Yarnin' Along, Garden Style

My knitting has slowed lately!  So sad!  I finally started on a sweater for Andrew with yarn I purchased last summer at a fiber fest.  It's a hand dyed, one ply wool and it is seriously delicious.  It's wonderful to knit.  I am using the Jones & Vandermeer Nathan Vest pattern.  It's super easy, but turns out a classy sweater vest.

My mom bought the kids a fabulous gardening book:  Kids First Gardening Book  This is definitely our new favorite book!  As I write, the kids are making a "wormery" with Andrew.  This afternoon, the kids and I made a fun herb planter.  This book is chocked full of wonderful gardening ideas!  So fun.

We've been gardening like crazy people here on our tenth of an acres urban plot.  If you want an eight year olds perspective, Grace is blogging it at www.graceblog03.blogspot.com

(Yarning Along with Ginny!  Go check out the other great entries!)

Yarnin' Along, Again

Wow.  I haven't done a Yarn Along in a while.  Not that I haven't been knitting.  Most of my recent projects were Christmas gifts and, therefore, not bloggable.  But I have picked up the needles again, after a short break from Christmas overload!

I knit these fun fingerless gloves for PeterXavier and was quickly bombarded with requests from the other children.  Thankfully, they're a rather quick knit.  Christopher has a pair as well, now, and Gracie has some on the needles.  They fancy-schmancy hand painted yarn I am using for her's is a bear to work with, so they are slow going.  I can't wait to finish them and be rid of that yarn!

Last night I bought some yummy soft pink Lanaloft to make Bella some gloves.  I can't wait to dig into that yarn.

As for reading, it's all been on my awesome new Kindle Fire.  In the past couple weeks, I have read the first two books on the Hunger Games trilogy.  Without being a spoiler, what's your take on these books?  They seem to beg discussion :)

Don't forget to visit Ginny for more Yarn Alongs!

DIY Extravaganza

My parents got me a Kindle Fire for Christmas and it's pretty much the coolest thing I've ever owned.  But the poor naked little thing needed a cover.  Have you priced those things?  Um, gag.  Wow.  

So I pulled out my scissors, my sewing machine, and my goodwill bag and viola!

Totally awesomely free Kindle cover!

(Sure is cuter than the cloth diaper I was wrapping it in before!)

And speaking of free (and why my goodwill bag runneth over) . . . 

My fantastically organized closet!  Andrew spent a large portion of his Christmas break revamping my seriously disorganized too-messy-for-before-pictures closet into this thing of beauty.

 

He re-purposed a load of old pallets and it is amazing!  As an added bonus of wonderful - it didn't cost a dime!  (Except to the stud finder we had to buy since the kids broke the old one.  Oops)  Love it!

Christmas Ornaments

 This afternoon, we cranked up the Advent music and set to work making Christmas ornaments.  I set out to just do salt dough, but then decided to try cinnamon ornaments and I am so glad I did!

The kitchen smelled fantastic and the ornaments turned out very pretty.

Grace got out her stamp set to decorate her ornaments.  Cute!!

Monday Morning Musings

It's still a little dark outside and, amazingly, my house is quiet.  Most everyone is still sleeping and Avila is snoring on my lap.  She always pops up when I wake up, but generally isn't really ready to be awake.  So today, she chose to sleep on top of me.

We're only a week out from Christmas and, per usual, I feel totally unprepared.  One day, I'll be on my game and get everything finished in July so that I can really savor Advent.  One day.

I was really proud of our ability this year to make about 90% of our gifts.  A few for the kids will be purchased (I can't make books or boots!) and some were bartered from artisans and crafters on etsy.  I was proud, until a read my sister in laws blog and she made ALL of their gifts.  She always beat me :)  But, she's a veritable wonder-woman!

My week will be spent with my knitting needles and and sewing maching finishing up this and that.  Hopefully everything will come together without too many long, late nights! 

Craft Show Mania

Craft Lafayette! was fun!  I would say I was moderately successful in the sales department, but really, the fun was hanging out with great people.  How could it not be fun, when my spot was book-ended with my fun sister (and my mom!) and the wonderful Angie?!

It was great to chat with so many talented crafters!  It was also inspiring to be surrounded by so much talent!  I was humbled, though, when I came home and added or was added to Etsy circles (akin to "friends" on facebook), to see the talent of some of the customers!  My initial reactions was "Why would someone so talented buy from me?!?"  It really was a fun experience and I hope to do it again sometime soon!

Craft Lafayette! - the final sprint

Sorry for the lack of posting.  It's been all craft fair all the time around here.  Well, that's not entirely true, we've just been extremely busy and Craft Lafayette! has been looming in front of me, moving ever closer.

Some of us are pretending to be in craft fair mode.  I cut quilt squares for my sewing class at the kid's co-op and the scraps were quickly commandeered by my little apprentice(s).

Today I have been working on packaging and layout.  And praying that I actually have enough stuff!

Have you done a craft show?  Any words of wisdom?  Pitfalls to avoid?

Aren't these yarn bowls gorgeous?  I'll be selling them on behalf of a fantastic potter.

If you're a local, be sure to come out and visit all of the wonderful and talents crafters at Craft Lafayette!

And now, back to the grindstone.  

My Crafty Musing

Time slowed today and it was wonderful.  Andrew took the day off for me to relax a bit after his absence last week and to give me a chance to catch up on all that was so far behind.  It was a cold and rainy day, so it was delightful not to have to go out into the elements.  He ran the kids to their activities while I stayed home.

