Saturday, October 31, 2009

Use of creative space



One of the assignments this week in the class I am taking is Creative Space. I had a lot of fun with this one. I enjoyed making use of creative space. Instead of just laying my knitting on my bed and snapping a shot to make a record of my knitting I really thought about things. Autumn is my very favorite season and I wanted to incorporate the season with my warm woolens. We have this tremendously colorful climbing plant all around our front door. The wind was blowing something fierce and I was afraid that the picture wouldn't turn out well but it did and I adore it!

These socks are for John. He wore them duck hunting on Thursday and loves them so!


pattern: Yarn Harlot's Basic Sock Recipe
yarn: Patons Classic Wool
colorway: Dark Grey Mix
needles: US 7

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Self Portrait




These are my comfort books, my old friends. I know them and they know me. The yarn is my favorite (that I haven't knit up yet) at the moment.

I am taking a fabulous photography/writing e-course from Persisting Stars. Th course is Persisting Stars ~ Yes! http://www.persistingstars.com/e-courses/

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Autumn smiles




"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth
seeking the successive autumns."
- George Eliot

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Happy Birthday my Autumn girl!

Christy turns ten today. I cannot believe how much she has grown. She is beautiful. She is passionate about life. Christy loves to read and knit and write and study herbs and laugh. She is so much like me but with an infinite amount of joy. She still loves to play with dolls and takes such good care of her little brother and sister. Christy wants to be a Healer or Midwife when she is grown. She wants lost of children and she wants to homeschool them. She is an amazing girl who I am extremely privileged to raise.

Happy Birthday baby!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Thursday knitting

We usually take the children out on Thursday's but with Toby sick and all we ended up staying home. I knit and alternated between being The Loving, Cuddling Mama and being The Mean Mama. Toby would rather lay on the couch and die than drink when he is sick. He has been running a fever (all gone now) and I just couldn't let him get dehydrated. This means I had to stay on him about drinking water. I have actually been The Mean Mama for several days but he is alive and on the mend and actually drinking water without me nagging him.

These socks are for John. The totally amazing thing is that I cast on this sock yesterday and got this much knit in only a couple of hours. That is what happens when you use worsted weight yarn and size 7 needles. LOL!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Outdoor Hour Challenge #10 Picnic



Last week we took the children out to Cedar Valley where John grew up. We had a picnic up at the rodeo grounds. John spent many, many days and nights here playing with his friends. After our sandwiches were finished we hiked a little more than a mile up behind the rodeo grounds. It was so peaceful! The scrub oak was beginning to change colors and the little ones had so much fun!

















Monday, October 12, 2009

Outdoor Hour Challenge #3



Two weeks ago we took the children up to Strawberry Reservoir to the visitors center. The kokanee salmon were spawning and we wanted the children to get a chance to see them. Kokanee salmon are fresh water salmon and silver when they are young. When the salmon are mature and ready to spawn they turn red and green. We went up on a Thursday and it was cold! The wind was blowing and there was a slight skiff of snow. Luckily for us that meant that nobody else was up there. We really do not like crowds. We knew we it was pretty late in the season but apparently it was the last day. The Fish and Game wardens were up there and one of them came over and started telling us all about what they were doing and how the fish were faring. It was so much fun! We asked all kinds of questions and had a blast. Thank you to the lovely Fish and Game department.

It was absolutely beautiful up there! I took a bunch of terrific pictures:






















Jack's picture of the salmon:


Christy's picture of the salmon:


Toby's picture of the salmon:


Hannah's picture of the river and salmon:

Happy Birthday Muffin Man!

My little Tobias turns six today. My beautiful boy, my muffin man. Tobias is a sensitive soul. He loves to garden and be outside. He loves blocks and can spend hours building things. Toby loves trains and hiking and digging in the dirt. Toby has requested my homemade mac and cheese, and rolls for his birthday dinner.

Yesterday he started feeling sick and fell asleep in my bed late afternoon. I checked on him a few times as he was sleeping and realized he was running a fever. Poor little guy. Our elderberry glycerin is finished so Toby had the honor of being the first to try it out. He loved it and the other children were very excited to see what it tastes like (raisons, in case you were wondering). He slept well and is feeling a lot better today. Still a bit bright eyed and flushed, but better.

Weekend knitting

Weekends are for knitting around here. I do not get much knitting done during the week with all of the learning and outings going on but come the weekend I knit and watch movies. The children and I watched Dante's Peak, Pride and Prejudice, and Little Women. Christy and I knit and the other children played and colored. I LOVE weekends!

I finished Jack's hat:

pattern: my basic beenie
yarn: Red Heart
colorway: Camo
needles: US 4 & 6

I am getting close to being done with my second sock:




This is the hat I knit for Christy a couple of weeks ago:


pattern: my basic beenie
yarn: Plymouth Encore
colorway: grey and cream
needles: US 4 & 6

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Monday, October 05, 2009

Beautiful things



We have finished up our elderberry study and are ready to move on to October's Lemon Balm! Our elderberry tincture is just about done and we have had a blast shaking it up each day




In knitting news: I knit Christy a hat and am now working on one for Jack. It seems they don't truly appreciate the pumpkin hats anymore. Toby and Hannah still wear theirs with pride and look absolutely adorable doing so. The weather has been nice and cool the last few days and I am blissfully happy! I am also knitting a pair of socks for myself, I am ready to start the heal flap on the second sock. This beautiful autumn-y sock yarn arrived today and I cannot wait to cast on for another pair for me!

Lorna's Laces Trick or Treat colorway:


John keeps mentioning how much he loves his pair of warm wooly hand knit socks and bemoaning the fact that he only has one pair. LOL! I have some STR that I plan on knitting up for him. I was thinking about giving them to him for Christmas but I don't know if he can wait.