A wise old owl

DJ has been referred to by a friend of mine as "the professor". He does have very mature features, and this particular nick-name for him got me thinking about wisdom, and what could be wiser than an owl? (jk) He needed a sweater that fit him (all the ones he has now he drowns in, including the BSJ I made for him) I decided to pick up some of my favorite silky wool yarn (Ravelry details) and find an easy free pattern to use. A lady at SSK has been making these cute owl sweaters from a pattern she bought for $7.00 that I really wanted to make, but me, being the sneaky me I am, decided to combine two free patterns into one sweater. I love how it is turning out so far:



DJ modeling the sweater so far



Close up of the owls

 

Detail of one owl cable



I liked this artistic shot.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

Well, there were several posts I was going to make before this, but when this happened, I couldn't help but share it first:

DJ says "Arr!"

Isn't he just the cutest little 12 week old ever?

Fingers

My fingers have always been important to me. When I  was younger, my fingers and I learned how to play music on the piano and violin. We practiced hard, and got quite good at what we do. I started painting when I was a teen, and it was my fingers that held the brush. Throughout my education, my fingers have typed many words on a computer's keyboard, trying frantically to keep up with my train of thought. They are typing now, as I write, though this time only one hand's worth of fingers at a time, while the other hand's worth of fingers craddles DJ's head. I've used my fingers to knit and crochet, to grasp the whisk as I mix cake batter, to proudly announce my engagemant with a diamond ring. It was my itchy fingers that sent me to the doctor when DJ needed to be born early, and it's my fingers he prefers for comfort over a pacifier.

What do your fingers do?

Christmas Gifts

When you're crafty and make most of the Christmas presents you give, it's never too early to start thinking about Christmas. I obviously can't tell you what I'm making, since most of the people who will be getting Christmas gifts from me, also read my blog. :P What I can tell you is that (at least some of) the gifts involve yarn, and so I've been busy dyeing some! It's something that I really enjoy, and allows me to get colors I like on nice yarns for cheaper than what I could get otherwise. And did I mention that it's fun and I love doing it?

I love making things for other people- especially when they like what I've made. I wish I had the time to make Christmas gifts for everone I know, but I'd have to start two years in advance if I did that. Hah!

Growing up, my family often made Christmas gifts for all our neighbors, something simple that we could do a lot of- such as poppycock in rubbermade tins, or gift baskets we'd put together ourselves out of items we purchased in bulk. I tend to follow that idea of gift giving still today- find something simple to make and make a bunch of them for everyone I need to give gifts to.

What have been your favorite Christmas gifts you've given? Crafters: What are your favorite simple gift projects that you like making? I do have to say that knit cotton dish cloths have always been a favorite of mine... I'd love to hear your ideas, but I warn you, I might steal some of them!

Schedules

(I wrote this post on Friday, I just didn't get it published til now.)

I had a rough day yesterday, as far as accoumplishing anything around the house goes.  Now Thursdays are my knitting days, a day that I have allowed myself to knit most of the day, snd not worry sbout getting house things done. However, yesterday the fact that the house was in disorder, and had been for most of the week really bothered me.

D's first week back to school was great. He and I had worked really hard on getting the house cleaned & organised the week before classes started - it wasn't perfect, but it was in really good shape. Every day D was at school by 8:00 am, and came home sometime that evening to a clean & tidy office, a clean kitchen with supper ready to go on the table, and most time I had the living room clean as well. I was excited about how well I was doing. I even had time to work on cards, and a few other things that have been long overdue, important but not urgent, things.

Then come a couple of days when D's schedule starts getting out of wack- he needs to get classwork done, so he stays up late, then comes home right after classes the next day cause he's tired & sleeps, waking up in the evening, and then needing to study all night to stay caught up for the next day. I'd have his office clean when he came home, but then I'd ue it while he slept, and it would get messy again. I started dyeing yarn for Chtistmas presents ( that's the next post) which tied up the Kitchen. When D came home before lunch, it was hard to justify getting up @ 6:30 to pack a lunch when I could make him one when he got home. When he slept through lunch or supper hour, it was hard to go ahead and make the meal when I knew I'd be eating alone... and then when he did wake up, the food wasn't ready and I was often too tired & hungry to take the time at that point to make a heathy meal- opting for quick to prepare nachos or something along those lines.

I finally finished the yarn dyeing last Monday, so I figured I'd be able to get the kitchen back to my standard of tidy on Tuesday. However it had been easy to stay up late working on the yarn, seeing how D was up studying too...then during the day, it was hard to be motivated to work. I'd want to take a nap when D got home and wanted to sleep. So yesterday, the kitchen still wasn't near where I wanted it to be.

