Feral Choir Concert Toddler

October 26, 2024October 30, 20242 Comments

Seeing how I posted my goals for the week on Wednesday, the chance that I’d make significant progress on them was small. It’s just been such a busy week, and with needing to still rest when I start feeling tired I just don’t have a lot of time for the extra things. It’s a frustrating place to find oneself, but nothing terrible will happen as a result. I would just like to be able to do all the things, is that too much to ask?! 😉

Top priorities this past week:

Processing the garden harvest
Ward Choir logistics
Band Booster everythings
Walks
Secret Christmas knitting

Caring

Rachel had her first choir concert of the year on Tuesday and it was really lovely. I love seeing how much kids can do after only a handful of weeks into the school year. Even the freshman choir sounded great!

Unfortunately, the family that sat behind us at the concert had a free-range toddler who pulled out some of my hair, and when I turned towards whatever the heck had yanked hair out of my scalp the offender wetly sneezed directly onto my eyeballs.

Zero stars. Would not recommend. It got even worse later on when the toddler tripped and smashed its face into the back of my seat and screamed their anguish into my ear. I was very glad when the concert finally ended and I got to go home.

Nathaniel had his last cross country meet today and he did SO GOOD. He placed TENTH in his race with a time of 20:00.0. He wanted a 19-minute-anything time so badly, but alas…ha ha ha. Considering that he ran his first race of the season with a time of 23:03.0, I think he can safely be pleased with his progress over the season.

Garden

I think all we managed to work on after all the work at the beginning of the week was to get the last pumpkin roasted and pureed. I did go to the store and purchase ingredients to make Green Tomato Mincemeat, but the excursion made my incisions hurt, so I decided to rest a bit before continuing with my plans. Unfortunately, I started feeling crummy that evening, and I woke up Friday morning feeling awful and ended up sleeping most of the day away. I think I was fighting off whatever the Choir Toddler sneezed into my face. I needed to do a bunch of other stuff today, so I still haven’t gotten to the mincemeat.

Community

The church Halloween party was last night and Rachel and Renaissance helped out with the face painting. Renaissance also took over getting our van ready for trunk or treating once it became obvious that I would not be attending the party due to feeling so yucky, and she did a delightful job!

Ward Choir logistics were dealt with this week and we’ll have sheet music to sing from tomorrow as long as I remember to make copies in the morning. I also ordered all of the Christmas sheet music and expect it to arrive next week, and I could cry over how much it all cost, but if I can get everyone I want to help out with the Christmas program it will be amazing. I am very excited about the possibilities.

I did not get to Band Booster stuff, but it’s high on my list of priorities for next week. The fabric for the table runners should arrive Tuesday afternoon, so I guess I’ll start sewing up table runners on Wednesday or Thursday. (Boring! But needed.)

Health

I went on zero walks this week. Between getting over the cold from last week and dealing with the Choir Toddler flash illness this week I just haven’t had the energy to do much more than some halfhearted office-y work from the couch. I’m doing my best, folks.

Healing from my surgeries is feeling good. One of my incisions is healing a little slower than it should so I have to do some extra care for that three times a day, but it looks like it’s working and the wound is finally closing up. Grocery shopping really tired me out on Wednesday, so I’m still working towards having more energy. It’ll come back.

Creativity

I worked on my not-secret knitting for a little while before Rachel’s choir concert. Emily and I went on a little yarn crawl together in July and I saw a skein of self-striping yarn in perfect Christmas colors and I had to have it. I’m making some adorable Christmas socks for myself from it and adding in solid red heels and toes because it’s perfect. I’m almost done with knitting up the heel flap of the first sock. I love that you can take the downtime of daily life (like waiting for a concert to begin) and use it to get further along on a project, rather than wasting that time looking at a phone. More crafting in public is needed! Join the cause!

I didn’t work on anything else due to the aforementioned ickiness that prevailed all week. I’m falling so far behind! Fingers crossed for a healthy new week!

Highlights

When Nathaniel came running over the crest of the hill before the finish line in his race, way before I expected to see him.
The huge smile on Rachel’s face when we handed her the bouquet of flowers after her choir concert.
How cute the van looked after Renaissance finished decorating it for the Halloween party.
Emily brought me Panda Express for lunch one day as she came home from running errands because she thought I’d like it.

Lowlights

The Feral Choir Concert Toddler :::squinty side-eye:::
Two illnesses in one week

Despite all the illnesses, I AM getting stronger and feeling better each week, so that’s good. Michael and I both are really excited for how much better I could potentially feel in my daily life once I get all healed up. Ugh, the amount of pain and lost days I’ve had to deal with for the past ten years is gobsmacking. And it could just be over now. Maybe. That’s incredibly exciting. We shall see…

I’ll leave you with a photo that Nathaniel texted me while he was out on a run this week. I may not be getting out a lot to enjoy this beautiful autumn weather, but my kids send me pretty pictures of it, for which I’m grateful. There’s always happy little glimmers to make one smile…

Cake, Silks & Pi(es)

March 17, 2024March 19, 2024Leave a comment

I feel like it was a really productive week, which is always nice. My little routine of writing these goals vs. outcomes weekly posts is helping me stay on-track with what I want to accomplish each week. I’m really glad I’ve reinstituted these. Not only are they keeping me focused, but I really enjoy writing them and re-reading them, like a journal. I rarely re-read my handwritten journals, so I don’t learn as much from my writing in those. Blog posts can actually be searched by keyword, for cryin’ out loud. Wonderful.

