a little knitting for a little tomte, and a hobbit house

This little fella has kept us busy lately. So much growing to do! He grew out of his first pebble vest, so I knit him up another one, and used some of the same yarn (along with a lovely soft silk alpaca blend) to make the super cute Alfalfa hat for him. He grew out of the hat the next day, but it was fun while it lasted. I used the notes for knitting the pebble in the round from my previous vest--love this pattern so much--he really does wear it every day (unless it is recovering in the wash basin from an especially messy mess). The yarn is Cascade 220 on size 8 circular needles.

 And my daughter has been doing some creating of her own. This is a hobbit house (she did have the help of dad on this one). We visited a local plant nursery recently and were inspired by some very charming fairy gardens on display. We all wanted to come home to make our own miniature homes for traveling tomtens, fairies, gnomes, etc in need of shelter. This one was scattered the next morning by an unknown creature. My daughter was disappointed, but applied what she learned from the three little pigs and build the the next house with bricks. It is still standing!

yarn along: halloween edition

Happy Halloween!

Knitting: I made a couple of these sweet little pumpkins for some young friends with October birthdays--they're the perfect size for a little hand to hold onto. And I finally finished a hat for the babe. I'm not entirely happy with it, and I think he will outgrow it soon, which is ok, because I really want to make one of these now.

Reading: Still working on Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, and various kid craft and activity books, trying to come up with things to keep the little ones occupied on these rainy days. Our rain is just the normal run-of-the-mill fall weather, and we're keeping all of you on the opposite coast in our thoughts, sending continued wishes for safety.

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just a little bit of knitting

 

It's amazing how my knitting time has shrunk to nearly nothing in the last few months. I suppose that's not unusual with a new baby in the house. But this new baby needs a warm hat ASAP, so I've been trying to work a few stitches here and there over the last few days. I'm using a strand of luxurious Debbie Bliss Andes (silk/alpaca) for softness, and a strand of Brown Sheep Lanaloft for sturdiness, held together in a simple improvised pattern that I hope will roughly match his head circumference. In the mean time he gets to wear his big sister's hand-me-down pink striped hat, which I suppose isn't so bad--I don't think he minds too much!

Reading time hasn't disappeared as completely as the knitting--still able to read a few pages after the preschooler has gone to bed, while the little one is nursing, or while walking him to sleep. I recently finished Kristin Lavransdatter with a combination of relief and grief over it's ending. Normally I would have been intimidated by its 1000+ pages, but the mountainous Norwegian setting, the quality of the writing, and the meaty drama (melodrama even?) kept me engrossed. It really is a beautiful and expansive book, if a bit dark and distressing at times. The author gets at the heart of universal human experience, or maybe more specifically the experience of women--birthing a child, nursing an infant, loving a father, a husband, a son, keeping vigil over a dying person.

I'm now on to a very different kind of book, (though interestingly, also written in the 1920's)--To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. My husband gave me this book several years ago and I gave up on it after the first few pages. This time around I am still struggling, but determined to finish it. The subtlety, the sentences that last a whole page, the stream of consciousness writing are all rather difficult for my sleep-deprived, oft distracted brain. It's good mental exercise, though, right?

p.s.--

That pebble vest is working out just right for our little fella. He wears it nearly every day to keep warm in our drafty house. It fits over his head without any fuss, and the lack of buttons eases my anxiety over choking hazards, so I think I'll stick with this "in the round" version if I knit it again (and I'm sure I will!).

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baby feet

We finally have our tiny baby feet for those tiny baby socks I was working on. Such joy!

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finished

It's been a good week for knitting. Really enjoyed that Pebble in the round, and jotted down a few notes to remember what I did for next time.  I think this might be a new favorite go-to baby gift--quick, easy, cute, and practical, too.

Also got that bowl felted, finished knitting another one, and cast on for a third. More good gifts. I think the one skein of yarn I bought (Brown Sheep bulky Lanaloft) will make four or five of them. Love the way this yarn felts up.

And as a contrast to the bulky yarn and big needles, I decided to start another pair of baby socks with size 0 needles--a lot like knitting with toothpicks--and some leftover very soft and fine merino wool. They feel delicate and lovely and appropriate for a tiny person fresh to this earth. Maybe they'll convince this babe in my belly to finally make his exit.

Reading another Alexander McCall Smith book--The Sunday Philosophy Club. I enjoy his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series so much, I thought I'd try one of his other series. Only one chapter in, but so far so good. Also really enjoying Tamar Adler's An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace.  Such a unique book--an instruction manual for cooking, but also for living, and looking at life. Her outlook is refreshing, and truly marked by economy and grace. We had her lentil salad with basic vinaigrette this weekend, to round out a simple garden feast of sauteed summer squash, new potatoes with chives, and lettuce salad. It was a meal to celebrate.

