Monday Musings.

Right Now...  I am having lunch, leftover pad thai, that Jim made this weekend.  I took Badger to her check up this morning where she was officially pronounced perfect by her doctor.  No problems, no worries, no shots.  A great visit.  I am reading course work with a toit list that is very long.  We shall see how much I actually get done.  Read Durkhiem, then load dishwasher, and laundry.  Then read Mauss, sweep rec room floor, read Weber, mop kitchen floor.  Get boys and get a new phone (old one fell apart) and get directions for the visit to Racine Heritage Museum with Museum Studies class (I've never been so I am looking forward to it.) and answer assigned questions for that class.  That is today!

This weekend... The kids and I went to cousin's baby shower.  We had a lovely time and she got lots of nice useful and pretty things.  Because we where playing that gift bingo game, we noticed that she only got one blanket (mine) and no bath stuff.  Both my Mother in law & I thought this was odd.  Her sister is also expecting and her shower will be in March - must knit faster - looking forward to it.

We came home and cleaned house. Then some friends came over and played board games.  Sunday was entirely cuddling and coursework.  Plus dying some wool to spin later in the week.

Some plans for the week...  Busy today.  Class all day tomorrow. Dentist on Wednesday, a major visit.  Father in law will be watching the girls both days bringing their cousins over with him on Wednesday.  Thursday is class and Friday might include a new knitting group.  Maybe. I'll have to juggle a few things.  I plan on sneaking crafting - knitting, rag rugs, and spinning in where ever I can.


If I find some time for myself I'd like to...  I got fabric and a pattern picked out.  SO if I find an hour or more I will be working on cutting this out.

I would really like to manage to sneak this in in time to wear it on March 7th at the presentations in the state Capitol building. I am making the version shown on the model but maybe a tad longer. 

I am grateful for... little arms that wrap around my neck.


Some prayerful intentions for the week... Please God Help Me get it all done or at least to accept that I won't. 

Something that makes me smile...  Badger saying Stuffed Animal with the determination of Max (of Max and Ruby) at the doctor's today.  Her sister got one with her shot earlier in the month.  Butterfly with Friz (the stuffed animal she got) after a hard day of playing. Badger got a tiny frog which she has named Spot. 

  

Joining Najda at Patch o Dirt Farm.

Stash bash - at random moments.

Joining Tricia as it is Thursday still. (Hey, I have a little more than an hour here!)

I have one finished project which I showed in yesterday's yarn along and a bunch of in progress things going.

A Toothbrush style rag rug made from stripes of old kid clothes!  

This Rug will be for in between Badger's and Butterfly's beds, they are very excited.  Their room is at the Northeast corner of the house with windows on both and it's wood floor gets very cold for little toes!  I think they have asked at least once a day if it is done yet.  Then they trace their favorite colors with tiny fingers.

Braided length of rags zigzag stitched to a piece of old receiving blanket.  

This is going to end up being a bath mat to catch the splashings of tub monsters. I will need to cut and braid more to make it bigger.  Very low priority for me as the other rug is both quicker and much desired. I think this picture looks a bit like a giant cabbage.

I got more spindle spinning done, I ply-ed about 13 yards yesterday and spun a single (I'll will likely ply it) that is about 22 yards.  This evening in between reading textbooks (I needed a break and did not need more ice cream which is what I wanted) I did another full spindle. I am really enjoying the spindle, but my right arm (really just one muscle) is really angry with me tonight.  I expect this will get less painful rather quickly at this rate!

Yarn along - Anthro style

Joining in with Ginny and the Yarn Along, I am looking forward to seeing what everyone is reading and working on.

Teddy and the sweater of doom.  I was helping out at the student organization fair today.  The theme of this event was Ugly Sweater. So I took a broken sweater and added all sorts of yarn about ten different needles and whatever random yarn I could find.  I was hoping it would be a collaborative knit, nope.  I am thinking of keeping it like this for a while.  I also had a presentation of the culture and change in the knitting community and how knitting in public, knit ins, and yarn along are bringing women from all over the word together.  No one really watched it as it was running on the other girls' laptop, but oh well.  I also spun yarn on a drop spindle and that did get attention.  I had a great day. 

I am reading course material and did not get pictures. Maybe for next week.  Lots of Tyler, Spencer and Marx, with museum work reading and some new blogs (to me anyway) on Anthropology.  I knit while reading for hours this weekend and finished:

I am still not sure I like it, in some lights it looks pretty and shimmery and in others it looks a bit sick.  New Baby blanket for next week. 

