Technicolor Boy

My medium boy is quite the original. He is very talkative. He can also be quite a wall flower.  Very Cancerian.  He is really challenging in a very different way than our other two.

Our afternoons are usually filled with adventure play, heroes, dragons, super powers, The Force and the like. On days he feels like painting, he makes a canvas full of slashes and swoops of bright, happy colors.

It shouldn't have surprised me then when we went yarn shopping for a new vest that he would choose this wild comnination.

I tried to lead him in a direction that would look good and soft on him. Heathered blues, oatmeal, winter green. No, he wanted a technicolored dream vest. If there was sparkly yarn there (thank God he didn't see it) he would have had to have that.

"I must have this mommy. This is what I was thinking about. I want to see this!" He carried those skeins around the store making sure they were "squishy".  He placed them in the order he would like to see them. 

It is really all my fault. One of those previous afternoons he wanted to paint some yarn "mommy green" since he knows it is my favorite color. Since we keep our house pretty cool (65), the medium boy and are on "team cold" (the husband and boy #1 are team hot, #3 boy is just overdressed)  and he thought he needed a cushy sweater. Being happy to oblige him in this, I made him a Fisherman's Pullover. Being a sleek framed 4 1/2 year old, he isn't a size 4 or a size 5 and my estimates on how he would like it to fit were off. Now the oldest boy has a sweater and the medium boy will have it next year.

Thus, the Technicolor Dream Vest was born.

It does look cute on him (despite the terrible yarn - must work on his yarn snobbery). It does look like him. Happy. Colorful. With pockets.

This Moment

Inspired by Soulemama - {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Yarn Along

Linking up with Ginny at Small Things...

I've been knitting and knitting lately.  I have one more special something to make for Christmas then I'm all caught up!  It seems that the more things I need to do, the more things I start to cast on just to 'do'.  Right now I've got three (soon to be four) projects going on.

Hexipuffs are never ending and always addicting.  I think I'm up to the high 90's  now.  I'll have to make my 5 year old count them out for me.  I love that they are such a great manipulative for him.  He loves to make patterns and there is enough now to make pretty fun combinations. 

I need another pair of legwarmers so I've got those going now.  I have a pair now that I wear almost every day and every night.  Another pair will be nice to add to the mix.

Lastly I've got a shawl on the needles too.  It is pretty mindless right now which is what I need during this holiday season.  I secretly hope that I have it magically done by the New Year.  Maybe with our holiday drives to here and there I'll get it finished.  I've done so many triangular shawls that it is nice to mix it up with a crescent shaped one.

I've picked up Organized Simplicity again and have been reading it when I get a chance.  This book is motivating enough to really work through it thus I've been slow to actually finish it.  Reorganizing and simplifying during the holiday season is actually really good for me.  I always feel that Christmas is what starts the year off and I hope I have a more organized year in 2012.   Preparing for the new toy additions for three little kids already has me stressed and pretty motivated to really think about what is liked and loved in the play room.  With three little boys 5 and under, it is hard to weed out what isn't used and what won't be used.  If my 21 month old could actually talk and tell me what he would like to play with in the next few years, it would be a lot easier for me.

This Moment

Inspired by Soulemama - {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

 

crossed eyed and hiding

I feel how Mason looks...crossed eyed and hiding.

-I can't seem to sit down and blog about anything. I do actually have things I could blog about too.

-Thanksgiving came and went.  It was nice to see family and have the boys play on the farm. They needed the farm air.  They enjoyed getting in the muck with some cows. 

-Decorations are up.  Many are down thanks to the red armed bandit.  Our tree is sad looking with all of the ornaments on the top. 

-Most of my Christmas knitting is done.  Actually all of my "scheduled" gift knitting is.  I'm sure I'll panic and think of something else I'll have to frantically do.

-My good camera is still at the Nikon shop. No word on how long. My not-so-good Point and Shoot is missing.  So are two of my doll rods in my yarn winding wheel.  I fear the red armed bandit has struck again.  The house has been totally torn apart looking for both of them.  I fear the trash. 

-The big boys and I had a date on Saturday to see Puss In Boots.  It was fun.  I was reminded of why I don't see movies -gosh that was expensive!  I was also reminded why I'm shopping local, Etsy, or Amazon.  The people were not in the Christmas mood.  I'm pretty sure of the gestures the boys saw were not in celebration of the upcoming special day.

-We rode the Santa Train yesterday.  It was fun.  It was cramped. The big boys couldn't think of what to tell Santa they wanted.  It was very scary for the red armed bandit. 

-The red armed bandit will be The Red Armed Bandit no more tomorrow.  The smelly cast will come off.  He'll just be the bandit then.  One less weapon in his arsenal. 

-It hasn't slowed down since before Thanksgiving.  My list is so long  I'm not sure where to begin. 

If I could only find my camera...

