glimpses of growing and learning.

Our tubing evening didn't happen, partially due to bad head colds but mostly due to the hill closing a week before Jeff thought it was going to close.  We're not sure why it's taken us this long to utilize the little ski/snowboard/tubing hill near us, but when Kaatje started asking for snowboarding lessons around Christmas time, we knew where to look.  Lessons one and two went great... lesson three's backside turn practice led to a painful wrist sprain.  Ah well, she's already asking for lessons next year, and we've already marked it on the calendar.

~
A huge horray for homeschooling in our lives:  we made the trek to our local homeschooling store (how many people can say that?!  we're very blessed.) and Kaatje and I chatted with the invaluably helpful owners about the "math issues" we were having.  Now we're happily using new curriculum where I'm remembering statistics and proof theory from college, and Kaatje's learning mice can't read.  (Partially kidding, she's learning more than that, too.)  My math major heart loves that she's happily learning set unions, and her math-is-stupid (not hard, just stupid) heart loves that she's not doing repetitive long division problems.  If you're a homeschooler with a voracious reader who finds typical math hair-tearing-out-boring, check out Life of Fred.  The pure greatness of homeschooling is that this might not even be the end-all... I might come back later saying how Fred's not working anymore and we've made another change, but where I was at the end of my rope before (and so was Kaatje), we're once again contentedly remembering why we do this.  Must always keep in mind that the best way to move forward sometimes is to talk to those wonderful homeschool pioneers around us, from the friends at church with highschoolers to the now-grandparents of another generation of to-be-homeschooled kids.  Our girls' learning won't look anything like anyone else's, and the ones who know that best and can help us grow are the ones who've already been there!

~
Lots on the needles lately;  since our LYS closed (*sniff*) I picked out some yarn on their closing day to make the girls whatever they wanted.  Greta picked a short-sleeve cardigan in bright pink wool (Ravelry here), Kaatje a hat in greens and browns (same pattern as this one).  In a fit of cold late winter knitting, both are finished except for the fox ears Kaatje wants on her hat... need to research those a bit.  I'm forever working on a shawl out of some gorgeous soft and so very splitty rowan cotton/silk, from the market in Ireland.  Splitty means despite an easy pattern, I have to watch what I'm doing:  sad for movie watching, fine for piano lessons and car rides. 

~
Despite snow in the forecast, the paper flakes have been peeled from the windows.  I don't seem to be able to come out of the little chain speciality grocery store without another plant, somehow a shamrock has been added in the window.  (I'm a sucker for anything that says "full sun;"  until the leaves appear, our huge south widows will kill lesser plants.)  Snow covers most of the ground still, grimy and gritty, but I've been watching the garden plants slowly be revealed.  No garden plans yet, just some spindly tall basil whose seeds Gret and I threw in a pot a while ago, pampered in our funny little greenhouse.  Nothing like the smell of basil as the first day of spring approaches.

this week: sewing and knitting

Our supposed "week off" was, well, a week we're glad is over.  A week ago Saturday found Jeff and I standing in the rain with a (corded) drill, determined to finish the fence... which we did, even without electrocuting anyone.  That evening, probably due to standing on a concrete floor all week then slipping off a step, I had a huge flare-up of Achilles tendinitis, which brought mornings of hobbling and days of gentle walking (never taking off my Birkenstocks) for the week.  What a good way to get some sewing and knitting accomplished!

Gret, the sweet skinny girl she is, has so much trouble with pants and shorts not fitting.  We made an outing to the S.J. Harris Warehouse of Fabric, always an adventure, and picked out fabric for some shorts, play skirts, and pj shorts.  With Gret's help, we were able to get shorts and a skirt finished before running out of elastic.

Gret wanted to "do a project" too, so I started on something I'd had in my head a bit, and we made templates and cut flags for a pennant banner.  It was so quick and easy, and we had fun.  Also ran out of bias tape, so the pile of extra pennants we made will have to wait.

A cousin and his lovely wife are expecting their first, a little girl, in the fall, and though I can't make the trip to the middle of Illinois for the shower, I'm sending away a hat and sweater.  This is G. Sheller's Simple Newborn Hat with a Touch of Lace.  The sweater is one I've made many times, Pickle's Plain Vest.  Both are made with Blue Sky Alpaca's Organic Cotton, a wonderful soft yarn.  I made both as specified in the patterns, but on sz. 7 double-pointeds for the hat and sz. 8 circulars for the vest.  (Hmm.  Don't tell Nancy!)