Monday musings

Right Now... I am feeling like I am standing at the edge of a cliff I know I sign up to jump but maybe this was not such a great idea. I have a lot of commitments this semester.  More courses than I have taking in a long time, several babies at least, an internship, I am standing up is a dear friend's wedding (which will mean making my dress and as Butterfly is also in the wedding her's too) and graduating, and I was just asked to present my research in the state capital event for student research.  If this past week is anything to judge by I am solidly in the weeds.  The courses are interesting but very reading and work intensive.  I know I can get it all done, I am just in that moment of panic before the plunge! 

So I'll check on lunch - ham and bean soup - and have another sip of coffee and get at it.  Cross your fingers that the mail gets here with two of my textbooks so I can read their material before class tomorrow.

This Weekend... was pleasant if busy. Friday the kids had off and we were supposed to go to have dinner with my writer friend and her children, while Beaver had dinner with his father.  The weather was snowy steadily all day but not bad where we live. By the time I got to my parent's (about an hour south) the roads were so bad I called off the dinner with my friend breaking the hearts of 6 children.  Beaver's Dad was still going to try to get up to have their dinner, so Beaver got a surprise two day sleep over with my parents.  My Dad had work that he could use a teenager's (that is still very weird) help with, so it worked out for everyone.

Saturday, Resee (friend getting married) came over to work on wedding plans, we traced the jacket pattern for all the bridesmaids and had a nice lunch.  The wedding has a steam punk - think Victorian styling with a mad scientist bend - theme.  So the bridesmaid's dresses are actually a authentic dinner jacket, bustled over skirt, with a corset, chemise and under skirts, ensemble. I think it will be lovely, but a lot of work.  She is making some modifications to the style to suit her tastes and I am hoping they won't be too distracting from the proper dress so that I could actually use the dress again for museum interpretations. 

After that we hopped, into the car for a longish drive to my beautiful niece's late birthday party.  She had a wonderful day and all the kids enjoyed playing with their cousins.

Sunday, was coursework, coursework, coursework.  Two on-line quizzes, plus a bunch of reading.  While reading on-line, I got the blanket for Jim's cousin done.  That shower is this weekend so that is a relief.  I read and worked all day yesterday and still have a couple hundred pages to read for tomorrow.  The theory course I am taking introduced me to some very interesting Anthropology blogs too!

Some plans for this week... Start the next cousin's baby blanket.  coursework!! Work on a few little crafting gifts, dye some yarn, work on repairing my wheel, take apart studio so Jim can try to find the leak in the ceiling. My studio is under the main bathroom and I heard Beaver's shower last night dripping on the the ceiling tiles. Get more organized so I feel less overwhelmed. The girl's and I will be representing the Anthropological society at the student fair this Wednesday, hopefully, we will get a few more people interested in joining.  Mouse's parent teacher conferences are this week. As is the train organizational meeting for both boys. The train is done in sections and the boys each have a section - I think after this fair we will have enough sections to run a train in the basement so I should get on re-organizing it so we can set that up (luckily that won't be until July!)

If I manage to find some time for myself, I would like to... remember how I said I wanted to sew myself some skirts, it is still undone, I really would like to make a few.  Hopefully, I will get a chance.  Maybe, it might make more sense to say I would like to select a pattern and material this week (from my stash of course) and if I really get ambitious cut it out. 

I am grateful for... the internet, allowing me to meet new people, read the work of people living a world away, get great ideas for books to read and projects to make for lovely woman all over the world and keep in touch with my family as they slow spread across the country.

Some prayerful intentions for the week... I want to pray for strength, courage and protection, for all my friends.  I feel like some malignancy is hovering around, waiting and watching, it is making me more than uneasy and several friend's have commented on feeling similarly.  So I will pray for light and guidance. I think it is stemming from a friend leaving her abusive husband, I believe he is actively wishing ill to anyone he thinks might care for or help her. He is so angry.  A very long time ago we were friends, I hope he can let go of the anger he has allowed into his soul and finds a path to return to the person he was intended to be. This is not to say I think my friend should ever return to him.  I just, for the sake of our long dead friendship, wish him healing.

Something that makes me smile... two little girls coloring while I type this. My amazon order arriving with only one of the two texts, this is not sarcasm.   I got one that's great! 

Monday Musings is hosted by Nadja at Patch o' Dirt Farm, looking forward to see what everyone's plans for the week are!

yarn along- little green frog

From Ginny at Small Things: ~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs.  I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading?  ~  So Join on in! 

My pretty little niece has turned four and we are celebrating her birthday this weekend.  I am knitting her up a little frog to cuddle the pattern is called Frankie Frog from the Amigurumi Animal Friends book, I am using a Pattons wool yarn leftover from my stash the colorway is olive, but everyone is asking why I am knitting a little brown frog.  It is green trust me.

My semester started yesterday and will have a lot of read.  One of the courses is Anthropological Theory, this book is one of the required texts.  The Nuer by E E Evans-Pritchard. I am barely into it as I spent a long time looking at the map of Africa in the front.  It is an unfamiliar projection style and old when the book was originally released in 1940. I think the course will be very interesting.