Top priorities this last week:

Michael’s birthday
Garden
WREF Scholarship application
Prom dresses
Resurrecting music practice time

Celebrating

Michael’s birthday went well, there was an adorable “Among Us wedding cake” made by Renaissance, and each of the kids remembered to get him a gift this year. We did not have steak and potatoes for dinner, as I predicted; he requested fajitas.
The potentially brewing project died a sure death this past week. I’m bummed because it would have been a cool thing to do, but I’m also relieved because it was going to take a lot of time and effort to pull off. Many lessons were learned from this experience that I can apply in the future when such a situation inevitably pops up again.

Gardening

Trellises are in my house, as are some other gardening items.
All seeds needed through the month of April have been secured.
Rhubarb is still small.
I did sow the cabbages, some alyssum, but nothing else.
My sweet peas are just barely starting to sprout! You really have to look for them, but tiny little tendrils are pushing out of the soil!

Community

Renaissance did indeed submit her application for the WREF scholarship! Oh gosh, the arrhythmias…she submitted it yesterday at 2:15pm or so, and the pop-up that came up to confirm submission stated that it was due by 4pm that day. We had planned to work on it that evening, but something came up and we moved the time to earlier, THANK GOODNESS.
Band Parent meeting went well and many things have been scheduled for this last push of the school year. I still have a few office-y things to do for that.

Creativity

At Home:
- Fat Quarter Shop upcoming quilt: Sneak peek video was posted on Friday on Instagram and I’m aware that my videography skills/software need an upgrade. I had planned to finish piecing the top on Saturday and even cleared my whole schedule for it, but some of my children decided to mutiny against their Saturday chores and much time was lost on this quilt because it went towards dialoguing and disciplining. I’m still confused as to why that day went so sideways. As it stands, I’m about 2/3 of the way done with assembling the blocks.
- Prom Dresses: The fabric for Ren’s dress has arrived and I am so in love with it. It’s GORGEOUS. The contrast fabric isn’t as flowy as I would have liked, but we’ll just have to make do because it was the only kind of silk they had that came in the color we wanted. FYI, Shantung silk is not flowy. Tell your friends.

Van Crafting Sessions™: Designing wedding shawls: Newsflash: I’ve not done this before and I’m not good at it. Yet. (#growthmindset) Time was spent wrapping my head around how to actually do this.
Resurrecting music practice sessions: Did not happen because I’ve had them scheduled for the evenings, but now that it’s light outside again we’re actually outside during that time as a family. I’ll need to figure out a different time of day for this.

It was a really, really busy week with a concert on Thursday, which was also Pi Day, so Emily made three pies and because we had three pies chilling at our house I invited Ren’s band friends over after the concert and we all ate pie until 11:15pm. Ha ha. I’m generally an introvert who really appreciates a solid sleep schedule and bedtime, but sometimes you just gotta spend some time with friends. It was a good choice, despite how tired it made me the next day.

Much Music and Considerable Clothing Commissions

March 10, 2024March 19, 2024Leave a comment

It was a week of excess; a week that seemed overwhelming in the beginning and then ended with a smorgasbord of new opportunities on top of an overfilled plate.

Community

All the music went well. The All-District Choir Concert was really, really good; it was the first time they’ve done that concert since 2016 and it really is a special event to see every single choir student in the district performing together in one space.

Wind Ensemble (High School Band) performed at the PLU Invitational on Friday and I went along as a chaperone. They did so good! It was a really enjoyable day hanging out with some of my favorite people.

Jazz Bands (both middle and high school) performed at a swing dance last night. I wasn’t feeling well, so I didn’t go. Michael took good videos and everyone sounded really good.

Clothing

There was a lot of laundry folding, but I’m still not caught up.

I thought a lot about spring, Easter and choir trip wardrobes.

But then Prom was announced and I remembered that it really is a big deal to me to make the girls’ dresses for the high school dances, so everything else has kind of gone out of the window. I almost get my wish of making 1950s spring formal dresses—Rachel is eyeing a vintage Vogue pattern from the 1940s, so close enough. Renaissance’s pattern choice is a gamble that I think is going to work out. I am really excited about both dresses. Since it’s Ren’s senior year, I’ll be making hers from really nice fabrics, and Rachel will have to make do with Casa Collection satin from JoAnn Fabric. I cannot wait for the patterns to arrive in the mail so I can start cranking out the muslins.

Creativity

The Baking Doodle Cowl pattern was finally released on Friday, and there were many nice comments about my particular test knit. Always feels good to receive a compliment.

