Plague plague go away.

Wednesday the first I had lots of dental work done.  I got all the kids home and went straight to bed with the pain med the dentist gave me.  I woke up hours later sick.  Very sick.  So were the kids! Sleep all day sick until Monday.  I started to feel better, except for a terrible cough, as did all the kids except Badger. By Wednesday last week she was still sick so off to the dr.  She has an upper respiratory infection with secondary eye and ear infections. She is clearly feeling better today coloring with her sister at the other end of the table.

I was scheduled to put three days in at Garfield Farm Museum for my internship.  So thinking I was on the mend and knowing my mom and husband would care for Badger, I went. I am much worse.  I had a very interesting fulfilling, and educational time, but if this doesn't ease up soon I will be seeing my dr.

So to the little black rain cloud of pain and sickness hovering above my house -- go away!

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