly like they planned, but let me be the first to say, it rocked. The kids were just dumping bags of glitter on each others heads. They were running around so thery were all quite sweaty, and the glitter stuck. HA!

Went to Waterfowl Festival, where our town shuts down completely to celebrate ducks. I love this place. Little one and I went to a Dock Dogs competition where the dogs jump off a platform into a pool and try to jump the farthest. It was so funny, but the big hits of the day were riding a school bus for the first time and eating a gingerbread duck. You know, with a 3 year old you never know exactly what is going to set them off and make them crazy. So, little one spends about 10 minutes picking out her favorite gingerbread duck -- it has to have the perfect face and be the same color all around the edges. Yikes. She finally finds the winner and we buy it. We sit on the curb to eat it and before she can take it out of its little baggie, drops it on the ground. Its little neck snaps and its head falls off. AAAAK! I just watch her face. She stares at it for a minute, looking at its shattered body and then...bursts out laughing. Cool. I like her sence of humor!

I peeled and chopped 18 apples and cooked some apple pie filling. It rocked! We made 4 pies worth of filling, the remainder we put on anything that would hold still. Pancakes, biscuits, ice cream. So yummy and we still have 4 pies worth left! That will make christmas baking E-Say!

My little niece was born! Yay! We have been waiting for you, tiny peanut, and we are so happy you are here! We can't wait to see you this weekend!

Ah, one more thing. When you are sick, this is the best show. Ever.

Happy Halloween and #27 & 28 for my list

2008-10-31T20:54:00.000-07:00

Make cheese.
Learn the accordion.

Too cute not to make

2008-10-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

Gotta try making this. Maybe put one in this. There is so much great stuff out there to make!
Found another something great to make, and another! Ok, time to turn off the computer and bust out the glue.

Ok one more. That's it. I swear.

Goals and ideas: 121 things in 1210 days

2008-10-22T18:20:00.000-07:00

Through my ridiculously congested blog surfing today, I came across this. I can't help but think this is a great idea for me too. A chance to focus on things that I want to do for me, my family, my friends and my community...So, to borrow an inspirational idea (and organizational structure) here it goes:

The first 26

Knitting
Knit lace with lace weight yarn
Knit myself a sweater
Send 20 baby hats to Children's hospital at Egleston in Atlanta
make these Inca Alpaca Mitts
submit original design to Knitty for consideration
Steek

General Craftyness
learn a new medium
participate in Project Spectrum
do a swap
sew a growth chart for little one
Get 3 artscout buttons

Green
Learn to compost
Use a clothesline on sunny days
Plant a food garden

Gifting
Give handmade gifts (made by me or someone else)

Ballet
Get back on pointe shoes
Take a class in New York

Lifestyle
Get up 15 minutes earlier, make a cup of coffee and start the day before anyone else is up.
Walk to Homeschool Co-0p at least 2/4 times a month
Make a calendar of everyone's birthdays
Take little one on walks atleast once a week
Make a nature table
Organize playroom and make it cute
Paint Kitchen
Decorate little one's room as a garden
Read Walden

Result!

2008-10-21T07:03:00.000-07:00

I am so proud.

In another, somewhat unrelated thought, how do I get this over here?

Elephants, bears, and monkeys -- oh my!

2008-10-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend I had my first solo table at a craft show. It was a little bit John Watters-esque. I got there and set up with my dad -- he made me laugh like a crazy person, and we thought for sure we would be asked to leave before the show officially began. Well, things kicked off at 10 with an accordion player (!!). It was pretty cold on Saturday, but with my fingerless gloves on, I managed to get in some knitting. Also, a steady stream of friends stopped by to chat with me, making the time fly by. A few highlight moments...

Smokey and the 911 Elephant stopped by to say hello...

A man with a tiny monkey strolled by -- it was his hat that caught my eye first...then the monkey.

Little one and my Sweetie pie came over and hung out for a while too, although for little one, the draw was the playground.

So, not the most...er...lucretive of shows, but all in all a nice way to spend Saturday.

Oh, and HANDS-DOWN the best popcorn I have ever had. Two bags full.

Also, started the mass production of tomato sauce. There is this really nice woman at the farmers market that gives me all of her battered or bruised tomatoes at the end of the day. I take them home an make sauce out of them. Usually she has 4 or 5. This time, she had an entire file box full of tomatoes! So...

