This week.

How I've been spending my free time:


Carding fiber: 50% merino, 30% bamboo, and 20% tussah silk.


This is around 250 grams all carded and ready to spin.


More commercially dyed wool. This is a black 85% wool, 15% mohair mixed with bits of white. Familiar with Lamb's Pride by Brown Sheep? This is their roving.


These are also Lamb's Pride. I spun this as thin as I could and then chain plied it. I have another bobbin's worth to ply. I think it'll end up being at least 13 ounces of yarn. Wow!


This is the 50% local alpaca, 40% wool, 10% tussah silk that I posted about before. I dyed it with onion skins (and alum mordant). I have to say that I'm less than thrilled with the color. I was expecting.. something else. So I'm left to decide two things: over dye? leave as a single or ply it? I'm having major decision making problems lately.

Woolly weekend

I spent the vast majority of my weekend carding fibers and spinning. It was one of the best weekends in recent memory. I also finally boiled up my bag of onion skins to make dye.

I've turned this:

(this is actually fiber I still need to spin)

Into this:

(a single and it's chain-plied counterpart)


This is a 50/40/10 mix of local alpaca, wool, and tussah silk. I plan to dye it with the onion skins and ply it.

Recently the Imp began having worries about bad dreams. I give him a "potion" every night (lavender oil from Lusa Organics on his chest - just a dot) and we have a dream catcher on the wall. Now the Beast is fearing sleep. I've walked him to sleep several nights in a row while he verbally worries about dreams.

I want to give him (and his brother) a dream faerie. While walking the Beast I thought up a waldorf style doll. It would be between seven and ten inches tall. I'd knit them a little outfit. They would be filled with positive energy and my boys could keep them tucked in with them at night. I'd come up with a story for them - how the faeries guard against bad dreams or something. It all sounded so simple. So perfect. I even thought - what if they were more animal like. With cat or elf ears - a tail!

By the light of day I remember how much I really don't like sewing. How frustrating I find stuffing dolls and making hair. How could I possibly fill a doll with positive thoughts when I'm cursing every step of the way? So my next thought is to put out to you all that I'd be absolutely thrilled if someone wanted to set up a swap with me. I knit, crochet, spin yarn, mix herbal teas (I'm really enjoying a combination of rooibos, red raspberry, and nettle, with a pinch of peppermint), make salves, etc.

Unrelated, but worth mentioning. If I seem morose or withdrawn these days it's because I've been thinking. If things had been different, I'd likely be holding a newborn right now. In an attempt to not dwell I've been throwing myself into my spinning and preparing for the Beast's upcoming birthday (and B's a week later).

Why I love being an adult.

This is what I do at night after the boys go to bed: when we don't have to be role models and can unwind.


In front of me is my lovely wheel, Dervish, and B's video game (Fallout 3).


To my left, Pilot.


To my right, Ramses. Calcifer, whose back you can see on the table, later joined me in my chair. I don't believe in "proper spinning posture." I believe in comfy.


Also, I finished B's Vinnland sock. Ravelry details here. This is on my foot, though. My feet are larger than his, believe it or not.

The wool dilemma.

Yesterday the Elf bought a new (on clearance) megabloks set (it had a dragon and a guy with a sword - that's all the boys care about). It was bedtime when we got home so it was left in the box. This morning when B woke me up, the Elf was already awake (anticipation?). His brothers, upon waking, were told (by the Elf) that the new toy could not be opened until he was done with his school work. Imagine my shock - *I* certainly didn't make that rule. My ten year old "I hate school" little boy imposed this limit on himself. Wow. With only a few minor bumps along the way, his work was finished before lunch. They've been happily playing since.

What's a mom to do with that kind of gift? I made laundry soap, washed diapers, folded all the laundry that had been sitting in baskets, washed yarn that I'd dyed the day before.. and quested through my wool stash for inspiration (I may have also spent a considerable amount of time watching videos on Geek and Sundry).


This is a king sized bed. Let me just assure you that this is a lot of wool. I have a mess of other wool that isn't washed, but we'll ignore that for the moment. Among the bags of just-plain-wool I have: merino, tussah silk, bamboo, commercially dyed coloniel, local alpaca, Brown Sheep's Lamb's Pride roving, local "heritage" wool, and a couple bags of stuff I've dyed.

I was looking for inspiration. Instead I was a little overwhelmed.


With the help of my boys, we've decided that when I drag the drum carder out I should mix these to make a Master Chief inspired yarn.


Yesterday I dyed the last of my mostly-consistent-and-thin yarn. I'm not sure how I feel about this one. It's not what I had envisioned. The blue spots came out seriously blue, too. I'm going to re-skein at least one before I decide if I should overdye it.

