I was going to take a break from knitting for awhile. Then I realized that not having a creative outlet makes me cranky. I'm already struggling with being more irritable than normal- I think this always happens at the end of pregnancy for me- please tell me I'm not alone. So I decided to knit this little bonnet. It went really fast so I may make another in white. I just need to do an I cord or some braids for the sides.
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joining Ginny's Yarn Along-
Knitting- still working on the top down baby cardi and thankfully made some good progress while on vacation. I'm ready to pick up stitches for the sleeves as soon as I get a few moments of quiet. Reading- just finished The French House by Don Wallace- now back to Tess. joining Ginny's Yarn Along for the first time in a while...
Knitting- just finished these funny little slippers for Silas. I'm hoping they actually stay on his feet this winter. I started a cardigan for the baby in a really pretty soft gray. I had about 3 or 4 inches done when I realized I had messed up the pattern so I had to rip back almost to the beginning! Reading- Tess of the d'Urbevilles Many an Easter has gone by without any attention to new dresses and shoes and hair bows and all the rest. Since the day is about so much more, I tend to kind of dread coming up with all the "finery" for four girls. But since I'm knitting Sunday sweaters for the two younger girls and Kate has been learning to sew with my mother in law, I thought new dresses were called for. Here's the pattern and fabric I picked out this week alongside the yarn I'm using for their sweaters. I think it has such a fun, vintage-y look and I'm so excited about it! Ella's is the purple and yellow and Charlotte's is the teal and coral. Now I'd better get to knitting!
(joining Ginny's yarn along) Joining Ginny's Yarn Along, when I started this sweater several weeks ago I was really cruising along. Then for some reason I barely touched it for a few weeks. Yesterday I picked it up again and finished the body. So now I just have the neck band and sleeves to do. Then I'll start one for Ella. I tried it on Charlotte this morning and the fit was fine, but definitely doesn't have much growing room. So she'll get Ella's next year and then I guess I'll make Ella another one. I'm not really reading anything right now and definitely need to get to the library, but the kids are a bit sick so that will have to wait a few days.
Yarning Along with Ginny over at Small Things Last night I picked up my mystery KAL shawl for the first time in a week. I had to take a break from it and I ordered new (longer) needles so now I can stretch it out and see the pattern. I have some mistakes for sure, but I'm afraid if I rip back several rows to fix them I'll never finish it. My stitch count is right so I'm going to just keep plugging along with it and finish it eventually- and try not to be bothered that I couldn't keep up with the Ravelry group. On a happier knitting note, I started the Sunday Sweater for Charlotte and plan to make one for Ella as well. I'm using a pretty coral color for Charlotte's called Conch from Knit Picks and I am really enjoying this pattern. It's knitting I can do with my people around and not mess up- quite a relief after the "hunker down in my room late at night or early in the morning when I should be sleeping" knitting of the shawl! I'm still reading The Mother at Home and Made from Scratch. I'm more interested in knitting than reading right now though, so it's slow going.
I'll spare you the pictures of my very little progress on my shawl. Last week I had zero time for knitting so I've fallen behind in my mystery knit along. Tonight Pete and the 3 oldest children have church activities so I'm planning to let the younger ones watch a movie so I can hide in my room and make some progress! This is the kind of knitting that requires silence and concentration- both very hard to come by. I'm enjoying the challenge for the most part, but I'll be relieved when it's over with and I can move on to some less stressful knitting. I'm nearly done with Silas' sweater. I just have to either put in a button band or a zipper and I haven't decided yet which I'm going to do. I did buy yarn to make this sweater for Ella and Charlotte which I'm very excited about! I plan to give myself plenty of time, making it my goal to have them done in the fall.
I'm reading this book which is just all a bunch of dreaming for me because Pete says I can't have chickens (and our town agrees) unless we move. So we'll start with a garden and see how I do with that. Last week I started reading The Mother at Home by John S.C. Abbott. It is a delightfully encouraging and deeply convicting book about the responsibility we mothers have to train our children in the fear of the Lord. It's a book I wish I had read 12 years ago when just starting out my mothering journey. Abbott gives very specific scenarios to describe how training should happen. He answers all of the questions or excuses one may make for not properly attending to the discipline of the children. He does all of this with a gentle and inspiring tone, reminding the reader of the spiritual consequences for a child not learning to obey. We want our children to obey their Maker- and that begins with requiring them to obey their parents.
I am still working on my mystery knit along although I haven't yet begun this week's clue. I've been keeping up till now, but I'm afraid I'll fall behind this week. Last week's clue was half as long as this week's and I had it done by Wednesday. Here's a picture of part of it anyway- (the strange looking white thing is my lifeline-something new I learned about on this project and VERY important when knitting lace!) Shall we call this Death by Lace? I've never done lace before and this mystery knit along is challenging me to say the least. I do not want to give up. But 3 rows forward, 2 rows back is getting old! Tonight I hope to spend some quiet focused time on it after the kids go to bed. I've been doing simple patterns for so long. I know it's time to learn something new and branch out a bit, but this has been frustrating. Knitting is supposed to be calming, right? Well, hopefully I'll get it soon and then I'm sure I'll feel quite accomplished. I do love the support and community on ravelry.com without which I would have surely given up already. I haven't been reading very much because in my "spare" time I'm obsessed with figuring out my knitting. I did start this book last week though and it's quite fascinating. There is something really attractive about the idea of growing all of our own food. It's made me think we should move out to the country and get some chickens and have a huge garden. It sounds like such a quiet and peaceful life. Until you think about the work of it. And the dirt. And the living farther away from "civilization" again. So I think we'll stay put. We do plan to have a big garden this year though. The chickens will just have to remain a "dream." I think I like being clean to much too become a farmer. On the needles, another baby sweater! The picture doesn't do the color justice. It's a really pretty green called Sweet Pea. The pattern is wonderful as it's knitted top down with very little seaming at all. It just needs about another inch on the bottom, the sleeves added, and the roll neck. The pattern is available here. I've made it 3 or 4 times now and I love the way it comes together. This week I've been reading Alexander the Great by John Gunther to the children. This is for our last week of Unit 3 of our Tapestry of Grace curriculum. |
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December 2017
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