Weekending

This weekend it rained like the end of the world. So I sat at home with my boys. Here's how I've kept my hands busy since Friday:


Toddlers comparing handknit socks.


Applejack - ravelry details here.


Twilight Sparkle - ravelry details here.


Rainbow Dash - ravelry details here.


I've spun a bobbin worth of yarn every day for four days. It feels really good (at look at how consistent my yarn is getting! Yay!). This will all be dyed and possibly chain-plied. I'm just not sure what I want to do with it yet.


The Beast now has a *pair* of socks. He picked out color for the second one.

Now I'm working on a pair of red-and-sparkle socks for the Imp, as per his request. I love these kids and their crazy sense of style.

Much.

That has been a good word for this week - much. We've had much fun, much frustration, much success, just - much.

The Elf is doing better with his studies. We've found a rhythm for now and I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. We had a math breakthrough today. The lovely Tracey told me about a math program that might work for us. Since researching it I've tried to find ways to incorporate their concepts into our math. It works! My goodness, it works! He was doing a word problem this morning and couldn't understand it no matter how I explained it. Once we dug out some Lego blocks he very clearly *saw* how it works. Brilliance!

So yes, my life has revolved around homeschool this week, it seems. But I've kept busy in other ways, too.


The Imp has been scared to sleep. I have no idea why, but we instituted a "magic potion" (LuSa Organics sleeping potion) every night before bed - just a dab on his chest. It seems to help. He was still reluctant so I told him about dreamcatchers and he immediately wanted one of his own. Being the mom that I am, I stayed up until 12:22am making this dreamcatcher so that it would be there when he woke up. His little brother, the Beast, of course wants whatever the Imp has. So I've told them that the two beads are for the two of them. It works, they're happy.


I finished the sock. Whee! It used up every scrap of that ball of yarn - which was the idea. The Beast has requested a pair of socks now. I've started in on my yard sale stash. I also made another "sonic" screwdriver. This is the one I made for the Beast a while ago. He and the Imp were arguing over it so I made another. Of course, now no one can find it.


Would you believe that last night I got out Dervish and spun yarn for the first time this year? I'm pretty sure it's true. My hands are cramped but it felt so good to be spinning again. I'm going to put aside some time every couple of days (if not more often) to indulge. This bobbin due to be dyed and then plied. I'm waiting until I have a couple of hanks so that they'll all be the same colorway.


The ponies. Two of three. They aren't quite done yet as they still need their "cutie marks" on their flanks. You really wouldn't believe how much these boys love My Little Pony. I scoured the internet and found some small cowboy hats that will hopefully work for Applejack. The purple unicorn is meant to be Twilight Sparkle (before she got her wings).

So yes. This is my life.
(linking up with Linda)

Weekending.

For a low-key weekend, this one seemed pretty busy.

Saturday was the yarn yard sale at my favorite local yarn store. My youngest and oldest went with me. For $11.50 I scored a mess of sock yarn. Much of it is in small quantities, but since I'm thinking kiddo socks, I don't care. Also, I have no intention of making matching pairs. Ever, if I can help it.

The haul (before I rewound it all neatly):


After that we ran errands - everything was done before noon. The rest of the weekend I spent knitting, watching Doctor Who, watching B play video games, playing video games myself - generally relaxing.

The purple unicorn I was working on for the Beast's birthday has multiplied (still using Linda's pattern).


I can't work on them much while he's awake - their shapes are becoming too obvious. In between horses I finished my first every *pair* of socks.


(Ravelry notes here)

These are for me and I'm told that they likely won't last very long since there's no nylon in them. Maybe I'll stick them in a drawer and save them for when it gets cold - I wear socks to bed in the winter. That should save them from too much wear.

The images in this post, I'm afraid, look terrible. I overcompensated for the overcast skies with a too slow shutter speed. Blame my laziness and attempts to hide the horses from prying eyes for me not reshooting.

Yarn Along

Linking up with Ginny.



