A Basket of Happy

After our lovely, first-time ever traveling without our children weekend, I was anxious to get back to our garden.  I was worried what it might look like after no human presence in it for several days.   What I found was a basket of happy:

We all munched on peas, beans, raspberries, and a carrot last night and have lettuce all washed and waiting for us in the fridge.  I couldn’t have been more relieved and happy, except when we picked up the kids first and L3 met us at the door with full-body hugs.  He’d been watching the road for us eagerly.  The moment of reunion with him was sweet.  L4 was happy to see us, but she doesn’t feel the passage of time in the same way as her big brother.  I wonder if she even realized that days had passed since last we’d seen each other?

We have a to-do list a mile long for today after being gone all weekend and now that L1’s summer vacation has begun.   I’ll have a break in all the list-crossing-offness to gaze at some picture from our trip and relish some of those moments in my memory.

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Tour De Parks

This week we kicked off summer vacation by having a “park” week wherein we visited a different park/place every day.  And now it’s Friday and I’m exhausted!!  We’re heading out for our first EVER trip without our children for the weekend.  I’m hoping we return recharged and ready to deal with whatever sibling issues may arise. Have a lovely weekend!

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Signs of the Season: Burgeoning Green

My garden is growing, and I’m in awe of the changes I see in it.  For instance, here is my pea and bean bed on May 21st:

and here it is on June 22:

The seeds were put in in mid-to-late April. It’s amazing to me to see their growth.

Here is my onion bed, same dates:

And some shots from the rest of the garden:

I don’t tire of the cycle of life that unfold before me each turning of the Wheel. Some day I am out in the garden multiple times, touching, weeding, gazing. Soon to be harvesting multiple veggies! Though our summer solstice was dreary and wet, these first few days of summer in our area have been lovely and bright.

Wishing you all the same!

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Current Knitting Nemesis: Arm Sheaths

Or sleeves–whatever you want to call them.  I have two projects with sleeves in progress, one which I just finished one sleeve and still have one to go, and a fourth (not pictured) which has yet to have the sleeves begun because I’m still working on its body.  (Don’t dare suggest that I just stick to one project at a time!)

First, L1’s Avast sweater which has been around two years in the making, currently.  Why?  Because the man has ape arms and I just wasn’t motivated to work on the sleeves (and still am not).  Maybe in August or September I’ll pick it up again.

Yes, that’s an attack cat in there.

Second, the sleeves for my Apres Surf Hoodie, which is going to be made sans hood.  I’ve been working on this one almost a year now. The back and the front are done.  I have to knit the sleeves, do all sorts of joining and i-cord bind-offs, then pick up and knit the neck opening.

I might not finish in the year time slot because I have been working on the Whisper Cardigan instead this week.  I finished the first sleeve and am now working on the back for it.

And there is a certain birthday sweater for a certain going to be 8-year-old that I have to finish, too.  And I have some other projects that need to be started and completed around the one-year anniversary of the hoodless hoodie. Sleeves are not my favorite.  I know they’re small, but for some reason they feel tedious.  I don’t ever have second sock syndrome, but I do have sleeve sloth syndrome.  *sigh*  There could be worse things.

If you’re really interested in finding out more about all of those WIPS you can check out their project pages on Ravelry.  And since I haven’t said before, I’m willowluna on there, too.

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My Bliss: Outdoor Adventures

We try to get out-of-door in all the seasons–and in western, upstate NY, we do get all the seasons!  Recently we had our first bike-ride to the library of the season.  Unfortunately we didn’t take any pictures, but it was lovely.  L3 rode his bike all the way there and bike for the first time, a little over 8 miles round trip.  I loved how excited he was to ride and tried to contain my anxieties as we had to cross a couple of busy intersections with which the bike path intersects.  He loved “riding ahead” and stopped diligently at each crossing to wait for us.  Why were we so far behind the not-quite-8-year-old?  Because we were stopping to pick these:

They lined the bike path, along with some lovely purple clover. We should start seeing sweet peas along there soon. And dragonflies and butterflies. We’re already seeing all sorts of birds, including quite a few oriels.

We also love taking walks down to the bay by our home. On the most recent walk there we took a new path and wandered around in some giant reeds and found a giant tree, too.

Jasper especially loves when we wander down there. He just took his first swim of the year–and happily shook off on me when he clamored out of the water.

Ah, our “life is good moments” are all the sweeter when captured in photos for remembering. Wishing you and yours some lovely outdoor adventures of your own.