Craft Lafayette! is approaching much more quickly than my little fingers can create.  Yikes.  I spent my free hours sewing and beading.  I was productive, which is nice, but still a bit behind crafty wise.  None the less, my time spent in the craft room was worth more than the items I produced.

Creating can be so satisfying.  We are currently seeing a resurgence \of hand crafts which is wonderful.  With the internet and specific sites such as etsy and artfire the small, hand crafted business is much more accessible.  I think this is an especially appealing venue for the stay at home mom.  But I believe the appeal goes far beyond the "flexible work hours" or the notion of "working from home".  While I am sure success and pocket money are great benefits, I wonder if the benefitial act of creating actually far outweighs the others. 

So much of a mother's day is spent working on mundane tasks -- extraordinarily important, but mundane none the less.  And a great deal of a mother's work is immediately undone.  That dreaded laundry pile -- does it ever really disappear?  The dishes in the sinks seem to instantly reappear the moment I finished washing.  And I am convinced that it is impossible for all seven of the tummies in my house to be satisfied simultaneously!

When it comes to creating, the end is attainable, visible, and complete.  When your item is finished, it can't be undone in the sense of a dirty dish or a pair of soiled jeans.  (Although, a toddler pulling out my knitting has caused me great strife!).  I would posit that that sense of completion and gratification is, in large part, why so many mothers are drawn to craft.

I would even venure to say that there is a need within us as humans to create.  God made us in His image and likeness and it was He who created all that is good.  In that same nature, creating is a good in which we should indulge.  It brings a sense of joy and beauty into the home and in that vein, it brings God into the home as well. 

Oh the glitter was worth it!

(Also known as "If you blog it, it's no longer crazy!")

A glittery project with the kids probably wasn't my brightest idea.  Especially at 7PM the evening after co-op, on the seventh day of a daddy-less week.  (He comes home to night - woo!)

The kids loved this project and, really, the results were worth it. 

 Starting in the evening was also good, because they could dry over night and be finished in the morning.  I gleaned this fantastic fall craft idea from This Cosy Life.  She has a great tutorial, so I won't go into to much detail here.

I watered down the glue a bit and the kids dipped the acorn caps into the glue before sprinkling them with the detested sparkly glitter.

I should add that we made some of these of the non-glittery variety and they were equally adorable.  In fact, they were a little more to my earthy, I'm-not-a-fan-of-glitter taste!  But the kids, they loved the glitter (of course).

I drilled holes in the top and the acron caps.  Then we threaded cotton yarn through the caps and jingle bells.  **Tip: get the multi-size package of jingle bells so you can match the bells to the cap**

This was a great fine motor skills lesson.  My kids love to use needle and thread, so they were thrilled with this!

Beautiful fall necklaces!  I guess I failed to get a photo of the kids wearing their necklaces.  They've been jingling around the house all day!

Yarn Along - Help a (Birthday) Girl Out Edition

~ 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? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

What. The. Heck. happened to my hat??  Why on earth is it pointy?  I followed the pattern in Last Minute Knitted Gifts, and it doesn't look a thing like the beautiful hat in the pictures.

I think this could win the prize for "Stupidest Hat Ever Knit".  So, help me out -- where did I go wrong?  Admittedly, this my first attempt with DPNs and I wonder if my gauge tightened when I switched from circulars to DPN?

Please help me before I botch this one, too!


(For less ridiculous Yarn Alongs, visit Ginny!)

Co-op Day One -- Survived!

Today was the first day of the homeschooling co-op in which my kids have participated in the last couple years.  Despite the fact that we have been involved on and off since the begining, this is the first year I have taught a class.

Last night, I started wondering what was going on in my head when I volunteered!  Not that I wasn't not really looking forward to it -- I was!  What I had trouble understanding was why, exactly, I thought I could sew well enough to teach it!

After today's adventures in co-op, I still doubt my amateur sewing skills, but I must say, teaching those kids was a blast! 

Last night I finished up sewing each student a 98% finished bag.  Each bag had a little ribbon loop for a button closure, but no button.  So lesson number one -- sewing a button (as well as how to thread a needle and knot the thread).

And the kids got a kick out of the funky buttons Andrew made!

We also spent today's class learning a little bit about the history of sewing.  We started sewing a small needle holder as well, but ran out of time.  In the next couple weeks, we will finish up the small projects in the bag and each child will have a complete made-by-me (as in them, not me) sewing kit.

It was great fun and I am really looking forward to the year.

(If you think these made-by-me sewing kits are cute, I am pretty sure that after a little tweaking, they'll make an appearance in my Etsy Store as well as the  Craft Lafayette! craft fair in November)

What To Do When It's Too Dern Hot Out

The kids and I had a ball making fabric flowers this afternoon.  It was way to hot / humid to be out, so we set to work creating!

We loved these little rosettes from V and Co.  So sweet and so simple!  But watch out for that hot glue!

These super easy "scrunch flowers" from Little Miss Mama were fun to make as well.  Talk about instant gratification!

Bella trotted around with them on her shirt, but Grace preferred them in her hair.  

It would be fun to cluster a bunch on a shirt, too!  (That may be next -- these are addicting!)

We wrapped a bit of brown fabric around a dollar store headband, affix the flower with a dab of hot glue and, viola!  Cuteness!

These quick and easy flowers were a great boredom buster AND a great way to use up a bunch of scrap pieces of fabric!