Inspired by Soulemama - {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Right Now Moments

No words. Just right now via Instagram.

...

ETA:  after 4 days of being gone, and a 10 hour drive...

Around Here

Around here...

- I've not taken a lot of photos lately.  I need to get better about that!  It seems that I'm so in the moment that I'm not getting the moments on film

- My baby did break his elbow.   After seeing a pediatric specialist, it was confirmed (rather easily -geez - even I saw it) that he did indeed break his elbow.  An innocent accident with his medium brother being helpful.  In 3 weeks it comes off and he should be good to go.  We are lucky it was as simple as it is.

- I'm so so so behind on my Christmas knitting that I'm feeling the panic now.  Plus my medium child wants a soft, green sweater that is not going as fast as I had hoped.  Neither is that Christmas sweater.  Yikes.  Panic!

- I've been uber motivated lately cleaning and organizing my home.  Since Nathan and I decided to no longer mess with garage selling and to strictly donate, I've been in a frenzy donating things we no longer need, things that are taking up space, and things that we really don't love but someone else might.  Even my boys are in the mood to donate toys and clothes.  I'm really trying to minimize what we have and it feels really freeing to give it up.    Bags and bags and bags and bags.  My closet is quite small now and organized by color.  I love it.

- I'm amazed and awed by The Zero Waste Home.  Wow.  Lots of great ideas.  Love the video. 

- This bin idea has worked so well for my crew in the mornings and night.  It has eliminated the need to find a place to hang jammies and have clothes ready to go in the morning.  I hang them off of the closet door handles so they are off the floor and easy to reach and see.

...What is going "around" with you?

This Moment

Inspired by Soulemama - {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Cobbles

I decided this fall that since I'm just about the only one in my family who wants sweaters (other than my medium boy), I'm going to knit them for me and not feel guilty about it.  For some reason it is hard for me to do though - little people sweaters are fun and fast.

The most recent sweater I made is the Cobblestone Pullover by Jared Flood.  I purchased the Cobblestone Pullover last winter while deciding what to make for Christmas gifts.   I'm quite a fan of Jared Flood's patterns.  They have this wonderful old school Elizabeth Zimmermann functionality with a more modern yet classic look.  Plus, I love knitting in the round since it is easy for me to pick up and work on during my day.

My goal is to knit through my stash as much as I *can* and not purchase any new yarn just because I like it.  If you are a yarn "collector", you will know that this is no easy task. Since I amassed quite a stash of SHELTER last year in several fits of wooly madness,  I've been focusing on working through it.   SHELTER is my favorite wool to work with.  With its lofty, tweedy, light, and soft nature, it makes for perfect wooly sweaters.  The four sweaters (not counting hats) I've knit with it is a good indicator of how much I love it.  The Cobblestone Pullover was perfect for it.  I'm really pleased on how it turned out.

With only a few mods (found on Ravelry), it fits just right and I know will become a great winter staple. 

Inspired by Soulemama - {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Yarn Along

Following Ginny's weekly Yarn Along over at Small Things...

I've been happily and slowly plugging away at my fall sweater only to run out of yarn so close to the end.  Because I've got to wait for more Shelter to come in, I decided that I'd better work on my Christmas knitting.  I decided this summer that I wasn't going to go crazy like I did last year. I'm really trying not to but I keep thinking about projects that I can do.  I took the time today to wind up yarn and see what I have.  I think leg warmers are in store.  Hats too.  Oh and a cowl or two (or three)

I was humbled when my friend asked me to make a hat for her to give as a gift so I've been knitting away on that.  It is such a cute little dead fish (if that isn't an oximoron) when it is finished and I hope it fits the recipient.  I'm going for a Parrot Fish look and just decided that the fins need to be orange.  It needs a little spunk.  I'll have to dye that up tomorrow and wait some more.

This weeks reading finds me in the middle of Austenland.  I'm enjoying the light read and it is moving nicely along.  It does make me self examine my own obsession with Pride and Prejudice though. Maybe that same friend as mentioned above recommended this book to me because she knows I might have a problem. 


Sigh... Mr. Darcy.

Halloween

Our boys had such a fun Halloween!  We are lucky that a good friend of ours hosts a really fun Halloween party.  There were a lot of kids there!  Managed chaos to say the least but super fun.  Trick or treating in a large group seems to be the way to do it.  It makes it fun for all of us.

The boys wanted Star Wars for a while now.  Reagan was Captain Rex, Mason was Handsome Han Solo ( the handsome part was important to him) and Logan was Chewbaca.

Who needs guns?  I don't and have none.  Can you tell why?  Fingers work just as well.

Star Wars was a big theme with a lot of little kids (and some adults) this year.  Just in our group we had quite a bunch!

All the kids together.

I didn't make any costumes this year which made me a little sad.  The only thing I did was to paint stripes on ribbon and sew them to Mason's pants.  We also spray painted the empty gun holster for Mason.  Pretty easy.