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Prototype Put to the Test

During my last give-away I had promised that some new produce/bulk food bags were coming soon to my Etsy shop.  Then they didn’t. I decided to change up the bags I was creating with my vintage sheets to make them their own line, different from the cotton muslin of my original bags.  Over the past few weeks while at the market I found that I preferred my bags without the drawstrings for the very large and bulky items like apples.  That led to a whole stream of consciousness about making new bags for the shop.  I had recently finished this shirt for L4 and the combination of that and thinking about a new design led to this:

Instead of a drawstring there are two centered handles that can be tied over bulky items like this:

but also held open like this to fill up:

Lately I’ve been using one to tote around my knitting–the bags can hold quite a lot, and when tied I have a sturdy carrying handle, too. So why so long without any in the shop? After making two prototypes I excitedly showed them to L1. He was not nearly as excited as I was and suggested they be tested. And so they have been extensively tested over the past couple of weeks and I can feel good about offering them in the shop.

That being said, expect to start seeing them in my shop next week!

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Failed Thrifting

I was all excited to write  a post about this dress:

It’s Dress E from Stylish Dresses.  It was a good challenge to make–bust darts, long front pleats, set-in sleeves, and neckfacing.  In the end I was relatively happy with how it turned out with all of those fun shaping techniques in one garment.  And I was super excited that I finally used some thrift fabric I picked up awhile ago–four yars for $4 or something like that.  And this, dear readers, is where my title comes in.  I wore that dress for one day, after I had finished it, and it was good. The sleeves were a bit more snug than I would have liked, and it was a bit shorter than I wanted, but it was light-weight and twirled nicely in a circle with L4.  And it had POCKETS!  Then I washed it.  Sadly it shrunk.  While I can still put it on, the sleeves are now very tight and it is about two inches shorter.  My failed thrifting dress has now been gifted to L4 who has it with her dress-up clothes and is happy as a clam about it.  I have learned my lesson–do NOT buy fabric if you are unsure of the fiber content.  I’m relatively certain at this point that my thrift fabric was at least partially synthetic, most likley rayon.  I generally just buy cotton or linen fabrics and will stick to that rule after this mishap.  And dress e from Stylish Dresses?  I may make it again someday, but first my sore heart and bruised ego must grieve.

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My Cup is Full

At last my Cup O’ Green is finished and photographed!  The final product is incredibly comfortable and I love the yarn.  First, some photographs for you, then the stats for those interested.

Stats:
Pattern: Buttercup by Heidi Kirrmaier

Yarn: Hempathy, color Vivid Green (017)

Needles: US 4s and US3s

I did make some modifications which can be read in my journal on Ravelry.  One of them included ripping out 3 inches or more after it was finished and blocked.  I just didn’t like the length.  It is now shorter and a bit less wide.  I LOVED the yarn.  It was so much softer on my hands that knitting with linen, but gives the same wonderful drape.  It bloomed in a lovely way after washing and is very soft.  It’s lightweight for warmer weather, but I think it will be great for layering in cooler weather.  I was so excited to knit this pattern that I dropped all other projects to make it.  It was worth it.  *happy sigh*

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Nature Rocks!

School is almost out here. In many places summer vacation has already begun. The past couple of summers we have had theme weeks to organize our time. This summer we’re having days like “Museum Monday” and “Adventure Wednesday.” We also hope to spend tons of time outside in the amazing park system in our area, as well as in our garden and on our bikes. I just found this site, Nature Rocks.  Want to plan an activity outdoors with some kids and not sure what to do?  Click on the activity tab, then enter in how much time you have, where you want to play, and the age range of the child.  The site then gives you a variety of activities.  There’s also a section that helps you find parks and wild places.  Check it out!

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A Lesson in Strategy

For me, that is.  I have slowly (too slowly, really) come to the realization that my children get along so much better when they have a cooperative task on which to work/play together.  As a social psychologist this should have dawned on me long ago–superordinate goals!  But I often find that all of my education and training is forgotten when it comes to the kids.  I get so caught up in the energy of the situation that I frequently don’t stop and think. Ah, the need for mindfulness–we meet again!

Last weekend I let mindfulness enter into the equation while L1 was out for the day.  I knew that if the kids didn’t become engrossed in an all-consuming activity, together, we were going to have a rough time–squabbling and crying for sure.  So I started creating an outdoor scavenger hunt for them and told them to get ready for it, complete with collecting bags.  L3 quickly realized he didn’t have what he considered to be an appropriate collecting bag.  What’s a mama to do?  Yes–make him one!  I whipped him up a bag to his specifications, included a flap.  Not only can he use it for treasure collecting, but it will also double for part of his Indian Jones dress-up ensemble.

When we at last tumbled into the bright sunshine of the day, the kids went to town, running all over, exploring the yard, showing each other their secret spots and tunnels through the vegetation and following their scavenger hunt list.  They had only gotten a small way through the list by the time L1 returned home and we had to leave for other activities.  It didn’t matter, though.  The L children had fun, peace reigned for the afternoon, and Mama remembered to breath.

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