Encircling

Busy Fall

We've been keeping ourselves busy here. And everyday seems full of things to do. It is officially colder here now and all the trees have begun to shed their brightly colored leaves, much to Siah's dismay. The cold weather does wonders for our motivation however. I enjoy jogging at Gavin's naptimes when I can because it's no longer hot. We have been engaged in cozy activities like games and crafting and knitting, all while drinking a cup of hot tea or cocoa. Yes, I love fall- it's no secret.  

Then  there are  the never posted halloween pictures of Zoe's outfit. Siah didn't want a new one this year and even asked me why people dress up on this holiday. I told him it was because some people think it's fun. So he wore an older costume from a few years back while we begged for candy in the neighborhood. I pushed a jogger and wore a knit dead fish hat, and Zoe was an autumn fairy. Adam was the mad hatter and wore a ridiculous colorful top-hat. Gavin was just gavin, because he didn't want to wear the dinosaur hat and mask from Ikea. He was just there in hopes of getting his hands on some of the colorful candy.

 

For Zoe's hat, I simply took an old felt hat I had made for her and hot glued some fall flowers onto it. Easy peasy. Then for the skirt, I took some jersey knit and folded it over and serged it to some tulle, which I bunched up in two spots and glued some flowers and leaves on as well. Luckily her ballet outfit still fit and she could wear it all underneath. Total time was about an hour. My fastest and  most sucessful fairy costume yet, and she absolutely loves it!

Grateful

For tears to wipe, clothes to mend, dishes to wash. Hineys to wipe. Messes to be cleaned, and yet to be cleaned. Diapers to wash even. Because it means I am part of something larger than myself. A living breathing wonderful thing called family. I am in over my head and officially loving it. I am forever haunted by a pile of laundry or a sink of dishes or a head full of ideas but I have made peace with this. I am okay with the fact that I may never finish everything I start. Happy to be interrupted by crazy invention ideas from my 5 year old, and have no problem putting down my knitting to pick up a copy of The Happy Man and His Dump Truck for the umpteenth time.

That is all.

Planning

This past weekend was a busy one. Early morning soccer games, shopping, church, visits to the inlaws...etc. Yet I was determined to make something and finish it. By Sunday evening, Zoe and Josiah both had new hats, and I was able to push two projects out of my head. It always feels so nice to do that.

 
 

One reason I started the hats now was because I am waiting on pattern errata for a sweater I started this week. A gorgeous cabled sweater that is a variation and an answer to an exact sweater I have seen on several people lately. Yet I didn't want a mostly acrylic(or even partly acrylic) version. Me and plastic sweaters don't get along that well.  If I will be wearing it all the time it needs to be cotton, wool or a natural blend of something else. And absolutely no mohair. We don't get along either.  I got about 2 inches into the sweater before realizing things didn't completely add up. So instead of rough it on my own and potentially screw up a great project and waste all my time, I am patiently waiting. Or trying to.  The yarn makes it really difficult to wait. It is a yummy worsted malabrigo in lettuce green. Super soft and one of my favorite shades.

Also in the works is a pair of texter gloves, though now the husband has changed his mind(after the yarn has been ordered) and wants a hat to match Josiah's. Luckily the Norwegian Star earflap hat pattern also comes in an adult size.  The texter pattern is awesome though. It comes from the book Knitted Gifts, by Ann Budd and features patterns from many designers. One of them being my aunt Theresa. Though she didn't design the texter gloves with a flap that opens for your thumb fingers, she did contribute several felting patterns of useful items for the home. It's a great book, and I have already completed a pattern from it since receiving it as a gift recently. I knit the car bunting for Desmond in Cherry Tree Hill thick and thin yarn, and used the leftovers for Zoes elf hat. The crochet trim was done in some Paton's wool/soy blend and I actually had dyed it chartreuse right before I purchased the yarn for the bunting. It was totally by accident that they matched so perfectly. I love it. The only detail I have left to finish on this is handsewing the zipper. The nylon, two way, seperating 26" zipper that was a real pain to find. Luckily for me, I live near Fabric Depot  and could buy the zipper locally.

