MommyCoddle

Five Green Acres :: This Is Wool

MaryJo has been a familiar blog friend and faithful reader for many years. So when she emailed me a few weeks ago about a new adventure she has begun I was so excited for the opportunity to share it with all of you. Not only because she is living out one of my own "some day" dreams, but also because she is doing it with such intention, care and respect for her animals and the process. 

With a flock of five sheep, MaryJo has gone from pasture to skein to create a First Harvest of wool that is handspun and hand-dyed. Her hands have touched every step of the process, as you'll see in her beautiful and inspiring video below. And just this month she has set up shop online.

I asked Mary Jo to share a bit about herself....

I’m Mary Jo – the Momma, Wife, Farmer, Artisan of these Acres. I make things. I pursue beauty. I am utterly fascinated by process and gain immense satisfaction from living each step of this yarn, from pasture to skein. This wool is from my small flock of sheep - only five contributed to this harvest. The plants that lent their pigments to the wool were grown by me or collected within my community. This yarn sings with life that I've given it with my own two hands.

And as someone who is entering the whole new world of breeding sheep, I asked her to share how she learned about the process...

I steeped myself in books(stacks and stacks), classes, and local connections to other sheep people. Even after this First Harvest shearing, I took my time deciding what to do with it and how. There's no rush - wool keeps indefinitely if stored properly. It's all been quite experimental, and will continue to be. Attending classes at my area's annual fiber festival was the best way for me to learn how to spin and card. There are also many local guilds for spinning and knitting. Ravelry has several boards on keeping sheep as well as in processing the fleece, but many folks utilize small mills to do a lot of the processing, which is also a great option. It's a steep learning curve, but I was comforted at the very start by the notion one farmer gave me that sheep are so easy that they're what many farmers switch to when they retire.

I also asked her to share her vision for the future of This Is Wool....

I'm currently working on some pattern designs to complement the beautiful variations in this First Harvest wool and hope to release them in the next month or so. We also just finished shearing the Second Harvest of wool, which I'll be washing and drying outside before the temps dip too low. Because of the drought this year, all of the dyeing will be done with acid dyes. Second Harvest will have a look all its own because of this, but I'm satisfied with the decision to keep the sparse dye plants for the critters that will need them over the winter. And, as much as I love the spinning process, (I really, really do) First Harvest will be the only one to offer handspun skeins, making this vintage of yarn extra special.

Take a look at this beautiful video that walks you through Mary's process from pasture to skein. I promise, you're going to want a flock of sheep of your own after watching this...

This is wool. First Harvest: Backyard from Mary Jo, FiveGreenAcres on Vimeo.

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MaryJo's First Harvest is 2.5 oz/100 yard skeins of 2-ply, handspun, plant-dyed wool in worsted weight. You can find it in a whole range of beautiful colors on her website Five Green Acres. 

7 lovely things

Good morning and Happy Valentine's my friends. Oh, I missed this place. I'm completely procrastinating on things like laundry and school work and showers and a huge mess in the kitchen from pink chocolate chips pancakes. But, it's been too long. So, hello. How about a list this morning, shall we?

1. I cashed in on my Christmas present this past weekend. A girls weekend away with two of my bestest cousins. We had grand plans of doing important things like historical tours and traditional working-farm visits--but it happily and comfortably turned into lounging and knitting in hotel rooms, long dinners out and antique shopping. It was perfect. And while, you know, I fought that mama-guilt about being away, it was such a good weekend. So so good. I have made it official that my husband can give me the same gift every year.

2. Do you see this aisle of goodness I stumbled upon in the very back of one shop? I may have had trembling hands when I took this picture.

3. First tractor-driving lessons with her great uncle. The report is that she's a pro and only stalled it out once. Learning to drive a tractor is on my to-do list. I think she just beat me to it. When asked if she wanted to trade in her pony for a tractor, we only got a roll of the pre-teen eyeballs.

4.  My new favorite and also perfect Valentine's listening: Us & Our Daughters (with a hat tip to my music soulmate. You know who you are.) On their site they share that last year was a tough year for them and their love. But they took to songwriting as their therapy. It pulled them through and this album is the fruit of that time. It's beautiful. 