Knitting a unicorn (as mentioned in my previous post) and a sock. Amazingly, despite following this formula, my sock seems to be a bit big. Oh well. I had to frog the toe once already because I got the crochet cast on wrong. I made the mistake of just following the written instructions rather than looking for a video. It worked much better the second time.

Reading? Well, a bunch of books for the Elf's homeschooling. I'm still setting up the crusades and an intro to biology. Listing the books and websites would be.. tedious at best. I did recently finish Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers. It was recommended to me by an awesome lady and I enjoyed it very much.

And now my monsters are demanding dinner. Whee!

Busy hands.

This is what I've been doing:


I finished embroidering a gnome. The Elf thinks it's amazing. I think it looks haphazard. I'm still not sure which gnomes I'll swap, which I'll put in my Etsy shop, and which I'll leave around for the kids.


The Beast's birthday is at the end of April. He's currently in love with My Litle Pony (don't laugh, okay - it isn't violent and actually sends a decent message most of the time). I'm using Linda's unicorn/pegasus pattern. This will eventually be Twilight Sparkle. If I can find suitable colors I know he'd like some of the other ponies as well.


A sock. Or, the toe of a sock. I'm trying a toe-up with a short row heel. Only.. it's way too big for the littles and probably too small for B or myself. So.. it may never be a sock. It may be frogged to become a better sized sock.


I was so excited about these gloves. I'm a huge BSG fan. So finding a pattern for dradis inspired gloves was magical. I used a gift certificate given to me at christmas to indulge in Malabrigo Rios yarn (way out of my normal budget). Sadly, after knitting one glove I can tell you that it doesn't fit well and my stripes seem extremely off center. The off-centerness seems to be just part of the pattern, though. I'll be frogging this glove. Perhaps when it's closer to cool weather again I'll give it another try in something more solid colored - and with a much smaller needle. (Ravelry notes here)

Aside from that I've been trying to eek out a science curriculum for the Elf. I was thinking about having him study the human body. But then I ran into the dilemma of if I should start with biology (with an extended visit to the human body). With that in mind, I guess I'm looking for a place to start. Cells, maybe.

We're also about to hit the crusades in history. I have a particular interest in the crusades. It was a bloody, horrible time. But it is *fascinating* to me. Maybe because I don't have anything that could be called religious fervor. Maybe because it's been romanticized and some of my favorite books and movies (and games!) relate to that time period in some way, shape, or form. I don't know. But I find it most enjoyable to research. I will admit that I'm unsure of how to relate it to a ten year old and even less sure of where to start and what to skip over. I will say that he's very mentally mature when it comes to this sort of thing and he already knows some basics. Also, a friend pointed out to me John Green's Crash Course World History. The Elf has been *asking* to watch these nonstop. Score!

Anyway, that's where my thoughts have been while my hands have been busy. Linking up with Nicole's Crafting On post.

Hoodie and pegs

First of all, I want to thank everyone that read and/or commented yesterday on my homeschooling rant. The comments, emails, phone calls, Ravelry messages - they all mean more to me than I can possibly tell you. With your wonderful support, I feel more equipped to handle things today. So thank you. All of you.

On a lighter note, I finished the Beast's hoodie.

(Ravelry notes here.)

I added the wonderful buttons today. If you're in the market for super light wooden buttons at an incredible price (and from sincerely nice people), you should check out WearHouse Industries.

The peg doll muse has visited me in the last day or so. I joined another amazing swap (you still have time to sign up!) and worried that I wouldn't be able to create something amazing. And then, fiddling with some yarn and a few DPNs, I came up with these:



They're a bit like my wolf-kin from the first peg doll swap I participated in. What can I say, I have this thing for adding animal ears and tails (especially tails) to humanoid figures. I brought myself up on fantasy novels and anime. I suppose it shows.

Joining up with Linda for Creative Friday.

Homeschool Woes

I don't know where to start this.