My knitting queue has been a whirlwind of indecision this week! I spent a lot of time narrowing down a new project and decided to go with finally using a gorgeous skein of spring green laceweight yarn to make a pretty spring shawl. Then I decided it’d look great if I carried a strand of self-striping green mohair with it. I was so excited, and then, after knitting the set-up chart, decided it did not look great.

Which is fine because then I realized that we are in the years where my girls can start getting married, which was brought on by receiving an invitation to the wedding of one of Emily’s friends, which led to some deep discussions about weddings, heirlooms, and traditions, and now I feel like I need to get working on wedding shawls so I can have them already made because LDS engagements are really, really short and I know that I will not have enough time to make their wedding shawls when the time comes.

So I sat down to figure out what patterns I want to use for their shawls and inevitably came to the conclusion that I really just want to design an individual shawl for each girl that weaves together meaningful stitch patterns and symbolism that will carry special meaning for them. SO…I’m going to spend the next few Van Crafting Sessions™ researching and drafting shawl patterns. Which is pretty cool.

Gardening

I accomplished nothing, NOTHING in the garden this last week. Michael and I have started watching the series “Homegrown,” which is about transforming people’s backyards into sustainable gardening spaces, so I’m technically doing research. I learned about mushroom logs! I could grow something in the shady parts of the yard! Except that my family despises mushrooms!

Celebrating

There’s potentially a new project brewing. I won’t say more because I honestly do not know if it’s going to materialize. It would be amazing if it does, but also a ton of work. So I won’t be heartbroken if it doesn’t happen. I would regret the missed opportunity, though. More on that if it gets the green light.

Caring

After months of discussing the possibility, we finally have officially started playing a weekly campaign of Dungeons & Dragons on Monday nights. Michael and I are NOT D&Ders, but somehow all four of our kids love the game. We’ve been struggling to have Family Home Evenings for years, but suddenly it’s not difficult to gather everyone. Hopefully the trend continues.

I was subbing one day last week and one of the teachers actually asked me how our family’s new game night was going. Apparently my kids are really talking about it to anyone who will listen. Whatever works, right? Turns out it’s figuring out how to battle fantasy monsters in Steampunk Victorian England. Feel free to tell your friends.

Finished: Baking Doodle Cowl

March 8, 2024March 6, 20243 Comments

Details:

Pattern: Baking Doodle Cowl, by Jamie Lomax of Pacific Knit Co., the pattern is being released TODAY!

Yarn: Knit Picks’ “Wool of the Andes Sport”* in colorways Baltic Heather, Blossom Heather, Camel Heather, Chestnut, Papaya Heather, Turmeric, White & Wonderland Heather

Needles: US 4 & 5 16-inch circulars

Modifications: I knit my cowl a little taller than suggested by the pattern, simply because Ren and I couldn’t cut any of the five charts because we loved them so much. I don’t recommend doing this as it makes it hard to see the charts when you’re actually wearing the cowl. I also used duplicate stitch for the dark pink stitches on rows 18 and 19 of the stand mixer chart.

When the email showed up in my inbox letting me know that I’d been chosen to be a test knitter for this pattern, I was so thrilled! I’ve been watching Jamie create her whimsical designs for a couple of years now, and promised myself that I’d allow myself to sign up to test knit once grad school was over. When the baking-themed pattern was announced, I was so happy because it’s absolutely perfect for my dear Renaissance, who loves all things baking.

I really enjoyed creating this project because it was a combined effort with Renaissance. At first I thought I’d keep it secret, but then I was having a really hard time choosing a color palette because I didn’t want to end up picking colors she wouldn’t actually like, so I brought her into the fold and she gladly went about picking colors and charts.

A heads-up to anyone considering making one of these: There’s more than two colors per row in many of the charts. I can rip along with traditional fair isle/stranded knitting because it doesn’t have more than two colors per row, but throw that third color in and BAM, slows me down to a crawl. Something to consider if that sort of thing matters to you.

Another note: The stand mixer chart, due to the almost-intarsia color blocking, ends up really tight, so you’ll want to knit that one with extra loose floats.

Oh my goodness, this cowl makes me so happy. It’s adorable! Ren loves it too, and I’m definitely going to purchase some of Jamie’s other doodle collections to make up some of her other themed cowls in the future! (I’m especially eyeing the winter/Christmas one, and the arctic one.)

Thank you again, Jamie, for selecting me to test knit this for you, I had a great time with it!

Click here to see this project’s Ravelry page

*Affiliate link

Flare-ups Happen, It’s OK

March 1, 2024March 2, 2024Leave a comment

There’s not a lot to report for this week because I had to deal with a pain flare-up that required a visit to the emergency room early in the week and had me focused on pain management for a couple of days beyond that. The good news is that I started feeling better yesterday and even managed to tough it out and go to Renaissance and Nathaniel’s band concert, and I was even able to go into work today. Sigh. Take care of your backs, people. So many difficulties start to stem from an injury to your back.

Creativity

I always think I’m going to be able to make great strides in crafting when I’m down and out with a flare-up, but when I have to add pain meds to the mix I can’t craft at all, as crafting + pain meds never ends well. Seeing that I’m pattern testing for other people, I didn’t want to touch those projects and potentially derail them beyond repair. It’s something else when it’s only my time and materials on the line; I won’t risk others’ resources.