5. Some love of the 4-hooved variety.

6. This knitted lovely is going in the queue. 

7. Some love it's good to remember.

xo.

Molly

At a whisper

Hello from foggy Thomas Run. Everything is at a whisper around here, inside and out. The fog makes everything quiet outside. Inside, this round of colds has me almost completely without a voice this morning. Only slightly panic-inducing (understatement), since I have to sing at a funeral tomorrow morning. And whispering with four children isn't very effective. As I croaked to my mother on the phone this morning, she recommended whiskey, hot water, honey and citrus--a hot toddy. 

But, thankfully it doesn't take a literal voice to write a blog post, just a figurative one. And since it's been awhile since I've rounded up some good things from around the web....Here's what I'm pinning these days:

❉ Maybe this will clear my sinuses

❉ I will be the cool aunt who shows up with this for post-turkey play. (Usually, we have family wrestling matches. Oh yes, we do. But my mother may appreciate this slightly less violent activity. I'm seeing some family v. family matches ahead.)

❉ I am all OVER this. Where's my cheese grater?

❉ I used to make salt dough ornaments with my 3rd grade students. But I'm digging this upscale version. 

❉ I want these badly. But alas, I am a poor girl. (I welcome any comfortable every day shoe suggestions in the comments. My Danskos are dying.)

❉ This is an important skill every girl should have.

❉ I have some small fabric scraps that I cherish for various reasons. Maybe this is an idea. 

❉ Some people want a maid. Me? I want a personal knitter.  This is the first thing I'd send her.

❉ With four girls, I must master this simple skill.

❉ I'm over at 4KidsorMore talking about library fines (again). And if you're still changing crib sheets, you'll want to know about this. 

Alright. We have a lot on the to-do list today despite the fact that we're all dragging...There's guinea pig food to purchase. Tights to find for my dress tomorrow. (How do we feel about tights and open toe shoes? Is this cool now? Or totally ugly?), A photo walk to take for Emma's e-course. And ironically, library books to return. 

Happy, foggy Thursday! ( I whispered that.)

 

inspiration on my doorstep

Yesterday morning, my cousin showed up at my doorstep for a quick visit as she was passing through town. We sat in the living room, drinking coffee and covered all our favorite topics: babies, family, things we miss about our grandmother, her favorite wedding gifts so far (a handmade rug from home "grown", hand-dyed alpaca yarn...wow!), and of course, most importantly--knitting.

But what I couldn't get past, was the knitting she was wearing. How much do I love this necklace she made? She said she whipped up last January, but that the cord took forever....a long i-cord grafted together, a seed stitch "clasp" to hold it all together.

It's beautiful.

Now I just have to convince her to write me up a her pattern....or better yet, make me one! *hint *hint (Oh, wait. That wasn't really a hint, was it? I pretty much just flat-out asked, didn't I? :)

a reason to have more children

There's this silly little thing in knitting called gauge.

Every pattern talks about it and for those over-achieving knitters it means taking the yarn you intend to knit with, the needles you intend to use, and knitting up a little swatch to be sure you're getting the correct gauge (stitches per inch) so that whatever you're knitting will actually turn out in the size you intend it to. 

Jumping in to a knitting project without first checking your gauage is a bit like diving into an elaborate recipe without first checking your cupboards to be sure you have all the ingredients. A little preparation is required. 

However, I am not an over-achieving knitter. In fact, I am more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-when-the-mood-strikes-embrace-it-and-don't-look-back kind of knitter. 

There are a few ways to combat this kind of knitting style. One is to have multiple children of the same gender. (check!) Another is to have those multiple same-gendered children spaced closely together in age. (check!) The other is to give birth to one child who is petite and seems to grow at a snail's pace, while later giving birth to a child who grows like a weed so that they can almost share the same clothes. (also check!)