I know that with a baby, it is perfectly impossible to get all the work done that you want to, so the to-do list that I had for myself beyond the simple everyday household chores that wasn't getting done was understandable. However, I had been managing to both keep things tidy, & get something on that list done each day, just a few short weeks ago- and getting back to that place shopuldn't have taken me this long. Once it's clean & tidy, it doesn't take much to keep it there. Getting it there has been the problem.

D & I had a good talk last night, and we talked through some of the causes of why I was feeling frusterated, and today I've been thinking through some solutions. I was reminded of what my mom does for meals during seeding & harvest, when my dad's schedule gets wacky. She makes lots of bread, and always has one or two sandwiches per worker that she's feeding in the fridge at all times. That way my dad can grab a sandwich on the way to the feild, but if he ends up coming home for lunch, he can either eat the sandwich, or eat the soup or whatever mom had made for those at home.


As I mentioned, I wrote the above post yesterday, in bits & pieces throughout the day while feeding DJ, and I am happy to say that the kitchen got tidied to 100%, and D stayed up when he got home from classes in an atemp to normalize his sleeping pattern. I know this is still a work in progress, and if you have any suggestions for me of things I can do to motivate me to stay on task, even when those close to me have wacky schedules, I'm all ears!  

If you follow me, and I follow you, does that mean we're going in a circle?

Sort of reminds me of this comic- but that's not the point of this post. The real point is this: if you're following my blog and have a blog of your own, I'd like to follow it! That's one of the things that I've been enjoying about blogging on blogspot is the "Dashboard" where I can quickly link to blogs that I want to keep up with.

So if you've got one for me, just leave a comment after this post!

:D

Socks

Yes, I know I can buy socks at Walmart. But since I've started knitting my own, I don't think I want to anymore. If you've never worn a pair of hand-knit socks, you are missing out. The truth is that unless you can knit you probably can't afford a pair. Just the cost of yarn for a pair of socks can easily cost 15 dollars or more.  My first pair used $18 dollars worth of yarn, and I think I spent close to 40 hours on it so... at $7 an hour that's about $280 dollars... you've got yourself a pair of $300.00 socks.  I'm sure some people could afford that, and hey, if you're one of them who wants to spend $300.00 on the nicest feeling pair of socks you've ever worn, drop me a line, and we might be able to work a deal. ;)

But enough talk about the value of socks.This is a history of the socks I've made, so far. I'd love it if some day, I only owned hand-knit socks, and no more Walmart ones.

The first pair I made were for my dad for his birthday.

Gray Panda Silk sock for Dad

Dad proudly wearing his socks

One of DH's socks

I made my next two pairs by kniting the first sock of each before going back and making the second sock for each pair. One for DH, and one for me. DH's pair was finished first.

My "Happy Spring Socks"

One of the local yarn shops (Rae's Yarn Boutique) has started doing a "sock of the month" club. I bought the July kit, mostly because I know the designer, (Lynn H) and I've always wanted to have one of her patterns. What better pattern than a sock pattern?

Summer Squiggle Sock

 I just finished up the first sock tonight, and, as you would have it, I'm doing it again: I've got a sock for DH started that I'll finish before I go back and do second socks. But we'll see what happens once I start working on Christmas presents. Just a little "preview" of the sock- mind you, he picked the yarn, and he picked the pattern.

DH's sock in Extravayarnza's Wonderflonium yarn

True calling.

"One finds their true calling where their talents intersect with the greatest needs in the world."

There is a great need in the world today for strong Christians in every walk of life- business, medicine, agriculture, politics, just to name a few.

I believe I have talent in many areas, but many of them center around making a house into a home, such as my crafting, working in the kitchen, making music, and learning.

This is why my true calling is to be a wife and mother. This is why I want to have a large family- the potential to place more godly men & women in more avenues of life. This is why I'm dedicated to raising this little guy to love the Lord with all his heart.






Where does YOUR true calling lie?

Baby, Baby!

Our son David Douglas (DJ for simplicity's sake) is here! In fact, he's been here for 10 weeks already. My how time flies.

He's only a day old in this picture, chillin' on the quilt Grandma M made, wearing the coming home outfit that I knit for him.

He was supposed to be a July baby, but he ended up coming on June 22- my doctor induced me early, because my liver started doing funny things, and due to the high risk of still birth (Yikes!) they wanted him out A.S.A.P. once they confirmed my condition.

But all that was a long but fast 10 weeks ago.

A picture at 5w2d. Wide eyed & looking at mommy. That outfit doesn't fit him anymore- he's too long for it!

DJ & mommy in Philadelphia

At 7 weeks we went on a family vaccation, visiting Carbondale IL for a friend's wedding, Nashville on our way to Lynchbutg VA for a week, then Philadelphia & New York before heading home.

Our family by the Liberty Bell

Life is busier then ever, and I am being forced to learn how to make ever moment count, which will be a great blessing in the long term. I'm loving all the new, callanging, and sometimes frightening moments as they come. Here's to being a mom!