Updates and stash busting.

Update:
The antibiotic seems to be working fine at healing up my sinus cold, and gang busters at making feel utterly horrible - ill and dizzy.  However, the blister - aka open wound - is still draining and about half my right breast is purple. (Backstory here) I saw the doctor again today and he has added two more antibiotics.  He also mentioned the possibility of a biopsy in the future.  Hopefully, the additional antibiotics will end this whatever it is and not make me too much more sick as classes start tomorrow.

Stash busting:
One of the main things I end up storing in my craft room, certain I will turn them into something, is old kids clothing.  I cut a bunch of stained up clothes into stripes and braided them about a year ago.  I was planning on making a braided rug.  I got it out last week and was going to stitch it together when I found it was way too hard to push a needle through.  A quick google search showed me I had done it the hard way.  I thought Ok, I finish what I have started then start a new one using the instructions for a toothbrush rag rug. (Sorry I did not save the link) Butterfly took one end of the braid and stretched it out full length.  I had like 300 yards. Then she said "Mommie I broke it."  The braid un-wound at random placed through out the whole length.  I had joined each new strip wrong!!! I un-braided the whole thing and set it up to do the tooth brush method.  Here are my balls.  The white braid is attached and braided correctly so I am going to do a machine sewing style one with that.  Hopefully it will be big enough to serve as a bath rug.

 I turned a too small pair of Mouse's pants into a skirt with the addition of some flannel floral material that I bought about two years ago as a remnant.  I really can't resist them.

In process of turning a too short pair of Badger's pants into a skirt, unfortunately, I trimmed a bit too much so I will have to alter it further before she can wear it.

I really have not gotten much done as I was feeling so lousy but I am working on it.    Check in on the other ladies stash busting with Crunchy Catholic Momma

Yarn Along - reverse progress.

Yes this is last week's picture as I am only three or four rows further.

I am definitely having one of those weeks.  I found that I missed a strand in the blanket, I am working two strands at once, so the up side is I did not drop a stitch. I had to rip back most of the green so my blanket looks much the same this week as last!  In reading I finished Just Run By Chris Cussler this morning, it was enjoyable with a good sense of how humans react to bad situations if a little predictable.

The antibiotic the doctor put me on knocked me out last night within an hour of taking it so I put off the dose this morning to see the dentist.  Hopefully, I am not asleep on the couch under my daughters (hubby works from home) in a few minutes.

Happy knitting.  Linking up with Ginny and the Yarn Along.

a fun night with the boys.

This is a little arched back compared to how much he bent sometimes.

This month's 4H meeting was a trip to a local hunting supply store/archery range.  All the kids got to shoot and have a fun social time for an hour. Beaver has had lesson a few years ago so he did fine, Mouse was kind of funny as he danced around and arched his back way back to pull the string.  The both enjoyed themselves. 

I also wanted to talk about a program I watched on tv this weekend.  The Big Waste.  It featured four tv chefs challenged to make a fancy dinner for 100 people out of nothing but food that would go to waste - garbage and unsellable products.  They talked to a bunch of vendors  - stores, butchering facilities, bakeries, fish market, farmer's market, pick your own produce facilities etc.  The amount of food, good perfect food, that was wasted was shocking.  You could tell they were shocked too.  A farmer at a pick own farm talked about people, cutting a plant then seeing a better one and just dropping the first, one of his corn fields had wind damage from the hurricane it was bent but continued to grow, no one coming to the farm would pick it assuming something was wrong with it, they picked bushels and it was all fine.  A butcher gave them 60 chickens, they showed the facilities, the chickens were all healthy looking and only one or two to a cage, the place was really clean, the de-feathering machine apparently breaks the skin or a wing sometimes and then they can not get the bird to sell.  The one chef talked about thinking about her own standards for food and how ridiculous they were and the impact they must be having.  They of course produced a lovely meal and the dinners - mostly food critics and chefs agreed that the food was certainly not garbage. 

I have often thought about how canning recipes talk about preserving only perfect fruit.  I disbelieve my ancestors only stored perfect food, I disbelieve that my grandparents did.  My grandpa grew up in the depression in Chicago.  He tells a story of the first day in the air force (he joined at 14) being in the mess hall and seeing all the food they put on his plate and a whole pint of milk to drink, he asked a sgt who he was supposed to be sharing with.  The Sgt told him that it was all for him and if he wanted more milk to be sure to get more.  Grandpa describes it as going to heaven.  We waste so much.  I want to work on the amount of food I waste and appreciate the food we have more.   I think about how fussy my kids are about food, and how wasteful, and how my grandfather would get upset if he offered someone ice cream and they asked what kind.  It was a treat, you wanted some or not you didn't get to pick.  I want to plan out my garden to make the best and most realistic use of my land and talents.  It also means planting things I know they like. Maybe this is stash busting in my brain. 