Logan thought Trick or Treating was great.  He loved being part of the group and walked almost the entire time.  He also loved his costume and strutted around like the cutie he knows he is.

The Candy Fairy came last night and whisked all the candy away and replaced with little gifts.  Boys were up early so I'm going to assume today will be a long, hungover-from-candy-day.

this moment

Inspired by Soulemama - {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Yarn Along

Following Ginny's Weekly Yarn Along over at Small Things...

I'm still plugging away on my Cobblestone sweater.  The home stretch is almost insight though - just one more arm to go and then the join!  I always feel like it goes so fast once all the pieces are put together and just the yoke is left.  It seems the last of the weather in the high 70's are coming to a close and hopefully this sweater will be nice and cozy.  I'm a cozy kind of gal.

I just downloaded Austenland per my BFF's advice.  I don't often (really ever) post about audiobooks that I read.  It is mostly because they are embarrassingly romantic.  I need easy listening while I knit during the quiet nights and they fit the bill.  I'm excited to read Austenland.  I tried, unsuccessfully, to get it from the library a number of times but it isn't ever in and I have this 19 month who l o v e s books and screams with delight while I'm there.  Oh and pulls books off of the book shelves.  And yells "whoa" at every poster.  We muddle through it though.  I just have to tell myself that I'll get hours of peaceful little- boy(s)-reading bliss when I get home. 


I do need help though.  I'm spoiled with a very talented friend who is letting me knit some of her beautiful yarn for Stitches West.  BUT - What to knit!!  I just a can't decide.  Even though I can't start this until I finish my current knit and some mittens, and two hats...I do want to know  - now (so I can cheat and cast on). 

I get to use this beauty -

Will you help me?  Will you take a poll (over there <--- on sidebar)?  Which one do you like best?  Do you like something else?  Shoot me the link!

1.  Daybreak
2. Cladonia
3. Stripe Study Shawl
4. Green Line To Ashland
5. Terra
6. Whippoorwill
7.  Gabriella

Welcome back

Welcome back my friend.  I'm so glad to see you.  I plan on making you take lots of pictures of children and yarn.  How fun it is to be you.

Please don't break again.  For such a small expensive thing, you are very loved. 

This Moment

Inspired by Soulemama - {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

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Yarn Along

Following Ginny's weekly Yarn Along...

It has been a while since I've posted a Yarn Along (or posted at all for that matter).  It is amazing how much I don't take pictures now that my good camera is in the shop.  I hope it comes back soon!

Even though I've not posted, I've still knitted, a lot.  I don't think that will ever change.  Right now I'm knitting lots of Hexipuffs for the Beekeeper's quilt.  I'm up to 70 and one more on the way.  I enjoy knitting them.  I knit them everywhere...while I'm cooking, waiting in the car, watching my kids bathe and so on.  They are so portable!  Plus, the boys like to play with them too and have been a great manipulative for sorting and counting.  My youngest likes to throw them and take them out one at a time to say "UtOh" as it hit the ground.  Considering that is one of his three words he has, he practices it a lot. 

I also have a sweater on the needles for me.  Since my older boys are getting to the point where they'd prefer hats and mittens to sweaters, I might as well as knit them for someone who wants them - me.  Jared Flood's Cobblestone in SHELTER is an easy knit.  I'm modifiying it as I go along adding waist shaping and length.  I hope it turns out to be one of those sweaters that is worn all the time.  

The last three weeks have been so busy that I've not taken the time to really read much of anything.  I'm working on the activities section of Playful Learning and finishing up Organized Simplicity.  Both are great and are nice to pick up and read a bit here and there.

Late to the party

I'm a little late to the party. How is it already Friday?  I've been meaning to post a few pictures of our weekend.  I wish I would have gotten that done a bit earlier!

The past weekend we headed to my parents' house to see my brother (and parents and horses).  We don't get to see him often since he lives across the country.  It was a lovely weekend.  It was warm and sunny and so nice.

I think my boys are natural country boys.  They love being there with the dogs and horses and space.  They fished, rode, ran, mowed, kissed a fish, found water gritters, fed horses, and snuggled up.  It was great.

Tadpoles and frogs.  There very cool Nana had them looking for organisms under a microscope. 

One happy dog. 

There is something about tucking in horses for bed that makes little people feel pretty big.

Trotting for the first time. We had to stop him giggling.  Rene is trained so much that he was getting confused on if he should keep going. 

Yes I know.  He should be wearing jeans and boots.  His mother forgot those things with the weather so warm.  Mason, as always, made it work. 

Baby boys first real ride.  Insert tractor noises here and lots of giggles. 

--On another note- my good camera is broken.  I had to send it off the Nikon. I hope to make myself use the point and shoot so I can be a bit motivated to blog.  I just pray it is back before the holidays.