Hands

It’s cold outside… It’s actually so cold there should be another word for the frozen stinging air that zaps all the moisture from your skin the instant you step outside.  So I’m hunkering down inside (with the exception of dropping kids at school) with my daughter, music, knitting, and my seed catalog.  What better way to spend a frozen day, than dreaming of summer and pouring over tomato descriptions?  Anyone else beginning to dream up their garden?  I love Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds  

My knitting project is a headband for my husband.  He keeps my hands busy with requests for new colors and designs.  This is his second of the year.  The pattern I am using is simply to cast on 18 stitches and then knit 3, purl 3 for the first row.  Then knit 1, purl 1 for the 2nd row.  Repeat these 2 rows until it is the desired length for the head it’s meant to fit.  Sew up the ends.

Stay warm ❤

 

Reading and Knitting…

I’m absolutely loving The Memory Garden by Mary Rickert.  I’m only 40 pages in, but so far I am hooked and looking forward to learning more about Nan and her adopted daughter, Bay.  Perhaps the most engaging aspect of the novel for me is the garden.  This time of year I just yearn for anything that transports me to the seasons of growth and workable dirt.

I am working on a cowl for my sister.  The pattern is beautiful and fun to knit.  I’ve been so sleepy lately (this growing baby is really taking it out of me) that this simple project is taking much longer than it should 🙂

What are you reading and working on?

Books and Knitting in January

We hit the library last week!  My oh my, I had forgotten how much I love using the library.  We will definitely make this a monthly excursion this year.  I picked up The Jim Henson Biography for myself and the kids picked a couple of picture books for themselves.  I added a couple of winter themed picture books that looked nice.

I’m about 50 pages into the Henson biography, and I love it!  It is taking me right back to those warm, sweet, loving feelings I had while watching the Muppets, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock as a young girl.  What an important figure he was for a generation of young people 🙂  I have also been working on The Wonder of Boys by Michael Gurian.  This book I am struggling through.  While it has some valid and thought-provoking points about raising boys to become happy men, I am often getting angry and having to put the book down!  Gurian makes some provocative excuses for absent and deadbeat fathers that I find offensive when given by the same author who places a lot of responsibility and blame on mothers (namely single mothers) for the emotional well-being of their sons.  Basically I find the book interesting and influential in my approach to raising a son, I am often offended by many of the authors societal prescriptions for lessening fathers’ roles in unwanted pregnancies and raising children with estranged partners.  I vow to finish the book 🙂  I have also been enjoying the Winter/spring issue of Renewal from the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America) and leafing through my seed catalogues, planning for spring.

I am finishing up knitting the lace cowl that I gave up on before Christmas.  It’s more of an infinity scarf really and I think it will look lovely on me when I finish 🙂   I also ordered yarn for a sweater for my mom.  I will share my progress on that next month, I hope.

The kids’ book basket is filled with winter themed picture books and a couple of fanciful stories too.  “Over and Under the Snow” by Kate Messner is charming book about a child and her father skiing through the woods on a snowy day.  It explores the animals and their homes for the winter.  This is something my son has been very interested in this year!  “Jack Frost” by Kazuno Kohara is a whimsical story about a boy who befriends Jack Frost and learns to love the winter.  It pairs really well with this old cartoon about Jack Frost

Then I added an imaginative book about walking with the moon on a leash, “I Took the Moon for a Walk” by Carolyn Curtis and Alison Jay.  I also included our copy of “Puff the Magic Dragon” illustrated by Eric Puybaret, which both of my kids have really taken a liking to 🙂

Happy reading and knitting to you all.  What’s keeping your imaginations and hands busy this winter?

November Reading & Knitting

The book basket is filled with silly turkeys, Native Americans, Pilgrims, and families giving thanks.  These are the books filling our days and getting us in the spirit of giving thanks and eating great food.

• The First Thanksgiving Day, Laura Krauss Melmed (This is my fave.  The illustrations are beautiful and the story pays homage to both Pilgrim and Native American contributions to the tradition that we celebrate today.  It is respectful and easy for small children to understand.  It’s also a counting book)
• Run, Turkey Run! Diane Mayr (This is my children’s fave.  A silly book about a farmer trying to catch a turkey for his family’s feast.)
• Our Thanksgiving, Kimberly Weinberger (An easy reader, which makes it a simple story about a family gathering for a Thanksgiving celebration.)
• Thanksgiving Day, Gail Gibbons (No holiday reading list is complete with out a Gail Gibbons non-fiction picture book packed with information and facts.  The illustrations are nice too.  Unfortunately some of the info is quite Eurocentric.)
• 10 Fat Turkeys, Tony Johnston & Rich Dias (Another silly counting board book)

Yes, that’s The Great Gatsby and yes, I’m still reading it 🙂  I’ve been spending most of my free time knitting Christmas gifts.  I’ve also been reading my holiday magazines and as usual working through Amanda Blake Soule’s The Rhythm of Family.

Here’s what I’ve been knitting.  I decided to knit cowls for each of my sisters for Christmas this year.  I began with the purple one and it turned out so soft and cozy.  It also knitted up in a couple of evenings.  Then I started the green one which is beautiful, but taking a lot longer.  I’ve been working on it for a couple of weeks now and I’m not even half done.  So I ordered more yarn for the first pattern and I’m planning to knit up a few more of those.  Maybe the green one will be for me when ever I manage to finish.  I ordered both patterns and the yarn from Knitpicks.com, my favorite knitting store!

What are you reading and working on this November?

A Baby Sweater for a Couple of Sweet, Sweet Babies…

I thought I’d share my latest completed knitting projects. They are both the same sweater pattern in different sizes and using different yarn. The pink one was done 1st for my daughter and the white one is much smaller and knitted for my best friends son who will be born any day!!!

If you’d like to find the pattern to make one for yourself I’ve included a picture of and a link to the book that I used. I borrowed mine from the library. There are several other nice patterns in it too 🙂

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_20/182-5558571-7243938?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the%20expectant%20knitter&sprefix=the+expectant+knitte%2Caps%2C323&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Athe%20expectant%20knitter

I’m currently working on a couple of dish towels and wash cloths for a wedding gift. Another close friend is marrying her high school sweetheart in a few weeks! I can’t wait for 2 weeks of vacation and some real partying 🙂
~Sh