Finally, to cap the week, Gret had a run-in with a patch of concrete, whilst connected to a running dog by a leash.  Much (not-exaggerated) sadness ensued, rearing its ugly head again this morning when sister got to start swimming lessons without her, as she's still limping and quite sore, though the oozing has stopped.  She's rapidly recovering, so we're hoping all will be going swimmingly (ha!) by this weekend.  My feet are slowly recovering, but I've been down the plantar fascias road before and know how long healing takes.  Patience is hard for runners, but I get to practice what I'm preaching to Greta!

(note: the banner photo is *before* Greta's accident, sigh.)

this week in knitting.

I enjoy the "I'm knitting this" or "I'm reading this" posts on other gal's websites (very rarely do the websites I follow by men talk about their knitting, but sometimes their reading.  I guess most geek men don't knit.  Or at least don't admit they do.  hmmm.  Um, I digress.), though my knitting (and sometimes reading) moves along so slowly perhaps this wouldn't be a good regular post, but I thought I'd throw my hat, or sweater, as it were, in the ring and show you what my hands do in their off time.

This lovely cotton yarn is by Cascade Yarns, called Sierra.  It's nice to knit with and easy on the fingers.  (and frogs easily, which was helpful!)  I has started with another cardigan pattern, a yoke neck, but didn't like how the random staggered increases were looking with this yarn's stitch definition, so I frogged it and found a shrug in One Skein Wonders (called the Eyelet Lace Shruglet) that I started.  Note:  this pattern does have, um, "issues" as written in the book, but the designer is a wonderful lady who directed me to her website here for help.

The pattern is for only one size, a Sm/Med, and although I'm pretty "Sm" I have broad shoulders, so sized it up a bit by continuing with the raglan increases a little longer than indicated.  I'm also hoping to make this "shruglet" into a full-fledged summer cardi, with, perhaps 3/4 sleeves, depending on when yarn runs shy.  I don't particularly claim to know what I'm doing with such things regarding pattern changes, but I did cross-reference the great Mrs. Zimmermann to see if my thoughts might work.  (They might!)  Time will tell.  Fortunately, I have a 11-year old waiting in the wings to see if the sweater is entirely too small for me, and then she will be the fortuitous one! 
(and if all else fails, a 7-year old.  Oh, my.  I hope I'm not *that* bad at pattern modification.)

read and eat (and knit)

Today I'm not going to get into what it's like having a super-picky eater in the family;  honestly, I never really like talking about it much at all, because it seems to be a topic that's full of judgement. (At least I feel like I'm being judged.  I can see those mental eye-rolls, you know:  "oh, yeah, your kid's picky, uh-huh (push-over parents).")  So I'll just move on through all that to say My Problem is ambivalence toward cooking...the endlessness of the constantly arriving dinner-times.  (I'd be happy opening a can of organic veggie soup and making grilled cheese every night of the week, thank you.)

So, I've been working on that.  Jeff and I really do like eating fun and different things, and I do think we're finding some that will work well for our family.  Thanks to the library, I stole some of Rachael Ray's great ideas, like making alfredo pasta, then adding a homemade lasagne sauce on top, layered with mozzarella and asiago.  (Completely ignoring her ingredients and instructions.)  We had a winner:  Kaatje eats the plan alfredo pasta with asiago, Gret eats some of the meat sauce with hers and a bit of cheese, Jeff and I can have it all together in its full glory.  That's just an example.

Although all us moms (and dads) do it, I first thought about this idea specifically while reading Jenny Rosenstrach's book, Dinner: A Love Story.  In this great book, Jenny talks about the winning dinner strategy of making one thing that can be disassembled then reassembled into things everyone likes to eat.  This helps me a lot, since I like to make one-dish meals.  (Note to Minnesotans:  this does not mean I like to make "hot-dishes;"  that's "casseroles" to the rest of us.  I rarely layer ingredients and bake, unless it's lasagne.  I am part Italian after all.)  I like soups, stews, stir-frys, things to eat over rice or pasta.   I also rarely make a slab of meat with a "starch" (I hate that word) and a veggie.  I'd much rather cut the meat into chunks and make something out of all those things.  I'm learning to do this and create a whole meal with parts for everyone.  Jenny has a very cute (though incorrectly labeled, the math-major in me must add) Venn diagram in her book that shows how her family eats one of her meals.

I guess this is a wordy post about how, after having kids for 10 years, I'm learning to cook.  Maybe it's a post about how we're always learning?