So, the urge hit and I began sewing the In Threes sweater pattern for....Birdy. First of all, I looove the pattern. Beautiful. Easy to knit. Relatively quick if you tend to have time to knit or back epsidoes of a favorite knitting show (did you not cry the whole way through the season finale??). 

I enthusiastically jumped into this project and decided to finally use, some five years later, two skeins of beautiful wool that I purchased from a quaint little sheep farm we visited when living in Wisconsin. I had two skeins. Only two skeins. But according to the pattern, enough wool to make the sweater. (this is where testing your gauge comes in handy)

As I was happily knitting along, I was struck that the sweater seemed a bit large for a 12-month old size. I also noticed that I was quite rapidly running through my two skeins of yarn. 

 

By the end I knew that I had made a HUGE mistake (no pun intended),  that this sweater most definitely was NOT going to fit Birdy, and I began to sweat over the ball of yarn that was getting smaller and smaller and ......

And so as I neared the last few inches I really began to panic. So I pulled in another color (which is looking aggressively pink in this photo) and added a few stripes which we'll pretend were all part of the orginal plan. 

When the sweater was finished and blocked (no I don't do a gauge swatch but I have fallen in love with the way blocking so beautifully finishes a sweater) I began to walk around the house holding it up to various children to see who it might fit. 

Turns out, the sweater fits two of them. 

It's  "hit you right at the hip" slightly cropped but oh-so cute for Mary, and a fits perfectly "was this made for you?" sweater for Elizabeth. 

And Birdy? Well, that's fit's a few years off. 

In the meantime, it will be paired with some amazing wooden buttons scouted out on etsy.

And now, my children are dancing around in shorts, tshirts and flip flops. I swear, I might make them wear this to the pool as a bathing suit cover up just to get some good wear in. 

Thank goodness I have so many children. 

unfinished business

So, if you've been reading this blog for a looong time, you might remember a day when I was a button-maker. Remember the owl buttons?? * sigh.*  I loved it. I think my button-making days began to disappear when baby number three and four arrived.

I keep making attempts at a return, but the time just hasn't been right yet. I even have a box of bisqued "ideas and experiments" sitting in my craft cupboard.

Even worse, I have a wonderful aunt who has offered to fire anything I want to send her way. It couldn't get any easier. Except for the fact that I need to unearth an extra four hours or so in my day. But I do miss it. A lot.

In the meantime, my personal stash of buttons is running extremely low, which means I have a few projects sitting here, waiting for the perfect buttons so that the projects can go from knitting basket to actually being worn by my children. 

This little sweater was knit for, ahem, Elizabeth when she was a toddler (She's turning four in a few weeks.) from Erika Knight's, Knitting for Two (I've heard it's also in Baby Bloom ).  And I confess, just like the shrug, this sweater has been put on babes in it's unfinished state, maybe pinned together with diaper pins? Not so classy, huh?

I have a few buffalo nickels that were given to me, and I think they'll be just the thing. And the sweater will fit Birdy perfectly right now, so I'm anxious to get it done. (Maybe even today?? I get my best knitting done when I have a really long to-do list of everything BUT knitting.)

This sweater is what I refer to in this house as Harper's Vest (aka. Pebble)  But this is knit according to Amanda's experiments in making it in a larger size. Following the same pattern but with larger needles (size 9) and worsted weight yarn double-stranded.

I found a lovely soft cotton that I found at Michael's, of all places. The sweater is thick and chunky and warm. I love how it turned out.

But....no buttons. I'm envisioning really nice, simple, wooden buttons for this. I just haven't found them yet. Meanwhile the sweater is a little big for Birdy, but Elizabeth is trying to convince me that she can squeeze herself into it.

 My current project, has been my Parenthood/knitting/late at night pleasure. (Am I the only one who can't make it through a single episode of Parenthood without tearing up at some point??!) I love this pattern so far and the yarn is from a small farm in Wisconsin. Dan bought me a sheepskin rug from this farm and we ended up visiting it a few weeks later when they were lambing. I've always hesitated to use the yarn because it's one of those beautiful yarns that requires the perfect project. But now, almost six years later, the yarn deserves to become something, don't you think? 