9 bottles of sauce! Thanks Crystal! (ok, you can tell by the date on the jars that I did these last weekend. I just forgot about telling you until today. So, pretend that I did it this weekend and wonder -- where, oh where does she find the time to do all of this!)

Also, just started working on little one's Halloween costume. She wants to be JoJo -- nice easy costume. Started sewing up the pants last night. Here is the fabric .

I took 2 colors of flannel and made stripes then cut the pants from that. More pictures to follow as the costume progresses. I just realized that I have to have it finished by Saturday. That is when the town parade is, and trick-or-treating at the shops.

As usually happens this time of year, when the weather goes from 80 degrees to 59 degrees in the course of 2 days, we all have raging colds. So, we have been hanging out, not doing much today -- couple of painting projects and the like. Can't wait to have my nose stop running.

Going over to the fam's house for dinner tonight. I'm going to bring the lasagna and some rolls (never made this kind of roll before. I'll let you know how it turns out.) This is my Gramma's last night in town before she heads back out to Arizona. I miss her when she's so far away. Her visits always fly by. They are just too short. Even if they were longer, they would still be too short, you know?

I think it's time to shape the rolls. If they turn out pretty, I'll take a picture. If they turn out nasty, no one will know but us, ok?

Husband's shirts: beware!!

2008-10-19T19:16:00.000-07:00

Love this! Thinking I might pilfer from the closet this week.

Where have all the photos gone?

2008-09-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how remiss I have been about posting pictures. Prepare to be blasted with them...

We go through a lot (and I mean a lot) of bread in our house during the week. I got bold a while back and started baking some myself. To be totally honest, they were like bricks, but my wonderful family cheerfully choked them down. Well, I have graduated from bricks and am now making a decidedly unbricklike challah. Who knew that I could do that, right? I am very proud. So proud in fact, that I took a picture of it. So, two loaves a week now. It really is fun to make. I found the recipe in this great book from our book store. I want to cook everything in it. Well, 90% of everything.

News from the homeschool front. Today at co-op we made trees by tracing our hand and forearm on brown construction paper, cutting it out, gluing it to another sheet of paper and sponge painting leaves on top. Cool project! It kept a room of 2-3 year olds happy for 35 minutes. I have to say that I loved that little one didn't just tap tap tap with her sponge like she was taught. She tried that, then she realized that she is more of a smear it kind of girl. So smear she did.

I think it looks fantastic and very her.

Co-op is in a church down the road from our house. It is a great space with tons of room for all of the kids. The only (very minor) issue is the cold cold basement floor. So, today I finished a little cushion for little one to sit on. I used scraps from the banner I made for her 3rd birthday. I am really happy with how it turned out. So is little one. She has decided it is the homeschool pillow, the book pillow, the doll blanket, and her flag. Heehee. It's nice to be appreciated!

Painting with her toes and homeschool

2008-09-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

When did my 3 year old become so busy? We just had our first full week of classes...She goes to this incredible program at our local museum. On the second day they did slip and slide with paint. So, yeh, the clothes are looking rough, but she's having a blast. Also, today marked our first homeschool co-op day. My guess is that once we all figure out what we are doing, things will get a bit less...er....chaotic. But it was fun. It is close by, so little one and I can walk there in the morning. It is a good way to wake up and get our brains in gear before we start thinking. The moon was out this morning and we chatted about that the whole way there. Little one told me that it was the morning-time moon and that morning time moons don't sleep. The night time moon sleeps. Why not? I love to hear her ideas. We learned about the letter A, and about imaginations and how much fun it is to make clay snowmen in the very end of summer. There were two wonderful school moments today. When we first arrived, this very sweet 10 year old came over, introduced herself to my little one, asked her name and how old she was, then said, "It's nice to meet you. Lets take you over so that you can meet the other kids." Wow. So confident and kind. The other moment happened at the end of our co-op day. We were sitting outside in the grass and Annie (the mom/teacher for that class) had her accordion out. A group of about 10 girls (including mine) ranging in age from 2.5 to 14 were in a circle around her. They were all singing songs in french -- cool breezes blowing with the smells of fall, sweet little voices, and an accordion. Did that really happen? It was just such a fun and interesting way to end our first day. I have to say, the one thing I noticed about all of the girl was their confidence in their abilities. No one was shy to say that they knew something or that they were good at something. None of the girls thought that to be accepted she had to downplay her smarts. It was just a group of 10 very kind, very self assured, very unique kids. They all had their own style and were comfortable in who they were. Even though some were older and some were still very young, everyone was respectful of everyone else. I know that this is the environment I want my daughter to grow and learn in. I want to give her that kind of power in her own identity. Yea Homeschool!