~
Oh, yeah, there's some knitting up there, too.  I was going to post on a knitting and reading link-up on another blog, but went off on this cooking tangent, then it went all over from there.  Hey, though!  I'm continuing to knit this scarf that's been around for, oh, a year or so.  There's another addition to the learning discussion:  this pattern is *way* easier than when I first started knitting it.  (Not to say that's making things go any faster, just more enjoyable, I guess.)

weekly making

Much goings on about here this chilling-down, battening-up season.  Way too much time on the computer for me, therefore, more for the girls, too.  They still manage to be busy around the house, mischief and whatnot, but also some fun for themselves.

"The Lotsa Stuff To Do Book" (copyright 1981 - and believe me, it's classic!) I've had since I was a kid; I mostly remember the pictures and the things I couldn't do from it (i.e., the toad home aquarium, which, also, Kaatje would like to do and she can't either).  She did, however, make up a 1/2 batch of the "homemade clay" on her own, as I have little patience for anything more than play dough.  This is, in essence, play dough one shapes and bakes, or air dries, then paints.  The painting part is what Kaatje's been after, and this seemed to fulfil her need.

Oven bake play dough:
2 C flour
1/2 C salt
about 3/4 C hot water

Mix the flour and salt well, gradually add the hot water - only enough to make a kneed-able ball.  Kneed 5-10 minutes to make smooth.  Create your chosen objects, then bake on a foil-lined pan in a 200-degree oven for 2-3 hours (or more).  We baked them in the toaster oven for closer to 4 hours, and the dog pictured above still didn't sound hollow when tapped.  Now, days later in the dry cold weather, he's pretty cured.  I don't think we could do this mid-summer in the humidity, but it did work.  After cooled from the oven, you can paint as you wish.  The girls used watercolors and tempra paints, both seemed to work.

~
I'm finishing up my second leg warmer.  I like skirts, but the winters are too cold for that, and wool knee socks are expensive.  I'd say it's a pattern from "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" by Joelle Hoverson, but seeing how that pattern is simply "K1, P1," and I changed the yarn, the needles, and the pattern (added an increase at the calf), I suppose my pattern is simply inspired by that one.  Still do love that book, though!

~
Gearing up for December, our weekends are already booked through the new year.  (Jeff - and I - groan)  That being said, we're going to try to keep to simple fun through our days and take things easy.  The girls are wishing for some good snow, I'm happy with the sun!  On comes winter!

on and off the needles; a confession.

I've done a lot of summer knitting (still in the process, mostly).
But they hide a secret.

I suppose if my grandmother was here, looking over my shoulder or examining a piece of knit I work, she'd have taken one look and straightened me out right away.  As it is, now that I know, I've been looking through all my old pieces and thinking "Yup, there it is again.  Wrong."

*sigh.*

Skimming through a circular knitting book from the library, I stopped and read a page twice.  Then a third time... that's why my loops are never sitting right on my needles!  All this time, while I listened to the great EZ on purling, and I purl away superiorly, I never realized I was making each and every knit stitch twisted.  every.  one.

If you're not a knitter, this doesn't mean much to you.  If you are, you know why, for the life of me, I could never ever ever make gauge. 

I spent an afternoon with the feeling that I should rip out the many projects on the needles and start over (yes, I am an oldest child), then the feeling that I should re-knit everything I've ever knit, just to see if it would be easier.

Then I sat down and made a bracelet.  (The size was spot on.)
And went on with my other projects, without twisting stitches. 
(Different, but you can't really tell.) 
Taking a deep breath and getting on with my (knitting) life.

~~
By the way, I checked, and little Greta's "in-through-the-front-door, run-around-the-back, peek-through-the-window, and-off-jumps-Jack" stitches are perfect. 
Obviously I'm the only one confused around here.

in which there is a birthday hat, but not mittens.

I made the mistake of starting mittens whilst on Jeff's and my little vacation (but found extreme pleasure in knitting mittens at the beach), so didn't have that little hand to compare while I was going along.  of course, even with a tracing of her hand, mitten one was too small.  (note my aforementioned gauge problem.)  frogged... and soon easily replaced by $1 mittens from the big box store.  ah well.

all the more time for knitting a birthday hat!

we used to have a red wool hat in this pattern, nicely worn in by big sister so it was soft.  red hat disappeared after our vacation last September (!?), and Gret asked for her new hat to be the same one.

alas.  new wool = scratchy wool (even if the wool itself isn't particularly scratchy, wool vs. forehead often is) and I was a bit bummed that she didn't put it right on and forget to take it off, as she has done with past hats.

we put pink scratchy hat aside for a bit, and I thought for a bit.

Kaatje likes to play with polar fleece, and I had a bit of soft thin grey left from Christmas... and just enough there was!

simple whip-stitching along the edge and up the seam (all the way to the edge, as requested, so no scratchy gets through), leaving it open along the top edge to maximize stretching ability, and we have a new winter hat for a happy little girl!