So I’m behind on my test knit for the Baking Doodle Cowl. It’s about 50% done. I’m planning to spend a chunk of time working on it some more over the weekend.

I haven’t touched anything else in the craft room, which is a major sad. I did receive some packages of new materials for some projects, but haven’t even opened them. Frustrating week!

Gardening

My little herb garden is now a jungle that will need some pruning over the weekend. I can’t believe how fast these plants are growing! Friendly note: Don’t be afraid to use dill. I cut the dill plant back to almost nothing last Sunday, it had replaced all that growth by Tuesday, and now on Friday it looks to be about three times larger than it was a week ago. I’ve always been so afraid to use my herb plants, but this little countertop experiment is teaching me a lot about the hardiness of these plants! The kids have been given total access to the herbs and are encouraged to decimate the plants for cooking. I’m almost to the point of wondering if we even could kill these plants through culinary usage? Could be a weird goal to set…ha ha ha.

The rhubarb is starting to unfurl legitimate leaves, so I believe I can start using it in a few weeks. I’ll make rhubarb crumbles, make some rhubarb marmalade, freeze some rhubarb for making Blubarb Jam during the summer, and I also saw a recipe on Pinterest for a vanilla rhubarb jelly that looks enticing. Which reminds me that I desperately need to clean out the pantry if I want to have any sort of room for canned goods this year. The pantry is a complete disaster. Oooh, I think I also have some sort of recipe for rhubarb-glazed pork medallions in a cookbook somewhere. I like cooking with rhubarb because it has the added bonus of deep cleaning any pot it’s cooked in. (Did you know it’s the secret ingredient in Bar Keeper’s Friend?) I started a Pinterest board for rhubarb recipes a couple of years ago if you’re looking for some rhubarb options in the coming months!

No sprouting from the sweet peas or peas that I’ve planted. I was supposed to plant another section of peas this week, so hopefully I’ll get to it over the weekend. I’m doing a big experiment with planting times and starting seeds this year, so we’re going to just keep our minds open and remain curious about how things work out with these seeds. I’d really like to establish a planting calendar that works specifically for our property, and the only way to do that is to start and experiment.

The started pansies and delphinium are doing…OK. I need to thin them out and they’re going through water really fast, which is tough to stay on top of. I had five delphinium sprouts two weeks ago, and now I only have two. I struggle to get this type of plant started. I’m going to start some more seeds over the weekend because I adore delphinium plants for their beautiful blue color and their unmatched ability to lend an “English cottage” vibe to the garden. I think I spend about $15-20 for each plant when I buy them from the nursery, so starting my own will save me a lot of money. AND they’re a perennial, so they come back every year! The last ones I had were back in Utah; I haven’t wanted to spend a chunk of cash on them here in Washington. They make me happy, so I’m reestablishing them in the garden this year.

Celebrating

I had to drop one of the parties the kids and I were thinking about doing because I really needed this last week to make progress on it, and that didn’t happen. I’ve made note of everything we were thinking of doing, and I’ll revisit it in the future. The girls still want to throw a spring tea party sometime in April or May, and that is still doable with our remaining time frame, so maybe I’ll just shift focus to that. Plans also need to be made regarding Renaissance’s graduation party, which will take place in June or July. I still have time to get going on that; I just need to remember that it’s out there so I don’t commit to anything that will conflict.

And that’s what happened this week. Some weeks don’t see a lot of forward progress, and that’s ok. The nice thing about a flare-up is that they tend to occur many weeks apart from each other, so I’m looking forward to a handful of really productive weeks!

And congratulations! We made it to March! It only gets better from here! More and more sunlight, we’ll just ignore Daylight Savings Time coming up in a bit, and more and more opportunities to be outside and enjoy the shift from cold to only slightly chilly! I hope you have a great weekend and wish you all the best as you embark upon a new, hopefully sunshine-filled month.

Baking Doodle Progress & Too Many Other Projects

February 23, 2024February 23, 2024Leave a comment

Happy Friday, everyone! So many people joked throughout this week about how long it seemed, even after it was a shorter week with the holiday on Monday! Our week was busy with lots of school and band things—I may have practically lived at my kids’ schools most evenings this week!

Baking Doodle Cowl Test Knit: I’ve made a dedicated effort to put in some serious time on the Baking Doodle Cowl test knit because I was pretty far behind at the beginning of the week due to losing most of my regularly-scheduled knitting time (ie. Sitting in the van during kids’ music lessons and rehearsals) to my kids being sick the past couple weeks and not leaving the house. I’m now about 25% done with it, which is great, except for the part where I was supposed to be 50% done with it by yesterday. There will be much knitting over the weekend.

New FQS Pattern: I put in an amazing day of work on Monday and I can now boast that all my half-square triangles are sewn and trimmed! I have another big sewing day scheduled for this upcoming Monday, which I’m hoping boasts some reality-bending wormhole capabilities that will allow me to progress on this at a phenomenal rate, hitherto unknown to mankind.

