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.

(I so wish this was in focus! )

Out of the basket

Finishing up a late spring sweater project just in time for at least of week cooler weather must mean I've got good karma with this one, right?

This Sage Remedy sweater wasn't so easy to knit as the directions were a bit on the different side.  I'm such a knit in the round and seamless kind of gal that having a step by step pattern with no measurements or points of change and just bullets to tell you to change a row...through me for a loop.  It is really my fault though.  If I had knit this early in my knitting years, I would have appreciated directions for every row of knitting.  But now that I'm getting quite seasoned and know what I like, changing things with this pattern just wasn't all that easy for me.

Never the less, I like it.  It is soft and cozy and passed the snuggle test.  I wanted a tunic style (I'm obsessed with tunics as of late) and I wanted it easy to layer and to go with my standard uniform of long sleeved t's. 

It will work for me.  A newish color in my knitted wardrobe.

Now to knit some more hats and hexipuffs -I've got almost 210 of those babies! 

"Snuggle test" captured by my sweet boy Reagan

A quick sew

To start of my week of KCWC, I made a very simple pair of PJ pants for my oldest. They were made in some modest Army fabric he picked out on a fabric shopping trip.

They were simple, easy, and easily done from start to finish in an hour. 

Simplicity 2290

Now on to something that isn't too easy for me -  Sew Liberated Art Satchel.  I decided to make pattern pieces with Swedish tracing paper in case I get requests for another one.  Tonight I start cutting and crossing my fingers I'm doing it right.

clothes

I'm going to attempt to follow along with the Kids Clothes Week Challenge with Elsie Marley.  The challenge is to work on sewing clothes (or even knitting) for one hour a day - every day of the week for your child.

I think I can do that!  I've got a couple projects I need to finish. I plan to sew an on-the-go art kit from Sew Liberated as well as some jammie pants and I am going to try and sew with my first knit fabric.  I need an excuse to learn how to use my simple machine.


I've already been sewing a lot (for me) lately.  I've become a bit obsessed with making the bandit lots of pants.  He is starting to grow out of his 18 m. clothes (even though he is already two!!) - so he needs something else!  I wish I didn't wait until my last child to get into sewing.  My boys are already having fun picking out fabrics and planning things for me to make.

Sometimes

Sometimes when you are a two year old farmer, it is easier to just skip a bunch of steps. 

Whew, it was much easier to sneak past mom and just get the flour rather than mess with growing the wheat. 

The next thing on my list

After finishing my last knit for a Silent Auction, it was time to move on to the next one.

This time I dyed the yarn on a mystery sport weight wool.  I'm 99.9% sure it is a merino superwash - I'm just not sure what supplier I got it from.  It is soft and has a great sheen so I know it is a good one.  Of course it is - I'm too much of a yarn snob not to have something yummy to play with.

I had in mind a soft yellow as it is a "color" of the organization that this is for.  Since I don't know who will get this and what their skin tone may be, I toned it down a bit for more of an earthy yellow.   I'm pleased on the color. 

Finding the right knit was more difficult than deciding on the color.  I finally went with the Aestlight Shawl by Shetland Trader.  It was a fun knit to do.  I love garter on a shawl as tons of stockinette makes me a bit weary.  The lace part reminds me of flower petals which also went with the group's representative flower.

All in all, I'm glad I got it done in time and I hope it will make someone feel great when they wear it. 

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.

Around the house

-We dyed pretty Easter eggs using only black, brown, yellow and green.  Who knew those four colors made such pretty eggs?  Who knew I didn't really have my dyes organized like I thought for the last year?

-We have another sick boy.  I think this is the third time he has had the stomach flu.  It is always seems to happen when Nathan is gone.

-On Monday I took the troops to get some fabric for some much requested jammie pants.  We now have Nascar (eww), African Safari, Fighter Jets, Tanks, and construction truck jammies.  I've been making pants non stop plus I've got a hankering to try something for myself.

-The boys are all crafting non stop too.  Sketches of chickens litter the house.  Not sure why - but chickens are on the brain.  I blame it on Mason's school.  A rooster keeps crowing when he gets there.  It freaked him out at first - he just did the lesson at Sunday school when Peter denied Jesus three times - and the rooster crowed.  Now he believes he is just saying "hi".  Just one more reason to make Reagan jealous of him :) Reagan thinks I'm so mean that I didn't have him go there too. 

-my computer is so slow it has taken almost an hour to type this out and load 4 pictures.  At least I can knit while I wait. Damn rainbow pinwheel.

It's been a while

I was informed that it has been a while since I blogged.

I can't help it.  It is last on my list to do lately and I barely get the first thing done on that same list. 

So here is a super fast, picture filled recap of events.

Last week was Mason's first horse show.  It was a lot of fun!  My mom showed too so we got to enjoy our old horse show time together.

Our horse trainer told Mason if he tipped his hat like gentlemen are supposed to do to a woman judge, he'd give him a surprise.  And a surprise he got!

On Saturdays when Mason practices walking around in a million circles, our friend Tony and her awesome horse practice.  Mason really likes Tony and her awesome reining horse.  Mason also really likes Brian and wants Brian to give him lessons (and yell at him too).

So it was really fun that he got to spin with him no less!

After that fun was over, I finished some speed knitting I had to accomplish for a school fundraiser.
It is the 3/4 Hap Shawl and I'm happy at how it turned out.  It was nice to have a goal project and something with a bit of a deadline.  I had hoped to do more for the auction but decided on Mason dyeing some yarn and pairing it with a few of my patterns.  Mase really enjoyed dyeing yarn.  It has been quite a while since we did that.

I also finished up some scrap busting knits on my list.  I have SO many scraps that my goal is to really reduce them this year.  I knitted another Romney shawl and a Tickle Hat.  They both turned out well and I look forward to finding the perfect person for them.

With this weather being so incredible, our yard is in full work mode.  Most of our garden is planted and all the spring flowers are just about done.  I spend almost my entire mornings walking with Logan looking at things and playing.  It has been so incredible lately.  But all of our outside time has taken a tole on my home chores.  The boys are doing well with their chore chart but I can't seem to keep up with the amount of 'soil' in our home.  Maybe I'll catch up this weekend. 

These last few days have been a bit cooler.  They boys have found it funny to tuck in their "crops".

Tomorrow is dance and Easter Egg dyeing.  I've got to repair of ripped Easter shirt and talk my medium boy into wearing his Easter vest I made him.

And fold lots of laundry.  And meet my (hopefully) new cleaning lady.

cheese!