Odila Cape and Other Things

Nov 16, 2016 | DIY, Family, Farm, Knitting, Yarn Along | 3 comments

Joining Ginny and Nicole.

I’ve included photos of the finished Odila pullover cape. Eddie loves it and she decided to let me add the pocket. I’m glad. It looks so much better with one. You might notice her eyes are a tad red-rimmed in the photos. She threw one of her epic tantrums ten minutes prior to us walking outside and thus the worse-for-wear look about her.

My chipped manicure, on the other hand, for that I have no excuse.

I received my Quince and Co Tern in Dusk for my Hollows shawl and I had to knit up a few swatches before figuring out the needles size required to get as close to gauge as possible. I was going to start on it yesterday but on Sunday I volunteered to knit up a quick test knit for one of my favorite designers, Sam Lamb, so I’ll most likely start the shawl later in the week. Her designs are simple, cozy and always include the perfect amount of color work: just enough to make the design interesting and fun but not so much that you feel intimidated or feel like you’re committing to a project that is going to take FOR-EV-ER. Naturally, I had to purchase some new worsted weight yarn for said project so I stopped by my LYS and picked up Dream In Color Classy in Prince William. I am in love. It’s soft. It’s squishy. It has a funny name. All the important characteristics of a good yarn.

Yes, I cover my couch in blankets everyday, all day because little children have little grubby hands and if they ruined my perfect, beautifully crafted Pottery Barn couch I don’t know if I would have it in me to continue loving them.

Temperatures have dropped considerably this past week and every afternoon around 4:00PM, just before sunset, a heavy fog rolls in and blankets the property. It’s eerie and beautiful all at once and one of the many reasons why I love this time of year.

Tutus and Mating Season

Nov 8, 2016 | DIY, Family, Farm, Knitting, Yarn Along | 2 comments

Joining Ginny and Nicole.

As I sit here typing and drinking  a very strong cup of black tea (because mama needs her some caffeine STAT), I feel like I’m taking a deep breath for the first time today. The kids are napping. All of them. It took over a half hour to put them all down because they all had meltdowns as soon as we came home from our morning outing. Daylight savings has really thrown us for a loop, nap-wise and being gone all last week for my sister’s wedding didn’t help us much. It didn’t rain for the first time in ten days so I took the kids to a public park and let them run around for an hour. We met up with friends who have kids around the same ages as mine, which is nice, because I’m all about sneaking in some adult time when I can.  I tried knitting for a bit but Caleb was fussy and wanted to be held. I read knitting blogs written by these amazing moms who seem to find a chance to knit wherever they are, no matter how many babies they have, and I wonder, how do they do it? Even a mindless project, like a sock, doesn’t get more than a row or two added before I’m dropping it to fix a shoe, or help someone down from the climbing wall, or rip open a cereal bar wrapper.

I feel like I’ve been in a knitting rut this past month. I have been hesitant to start a “big” project (which means a project that isn’t a sock or a hat) because these dang babies take up so much of my time, and I don’t want to have a project that should only take a month to complete end up taking six months. However, I’m bored. Gabe’s socks are dragging on and on because I don’t feel much like knitting stockinette for ten inches straight. Perhaps if his feet were shorter and daintier? But who wants a husband with dainty feet? I digress. Anyway, I knit the poncho for Eddie which turned out beautifully, but I have yet to take photos of it. I will. I promise. Just give me time. I decided a shawl might be a nice middle ground, and so I ordered some Quince and Co Tern in a lovely lavender color for this Hollows Shawl by B. Mandarines. I follow her on Instagram but this will be my first time trying out one of her patterns. I’m quite excited.

My mother was running errands with Eddie a few weeks ago and they popped into Joanne’s for some fabric. While in the store they discovered  ready-made tutus for sale and my mother decided it was her duty to buy Eddie some. Two to be exact. Apparently Eddie put one on, and felt that the fluff factor was not enough, so she requested two of them. She has been wearing them non-stop over her clothing for days and let me tell you, she feels gorgeous in those tutus. I know this because every time she sees her reflection in a mirror, she stops, turns to view herself from all angles, and then proclaims “I’m gorgeous!” To have that level of confidence…I envy her.

The deer have been acting…funny…lately. We have five or six that roam our property but they are all female. A two point buck has been hanging around these past few weeks and he’s been sniffing around the older doe in a way that leads me to believe he’s quite taken with her. Last week it was pouring rain and instead of taking shelter under the apple trees like they normally do, all the females sat down in the open grass and just…stared at one another. They did this for hours. It was a little disconcerting, to be honest. Later that night, around one in the morning, they woke me up because they were chasing one another outside my bedroom window and one of them was making these weird screeching noises. It was terrible. I’m thinking this whole mating season has brought out some strange behaviors. I’ll be glad when it’s over.