And while I am totally happy with the car bunting, and love that I will be able to wash it just as I do my wool diapering items, and it's warm enough for me to put the baby in in just light clothing- I will say I am slightly afraid it will eat the baby. I mean, just look at that huge hood! While it is very cute and will probably invoke jokes of gnomes leaving the baby on our doorstep, it's just so big...

  
 

This week is full of shop updating and getting projects organized for the coming months ahead...

::Inspired::

 
I have been inspired by several books recently, and some free time. One of those books is Handmade Home, by Amanda Blake Soule.

Since I needed more newborn diapers, I made several prefolds out of scraps. Odds and ends of absorbant materials left over from previous projects, and hand towels, t-shirts, and flannel. I serged the edges.Here are a few. I am happy to say they turned out beautifully. I even made a few for Gavin, including a few thick nightime/naptime prefolds.

 

 Also from the book, we used the idea of a baby play mat to make our very own for the new baby, Desmond Owen. Though the size and stitching are different, the concept is the same: fabric markers and the whole family around the table coloring their hearts out. Some of the ribbon tags used are even vintage, from Adam's grandmother. I am pleased with the end results and Desmond is sure to spend many happy hours simply staring at it.

   
  I also tried out the sling pattern. I already know how to make puch slings, but figured I'd give it a go. The sizing and width were right-on and I am quite pleased with it. I had some Indian sheeting fabric that cried out to me from the shelves to be a sling. I have more fabric cut and waiting to become just that. A girl can never have too many patterned slings.

Sonlight

So we decided to do a curriculum for our homeschooling. I never thought I would actually buy one, however I really liked the idea of Sonlight. And I found I needed the structure. I actually feel as though we can be more creative with taking on our own interests within the confines of having a set list of things to do per day, or week. Then once we finish we can pursue those things we talked and read about- or not. We can feel free to do the things we want, and I can know we are covering our bases. I am very happy with it so far, although we tend to lump days together instead of"doing school" each day. Because life gets in the way. Which is good. I like that. I like making up our own schedule, and the kids seem to be doing well with it so far. Hot cocoa helps- as does spiced milk, cookies, and lots of breaks for recess. And playing with chickens.

 

Back

So I am back- after a crafting frenzy, and a month long visit from my mom(who I never get to see). I guess I forgot to mention that I may not be around much...oops. With a house full and no regular nap times and quiet time for me, I got too distracted. I did accomplish quite a bit, just not in the way of blogging.

Alot has happened in the last month. Soccer games are in full swing here and I am geting into the groove of things as far as that goes.Two kids in soccer is time consuming, to say the least. Yet they both love it and it is fun. The weather is turning cooler now, and we have even seen a few practices in the rain. It's so much fun to watch the kids learn about teamwork and game play. After a few games the excitement seems to be giving way to actually going after the ball, which is good. I think after a few seasons we will know if soccer is really our game. For now we are enjoying finding out.

Too much on my mind

As I sit here on this sunny Saturday afternoon I am surrounded by sleeping children and the smell of sourdough bread baking. I just took some wool out of a dye-pot on the back burner and I have a pile of fabric and yarn balls and hand-me-downs in the craft room at least knee-high. So why am I kettle-dyeing yarn? I really have no idea other than the excuse that trying to coordinate yarns and baby clothes and count diapers makes my head hurt. I've been doing that all morning. I guess I needed to add some fabulousness to my otherwise normal and demanding weekend day.

I did just find out yesterday, after all, that I am having a BOY! Yes, a boy. Number 3 I might add. Girls-1, Boys-3. Zoe and I are seriously outnumbered now. At least she will get spoiled like a true princess(as will friends of mine having girls about the same time as me) with all the girly things I care to make for her. And trust me, they will be many. But in the meantime there is more diaper/yarn/materials inventory to be made and projects to be started. Good thing my mom is coming in town tomorrow for a few weeks. She is desperately needed.