What's on your needles these days?

Let's pretend this is about a shrug

*Prepare yourself. This is an obscene amount of pictures of Birdy. I couldn't stop myself. And many of them have nothing to do with showing you the shrug and everything to do with cute babies. So let's just pretend this post is about a sweater, not about my addiction to baby chubs.*

So, the shrug is finally blocked and finished. Remember this sweater? It was the one that my husband liked to comment on during it's production: "So, this is half a sweater, that's half finished???" Haha. Knitting humor. 

But yesterday I finally put it on Birdy in its finished stage and thought--since many of you asked--I'd share my verdict on the shrug.

And before you ask the question, "When do you find the time to knit with 4 children, and homeschooling and chickens, and snow shoveling, and living on love...." I don't. I don't find time to knit. It takes me ages to finish a project. In fact, Birdy wore this shrug several times with the long ends of yarn hanging from her underarms and cuffs. But, it turns out, she loved sucking on them, so there. That was a win. 

Anyway, back to the shrug. I thought it would be the perfect little thing to throw on during those extra chilly days. (Which would be every day in this house.) Here are my final thoughts:

Easy to knit? YES.

Cuter than cute? YES.

Stays on? YES, but not fit perfectly. Maybe she'll grow into it.

Warm? She hasn't told me yet. But better than nothing.

Practical? Probably not so much.

Would I knit again? Eh. Probably not unless the shrug becomes more snug as she grows.

Details here on my (sad, neglected) ravelry. 

this is what you get

I intended this post to be something slightly more coherent, perhaps even in paragraph form, but alas, basically everyone in this house is sick, but me. I've been 24 hour on-call nurse and complete sentences and paragraphs aren't in my repertoire right now. (apparently, using the shift-key isn't in my repertoire, either.)

*hurry. over to this post on momformation. i'm giving away a great little compact photo printer from epson.

*i just finished reading this book by michael perry. i was (probably a little too) sad when it was over. you know how you mourn the end of a really good story? there was a bit of genius on every page. and of course, it was almost like reading a page from my own story. i think i may be so bold as to say this ranks in my top 3 reads of  2010.

*speaking of poultry, tonight we lost our rooster, captain. do they have strokes? he was suddenly stricken blind. running into things. then lethargic. he could have been old. he could have been sick. and we didn't want him to pass something on to the hens. so unfortunately, we (which means, dan) had to put him out of his misery.

*i've been knitting. that hat peeking out in my picture is kyrie's. it's a great pattern. and so versatile. i can wear it, and so can all the girls. and now several family members have requested it as christmas gifts.

*i purchased a set of these, since it appears that i'm going to be doing a lot of knitting-gifting. (be warned, there is a ticking "countdown to christmas" on this website. it may elevate your heartrate.)

*last night, i did something i never thought i'd do. i purchased ready-made photo christmas cards. but apparently, my drive to always "design them myself" has resulted in five years of no christmas card from our family.

*i made one holiday decor splurge yesterday. on an advent calendar. i know. i know. i could have made my own. but sometimes, you just need to let someone else do the work. luckily, i'm not ready for it to be december 1, so this will give me a few extra days to get organized. i loved our advent calendar when i was little. it was one of my favorite parts of the holiday. my kids need to get in on that action, too.

*tomorrow on momformation, i'm going to be sharing my kitchen christmas wish list. what's on yours? i'd love to know. 

*and while we're talking...now that coop is over, any good book suggestions? let me have it.

alright. that's the news from here. where the rain is pouring down, the woodstove is cranking. and there is strange pig-like squealing-screeching-creep-me-out coming from the dark, back yard.

that would be my cue to go upstairs and hide under the covers with a feverish babe who is already passed out in my bed. someday my husband and i will sleep in the same bed again without a child between us, right? right.

simple entertainment

Now that I'm spending much more time getting to know late night television shows, I have to say Jimmy Fallon is easily becoming my favorite. His knock-offs of Glee are too good. (sorry, you'll have to sit through a short commercial and a tiny potty-mouth warning at the very beginning....)