(and happy mom, who tires of frogging sometimes!)

pattern:  spiral hat, by Marci Blank, from "designer one-skein wonders"
yarn:  lamb's pride bulky 85% wool, 15% mohair
needles: size 10 circ and dpns

and all us girls in the family do have the same blue-grey eyes...

in which I do a lot of math and eventually get a vest

so I have a little problem with this thing called gauge.

gauge is really pretty simple:  to get a garment the size in the pattern, be sure your stitches are the same size as in the pattern (given by stitches per inch).

I spend a lot of time frogging.

(really, it's a good thing I like to knit for the sake of knitting.)

even if I start with a swatch, on needles 2 sizes too big, with yarn to match the needles instead of the pattern, and the gauge comes out right, it still seems to be up in the air if I'm going to get anything resembling the size in the pattern for my finished project (mine's always still too small).

so, when I found this blue sky alpaca on clearance at the sidewalk sale at our LYS, I did a quick and dirty yardage calculation, then took all the yarn home to swatch and crunch numbers.

I've admired the shalom cardigan for a long time;  it looked simple, easy, and relatively quick.  now I found myself with enough yarn, but the wrong size.  by carefully swatching, carefully counting, using the pattern schematic, throwing in a bit of fudging, and writing every step down, I managed to make do.

here is the shalom cardigan in a super bulky:
(please disregard my apparent inability to stand up straight.)

pattern:  Shalom Cardigan
yarn:  blue sky alpaca bulky 50% alpaca/50% wool
needles:  sz 13 (9mm), circular

rough notes::
I cast on 57 sts., and shortened the sections of the yoke to get the count to the right length, eventually getting to 143 sts.  the bind off of the arm holes ended up being k 16, bo 39, k 33, bo 39, k 16.  I cast back on 13 under the arms.

if anyone very much cares, I could work up more detailed notes on using a thicker yarn for this pattern, but it'd have to be a line-by-line as that's how I worked out the changes.

beautiful easy pattern and a fun knit!  I'd love to try it again with the "right" yarn... and carefully make a swatch for gauge first!

in which we wrap yarn

Now isn't this an interesting... stick?

I received this lovely carved dowel from my husband for Christmas.  kinda hefty for a wand (I have girls.  sticks today are wands, not bats or guns), too short for a walking stick.

this... is a Nostepinne.  yeah, I hadn't a clue either.  (apparently, neither had the gals at the local yarn store, which makes us smile.  leave it to the engineer to find a yarn accessory that no one's heard of.)  but what a fun, simple, tool this is!

I was never interested in a ball winder, though I love my swift, and I'm fairly adept in hand-winding center pull balls.  however, they often are too tight in the middle no matter how loose I attempt to wind, and the first few yards are kind of sticky.  this tool fixes that, since one wraps yarn around the wood, and not fingers.

for real instructions, you'll want to direct your browser to some sort of Famous On-line Video Website and type "nostepinne," but for the simple idea, here's how it works:

~ find a ball of yarn a 9 year old used on a 24 hour car trip and stored in a backpack with lego kits, pencils, and library books; or a hank of yarn, or an otherwise needing-to-be-re-wound pile of yarn.

~secure one end to the nostepinne near where you hold it.  they say you can hold the end of the yarn with your thumb, but I like the rubber band method.

~ start by winding along the dowel, keeping the winding flat.  then you'll start to criss-cross and turn (not shown;  this is where the videos are helpful), eventually starting to wind like one does when winding a center-pull ball by hand...  just like doing it by hand it starts awkwardly, then gets easier and easier.

~ when finished, tuck the end into the ball, release the tail from the rubber band, then slide ball off the nostepinne.  the tail should pull easily from the center of the ball!

Jeff found this nostepinne on etsy, where there are lots of beautiful ones from which to choose.  a neat, portable, gift idea to impress that yarn geek in your life!  (this yarn geek was certainly impressed!)

do you have any yarn you'd like me to wind?  I'm kind of addicted...

a *little* knitting

knitting has been happening around here. 
I wish you could feel the yarn of this hat - it was in a grab bag I picked up a few years ago from the LYS;  must have some angora in it, it's so squishy soft.

the hat is too nice for me.  I'm giving it to a friend who shares in my feelings toward the long cold MN winters, and who liked Gret's hat in the same pattern.  (happy 1/2 birthday, Amy!)

I also knit a sweater, my very first.  Finished it in Two Days.

Yes I did!

isn't that just the cutest thing ever?!  I'm pretty proud.