July? Seriously? Already?

2008-07-11T11:38:00.000-07:00

Where has this summer gone? I can't believe the last time I checked in was the middle of June. Since we last spoke, I had a birthday, knit some snowmen, and shopped for big-girl beds. Doesn't sound like a lot when I write it like that. Hmm. I'll just fill in the details a bit.
My Birthday. Wow. Let's just say that it was one of the most fun birthdays EVER! In the history of birthdays. My wonderful husband made a huge fuss for me. First,in the early afternoon, we went for an hour long boat ride with Mom and Dad. We had a picnic lunch on the boat -- fantastic food, thanks Mom! -- and cruised around for a while. The weather was supposed to be lousy, but it was sunny blue skies all the way. We sang silly songs and played kazoos. How great is that? I kept playing the theme song from Jaws on my kazoo. My Dad said, "We're gonna need a bigger boat." I like that my parents get me. After that we went home for naps and then, the evening's festivities began. So, I love blue crabs. My favorite way to spend a summer evening is picking crabs. It really is messy -- the way I do it -- so it's hard to do with a toddler. "Sure sweetie, I can wipe your face. Oh sorry. I didn't mean to get Old Bay in your eyes. Does it sting?" So, needless to say, I don't get to do it that often. Well, he arranged for a bunch of our friends to come over and we had 6 dozen crabs, buckets of really cheap beer (the only kind to have with crabs, I think) and lemonade, corn on the cob (another obsession of mine that dates back to my 3rd year at my grandparents' lake house), slaw, chips, and carrot cake. It would have made a very nice death row meal, you know? The crabs were delivered already steamed, which was great, being that I am somewhat hypocritical in my crab philosophy. I'll eat them, but don't like to...ehem...well, there is no delicate way to put it -- boil them alive. Just one of my quirks I guess. Anyway we sat around for hours listening to all of my favorite songs, and ate and talked and watched our kids play. The layers and layers of dirt on these kids! It blew my mind. I had never seen 3 dirtier, happier little girls. Little one and her two friends made "worm stew" from sticks in the yard and berries off of our poor Nandina. I still don't know if the stew was made of worms or for them. Anyway, as the day turned into night, we all decided to catch fireflies. It was little one's first time and she just loved it. She kept bringing them to me as presents for my birthday. She even learned how to catch them gently and not pinch them. I know the firefly population in our yard appreciated that development. All in all it was a perfect summer night, and the best way to start my new year. I got wonderful birthday cards from friends and family, near and far, and even a totally unexpected phone call from one of best buddies from my old stomping grounds, who I hadn't talked to in about a year. It was so great to hear from her! I miss her so much. On my actual birthday day, Mom and the little one and I piled into the car and drove an hour to this yarn store - shocking I know - and we played there for a while. I have never seen anything like this place. Not very big, but holy cow with the stuff! They had fiber from floor to ceiling! An entire wall of buttons! Books, books, books, and more books. I could have stayed there for days, planning all of the projects I want to make. Instead of camping out there, I exercised a bit of restraint and bought one ball of Baby Ull Dalegarn from Dale of Norway. So soft and I even like the ducks on the ball band. Silly I know. But there you have it. I also got a great pattern book, there is a hoodie tunic sweater in there that would make a great beach cover-up. So, when I need a break from the snowman knitting, that's what I'll make.
On to the snowmen. Well, there is this amazing woman that I randomly met at my local yarn store and she has been selling anything I want to knit to all of her friends, of which she has many! Well, now, there is a new venue for me! The yarn store that I just LOVE in the next town has started carrying my little knit guys too. She's asked me to knit snowmen for a Christmas in July theme, and I have been cranking them out just as fast as I can. I still can't believe that my stuff is in stores! So cool!
The big girl bed search began in earnest yesterday. Little one is growing up, and moving on to bigger things. Well, she let me know that she is ready for her big girl bed and I'm all for it. We have kept her in her crib maybe a bit longer than we needed to. We were really lucky, she never tried to climb out. So, we were just keeping her in there. Well, we are about to start preschool in the fall (I still can't believe THAT.) and I just know it's time to have the real big kid bed. So, I found one that I just love online -- one of the few perils of the very small town I live in, not so many choices for toddler furniture -- and Woo-hooo free shipping. I'm ordering it tonight, and in 7 to 10 days, little one will be dreaming in a new bed. Wow.
This time is just going so fast.