I am using the “French Quarter” fabric collection from Maywood Studios, and it’s going to be a lovely blue-and-white quilt. I can’t wait for this to come together!

Super Secret Project: I have another project on my plate that didn’t materialize until just this week, even though it’s genius and I’m really annoyed that it didn’t occur to me until one random day during a random conversation with a few of my children. I don’t even want to commit to it because I know I don’t have the time AT ALL—but it’s too perfect an opportunity to pass up, so I’m launching myself into the future, laughing hysterically and hoping I can pull this off.

Spring Tea Party: The girls want to throw one, so we’re talking about it in loose terms at this point.

Garden: The seedlings are coming along. I had five Delphinium sprouts at the beginning of the week, but now I think I only have two. I’ve rarely been successful in nurturing Delphiniums to maturity, so it’s not surprising. Annoying and frustrating, but not surprising.

My little countertop herb garden is out of control and the plants are cramming into the light source every other day, despite my dedicated efforts to pruning them back almost every day. There has been a lot of dill in a lot of recipes lately. Michael’s not the biggest fan of dill, but thankfully, it’s not terribly strong when it’s fresh. Perhaps he’ll acquire a taste for it with the insane amount he’s eating now. Also, this experience is helping me to lose my fear of over-harvesting herbs. I cut these plants back to practical baldness and you cannot tell in two days’ time. It’s good to gain firsthand experience with that because I’ve always been scared to use the herbs in my garden in truly meaningful ways because I’m afraid I’ll kill them with each reaping. I’m learning that that is absolutely not true!

Renaissance College Plans: We’ve received notification from two of the schools she applied to that she’s been accepted! She goes in this weekend to audition for a music scholarship, so fingers crossed that it goes well! She’s torn between continuing her study of music or going to a technical college in pursuit of a degree in Culinary Arts/Pastry Baking. We’re pushing her to just prepare for both, see which one will be most financially viable, and then make a decision from there. (And seriously, I wish I had known about the pastry baking option when I was young! What a cool career idea!)

Baa-ble Hat

February 9, 2024Leave a comment

It’s a nice little gift to give oneself the experience of knitting up a quick little project that you’ve had your eye on for almost a decade. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed knitting this up, and I wish I’d made it sooner.

Details:

Pattern: Baa-ble Hat, by Donna Smith (Ravelry link)

Yarn: Brooklyn Tweed “Shelter” in colorways Sap, Iceberg, Snowbound, and Cast Iron

Needles: US 5 & 7 DPNs

Modifications: None, except that it doesn’t have a pom pom on it…yet? I tried my hand at pom pom-making and it did not go well. I might give it another go, but I may not. Time will tell.

Being a mother of many non-driving teenagers who are involved in many activities, lessons, and events, I have a lot of downtime where I am sittting in my van for 30-60 minutes at a time, multiple times throughout the day/week. I use to knit a lot during that time, but over the past few years I’ve been doing a lot more English paper piecing instead. However, I still love knitting and find myself mourning the lack of it in my life. Unfortunately, I generally realize I mourn it right around when the weather starts to warm up, and I don’t like to mix summer weather with wool, so my knitting productivity continued to languish.

The big change for this year was that I have adapted a different task-minding system that allows me to reliably jot down any thoughts I’d like to remind myself of in the future AND have those thoughts pop up in a way that I actually read them and can then implement them at the correct time during the year. I could not have survived grad school without it, and it also transfers to regular everyday life and crafting quite nicely. Case in point: At some point I thought to jot down the idea of using my EPP time for knitting time during the winter. And the reminder popped up to remind me around Christmas. So, now we’re knitting. Thank you, Past Cara.

I still just think it’s amazing that you can take string, wrap it around sticks just so, and then you get knitted fabric. It’s extra amazing that it’s portable and can fill the empty moments of one’s day and eventually reward you with an actual thing that you can then put to use for years. Phone scrolling, or a cute hat? I pick the latter.

A nice bonus when you’re the type of person to engage in portable crafting, is that you end up with memories attached to whatever it was you were working on. This particular hat boasts memories of Renaissance’s final go at the regional solo competition, where I worked on the ribbing for most of the day in a high school cafeteria as we awaited her and her friends’ next performances in front of the judges, waited impatiently for our Door Dash driver to deliver our pizzas, and Rachel began her own EPP project with my EPP kit when I got it out of the van to help her fill the hours. I am so thankful that our kids are involved with the music programs at their schools, and I’m also thankful for the awesome group of people that make up the music programs—the students themselves, their parents, the directors, and a school district that places high importance on musical education. I love our musical flock.

