Bits and bobs from this month

This is Badger, we hit a great park to play in while waiting between husband's cousin's wedding and reception. We spent almost two hours playing at North Beach Park in Racine. This is an amazing park.

Mom knows everything. I hope they always think so. They found this feather in the yard. Who lost it? I don't know. Guess who I asked, my Mom.

This is the star jasmine plant I bought myself as a remembrance of my trip to LA with Beaver. He wants to go there for college (not yet!) and had the opportunity to meet some people who might be able to help and have his work reviewed. He wants to do set design/monster creation type work.

Every year I help a friend harvest her grapes and she helps me harvest my apples. I took home a big bag of green unripe ones she was not planning on using. I found a recipe for sour grape pickles. We shall see.

I made jam out of the rest of the unripe grapes, it is tarter that the ripe ones but these grapes are seriously candy sweet so that is not a terrible thing.

Mouse surprised us all with wanting to go out for Cross Country this year. We asked if he knew it involved exercise and being outside... then agreed quickly. He loves computers, and unless we force him would be on them all the time, so this was a surprise. He loved it and worked hard. He came in at the middle of the pack and his school took 3rd over-all. He is the one with the curly hair.

Triangle loom weaving project. I enjoyed it but will need a much bigger loom to make anything not for my girls.

Butterfly reading her birthday card from my sister. I have a beautiful new nephew.

He is moving so he is blurry but that is Beaver. He loves his team.

Housecleaning.

That is the plan today, house cleaning.  I need to get the house picked up so we can have people over for games tonight and Butterfly's birthday party tomorrow.  I also need to sew the buttons on that sweater, wrap her presents, make her cake and do my homework. 

I took the sweater for Mouse off the loom last night and sewed the sleeves on.  It is cute, I need to knit up a front border to finish it and sew in a zipper.  I'll post more later hope you weekend is wonderful.

Some things that followed me home.

 The mincemeat I made last week, did not really follow me home as most of it has always lived here, but it sure looks yummy.  I am hiding in it the cellar today to keep myself from eating it for a few months.

 Secondary fermentation on the apple cider I pressed with the help of some little girl feet. No the feet did not touch the apple bits.  I should tuck this away too, but it is mostly an experiment and is neat to watch bubbling away - sort of a kitchen pet.

 Okay this did follow me home, or maybe a better way of putting it would be jumping into my hands and would not go back to the shelf.  I am thinking a cowl.  This is Universal Yarns Bamboo Bloom Handpaints in Koi Pond.  I really like that it lists bamboo but acknowledges that it is bamboo rayon 48%, blended with wool 44% and acrylic 8%.  Sort of truth in labeling.  We shall see how it knits...

 Same company this yarn is for Beaver's fingerless gloves (birthday project due Nov 1) and is one of the things I went into the store for.  My local yarn store, Beading Heart Studio, is actually a bead store that expanded into yarn.  The whole store is supper tiny, but she really gives good service - she was teaching her son (about 10 I'd guess) how to help customers and ring orders when I was in there, and has put a lot of thought into what products she has there.  I like that she has beaded knitting project kits as it is a logical tie in.  She showed me the cowl she made out of the Bamboo yarn I bought and warned me that if she was going to do it again she would not have purled.  I agreed with her. 

I started this after dinner.  I have nine inches so far on Mouse's sweater.  I will have a few things to work out to make it work but I really like it.  His eyes lit up when he saw it this morning.  I think the stitch the loom forms looks a bit like a cable stitch.  I am now planing on taking a whack at my Christmas list by looming up a few cowls for people on my list. 

Yarn Along - Rug.

Yarning along with Ginny at Small Things, wishing you all a creative productive day.

I finished the red shawl on the loom and stitched a button on it for Badger she wore it for Easter and Butterfly wore the pink thing, I will have to get them to model later in the week.  I am still sick every time a get to feeling better it only lasts for a day or so then wham!  So not much has been done here.  Jim took the week off and it is so nice to have more time with him. 

I am working on my rug in lime stripes sugar and cream for my Grandma's for Christmas and enjoying the project even though I have avoided seed stitch before.  As for reading I am reading Kay Hooper's Blood trilogy, reading Little House in The Big Woods for the kids and reading Tumtum & Nutmeg to Mouse at bedtime.  You would not believe how much I look forward to hearing about their adventures each night!




The rug is knit with three balls at a time and they kept getting  tangled when I would stop working for awhile, so I got the idea to put them in mason jars and they had remained untangled since and I rather like the tink-tink sound knitting on this project makes. 

Soon, I will start back on to Mouse's loom sweater, the shawl showed me that one yellow loom is about right for the back of his sweater so then to halves should be about right for the front panels of the cardigan, I could just sew the arms on straight but I think I may play around with decreasing a bit to get the shape right and this time I will take notes.

Yarn along - looms and rugs.

Joining Ginny at Small Things. The market bag is complete, and I am switching gears for awhile.

 

I bought knitting looms for the kids and figured I would try them myself before trying to teach the kids.  I sat down and started on the smallest size with fuzzy gray yarn figuring I could have a baby gift to tuck away while I was at it.  It was fun! after an hour my dad - who's living room I was sitting in - asked wasn't that supposed to be for the kids?  When I got home Jim asked what I was making and when I told him he said because I thought that looked like a sweater sleeve.  I looked.  It did.  So sure in my belief that the internet could tell me how to make the rest of the sweater I loomed the length of a Mouse sleeve.  Then I found out that the internet fails sometimes.  So know I am looming a panel to test to eventually make a Mouse sweater to go with that poor lonely sleeve.  The red yarn is leftover bottom of my slash stuff that I want to use all up before buying more.  I think it will end up being a shawl for Badger, as she has been eying it and demanding to try it on.  The green is Sugar and Cream in lime stripes an will be a rug for my Grandma for Christmas.

I am reading Be Buried in the Rain by Barbara Michaels, which is an old favorite and brought into my life my favorite poet, Edna St. Vincent Milay.  The other book is Seams to Me, 24 New Reasons to Love Sewing which is a friendly little book I have just started by Anna Maria Horner.   Mouse and I have been readin Tumtum & Nutmeg Adventures Beyond Rose cottage that was recommended by someone here.  we are reading a chapter a night and I find myself wondering how those mice are doing all through out the day.

Hope your projects are going well and your books are satisfying! - Julia