Monday Morning and here I am.

I woke up on Friday with a quarter sized blister on my right breast seam.  I had reduction surgery about 8 years ago and the scars are really bad on that side. They itch all the time.  I found the blister by absent-mindedly scratching my side as I looked for clothes to wear. A gush of clear liquid and a trip to a mirror sounded me the remains of a really large blister.  Why it was there I have no idea.  I had my husband take a look to see if he could see a cause - nope. Then slapped a large band aide on it.  I did not wear a bra all day not wanting it to be rubbed at but other than that I ignored it. 

Saturday I took a odd shower - the cold water is out in my bathroom so the water was too hot to stand under. So it was quick and I did not get very wet!  I changed the band aide and found an old soft bra to wear to the baby shower.  I have a cold so I did not think much of not feeling great.  We had a lovely time at the shower, the kids play lego with cousins they rarely see.  I patched some pants for Mouse and turned a pair that were too small into a skirt for Butterfly.  I was tired and went to bed early.

Sunday I had to read at mass or I would have skipped church, no real complaint just stuffy and tired. After church I did some knitting while watching tv under a blanket which quickly turned into a semi-nap with a tired Butterfly.  I really started to feel awful and hurt on my right side.  I went to go change and take a look.  Red lines running from the edge up over my breast, my bra was soaked, the blister site was raw and red but kind of black in the center.  I cleaned it up and put on a new band aide.  Beaver has an appointment at the family doctor today.  I am going to have the doctor take a look.  I still have no clue what caused this. 

I am hoping to get the house picked up a bit and run errands.  Next week classes start and I really won't have much time. 

Stash busting - post one.

So this year I am going to attempt to bust my stashes and use up all the bits and pieces of crafting supplies I have invested in and are taking up space cluttering up the house.  I will fail.  I will buy stuff I don't need and store it.  I am however going to try.  I am also not going to say I am not buying any fabric or yarn all year, but I am going to try to get some stuff used up first. Here are some pictures of my studio/office and not the whole mess I assure you but it gives you the idea!  I am joining Kelly at Creating a Family Home and Tricia at Crunchy Catholic Momma.  Tricia said she would post on Thursdays so I will try to post then as well and link up, and Kelly had the side bar button. 

As far as plans. I want to get my UFOs done.  I have:

One glove for Beaver
a Market Bag
A shawl
a rag rug
a baby blanket &
Knitting kits for gifts.

that I need to get done off the top of my head.  Plus a few more babies of cousins to knit for.

Under the table is filled with clothing I want to upcycle or turn into rag rugs. The bins behind the sift are full of fabric, notions and wool. & yes those are three bolts of fabric.

Baskets and bins of yarn, Bins of fabric and the big black bag is wool.

and a small confession I bought three balls of mohair today that where being sold on consignment from the knitting instructors stash.  For $10. 

Wooly Wednesday - yarn for gifts and practice

I have been spinning more.  I gave my mom and sister a skein of homespun and today I spun up 16 yards of two ply.  I am really figuring everything out on junk wool (which might be part of the problem) and the wheel has her issues too.  One is the drive shaft in the wheel slips as it is pressure fitted and the pin keeps slipping. The other and really the main problem is my lack of coordination.  I end up using the wheel as a spindle. 

Vinegar soak preparing for dye with Easter egg tablets.

 I want to get better so I'll keep at it.  My wonderful  in laws got me the supplies below, I can't wait to play.

Add caption

Hopefully, I'll have a more productive post for next month's wooly Wednesday at Spinspiration.

Yarn Along - rainbow baby blanket returns

I am knitting with the wonderful crafters of the Yarn Along. I look forward to seeing what everyone is reading and working on.  Thank you Ginny for hosting again this year!

This was taken on my cold back porch.  I got the kids a rock tumbler for Christmas and so my house sounds like grrr grrr grrr grrr even though it is plugged in out here.  It is too loud to stay out here for more than a moment.  But the light was so pretty.

I dug the rainbow shimmer baby blanket back out and have more than doubled it in three days.  I am knitting from my stash here.  I had lots yellow but not a great deal of any other color.  So far I have knit a strand of yellow with a strand of pink, then purple and now blue.  I still have green.  I did have to go get more yellow, but one skein should get me to a nice size blanket.  The shower is on the 28th so I have to knit, knit, knit.  We also have a baby shower for a different cousin of my husband this weekend and I am giving them a baby quilt top that I backed in green fleece.  Two other cousins (one of his and one of mine) will be having babies this year so you can expect more baby knitting. 

I finished the book I was reading yesterday and have not started anything new but I was looking through this cookbook when I realized it was Wednesday.  It is a nice look at seasonal eating and the pictures are beautiful.