Back from the city

2008-06-17T07:46:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was my friend's 35th birthday. She is a teacher and says that when teaching rounding numbers, at 5 you round up. She got a lot of happy 40th cards! Her husband surprised her with a car for the evening that drove us (6 moms) across the bridge and downtown. Lonny was our driver for the evening. I think he should be sainted. There has to be amazing patience in someone that can drive around all night with a car full of women singing bad 80s songs at the top of their lungs! Even though we only played 1 cd (for 3 hours) our birthday girl was genuinely surprised each time a song came on! So much fun. We ate dinner, went dancing...acted silly. Not to shabby for a Monday night, and I think a great way to welcome in a 35th year.

Time to take a deep breath and jump in the pool

2008-06-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

So, the costumes...They are DONE! I am so proud. I had mixed emotions when I turned them in, lets just say that I found out that if you iron acetate at a high enough setting to fuse the bonding tape, you can really melt it! Yeh. At 1:00am that is exactly what I did. The good news was that it was sitting on the inside of a button band, so nobody but the poor little 10 year old wearing the costume will ever know. So, yeh...I was a bit nervous to hand them over. I walked into the studio and 4 adorable kids ran squealing over to me. They all were desperate to try them on. Right there in front of me, they tried them on. I held my breath...Each one fit each girl perfectly! Like it was made for them, which in fact, they were. They were giddy! I was too! One kiddo even asked her dance teacher if she could borrow it to wear it out! (I guess she likes that shiny look.) All in all, it turned out better than I expected it would. Now I am back to knitting little toys for the business and for friends having babies. Seems like almost everyone I know is having a baby right now. It's pretty cool. So, knitting and swimming. We have gone through a ridiculous heat spell these past few days, and all we could do to keep sane was stay submerged. Tomorrow the heat is supposed to break a bit, but well, once you start going to the pool, you just want more and more and more. It's my summertime addiction.
So, knitting, swimming...Oh, and driving. This weekend is my Gramma's 85th birthday and the fam and I are driving up to have brunch. Its going to be a blast. My Aunts and Uncles and Cousins -- I know, you aren't supposed to capitalize those words, but they are important to me, so I am giving them the big letters -- are going to be there too. It's been about a year or more since I have seen any of them, so YEA! Can't wait. Also, I'm not going to be doing the driving or navigating, so I get to knit! That's right, 1 hour 45 minutes up and 1 hour 45 minutes back. If that sentence were a movie, it would be a 1950s Hollywood musical! Can you hear the knitting show tunes? "I could have knit all night, I could have knit all night, and still have knit some more."
There you have it. I'm going to add some pictures once I charge my battery. The camera just pooped out on me.

Got my work cut out for me

2008-06-01T20:39:00.000-07:00

I'm making costumes for the 10 year old girls at my dance studio. I grossly underestimated the amount of time it takes to sew an eight-paneled swing coat -- for four! -- go figure. So, now I have that cramming-a-semester-of-class-into-a-week-of-studying kind of feeling. You know, the feeling that if you make elaborate schedules broken down in 6 minute increments and you forgo sleep and food, you maybe just maybe can do it. All I can say is thank goodness for fusible hem tape. It's not cheating. These coats aren't couture, right?

This week is a fun one. Little one has a birthday party to go to, and at this age, I get to go to! We are going to take a ferry (yea boat rides!) over to a playground for a picnic. Sounds like a good time, no? Wednesday is dance class (DEADLINES LOOMING!!) Thursday is Lunch-Out-with-the-Kiddo day, and Friday we have a baby shower. Just when did my schedule get so busy? Crazy. Fun though. You may have noticed that I left off Monday from my list of fun. Well, that's because the termite guy is coming to check for creapy house eating bugs. It makes me itch just thinking about it. So, Monday...not fun.

Last week was rainy. Very very very rainy. We did manage to squeeze in a trip to the Manor to hang out with the residents and help them build their kitchen garden. Lots of herbs and tomatos and petunias. Very proud of that teepee. I made that!

Thanks for this Joe. It made me laugh so hard I snorted.

YEEE-HAW!

2008-05-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

Little one and I and our friends went to a farm today. There were so many wonderful animals to see...a bunny, a goat, a dog, a zillion cats and 3 beautiful ponies. So, little one and her other teeny tiny 3 year old friends climbed on the backs of these ponies and rode them all over this farm! What a sight! She was laughing the entire time. On the way home, she retold the story of the pony ride. In the rocking chair before naptime, she retold the story. In bed before closing her eyes at naptime, she retold me the story. I think this made a big impression, don't you?

