A walk with Mouse.

For the first half of the year I walked Mouse to school everyday. Most days I would walk to pick him up. When Butterfly started violin lessons I started picking Mouse up less, sending Beaver to get him, so that I could take Butterfly to her lessons, it became a habit.  When I got so sick in December, I started driving him to school, not wanting to get chilled when I was sick, this also became habit.

Yesterday, we had so much snow dumped on us, but no more expected and the road crews were trying hard to clean everything up. Schools in our community did not close while most of the rest of this corner of the state did. I got the van briefly stuck while dropping off Butterfly (they currently go to separate school, Badger was accepted to Butterfly's school for next year, but Mouse is still on the wait list - fingers crossed) so I decided to walk Mouse to school. We trudged through the knee deep - on him - snow, chanting SNOW, Snow, SNOW, hand in hand.

This morning I expected to drive him, he expected our walk. I said, ok but we have to hurry. We got out side and his gloved hand slipped into mine, "I've missed our time and our walks, Momma."  So have I baby. Off to school we walked. On our walk we saw some interesting footprints.

Two different sizes of dog.

I think this is the woodchuck that is living in the culvert at the end of our driveway.

Bunny Rabbit.

This is evidence of Mouse and me.

 I walked to pick him up too. 

Yarn along - is that light

Joining Ginny at Small Things for the Yarn Along! 

 I am in an Anne McCaffrey mood I guess, I love how detailed and rich her stories are. How in one story some little or big thing is referred to or reacted to and then in another book you see that event from a different perspective or as a great event.  This week is The Dragonriders series.

On the knitting front I spent a great deal of time knitting and watching syfy channel destroying the earth in various silly ways. I am now above the armpit and no longer knitting a rectangle. I can see light at the end of this tunnel. I really am enjoying the texture and the look of this project but as the Mouse just hit a growth spurt, I am beginning to wonder if I will get it done while it still fits him!

Giveaway:
I have not done one yet so here goes. In hopes of spring knits I have made up these knitting stitch markers. They are sets of three with one being coordinating rather than matching.

Set one

Set two

Set three. 

 So here is how to enter.
Comment on this post for one entry.
Follow the blog for a second entry.

I will be selecting the winner randomly next Tuesday and posting it on the Next Yarn Along!  Good luck.

These are my roses, they are hoping for spring too!  ~ Julia

Yarn Along - and the sweater goes on

Joining Ginny at Small Things for the Yarn Along.

I keep setting this sweater for Mouse aside to work on other things.  He has been very patience and I really want to get it done - while it still fits him! I am a bit longer than 15 inches so soon we will have to think about armholes and that sort of thing.

As to reading, My husband is away on a business trip, and with him not here I have more to do, less concentration, and less sleep. So I have been reading a lot but not finishing much. That said, I finished  a wonderful series this weekend. Anne Mccaffery's Dinosaur Planet, Dinosaur Planet Survivor, The Death of Sleep, Sassinak, and Generation Warriors. Such a great series, with a little bit of overlap as the point of view changes. Really what I want to read is more of this.

Happy knitting.

been so long

 Life has been racing by so here is a view from my car window - Beaver took the shot - as we drove down to grandma's.  I recent weeks so much has been amazing, tiring, inspiring, disappointing, joyous, and draining. I did not lose my voice but spent a long time thinking about what this space brings to my life.  During that I thought about the great wide blogosphere version of you and also the individual you - who I view as a friend. I find myself recommitting to a lot of projects and programs, hopefully this time I took for myself and my family will allow me to return to them refreshed and re-energized. I did a two fauna analysis workshop that reaffirmed my scientist's  heart followed immediately by a three day crafting retreat.  I love both and aside from a brief moment of panic looking at the bone thinking - you want me to add glitter? - and an acknowledged tendency to be as concerned with the planning and system producing the art than the art, I found my balance again.  I am looking into taking the master spinner course from Olds College - next year - and plan to dedicate more time to crafting and perhaps begin to sell some of my stuff - advice would be most welcome.

 These are coddled eggs.  Milk, cream, spices, bacon if you have some, and eggs. Baked in the oven. This, some toast and a cup of tea can make you believe anything is possible. I got sick over all of December and accidentally gave up caffeine and soda. My husband had read that some people with bright red bumpy checks like mine saw improvement from cutting caffeine from their diet. When he told me that I laughed - never gonna happen - but since I had already started... So it has been 9 weeks now.  I honestly did not really think it was working, maybe a little less bumpy, and truthfully I did not want it to work. I have had 2 decaf cappucinos with no problems in that time, but when I got a large cup of decaf coffee (loved it), later that night I had a red bump raise on my cheek and it hurt so badly. I suddenly realized that the change had not removed the redness but I had no bumps and no pain other than this one spot. So what started as an experiment seems to be staying. Soda tastes weird and I have no desire to go back to that - aside from it's convenience - but I truly miss my coffee.  Decaf chai is good but not the same. I also suspect that it is something in coffee that I am having trouble with, not necessarily caffeine, but I think I give my body a rest before testing that theory.
 

 Current knitting project.  One of the disappointing things is that my crafting store will be closing. She has been struggling for a while now, and while she is an amazing crafter and one of those people that naturally works well with people, her business skills needed help. Worry and stress have driven her under and I truly believe she is making the best decision for her family, but it is a loss to my community and to me. She is hoping to run beading, knitting, and spinning parties from her home for extra income, as she can't legally open a shop there.  I hope it works.

 Please excuse the terrible picture I will try again in better light. I have been spinning up quite a lot.
This is wool from the Sheep Shed.

 I am working on thinner and thinner yarn. This is polworth and tussah silk.

