Yarn along - what I can't show you

Joining Ginny and the ladies of the yarn along...

 

 

I am working on a present or two for a dear friend's first baby, so until next week I can't show the knitting that has taken up most of my time lately, and boy do I want to show it. When I have not been knitting on that I have been crocheting this throw, as a Christmas present. I am looking to clean out my stash and spend as little as I can for presents this year, so this simple but soft blanket will be switching it's pattern soon. I have been doing 5 rows black then 2 rows silver, I am nearly out of black so I am going to do 5 rows silver then a row of black and 5 more rows of silver, then flip the blanket do 5 rows of silver a row of black and 5 more of silver. Hopefully, both colors will hold out and I can get a nice throw out of it. I found a tiny bit more of the black this morning so fingers crossed.

What I can show you...

This is a closeup of the black, I don't really like crocheting with it but the material is soft and warm in the blanket. As for reading I have not gotten much done, I am reading through the Backpacking reference I showed last time, it is very dry but interesting if sometimes way overly detailed. I am sure that the section on boot construction would be great if I were looking to buy boots but as a read through it is deadly dull. Which may explain the sleep I am getting as I only get a few pages done each night before turning off the light. It is good though. I have this knitting book too, which I love, I want to make lots of the things shown but more I want to have the author over for a cup of tea and knit. 

Badger has been working with her daddy on cooking her favorite breakfast food. She made me this waffle all by herself, I was in the kitchen if she needed help but the only things she asked was for me to fill up the smaller bottle with oil - she can't lift the big one - so she could measure that and if I wanted maple syrup or corn syrup. Maple, of course, although I will pour that next time.

looking forward to seeing what everyone is working on,
~Julia

what we bought

Last year My husband and I decided to buy a place by the water - a lake or river that felt like home - to vacation and make memories at with the kids. Not to do this someday, but to do it now. To do it now so that our kids had childhood memories of this home. We didn't know what we wanted other than, the most we could get for the money we had, clear water good for swimming, boating, and fishing. We didn't even have a targeted county, just wanting something that we could drive to in under 4 hours so we could go for a weekend without having to take a day from work or school. Honey and I traipsed through all sorts of places, we learned about set-back laws, we - or rather I - got stuck knee deep in a peat bog that was not the dry land the seller claimed. We saw beautiful places, but after a ten hour day none were home. I was discouraged. We went again. We found it. A river property, with prairie and forest, with neat boulders and nice beach area, with a bay for the kids to swim and learn to handle a kayak in. Then the stress of buying it. By the time it was ours it was too late to show the kids more than photos. After Thanksgiving and ten inches of snow.

Christmas was kayaks and life vests, sleeping bags from grandma, stuff sacks hand made by auntie, fishing gear, and such.

This summer was camping trips, getting a driveway put it (and the nightmares of bureaucracy and expense) that come with it, building fire-pits, then enlarging them, exploring on foot and kayak, meeting the neighbors. It found Mouse researching primitive skills - he loves electronics so this was a mix of both worlds. It saw me starting a knitted quilt for the cabin we dream of building and a knitted welcome mat for same, working on these while we travel up and around the campfire.  It saw plans to learn to backpack and go on longer trips. Butterfly and Badger made sand castles and when visited by cousins spent hours building forts in the woods. We saw the most beautiful skies day and night, and even had to hide in the tent during a hailstorm. It saw us living the way we hoped and dreamed.

This dream was a stretch, we are still, and likely will for a long while, feeling a terrible pinch in money for this dream - I mentioned driveways were expensive right ?! But the dream is worth the work. Find your dream, work your dream, then live it.

~Julia