Alas, I have decided to work on the socks I'm knitting rather than spin. I'll save the spinning for after the boys go to bed. Hopefully B will entertain me with some Fallout 3 as well (yes, okay, we love our video games).

I want to thank everyone who wished me well (in comments, emails, passing thoughts) concerning my last post. I really appreciate it. The truth is that I've been battling depression for most of my life. It's under control and most of the time I'm fine. Some days are really rough, though. Saturday was just one of those days. I've been trying to dig deep and work on some "me" things to change my default way of thinking and processing. It, like all things in life, is a work in progress.

I also wanted to share that I've finally changed the background image on my computer for the first time in.. oh.. at least five years. It was previously a very dark image that I think I found on DeviantArt many years ago. A city in silhouette on a hill. With a giant rabbit silhouette coming toward it. I always felt the rabbit was coming to destroy the city. Now, I'm feeling like crazy, strong, trying to make it through River Tam is the way to go. Also, I just love my Firefly/Serenity.

Life and other sundries.

I keep meaning to post here. And then I don't.

Our weekend:
Saturday I battled wretched depression and spent most of my day in bed, staring at walls. Miserable for a thousand tiny reasons and no way to claw myself out of the funk. Yes, Saturday was no fun.

Sunday we cleaned and rearranged the living room. You can't tell from this picture (from today) but it really was clean. For about five minutes. I also fixed the rocking chair that was given to us when the Imp was a wee one. It's been missing screws and used as storage for years. Now everyone wants to sit it in. (Hey! I spy three out of eight cats! The ironic thing is that they're all still there and in mostly the same positions.)



At some point in and around the cleaning I dyed some of my handspun. It's all pretty thin (I'm getting much better at being consistent when I want to be) and strong enough not to drive me to ply it. My inner geek won out and I tried to replicate some of the colors in the classic Thundercats character Cheetara. Here's a peek at it before I re-skein it.



And B's sock. I was slamming away until after I turned the heel. Then I realized that I had to work the pattern on both sides and my momentum seriously faltered.



Other than that, the Elf and I have been plugging away at botany and history. I will sadly admit that Botany in a Day still doesn't make a great deal of sense to me. We tried to identify a plant I knew to be Cleavers. However, had I not, it would have been supremely difficult to figure it out using the method in the book. It's a struggle, but we're working on it.

Late Yarn Along

Okay, I'm a day late. But I think I'll link up with the folks over at the Yarn Along anyway.



I've been knitting socks for the toddlers. However! On the needles are two socks for bigger people. The orange is a "mystery knit along" for a Ravelry sock group that I don't belong to. Wow. That makes me sound like a stalker. Regardless this is the pattern. They've only released one "clue" which I finished in an evening. I'm using smaller needles so it won't fit me (not that it would have anyway). It may fit the Elf, though. And he's happy about that. The grey sock is for B, using this pattern. Again, I'm using smaller needles. But they have multiple sizes so I just picked the one that mostly works math-wise.

Reading: I got these two books from the library. One is for a read along thing on the Cold Antler blog and the other I came across while getting lessons (about the crusades) set up for the Elf. I really enjoyed Stephen Lawhead's Robin Hood books (Hood, Scarlet, and Tuck) so I'm more than happy to give these a try.



Close up of the "mystery" sock. I *had* to knit this one because it's based on a series of books that I loved when I was younger. I did mess up one of the cables (on both sides of the sock) because I *assumed* the directions would mirror a previous cable - that'll teach me, right?

Random

Last Monday the Imp came to me, dressed like this:


Imp: Who do I look like?
Me: uhm.. I don't know, who do you look like?
Imp: Knitting guy! (note the sheer number of handmade items the kid is wearing. I think his mother may have a bit of a problem *ahem*)


He was quickly joined by the Beast and we had a photo session of super hero poses. I'll spare you.


A while ago I bought myself some of the metal fixed circular needles from KnitPicks in US size zero to use for sock knitting (purple cable, silver needles). May I take a moment here to tell you how frustrating they were to use? They aren't very pointy, they don't really taper at all, the cable isn't very bendy. Ugh. Fast forward to last Friday. I was knitting with the lovely ladies at Really Knit Stuff and I decided to take a look at the needles in the shop. I came home with Addi lace needles in the same size (gold cable and needles). Can you see the difference? My goodness they're a dream to use! I highly recommend them (I usually use what I have and deal with it - but these are worth the extra purchase).


I saw this bunny here and knew that I had to make one. (Ravelry details here)


Which quickly led to a cat. With plans for a dog, bear, mouse, Totoro, and more. (Ravelry details here)

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.