Yes, my First Knit Sweater could fit an elf, but I did learn some simple garment construction and SSK decreases, of which I'm quite happy.  I have a plan for more of these!

also, made my first Large Purchase of yarn, ever, with plans for a knit cardigan for myself.  I could have bought a cardigan for less than half the price of the yarn (which was 1/2 off itself when I bought it), but it's the principle, isn't it?  I can't wait to cast on.  Plans for an Elizabeth Zimmermann sweater are in the works, too, for a fall project, perhaps a vacation bring-along.  We'll see.

~~
on a side note, I discovered Khan Academy through WIRED magazine, and as I type (and avoid laundry and baking that need to be done), Kaatje is having fun doing math on the computer.  I'll repeat that:  "having fun doing math."  Greta and I are looking up screech owls and elk for coloring, and listening to their sounds.

...love home-learning...

waiting on buttons.

Some sweet baby out there needed a vest.  Or maybe I just needed to knit one.

In our life, one doesn't have to wait too long for a baby-gift-giving opportunity.  In fact, there's a couple babies out there who need gifts, and, dare I mention, one dear friend's on the way.

So, the final question is:  pink buttons or blue?

(next to figure out is how to make this Greta-size.  or maybe Momma size.  hmmm.  so many patterns, so little time.)

spring birthday scarf

I needed to share this lovely scarf with you before it's 85 degrees out and I completely forget I ever had anything at all to do with scarves.  (Meh, I'm sure I'll still be making scarves in the summer, you just watch.)

This is Paula's Scarfette on Ravelry, a pull through simple cable scarf.

I knit it up in Blue Sky Organic Cotton, which is as squishy soft and glorious as it sounds.  This was a fairly quick knit, using straight needles and a cable needle.  Since I'd done the much more complicated pull-through scarf for my mom for Christmas last, I understood the split in this one, and it was a cinch.

I love it and just might have to make another very very soon! 

(and for my effort, not like I'm looking for kudos, but I got the sweetest thank you card I've ever seen: cutest. baby. ever. on my fridge now.)

k2, p2, repeat

My little tiny hand model is showing off a quick pair of fingerless gloves I knitted up in the round for the first of many Spring birthdays we have in our extended family.

"They fit me, Mom!"

The fun of a pattern like this is they really do fit 5-year-old hands, kind of, but also big men's sz. large hands like my own.  Gotta love that K2, P2 rib, full of stretch.

One glove is slightly slightly (one round, I think) smaller than the other - in my quest for using up yarn I already own (simplify, simplify), I ended the project with less than 24" of yarn leftover.  The general pattern idea is from the gorgeous:

last-minute knitted gifts, by joelle hoverson
* fingerless gloves ("men's" version, with 4 added stitches, on sz 7 dpns)
* knit with a wool/silk blend

Someday I'll get around to making myself a pair!

More fun projects are in the works, to be shown off when they're with their new owners... meanwhile we'll spend today digging out of the chaos and stumbling about that was this past weekend; dealing with down and out sick little girl (whose fever is gone and is much more sprightly than I this morning) and not getting anything done (including relaxing) that should be done on weekends.  phew - some days are just like that!

Here's wishing all a calm and accomplished week, by the grace of God!

(please ignore the chipped polish)

K can get terrible terrible dry hands... the girls have a tendency to go running out side without mittens (and I have the tendency to not get them back in and make them put some on), so after a day of running to the car in -10 degrees, even with hands in pockets, the moisture just gets sucked out into the dry air.

Now, it's not -10 anymore (thank heavens!), but I finished up these handwarmers for K after she requested them for her birthday... I actually gave them to her on the day as they were knit - flat (P1, K3) - then sewed the sides up after I could measure on her hand where to put the hole for the thumb.

I was also hoping they'd be good for holding moisture after applying lotion, but I'm not sure if we've tested that yet.  The yarn is a wool/silk blend, and the pattern is Leigh Radford's "fingerless gloves".. which I also made for sis-in-law in a soft brown/grey for Christmas (and didn't take a picture).  Third time was the charm for finding a good fingerless glove pattern I liked.

I'd like a pair myself, with the hope that spring will someday come, and although I'd really like to knit them in the round on DPN's (and not have to seam), I'm not sure I have the patience for that; knitting flat is so much faster!  For me, with my sz. L men's hands, I'll add at least one more pattern repeat, probably 2.  For K, I just make the pattern as given, and they're a tiny bit big (but quite stretchy).

I'm kinda getting into my head to start up some sewing projects, have been also inspired greatly by this little website to keep up the rubber stamp creating... so we'll see what this slow icy lope into spring brings around these parts!