And my cousin sent me a link to this video last week. She knew I'd appreciate it. I know, I know, it's a commercial for natural gas. But wow, that's some amazing knitting. 

Yes, my brain can only handle simple bits of entertainment these days...

knitting for baby

Sorry if this blog is being overtaken by baby talk. But at this point, after a midwife check-up this morning where she thought the baby was weighing in at about 9 pounds, "baby" is about all that's on my mind. Well, baby and how hard it is to bend over and pick up toys, and put on my socks, and get the laundry out of the very back of the dryer, and roll over in bed to switch sides. You know, important thoughts like that. 

They say that as you go down the line, each child becomes less and less spoiled or something like that. Fourth baby. No baby shower. No registry. Using the same crib linens. The same outfits, the same car seat...But if this baby ever tries to whine to me about the woes of being fourth, I will gladly point him or her in the direction of these blog posts. Because if nothing else, this baby is being spoiled with knitted goods.

I don't know if it was the Olympics, which provides the perfect background for knitting. Or the winter pregnancy, or what, but I'm knitting more for this baby, then I have for any of my other children. 

The first fully finished project to come off my needles are these cute baby britches. I found them on ravelry--another dangerous place to hang out when you're expecting--they are the Kanoko Pants, and I loved knitting them. 

I also discovered something very important about myself as a knitter while working on them. I have always thought I was the kind of knitter who needed mindless, "knit while you watch TV" kinds of projects. But the changing patterns in these pants kept me interested and moving along quickly. I was always anxious to get the next section and before I knew it, they were done. It was such an enlightening experience! And it has completely changed what types of patterns I look at now. 

Now I just wish I had a cute baby bum to slip these pants over!

prega-knit

"Prega-knit". That's what Elizabeth calls me these days. "Mommy. You. Are. Prega-knit." And this weekend, that was kind of true. I spent more hours than I should allow myself to count, sitting in a chair, beside the fire, knitting away. 

This little broken wrist of Emma's has been getting a lot of my attention lately. Last week we went to see a family Ortho who said her crack was small enough that she could downgrade to a softer splint. And seeing it wrapped around her wrist all weekend kept reminding me of Leslie's Toast. 

And being the ADD knitter that I am, I immediately dropped the current project that I'm making no progress on, to whip up a kid-version of Toast for Emma. 

I had two things in mind with this project:

* single skein stash-busting

* creating some way for them to stay together. If they're anything like the socks and mittens in this house, I knew they didn't stand a chance to survive as a pair.

And so these "Wee Toast" were created--wIth a little seed stitch cuff, and a small tab with buttonhole so that they can be buttoned together when not being worn. When the "Wee Toast" are on, the tab is small enough that it can be tucked inside. 

Now please, bear with me. I'm no pattern writer. But I did jot down what I did, in order to make a few more pairs. I cannot trust my pregnant brain to remember anything these days. Hopefully this will make a wee bit of sense, and you can knit up a "Wee Toast" for a little someone in your life :

:::: WEE TOAST ::::

Yarn : any worsted weight

Needles : Size 7, dpns

CO 27 stitches and divide them among three needles (9 stitches on each needle) Join to work in the round and knit two rows. Knit 5 rows of seed stitch (optional). Continue knitting until piece measures 7 inches, or desired length. Bind off all but three stitches. With two needles work these 3 stitches in stockinette stitch for six rows (ending with a purl). 

On the next knit row : K1, YO, K1. 

Next row : P, P2tog, P, 

Next row: Bind off all stitches and weave in ends. 

For the second "Wee Toast" follow the same pattern but bind off after working 7 inches from beginning. Attach a small button to the top end of second Wee Toast in order to keep them together when not being worn. 

** One other note: I also made a pair of these for Mary (who is 5) and cast on 21 stitches and knit for 5.5 inches. However, they were a little tight on chubby Elizabeth's arms. She would need a few extra stitches for a pair to fit her. Oh those scrumptious baby chubs! **

Hopefully this pattern makes sense. It is very simple and when you get to the tab at the end, it is very easy to visualize, even if my pattern isn't clear. You just knit a little tab with those last three stitches and add a (YO) button hole. 