Black homespun, a strand of mary maxium wool that I strung beads on then plyed together.

Yarn along - Down at Fraggle Rock

Joining Ginny at the Yarn Along today.

 Having finished with the box to mail to family out west - it arrived safely - I went back to the sweater for Mouse.  It is about 8 inches so far, knit from the bottom edge and I am shooting for 18 minimum so I must seriously buckle down.  I am also working on a crocheted hat for my dad.  It is called Lidsville and I love it. I have to lengthen the inner band and stitch it to the hat (so glad I called mom for his hat size - yes I started making him a hat without it) and add the button on top before I am done.  I will be making another for myself and figuring out how to scale it down a bit for the boys.  It does however put the Fraggle Rock theme song in my head.  I spun the yarn shown (red) and used it and a brown wool for the hat, the homespun changes from red to russet to green to brown to blue through the yarn and I really enjoyed the changes and how it worked up.  Normally, I end up giving away my spinning, so this was extra fun.

On the reading front I am going the the Anne of Green Gables series again, like visiting old friends at Christmas and it always makes me feel in the mood to clean and bake.

Oh the overexposed blue things are the gloves I sent for which are helping my hands greatly.  I also noticed I was sleeping with my hands bent up under my chin and have been working hard at keeping my wrist straight while I sleep.

Some finished work to round out my post.  I finished the two pairs of socks for Butterfly and the stone soup necklace for .... um not telling.

Hope you crafts & baking are going well.  ~ Julia

tasty and crafty bits

 Thrift store frames for husband present.  My father - who used to be a professional photographer - is taking a picture of each kid for inside these, instead of school photos.  I really dislike school photos, stupid expensive and they always seem to look weird. So I popped the backing and the glass out and...

Spray painted them copper, three coats and a matte finish.  $4 present.

 Apple pie with beef fat instead of butter or shortening in the crust. Very flaky and tender. I happened to have the fat - rendering for soap but not actually making soap continues around here - so I figured I'd try it. I did tell them - after they ate it and praised it.

 Scarf finished and about to be wrapped for my uncle. I love the texture.  The yarn was a problem I ran out before the end only to find that the yarn was discontinued.  I was upset, I did not want to rip it to the beginning but what else could I do! Then I was at Joann's on Black Friday - not a bad experience for those of you who have not done that - and saw this lion brand yarn labeled Fisherman's wool, and as I was fairly sure the color was a match and the label stated 100% wool, I grabbed it. I can not tell were one begins and the other leaves off.

 As you can see I remembered to photo it at the last possible moment.

 And this is what I am calling a Scacowl. (Scowl) the table is a yard wide. the scacowl is doubled in the picture and longer than the table. It is so soft and light and pretty! It can be wrapped around the neck three times or twice and having one loop over forehead and ears, sort of a scarf/cowl/necklace.

 A more detailed shot.

And the mohair cowl for my cousin. Back to knitting with one set of hands, wrapping with another and doing craft projects with the kids with the third. Oh wait, only one set of hands, that explains why I am so tired.

Hope your projects are going smoothly and that you too have a friend, who when you tell her you have too many projects to finish before Christmas, kindly sends you more great ideas! ~ Julia

Yarn along - just keep knitting

~ 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? ~ Ginny at Small Things

 This is a thrift store find, I got this soft fuzzy yarn for 99 cents.  It is acrylic and nylon. I was only able to get one skein, but they had another that was in a pale green that co-ordinates okay. Truthfully, I am hoping just the one skein is enough as I think it is better by itself. This is on it's way to being a cowl for my Aunt, she has a lot of pain in her neck so I wanted something pretty and very lightweight. I need to get it done fast as I need to ship it.

 This is a thick scarf for my uncle, and needs to get shipped too. The problem, I am out of yarn. This is a Spanish wool, natural coloring and soft and warm.  I am knitting four strands at a time & love the result. My Uncle is a surveyor and while he mostly works in the office now, I wanted something warm for him.  

 Another crocheted bead soup necklace, this time on memory wire. I think it will be a bit nicer to wear and lighter but it moves differently and is not as dramatic as the other one. It was easier to control the tension and move the beads where I wanted them, but I could not put it down, each strand had to be finished before I could let go.

Some progress on the socks, but I mostly set them aside to finish up the items for boxes that need to be mailed before Christmas.  I would like to be done with everything to mail and ship it out on Monday (I was hoping for today, but that is not to be.)  Mouse's sweater has also seen little progress.

On the reading front, I am mostly reading blogs and reports on screen as I can read and knit that way.  I have also decided to try listening to podcasts and have been searching for interesting free ones.

Tomorrow is low pressure as it is just my parents joining us.  A nice fun relaxing holiday is what I am going for. My parents are bring salad stuff, dry sausage, and a feta cheese dip my Mom found a recipe for. We are putting out some other cheese, fruit cheese (I made,) summer sausage and cracker and playing games together.  For the big meal we are having turkey (with sausage stuffed under the skin,) stuffing, mashed potatoes, acorn squash, mixed veg, rolls, pickled cranberries, and cranberry sauce.  For desert, apple pie, pumpkin muffins, and an apple-cranberry crisp.  I am making the muffins and pie today to save space and time tomorrow.

Today is Mouse's birthday. We had the party over the weekend and he had a great time. I got extra hugs this morning and help in the kitchen - loading the dishwasher with me and setting the pumpkins to bake.  We stopped and got him cupcakes to take in. His school requires all treats to be store bought, annoying on so many fronts, but he was excited. When I was going to school, it was better not to bring a birthday treat than to bring in something store bought.

Have a wonderful holiday or if you live elsewhere have a wonderful day with your friends and family! ~ Julia