This project has been in the van and I’ve worked on it during the kids’ music lessons through January and February this year—music lessons that have us strategizing what and how Renaissance will audition for her college auditions in the coming weeks. I’ve mulled over the conversations we’ve been having before I parked—topics such as college choices, life skills, and reminiscing over the kids’ childhoods. My little flock is growing up so quickly and setting their sights on further pastures.I’ve literally knit sheep designs into this project as I contemplated what all these things mean for my flock in the next few months. How this hobby began with knitting baby hats for them, cute sweaters when they were preschoolers, shawls in elementary school, fingerless mittens in middle school…a few hats in high school, but they’ve lost a lot of interest in knitted things from Mom in the last couple of years. So imagine my surprise when, upon completion, I wet blocked this hat over a mixing bowl set atop a stool in front of the fan we have set up to circulate air through the kitchen…and every one of them squealed “Sheep!” when they saw it and most of them peeled it off of the mixing bowl and tried it on. And then declared themselves each the owner of the hat. It reminded me of the days when they were little, clamoring to try out any new thing I’d made. Some things have remained the same in the flock.

No idea who this hat will actually end up belonging to, but it’s already much-loved, and it was a joy to make.

Click here to see this project’s Ravelry page

Fresh Start Monday/Tuesday

February 6, 2024Leave a comment

Post may contain affiliate links. When you purchase something from a link in my post, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend materials and tools that I have personally vetted.

Happy Monday/Tuesday, friend! I had planned to post this yesterday, but my Monday turned into a very long day with no time for blogging, so a Tuesday post it is!

What are your plans for this week? How are you faring with the weather and the season? I’m seeing a lot of evidence of the February blahs all around me here, so I hope you’re doing what you need to do in order to feel as well as you can during this time of year.

We were blessed with an unusual bout of mild weather last week and I made a point of going out into my garden and getting some sunshine. I didn’t accomplish much out there; I mostly just looked at what sort of work was in store for me in a few weeks, but it felt good to connect with that space and allow myself to do some dreaming about what spring and summer holds in store. The rhubarb is starting to grow, and I was excited to create my first recurring garden reminder of 2024 to check the garden for some homegrown produce in the weeks ahead. I normally just make rhubarb crisp—do you have any great ideas or recipes for rhubarb? This plant is prolific and I do not use as much of it as I could, which I’d like to improve upon this year.

We celebrated Emily’s 20^th birthday over the weekend with too much food and, at her request, a big bunch of Dungeons & Dragons, so I didn’t make much progress on crafty things, which is totally fine: People are what matter more! She created a quick-play campaign based on Greek mythology, and it was the first time I’d play the game since I was in elementary school, so I was agonizingly slow at understanding what was going on, but we were having a grand ol’ time by the finish. My character is Penelope O’Paca, a Tyrian purple llama centaur cleric who is a member of the weaving guild. I had a blast healing everyone, using my downtime to collect plants for dyes, and weaving magical garments for my party of warriors.

The Baa-ble Hat is coming along quickly. It’s become my watching-TV knit, and it’s February, so there’s many moments to work on it, even with the unexpected milder weather. I’ve mostly just been making socks in recent years, so it’s nice to zip ahead with such a small project.

I’m a little leery about whether or not it’s going to actually fit me, because 1) The circumference of my head is 2 inches larger than the average 21 inches that most adult hat patterns strive to fit, and 2) It’s stranded color work, which, even though it’s my favorite thing to knit, is usually less stretchy because of the carried strands. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever made myself a stranded colorwork hat that ever fit. I’m trying to keep the floats loose, but…you know, it usually isn’t enough. This is such an easy knit, however, that I would be willing to re-knit it on bigger needles if it doesn’t turn out the size I need it to be.

I’m not sure if I love how the white and blue yarn are creating a wispy cloud effect, or if I don’t like the lack of contrast between the sky and the clouds.

Looking at the week ahead, I’m hoping to:

Finish the Baa-ble Hat
Start or pick up another knitting project for on-the-go crafting—there’s a lot of dental check-ups this week, which means a lot of sitting around in waiting rooms. Knit Picks has a sale on their Swish yarn this month over at crochet.com, so I’m thinking about starting a project with that yarn because it’s machine washable and easy to care for.
Make a dent in the quilting of the Rainbow Coin Strip quilt, and maybe even finish the quilting—I think I only have the borders left to do, which is quite possibly my least favorite part of quilting a quilt, and I’m really stuck as to what I should quilt in the borders.
Put some time in on the Chatsworth Block of the Month. The fabric is almost prepped, so it should be easy to pick up and start.
Start prepping fabric for Nathaniel’s birthday quilt.
Start working on a new pattern from Fat Quarter Shop.

There’s so much more I’d like to be able to say I’m going to do, but that list alone feels like too much, so I’ll stop there.

I hope you’re able to find time this week to pursue some creativity and restore your spirits! We’re beyond the halfway point between the darkest day of the year and the Spring Equinox (when the days become longer than the nights), so we’re almost back into Sunshine Time. You can do it! February isn’t forever!