And now for some eye-candy while I leave you, in pursuit of that perfect name for baby boy. Peruvian wool in a deep sky blue.

Our farm

So my kids have sort of been farm-obsessed as of recent. Zoe will comment on how she wants our next house to have a barn,while I dream of a llama someday. Neither of us really want all the work involved, it is a romantic idea we have. Maybe if we had help... farmhand or two maybe? Of course it would be nothing big, just a few more chickens and a large animal or two. And we all do want to have a chunk of land. I fear I am scared to move too far from the city though. And from all the exciting events- markets, shopping. I think a few acres somewhere in the middle may be perfect. The best of both worlds.

For now we have chickens. Eight girls to be exact. And we know them all by name and breed. There is Barbie-Q, Gretchen, Porsche, Ginger, Lola, Hanna, Marjorie and Maybelle. I think chickens make the perfect pets if you can hold and pet them from the start. They can't really hurt you, and they give eggs- whereas other pets just need cleaning up after and to be taken on walks. But then again I have never had any large animals. Our chickens are very tame and sweet- most of them. The newer four didn't get quite so much attention as babies as we didn't raise them.

As for food they get organic arsenic free food and tons of healthy scraps. When we picked cherries earlier this year they got lots of cherries. They also love half eaten apples, carrots, half-eaten salad plates, etc. And especially leftover fish. Also fresh green grass and bugs galore.

We knew they would start laying soon so on the advice of Adams mom we put two fake wooden eggs in the coop to fool them. One white, one brown. And this morning when we came to find one tiny little brown egg in the hen house(our first!) It was untouched. I think the trickery may have worked after all.

Too hot!

So we've been having somewhat of a heat spell here. I know it's not nearly as bad as it could be, or is in other parts of the country, but it's hot nonetheless. I don't do hot extremely well. I know it's good for crops like tomatoes or canteloupes, or the sun moon star watermelons I am attempting to grow here but I really prefer the 70 degree days...

So after a productive morning we headed of to the feed store to buy some more food for our chickens who- all 8 of them now -have eaten through their first bag of organic arsenic-free chick starter. They would have gone through it faster had we not been keeping them in yummy scraps, over-ripe cherries from our tree, and fresh grass.I cannot wait to taste these eggs. I bet they are going to be wonderful.

 

After that we picked up the grandma and headed to the nearby lake. Which is sort of beach-like. It also has grayish black sand, a cool water fountian and a new park structure. Too bad it was crowded because of the heat. The kids love it there. We have been a few times with their cousin who was recently visiting, and now the kids beg to go back. I prefer the beach, myself, but it's a drive.

Then we helped grandma weed her massive gardens and after dinner made a batch of soap with some fat I had rendered a couple weeks ago. I got a huge box of it from the butcher when we got our grassfed meat order recently and it is now sitting in our downstairs freezer. I have great plans for soapmaking this summer...

 

Raspberries

I think I have talked before about how I almost never bought raspberries because of the cost and how quickly my kids eat them....well we don't have to worry about that lately! We have literally been picking huge bowls of raspberries every morning from our rather large raspberry patch out back.  And though they have started to die down we will get plenty again in just a few short(long) months from now. Because ours bloom twice:) 

I decided it was best to let everyone have at them as greedily and quickly as possible this first harvest. And now that we have pretty much had our fill and actually are starting to tire of picking early in the morning(to beat the birds), I know that with the next batch can come the crumbles, the sauces, the canning. And by then we will have the pears and plums already so the raspberries may go completely untended except for by me- or maybe not. I have managed to save a certain portion for kombucha making, which I have started up again. And I have to say, it is really something fabulous.

Our morning usually starts out something like this: I groggily start my moka pot going with a strong thick espresso brew while the kids round up shoes. Gavin usually finds his too and brings them to me to put on- then we all trek out to the patch and Gavin gleams the ripe and unripe berries he can reach- he will eat them all. We then all devour them usually before going inside....or playing with the chickens.