The Elf is ten. He's in fifth grade. I think. Ugh. That makes me sound like a totally negligent parent. We don't put a lot of stock in grades, we work at his level and at his pace. Which may well be the problem.

This is going to be a total ramble. I applaud you if you make it through this mess.

We don't use a curriculum. We can't afford one. Not even really parts of one. So I've been muddling through since kindergarten with him. We tried to unschool, but that didn't work for us. Not totally, anyway. He taught himself to read, mostly. But he doesn't have.. interests. I'd try to "strew" books from the library. He might have glanced at some of them but if he could classify it as "school" it was met with scorn. So I turned to ambleside and classical learning (minus all the religion). But it's literature intensive. And while he can read it - he isn't absorbing much of anything. At least not that we can tell.

So I've cobbled together this and that over the years. I don't think it's working. If something cataclysmic happened and he had to attend school tomorrow, it would be bad. And that's just speaking academically. B tells me that I focus on the negative. I do. I know that. But let me run down this list for you, just because. The Elf doesn't know the days of the week in order (he's getting better), the months of the year (or how many there are), our phone numbers, the continents (and sometimes the difference between a continent, country, and city), the alphabet in order. And on and on. No amount of memorization practice has improved things. It's not the end of the world, I know. But it might give you some insight into my turmoil. He's a great calculator (despite not knowing his times tables, either) but has no idea *why* he's doing what he's doing. Told, step by step, what to do - no problem. Asked to find the percent of a number and I'm met with grunts, groans, and half-started words.

Science is laughable. We tried using Botany in a Day and various websites. That worked for a little while, but neither of us is terribly sure how to identify anything we find (it doesn't help that none of the resources are specific to the American Southeast - and it was winter). I've gotten a book from the local forestry people about native trees. So I have that to try out. We've tried using Herbal Roots Zine but can't find many of the plants locally and can't afford to buy all the supplies and things (or the zine itself anymore). But "real" science? Not a clue.

Getting random books from the library isn't helping because I don't know where to start or what to do. He's not interested in anything remotely scientific. He doesn't care how or why things work. And science curriculum options are so out of our budget that it isn't even funny any more. We have a bunch of books full of experiments. We've done some of them, but he'll admit that he doesn't know why we did or why they work - which makes it a failure as a learning tool.

We use The Story of the World for history. I've bought the books and activity books (which is about as far as we go financially). I supplement with things from the internet and books from the library. So I think I've got history at least mostly covered. It's the only thing I'm remotely okay with (it helps that I'm a history person). But he's never written a report, researched anything. I'm lost on how to teach him those things. When I was young we used an actual card catalog at the library and had to write everything ourselves. With the internet - Google, Wikipedia - is it even worth trying to teach it anymore? Of course it is, but do you see my despair?

I've spent most of my time consoling myself with the fact that we're teaching the practical, actually useful things. But what if he wants to go to college? Take the SATs? It would be a nightmare. There are gaps big enough to get lost in.

I'm overwhelmed by the extent of human knowledge. I don't know where to start. Curling up into a ball in a dark corner and weeping sounds good except that I know it won't actually accomplish anything. Top all of this with the fact that I need to start officially teaching the Imp in two years (and wanted to try and include the Beast with him since they're only about 1.5 years apart in age) and it's a miracle that I haven't gone completely nuts yet.

So is this a rant? A cry for help? Brain vomit? Probably. All of the above. Sigh. If you do comment, please be kind. This was very hard for me to write, to admit to the world. I'm feeling insanely vulnerable.

Late Yarn Along

Linking up late with Ginny.


I'm knitting another Odette Hoodie, this time for the Beast (and upon his request, too). He wanted one exactly like his brother's. I've made this one smaller and added some dishcloth patterning (details here) to keep it interesting (also, we're all becoming fans of Doctor Who, whether we want to or not).


These pictures were taken yesterday morning. I'm nearly done with button band now and the buttons I ordered have already arrived (lovelovelovelovelove the buttons!).