The Big Pie-in-the-Sky List of Projects for 2024

February 2, 20242 Comments

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It is mind boggling to me that I managed to abstain from most creative endeavors for eighteen months! Of course, one way that I dealt with the inevitable withdrawal pangs was to promise myself that I’d be allowed to work on crafty things to my heart’s content once I was done with school, which has resulted in a HUGE “Want to Make” list. Unfortunately, now that we’re to the point of being able to grapple with all the beautiful projects I earmarked, I’m overwhelmed by all of my choices! What a fantastic problem to have! Hee hee. I work through decisions better with writing and visuals, so here’s what’s on my mind:

Quilts:

Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt: (ASAP) I am finally quilting this! It’s horrible quilting because 1) I’m very out of practice, and 2) I wasn’t that great a quilter to begin with, but it’s in-progress! I’ve realized that the quilting step is the huge bottleneck for my quilts; there was a time when I could just send them out to a long-arm quilter and wash my hands of the task, but prices and shipping have gotten so expensive in recent years that I can’t justify the cost anymore. I invested in another sewing machine with a much larger throat space so I can quilt my own quilts, but they’re definitely not as pretty as the long-arm pantos that I love. Sigh. Done is better than perfect here. And hey, maybe I’ll actually develop my quilting skills to a level that pleases me. The Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt will not reflect that sort of level, but I’m telling myself it’s ok because it’s a scrap quilt that will get the snot kicked out of it anyway, so wonky quilting won’t be a tragedy.

Far Far Away Quilt: (ASAP) I started this one back in 2022 and even worked on it a little during a school break. It’s sewn into its rows and is awaiting the rest of the top assembly, which will then require me to pull out all the foundation papers, which is causing me some task paralysis because papers removal just plain isn’t fun! But, oh…it’s a pretty quilt! Cara! Just slog through the unpleasant part and get this finished so you can have this awesome quilt! Geez!

Chatsworth Block of the Month: (January-December) This is a sew along hosted by Fat Quarter Shop this year and I really want to participate because I’ve been collecting some fabrics for a couple of years now that will work really, really well for it! The first installment of blocks were due by the end of last month, but I haven’t started yet.

Piece & Quilt Sampler Sew Along: (March 2024-February 2025) Another sew along with the Fat Quarter Shop. I bought the pattern book a while back because it looked awesome, and then I saw there was a sew along this year and I got really excited about it. I’ve even stash-dived and decided on some great fabric to use. The question is whether or not I have time for it? You can look at the general info and fabric requirements here if you’re also interested. It’s going to be a pretty quilt!

Birthday quilt for Nathaniel: (April) He at least has his own Christmas quilt, but alas, still no everyday quilt, and he rarely resists the opportunity to bring it up in conversation that I’ve deeply neglected him in failing to provide this necessity of life. He’s given up on the Rocket Age quilt, and has been asking for a pig quilt for a couple of years.

Reading Nook Quilt: (May) For the most part, I avoided even looking at fabric while I was working on my master’s degree; but, during a particularly stressful couple of weeks of student teaching, I indulged in a lot of online window shopping as I grappled with the challenges I was facing. As luck would have it, Ruby Star Society’s “Reading Nook” collection was released that week and I was completely smitten with its adorableness and ordered a fat quarter bundle of it with the promise that I could make myself a reading quilt once student teaching was completed. I’ve mocked up a pattern for it, it’s super simple and satisfying, but I’ve lacked time to start working on it. I’d really like to finish this as a birthday gift to myself this year.

Fig Tree Strawberry Garden Block of the Month: (May 2024-April 2025) Another FQS sew along; I absolutely love it and hope I can make it happen! I’ve placed a reservation order for the book and I’ve definitely got enough stashed Fig Tree fabrics to work with, so it wouldn’t even require purchasing fabrics.

Renaissance Graduation/College Quilt: (June/August) ‘Cuz I gotta. No idea what I’m going to make or what fabric/color palette I’ll use. I figure that will get worked out once we get her through the college application/acceptance process.

Penguin Christmas quilt for Renaissance: (November) Because she’s a senior in high school this year and she still doesn’t have her own Christmas quilt! She’s been making do with the Hipster Christmas Tree quilt, but I’d really like to get her very own, made-specifically-for-her quilt done before Thanksgiving this year. I have no idea where she’s heading after high school; she’s vacillating between studying music out of state or staying close to home and earning a technical certificate in pastry arts, so the quilt could be a “welcome home for the holidays” thing or it might not be. It is nerve-wracking to watch your barely-adult children make these huge decisions.

Gingerbread Christmas quilt for Rachel: (November) Rachel also doesn’t have her very own made-for-her Christmas quilt. She’s been making do with the Double-Nine Patch quilt I made for Fat Quarter Shop back in 2018, but has been wishing and wishing for a gingerbread quilt for years and years. Due in large part to the euphoria of having submitted my last ever final paper right before Black Friday, I bought an embarrassing amount of fabric at various quilt shops’ Black Friday sales, and the majority of it was various precuts and yardages of the Holiday Cheer collection by My Mind’s Eye, solely for the purpose of finally sewing up a “just for Rachel” Christmas quilt.

English Paper Piecing quilts: I have four in-progress and it would be nice to finish up some of them. There’s the Star Spangled Diamonds quilt from forever ago that needs borders, the Smitten quilt that needs a few more filler pieces to assemble the top, a Christmas-themed jewel quilt I started this last Christmas because I wanted a Christmas project to work on in the car, and the Roses Hexagon quilt that I’ve slowly been working on for years whenever I need a break from current projects.