Another plus was getting to see a real cat, up close and personal. Might not sound like much, but little one LOVES cats (or as she calls them, yiiies.)

I think this was the only time all day that either one of them sat still. So happy I had the camera out.

Special Dinners

2008-05-19T19:13:00.000-07:00

Mom and Dad and Gramma came over for dinner last night. There was chicken on the grill, homemade sweet potato fries, a big green salad and brussels sprouts with mushrooms (no, little one wouldn't eat the brussels sprouts, but Dad and I love them.) Little cute chocolate mini bundt cakes for dessert. No special occasion, just dinner on a day that ends in "y." But to have Gramma over, and Mom and Dad, well, that felt good. So we ate in the dining room (!!) with the pretty antique lace table cloth from my Great Gramma. Little one made napkin rings for the occasion.

She painted a paper towel tube and added glitter. I cut them into rings for her. She was very proud and so was I. I think we should use them often for fancy dinners with the 3 of us.

The paper towel tube was the last one in our house -- hopefully for a long time. In an effort to stop filling up the world with our trash, the fam and I have tried to eliminate most paper goods from our house. Ok, I say most, but even as I type this, I know that's not exactly true. There are some paper things that I have no desire to ever stop using. I have never been a Sears catalog kind of girl, if you catch my drift. Anyway, we are using little cotton washcloths instead of paper towels. It's kind of cool. I make them from this fabulously cheap yarn. I have a this book and I just pick out a stitch pattern and try it out for 5 inches by 7 inches. Useful and instructive. While we are talking about yarn, tomorrow, the Moms and I are getting together and I am going to teach them to knit. I am so excited. The more knitting friends I have, the fewer people that will be annoyed by my constant chatter about fiber content and process vs. project oriented knitting. The bonus is that we are going to take all of the squares we make and sew them into a blanket to donate to the kids in the local foster system. So, all in all, a great idea, right? *Nice bonus: to practice teaching people how to knit, I used my husband as a guinea pig. He has just finished his first 3 rows! He was going to put it down to go pick up some stuff from the store and he says to me, "Just one more row." Be still my heart!

Found this book today at Mom and Dad's house. My Gramma read it to little one. It was my fave book when I was 3. Cool.

happy happy happy

2008-05-11T15:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day! Today started with a lovely brunch with 4 generations in attendence. So much fun! Now, I am reading my new books, this and this, with a belly full of chinese food my husband picked up for us. Here's wishing you your perfect day, too.

Missed you.

2008-05-07T19:38:00.000-07:00

Time has flown by. Little one turned three last week. There was a flurry of fun leading up to the day, and then she had the extended birthday celebration WEEK because her birthday fell midweek and her party was on the weekend. So much fun.

We went to the zoo on the actual birthday and saw a ton of animals. Her two faves: an ocelot, and the buffalo. I think I may have influenced the second favorite animal. You see, I had never seen a buffalo up close and personal. Their faces are HUGE! I mean, I know they are big animals, but their faces...in proportion to their bodies...staggering. I think it should become a unit of measurement. Bigger than a buffalo's face, I tell you. Anyway, I went on and on about the buffalo's face so that became a fave story for little one, too.

Saturday was the purple party day. So cute. 5 little kids running around the backyard shaking pompoms and covering themselves in sand from the sandbox. So much fun to sit back and watch them all. I can't believe my tiny little baby is 3. The time is wizzing by.

So, today I started cutting out the material for the costumes for our dance studio's spring recital. 4 little Madeline coats. It's fun. I'm trading sewing for ballet classes. What a great deal for me. Do something I like -- get paid by doing more of something I like. Perfect situation!

turning old into new

2008-04-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

Today we took all the old broken crayons and made them into new shiny stars for little one's birthday goodie bags. Also, we made a new soft friend from an old work shirt today. We call him the Purple Pirate. We topped it off with a trip to the ice cream store. Not bad for a Sunday afternoon.
Let me leave you with my very favorite Etsy shop. Sarah Jane rocks.

a robin, a clydesdale, and an embroidery hoop

2008-04-18T10:44:00.000-07:00

Every day at 1:40pm, a little fat robin comes to the window in our playroom. I named him Christopher. I'm still trying to take his picture, but he is very quick! Spring is cool.