I'm also working on some ideas for a peg doll swap. I highly encourage you to go and sign up for it as it's being hosted by one of my favorite people. Since this photo, I've had some new and different ideas. It's likely that two posts in one day would break the fabric of space and time, I'll try to get to it tomorrow.

Would you believe that I'm not reading anything? I was in the middle of Barnheart by Jenna Woginrich but it was due back at the library so I couldn't finish it. I'm about to spend all of my free time searching for some homeschooling solutions. A rant may follow later (time and space be damned) as it's likely to all prove to be too much for me. Maybe someone out there will have some advice or encouragement after my sorry tale is told. But first, breakfast and coffee are definitely in order.

Delayed

I started this post yesterday. I've been so scattered.

To sum up the ramble that I'm about to delete: The Imp is much improved. He still has to finish his antibiotics, but is up and crazy as usual.

The rain finally stopped. It rained from at least Friday through Tuesday morning. It's so nice to see the sun again.

Emmaline is done! She took many days to dry and I think I've gotten most of the cat hair off of her (hey, all that frogging encourages mess). Here she is:



She's late to the party, but she'll be on her way soon.

In the meantime, I broke a rule. I broke the "I'll never knit a sock" rule. And I feel stupid because of it. Shortly after his illness became less scary, the Imp started to complain about the seams in his socks. I'll allow myself embarrassment and more for the comfort of my kids.



I've begun and frogged a ridiculous number of sock attempts. This one was knit using the Just Plain Socks pattern. Within two minutes of taking this picture, I frogged the sock. My Imp might grow into it in three years. I'm unwilling to wait that long. Also, I'm using a partial ball of sock yarn (because I'm not a sock yarn person) so I probably don't have enough. I probably ought to be using size 2 needles, too. Which I don't own. So yeah.

I'm almost done with The Death Relic. I need to review it and am unsure how. I have mixed things to say about it.

Linking up for the Yarn Along.

Emmaline and her special destiny.

Okay, so obviously (to some) I've been watching a great deal of BSG.

Let me tell you a story. I started knitting Emmaline on Thursday the 14th for a dear friend's birthday (hoping that I'd have it finished and on it's way to her by her birthday). On the 19th it looked like this.



Less than five minutes later it looked like this.



And now, three days later and more than a few rip-backs. It looks like this.



I'm hoping beyond hope that things are sizing properly now. During all of this, the Imp has been sick. We've taken him to the doctor for the first time in two years. He's on antibiotics and we're praying that it doesn't need to get any more serious than that. To say that I've been sleepless and worried would be a ridiculous understatement.

In the meantime, look what I got in the mail yesterday!



Can you believe this amazing Scottish lad? The amazing Laura of Under Rainbows made him especially for me. I don't have the words for how perfect he is. My boys were enthralled as I took him out of his packaging. The two youngest were anxious to hold him (and remove his clothing - what's up with that?). I'm reluctant to share him (my boys are of the wild and crazy variety), but am willing to pass him around for love and hugs.

Book Tour!

Today I have the honor of sharing an amazing book written by a lovely and talented woman: Making Peg Dolls by Margaret Bloom!



My boys and I have been the lucky recipients of more than a few peg dolls made by Margaret in the past. Upon receiving a copy of Making Peg Dolls my youngest two boys immediately set off to match their peg dolls to the ones in the photographs. It continues to be a game they indulge in from time to time. My oldest son, the Elf, has placed bookmarks for all the projects he wants to make (and let me assure you, there are a lot of bookmarks in there). For the purpose of this post he chose to make a cat from the Halloween project. We're cat lovers, what can I say?





He couldn't stop at just one, though. He immediately dove into making the knight as well. While sewing he began to tell me all of the ways he would adapt the patterns to be other things (woodsman turned Robin Hood, for example). All the while our Imp stood near him inquiring "is it done? Can I play with the cat yet?"