Now my only problem is to get Emma to take off her Wee Toast and put her splint back on. She's trying to convince me that it keeps her injured wrist warm and happy. 

rookie mistakes

Several years ago, when we lived in Wisconsin, the local craft store around the corner from my house went out of business. In the back of that little craft store was an overwhelming selection of yarns. I suppose when you live in a place with a long, hard winter you must knit your way through it.

I watched the signs on the doors and waited, as each week the prices lowered. "EVERYTHING MUST GO. 50% OFF STOREWIDE."

I decided that the 50% off weekend would be my day to step into the shop and see what I could find.

The place looked like it had been ransacked. Every box from the back warehouse brought out into the store, left open and unpacked. Decorations and trinkets from every holiday of the year. The store was jammed with people. Sashaying sideways to get past customers digging in boxes was always necessary.

I made my way to the back, to the huge selection of yarn and realized I wasn't the only person who had this idea. The place was packed. Women were grabbing yarn by the armloads and stuffing it into their carts.

Like diving into a freezing cold lake, I took a deep breath and dove into the madness.

Now personally, I tend to shut down in these kinds of situations. I'm not the aggressive, elbowing, shoving, anything goes for a good deal kind of shopper. And I felt myself glazing over. Overwhelmed with the scene before me.

When I walked out of the store with two large bags full of yarn and every imaginable knitting accoutrement known to exist, I was feeling quite good about myself.

But it wasn't until weeks later, when I had become inspired by a project I needed to begin right that very minute, that I realized my rookie (or glazed over by the crazy crowds) mistake. I had only purchased one or two skeins of each thing I threw in my cart.

In my dazed state I must have walked through the rows of yarn tossing one or two skeins into my bag without any thought to the fact that maybe, just maybe, I'd want to make something slightly bigger than a cowl or pair of infant mittens?!

I can just picture myself: This is pretty. Toss. Oh! This is pretty, too! Toss. Toss. 

I wonder if the ladies were snickering behind my back....

So now, in my basement (actually my dad's basement b/c I have no storage) sit two large plastic storage tubs of single skeins of yarn.

Lovely. And oh so unpractical. 

So when I became reacquainted with the One Skein book last week, and saw the felted bowls and took a little visit down to my tubs of neglected single skeins down in the basement, I decided that I would felt and "single skein" my way through these balls of yarn.

I grabbed the bright, electric, pumpkin orange (don't ask, because I have no idea) ball of yarn first because it was the same type of yarn called for in the pattern. Except I didn't have the pattern in front of me because the book wasn't mine and I was just too anxious to give this a try. I simply cast some stitches on the needles and started decreasing haphazardly in a "bowlish-hatish" shape. 

And then I felted. Which is amazingly exciting and relaxing and also works wonders if you have poor hand circulation and they are always purplish-cold.

But apparently not every color felts the same. And apparently bright pumpkin orange is one of those colors that doesn't like to felt completely.

But now my "bowl" makes a great doll hat. A quite sophisticated doll hat, in fact.

And I have plenty more skeins where that one came from.

I foresee dishpan hands in my future....

a morning routine

It used to be that I would have a "make up" day when it came to house cleaning and laundry--a day when my sole purpose in life would be to make a dent in (notice I didn't say finish) the laundry, get everything put away properly, things wiped down and mopped, and prettied up. I was making up for all the previous days when I ignored the spaces and piles around me.

But I'm realizing lately that my time is not completely my own. I can't put things off for tomorrow or let things go so easily as I used to. It's taking more of a daily effort, little spurts of cleaning and puttering when I can find them. I'm trying to streamline, especially my time in the mornings. There are things that need to be done: the chickens and guineas fed, children fed, a run of the dishwasher, a load of laundry, a quick tidy, things watered and picked, before I thrust myself into the meat of my day.