Knitting:

I don’t think I have any definitive knitting projects in mind, which makes me sad. It’s just not that cold here in Washington, when compared to winter weather in Utah, so the need just isn’t that high anymore. However, I just like the *feel* of knitting needles in my hands, so I’d like to do more knitting…I just don’t know what to work on. I wonder if I equate knitting with babies and children for the most part, and because there’s really no little people in our families anymore, there’s not a lot of pressure to knit right now?

However, I do have a lot of stash. Some things I’m inspired to make when I think about my stash are:

Lace shawls: I have a lot of laceweight yarn in really beautiful colors. Unfortunately, I don’t really lead a life that uses lace shawls, so creating them to then just let them sit is silly. I could try to become a shawl-wearing person, though…or just enjoy the creative process and not worry so much about the end product.

Socks: I also have a lot of fingering-weight yarn that would make good socks. I think I just need to grant myself permission in this vein. Socks are awesome mindless knitting that are oh-so-portable. I should pause my EPP in the car and concentrate on knitting instead until the weather warms up.

School mascot hat/beret: I was exploring yarn shops in the area and bought some yarn in my kids’ high school colors because I had a vision of a cool beret knit in fair isle technique of the school mascot. Should probably move along on this idea.

Brooklyn Tweed Shelter project: I’ve been collecting random colorways for years, and decided, on a whim, to cast on a Baa-ble Hat last week. I’m enjoying knitting it up!

Clothing

I have so much apparel fabric and I literally have no plans to use any of it. It’d be nice to get back into clothing sewing, but my focus may just be on quilts this year. I don’t know even know where I’d start with clothes. There is a lovely feeling of satisfaction when you sew your own clothes, though…I miss it.

Embroidery

Weird things happen when you put things on your Amazon wish list—sometimes your husband will actually buy you the things! Michael generously gifted me an embroidery machine for this Christmas, and it’s on my radar to learn how to use the thing…at some point. I didn’t think I’d ever receive it as a gift, so I have no plans in effect. I put it on my wishlist while I was really leaning into tablescaping for the holidays and I think I’d enjoy creating specially embroidered table linens. And monogrammed bridal handkerchiefs. And I’ve always wanted embroidered pillowcases with matching embroidered flat sheets, and, and, and…hee hee hee. It might take A WHILE to circle around to this, though; I really do have a lot of quilty plans to plough through first!

So that’s what I’ve got on my mind for 2024. I guess I should print out this list and hang it up somewhere to remind me that I’ve got some serious sewing to get to this year! I really got out of the habit of daily creativity during grad school, but I missed it dearly and am going to make an earnest effort to reintegrate creativity back into my daily life. Wish me luck! And I wish YOU luck with your project goals for 2024!

If Eeyore was a Unicorn

July 30, 2023July 30, 20231 Comment

After having to suffer through the excruciating torture that is waiting for one yard of yellow worsted-weight yarn to arrive in the mail, she’s finally done! Hey friends, please meet Nilla the Unicorn…except that I’m pretty sure her name is Eeyore, seeing that everyone in this house only calls her that after she spent a while looking like a purple donkey because of the aforementioned yellow yarn predicament.

Rachel with her yarn haul at the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival in February 2019. The Nilla Kit is at the bottom of the pile.

The kit to make Nilla/Eeyore was originally purchased way back in February 2019 when Rachel and I attended that Madrona Fiber Arts market together. She fell in love with Nilla/Eeyore so much that she was willing to learn to knit to create her, so I caved and bought the kit. Interest waned, as expected, and she never touched it. However, with my recent obsession with Little Cotton Rabbits patterns, I decided to give Nilla/Eeyore a go to see if I even wanted to invest the energy in knitting up cute little animals, and seeing that I already had Nilla/Eeyore’s pattern, I started there.

It was an easy knit and, while I started knitting this with the intention of gifting it to my niece, I think Rachel is claiming it as her own because she stole it and keeps walking around the house shaking it like a rattle or styling its hair when she’s not shaking it.

It does have some pretty epic hair! The kit came with a mini skein of turquoise blue yarn for its hair, but I decided to use the scraps leftover from a hat I’d knit previously for Rachel (the yarn on the top of her yarn haul pile in the Madrona picture above), and added in some other colorful scraps from the stash along with some gold embroidery thread strands for a little extra oomph.

Details:

Pattern: Nilla the Unicorn, by Rachel Borello Carroll (Ravelry link)

Yarn: I don’t know, but I’m guessing Cascade 220 as it was mentioned as the yarn of choice in the kit, but I didn’t have the colors listed in the instructions. The horn is KnitPicks’ Wool of the Andes Superwash in “Semolina,” and the hair is a mixture of White Birch Fiber Arts 80/20 SW Merino Nylon Self Striping in colorway “Electric Rainbow,” some worsted-weight scraps in orange, fuchsia and turquoise, and separated strands of gold DMC metallic embroidery floss.

Needles: US 6 DPNs (I swear that everything I’ve made in the last however many years have been on this one set of DPNs. Seriously.)

Modifications: None, except using different yarn than what was supplied in the kit.