Peg dolls are an amazing doorway to imagination - and not just for kids! Our collection of gnomes and other peg dolls have wide and varied adventures. They farm, rescue princesses, fight super villains, wait tables, run shops. I've seen more creative play with these small bits of wood and wool than I have with any other toys during the past ten years of being a mother. My boys, even the younger two, often remark that their handmade toys are more fun. Or more durable. Or the only toys not broken in the house.

Whether this is your first introduction to peg dolls or just another step a life-long love of them, Margaret's new book deserves a special place in your home and on your shelves.

Be sure to visit these other wonderful blogs for more of the Making Peg Dolls blog tour!
February 4th: The Crafty Crow
February 5th: The Magic Onions
February 6th: The Toymaker
February 7th: Clean
February 8th: Anna Branford
February 11th: Red Bird Crafts
February 12th: Art is a Way
February 13th: Softearth's World
February 14th: Chocolate Eyes
February 15th: Rhythm and Rhyme
February 18th: Wild Faerie Caps
February 19th: Sacred Dirt

For more information about the book, links to purchase, and an amazing stop-motion trailer for the book, visit Margaret's blog here.

More bowls (tutorial)

I've been knitting and felting more bowls. I've used bulky yarn, worsted held double, and handspun. I looked at a great many free patterns to see how they were making bowls. The most common construction element was the part I didn't want to do - knit the bottom and pick up stitches. I've gotten over it. Here's my basic recipe for knitting a bowl with the intention of felting it.

If using bulky yarn or worsted held double, I recommend an 8mm circular needle. I think mine is 16 inches long but I'm not sure. You could also use DPNs. It may not be obvious, but you should be using 100% wool. I wish I could tell you an amount, but I've been using scraps and just sort of winging it.

First, knit a square in garter stitch. You want to knit roughly twice as many rows as you have stitches. That is, if you want it to me somewhat circular/square (depending on how and if you block it). This is where you could change things up. Add more rows or knit less and you've got something more rectangular or oval. Increase towards the middle of the piece and then decrease again, make a triangle, get creative.

When you're happy with the base, pick up stitches around the remaining edges. At first I tried really hard to keep the same number of stitches for each side but.. honestly, it doesn't really matter. Pick up enough stitches to not leave huge gaps. At this point, begin knitting in the round.



Knit straight up. Change colors, throw in some charts, make it all one color, add some beads. When you've reached the height that you want, or you're close to running out of yarn, bind off with an applied i-cord. I really like the rounded edge that creates. You can weave in your ends and be done here. Or you can add some i-cord handles (or any handles, really). Sew them on and admire your floppy bowl. At this point my kids and I like to put the bowls on our heads and laugh at each other.

Once done, throw the bowls in your washing machine (I have a top-loader and wouldn't know what to do with a front-loader, sorry!). I set the washer to a hot/cold cycle on the lowest water setting and the heaviest wash cycle. I leave the lid open so that it doesn't rinse and spin right away. I'll check the bowls and restart the cycle if necessary. When I'm satisfied with how the bowls are looking, I close the lid and let the cycles finish. I don't block my bowls exactly. I form them into shapes while still damp and leave to dry.



Some yarn turn seriously fuzzy after going through the wash. We have a super industrial dog hair clipper set. I use that to shave the fuzz until the fabric is nice and smooth. Voila! You are done.

Yarn Along

I meant to post this yesterday for Nicole's Crafting On series. But.. I didn't. For various reasons.

At any rate, here's what I've been working on:


Two bowls from leftover bulky yarn. Not enough to make anything worthwhile. And it turns out that these are kind of addictive. I looked over a bunch of patterns, saw how it was generally done, and winged it from there.


The Beast wanted to show these with some of his critters (made using Linda Dawkins' wonderful patterns).


Here's another that's waiting to be felted. It was knit from two strands of worsted yarn.


Still working on this hippo. Why, of why did I pick lace weight yarn?!