I read a post on Simple Mom about your morning five. Making a list of the five things you need to accomplish each morning. (At least I think I read it on Simple Mom. Am I making this up? Nope found it here.) The recommendation is to have five things you do the same every morning. Your routine. I love this idea and I need to really put what's swirling around in my head into a tidy list on a piece of paper.

I love routine and crave it more in my life. Living on the farm with my grandmother the past two and a half years has made me realize how much wisdom and peaceful simplicity there is in routine.

Of course, all work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy. Or me a frazzled, weak, tear-stained pile of stress on the floor.

Enter my sweet little bag of knitting. Knitting is bringing me more comfort and peace these days than it has in a long time. Not only does it calm me, I find it also calms my children. When I sit myself down in a comfy chair in the living room to work and be still, my children seem to always wander in to the same room and find a place to play. They pick up a book and climb under blankets and pillows on the sofa, they lay on their bellies and disappear into a land of make-believe with their toys.

As much as it is important for them to see me as industrious and organized, caring for our home. It is important for them to see me still and quiet and creative. It's an equally important memory and "skill" to pass on to my children.

How are you finding stillness and quiet these days? Are you knitting something? Sewing? Reading? I'd love to hear how you find your peace each day...

Postscript:
And just another word about SimpleMom....if you're not subscribing to it, you're missing out. Every blog post that shows up in my inbox is something I find practical and helpful to my every day. Be sure to take a moment to visit.

And another (shameless) thing...if you happen to click out of your feedreader and actually visit my blog today, there's a little button over there on the left-hand sidebar to vote for my blog. It was nominated for "best parenting blog" in this year's Blogger's Choice Awards. And I have only one vote. And I'm pretty sure it's from my sister. Vote here.

someone has to stay home and knit the dishcloths

That's what I told my husband last night, when he walked in the door at 11:00pm, after putting another two and a half hours of work in at the house after dinner. He found me kicked back on the sofa, putting the final stitches on another dishcloth, watching the finale of....ahem, this is hard to admit in public and might lose me some readers...The Bachelor. Shhhh...please don't tell anyone else.

The past few months of bachlorette-hood for me while Dan puts in evenings at the house, have meant that I've done some serious damage in the world of girlie movies, bad TV and my dishcloth stash. Knitting needles and the redbox have been my pseudo husband on nights I found myself alone in an empty house, but for sleeping babes in the back rooms. Dan asked me the other night, as I was finishing up Juno if there were any movies left in the RedBox that I haven't seen...It's not so much that, as it is that I'm running out of movies I want to see in the RedBox.

So armed with the only skein of cotton yarn I could find in my stash, a simple, knit-without-looking pattern, and some good (and bad) movies, I've got myself a nice collection of knitted dishcloths and an answer to the question I often hear from my sister and mother, "have you seen any good movies lately?"

I've never knitted dishcloths before and it really is quite addicting. And now that I've started using these beauties, I'm not sure I could go back to the stinky blue sponge that I'm currently using. I knit mine up on slightly smaller needles so they are more hand-sized and have a tighter stitch. And I love them.

They were inspired by THIS picture. And the pattern can be found HERE. It's called "Grandma's Favorite". Is there really any more that needs to be said?

a pinecone, a feather, an oak leaf, pine needles

My children haven't been getting outside enough lately to just run around and play. The cold weather and not enough prodding by me to get them out there, I guess. Oh, the bundling required. But nevertheless, they need the fresh air and the exercise. When they aren't getting enough outside time I really notice a difference in their behavior and general crankiness. Aren't we all a little like that?

So this morning, I printed a few stock photos off the computer, stapled them together and sent them outside for a miniature scavenger hunt. I thought I'd keep it to a few things so they wouldn't lose interest. They were back in five minutes. BUT, they went right back outside.

I finally finished this scarf for Emma that was supposed to be a Christmas present...then a birthday present...and now turns out to be a Happy Thursday!! present. I let her pick a jumbo button out of my stash. She picked one of the first buttons I ever made. I think it suits her perfectly. And it helps the scarf stay on. Now I have one more to finish up for Mary in the same style, and I think all my Christmas presents will be finished! Oh, that's pathetic.