Wednesday, my new friend and I went to lunch with little one, which turned into a walk, which turned into hanging out in the backyard, drinking iced tea and watching little one pick dandylions. It was just such a blast to hang out with someone so smart and funny and well...genuine. I am so glad I met her.

We tried more kid art too. Little one did her first emboidery project on burlap ala The Creative Family. Soule Mama does it again. I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but after showing little one how it works, she sewed away happily for like 45 minutes! I embroidered a few napkins while she sewed. At one point, I looked over at her with her little hoop then down at my own hoop, and thought, Wow. This is really cool. She keeps asking to play "sewing" again. How can I refuse?

Oh, and one more for the Random What-A-Cool-Town-I-Live-In File. Yesterday, realizing we were low on milk, little one and I trekked to the grocery store (where I got to use my new eco-bag for the first time.) Anyway, as we are walking up, we see a group of people clustering around something...It was a huge Clydesdale! Enormous feathery legs and all! His name was Rudy. Not something we expected to see, for sure! Now little one is wondering why all the other barnyard animals don't come visit the grocery store. (I don't want to explain that they are shrink wrapped inside, just yet.) She loved seeing the horse and is talking now about riding one -- but not one as big as Rudy. Maybe one the size of our 20 lb dog.

Please pass the bread.

2008-04-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

Today, little one and I went to our local grocery store to pick up all of their day-old bakery products for FoodLink in our area. It was our first time doing this, so really, I had no idea what to expect. We picked up three shopping carts full of products -- loaves of bread, buns, muffins, cheesecakes, pies...the list goes on and on. It was staggering how much was there. Had we not picked it up, it would have been thrown in the dumpster. I just assumend that since there was so much, they had been saving it for us for a few days. Not so. They throw away this much food every day. Every day? I couldn't believe it. Since we have been on a bread baking kick lately, we know just how much work we were talking about here. What a waste of effort. Then there is the still more important side. People are hungry. There was all this food that can help and we got to make that food availible to the people who needed it. I left there feeling like I really made a small difference today. A perfect lesson in life for little one.

In that same spirit of making a small difference, I just finished my first eco-bag. I used an idea from this book for the decorations.

The picture doesn't really show the snazzy yellow stitching around and through the shapes, but it really makes the bag, so I thought I'd mention it to you. (The green beads behind the bag are little one's addition to the picture. She wanted more color.) I'm pretty proud and will definitely carry it with me to stores. I think that I'm going to make another one that I can just wad up and cram in my car for all the kid fallout that seems to collect there. Maybe oil-cloth, so that I can just wipe off the gross that is inevitable. All in all, not bad for a friday, don't you agree?

Lulu's Bedtime Story as read by little one

2008-04-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

Miss Muffin sat on a stool with cereal. A spider came down. She fell down. The spider ate the cereal.

fin.

What a Day!

2008-04-02T12:31:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those fabulous days full of happy moments that make you sigh and say all is right with the world. The little one and I went to story time at the library. After several fun songs, stories, dances with friends, mosaic fish glue projects and a somewhat cranky puppet show with disgruntled puppets, we headed off to an impromptu lunch with our friends. With bellies full of crab soup and grilled cheese, we all tromped off to the park and ran around like crazy people (kids and moms!) for a while. Little one looked up at me, smiled and said, "I need a nap." Me too, kid. So we wondered off home and now instead of napping, I'm typing, and little one is on chorus 57 of the "I'm Naked" song. (Today it is just a song -- I checked. Yesterday it was a statement of fact.) I love today.

Wait! Two more thoughts before you go... I am so excited to find that Mom in Madison teaches us how to make our own butter! We are SO trying that after nap time. And second...(insert fanfare here) my copy of The Creative Family shipped today! Did I mention that I love today?

I am here

2008-04-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

Nothing like the prospect of fun things in the mail to get me motivated. I was looking on the web today at some fabulous swaps and the common theme among them is that you have to have a blog so that your fellow swappers can get to know you a bit better. Well ok! Count me in. I guess it's fitting that my first post ever is on April Fool's Day. Hmmm...where to start? Maybe a photo?

A little sheep I made for my little one's birthday last year.

So, I have been listening to Brenda Dayne's "Cast On" podcast and one of her recent podcasts was about starting as you mean to go on. That resonated with me, so I'm trying to do that here. I'll update at least 2 times a week and will add at least one picture a week. That's the plan. Wish me luck.