Microgreens shooting up. I didn't use the "proper" sunflower seeds (I used bulk-meant-for-eating seeds). I'm not sure how these will taste or when, exactly I should harvest them. I'll be Googling that today, I guess.


From Friday through Monday I spent every free moment working on gnomes for the shop. I ran out of felt, can you believe that? My regular source isn't stocking any more so I've had to seek alternate places. It's more expensive and hopefully at least equal quality. Sadly this means that all gnomes listed after 2/15/13 will be $4.50 each rather than $4 each. Which, if you shop around on Etsy, isn't an unreasonable price. Anyway, buying the felt spent all of my "chicken money." I realize you have to spend money to make money, but it's still depressing.

Reading! I forgot to take a picture of what I'm reading. Oops. Currently I'm reading Made from Scratch by Jenna Woginrich (I picked up two of her other books from the library yesterday) and The Death Relic by Chris Kuzneski (a LibraryThing Early Reviewer book).

Linking up with Ginny for the Yarn Along.

Creative Friday

Or should we say Peg Doll Friday? We've been much inspired by Margaret's new book! Look for my post in her blog tour on the 18th!

While I was doing this:

The Beast was doing this:

When he finished, the Imp took over and painted everything he could get his hands on.

I've already set up my first "I will have chickens, dammit!" order of peg dolls! So excited! What's even better is that it's a recurring customer who is always great to work with. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get some of the gnomes I worked on today photographed and listed in the shop.

Would you believe I've hardly touched my knitting needles? I even took gnome hats to "late night knitting" tonight to sew.

Linking up with Linda for Creative Friday.

On the Up.

I've written this post so many times and deleted it just as many. I'm still finding the borders of how much I want to share here. Let's just say that there has been a great deal of mental and emotional turmoil in my head lately. The stress of that has caused all manner of physical problems, not the least of which is how I've been handling interactions with my kids.

Today at lunch I was talking with B and everything just clicked into place in my head. There have been times I've found peace these last few weeks, the moments when I don't feel overwhelmed and they all have something in common. I think I need to be following my passion. As an amazing woman wrote about recently, I've been letting my fear direct me, prevent me, control me.

I find my center when I'm reading about homesteading. I read things like Made From Scratch, Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep, From Scratch, and a slew of blogs. My heart sings when I read about families and their gardens and animals.

So what's the problem? I don't live on acreage with skills and knowledge and friends and.. right. See, I let myself become bitter. I told myself that I couldn't have the life I want just because it wasn't being handed to me. Yes, I'm a thirty-two year old who occasionally thinks like a spoiled child.

Where am I going with this? B and I talked at lunch. I've (we've?) decided that this year, I will have chickens. Come hell or high water, as they say. Or maybe Guineas. But birds, dammit.

This leaves me with challenges to overcome. I need to make money to pay for birds, their food, their housing. I need to clean up the backyard. I need to read and research. We have no tools to speak of, no woodworking experience, no farm experience, no animal care beyond cats and a dog. Any tips, ideas, suggestions will be heartily appreciated. I'll be churning out some assorted gnomes (really the only thing to sell in my sad little Etsy shop) to help raise money.

For those of you that have sloughed through this dull-to-everyone-but-me post, here are pictures of random things from the past week.

(these are sunflowers. Microgreens here we come!)

Colorwork.

This was my first attempt at stranded, woven colorwork on a large project. It was knit on large needles for felting purposes. Because of that, prior to felting, the colorwork had.. issues. You could see my carries through the stitches in some place. After running it through the washing machine, though, I think it looks pretty good.

Before:

After:

I haven't made a Ravelry entry for it yet. So here are the details.
Yarn: Malabrigo worsted
Needles: US 10
Bag pattern: Learn to Felt a Project Bag
Robot chart: Robot Hat
Tardis chart: Doctor Who Fair Isle
Sheep (on the handle - it didn't turn out very clear): Stranded Sheep Scarf

Now, of course, I'm without a fun! new! exciting! project. So I'm a bit miserable and making everyone around me crazy.