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yarn along

After finishing the bowl (still in need of felting) I decided to cast on for another Pebble vest, smaller than the last one, sans buttons, and knit in the round. So far enjoying it thoroughly. Just the thing for a distracted pregnant lady to pick up for a few minutes here and there. Hopefully it will fit our soon-to-be arriving little man come autumn.

And reading the latest of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books--always enjoyable, charming, light, but with just enough substance to keep me interested.

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savoring summer

While she did this...

I harvested some of this...

And worked just a bit on this...

(yes, that is my very pregnant belly poking its way into the photo...soon, soon!).

Taking a break from baby knits to start a very simple felted bowl (thinking they would make good Christmas presents) with Brown Sheep bulky Lanaloft in "Herbal Garden"  and size 9 needles.

We had a good afternoon--with the cold sprinkler, fragrant lavender, and soft wool, it was quite a feast for the senses.

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sewing for baby: playing with wool

After finishing that wool-stuffed pillow project, I fell in love with wool craft. It's magical stuff, really. So I've been finding other little projects to use up the wool I have left over--most of which are designated for our upcoming arrival. If you ask the resident big sister, she will tell you the best way to use a heap of cleaned and carded wool is to pile it into a mountain, jump in it, bury oneself, and throw it all up in the air to start again. (This may even give mama 15 minutes of uninterrupted sewing time!)

The projects pictured above are:

Flannel Star Baby, from Nature Babies
Baby's First Ball (knit) from Knitting for Baby
Fabric Ball from Stitches and Love (free online tutorial and pattern)
Nursing Pillow from Simple Sewing for Baby
(I did not make the lovely quilt--it was a gift)

All the projects are stuffed with wool, and are so very satisfying to touch, hold, squeeze. I would highly recommend all of the patterns. I'm especially happy about the nursing pillow. I had a Boppy that I used all the time for nearly two years straight for my first babe...I'm looking forward to using this all natural wool/organic cotton version for the second babe. As a nice bonus, my Boppy cover fits this pillow, so I won't need to sew a separate cover for it (which would likely involve a zipper--eek!).

Do you have any favorite sewing/knitting patterns for babies?

baby socks

I'm glad I decided to set aside that soaker and start a new project. Very freeing. These little socks reminded me of how much I like turning heels and decreasing toes. Something so satisfying about watching the shape take form. The pattern is Leftovers baby socks, and I've knit several pairs of these for my own and other babes, always happy with the results. They're great in the winter with boots or moccasin style slippers to keep them on.

I'm still reading Austen's Persuasion, and thoroughly enjoying it.

And what about you? Any yarn or book inspiration coming your way?
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a soaker, and other projects

This little soaker has been sitting around for weeks, waiting to be worked on. For some reason I'm just not inspired. Maybe it's the electric blue yarn (Cascade 220) my daughter picked out, or maybe I'm just struggling with the pattern, which, I think, could be a tad more clear. Or maybe I've just been hit with a case of the lazies?  I realized this weekend, though, that this was the perfect opportunity to make like so many of you prolific yarn-alongers and start another project--or maybe two or three more projects! I've always felt that I should finish one before starting another, but as I've explored this wild world of knitting bloggers, it seems that multiple projects on needles is the way to go. So today I cast on a little sock for baby-on-the-way. And I think I might start a hat for him, another little vest; and my 3-yr-old daughter will be needing a new hat for winter, and a sweater, too. Better get to work...

I finished Living the Good Life, by Helen and Scott Nearing. So many of these books I've been reading, written 50-75 yrs ago, speak to issues of food and land and livelihood as if they'd been written today. Interesting stuff. Now, time for a good novel--just started Austen's Persuasion. And I'm so glad to have a book of Mary Oliver's poetry at the bedside again. I'm enjoying this volume--Why I Wake Early--even more than her others. The title poem is lovely.

Happy yarning-along!

a pebble for baby brother

Well, this little pebble vest is officially complete now, after waiting patiently for a good month to receive buttons. I loved this pattern--so fluid and satisfying to knit. And the yarn is lovely--Imperial Yarn (milled from Oregon sheep) worsted in "spring sage." It's soft and lofty, and made for a much bigger vest than planned--more like an 18 month size than the 6 month I was hoping for. But we'll just save it for next year, and in the mean time, maybe I'll cast on for another with less bulky yarn and smaller needles. The second time around, I might leave out all those buttons and just knit it in the round. Buttons on baby clothes always make me nervous about choking, and I wonder if the bulk of the button band might be irritating to baby. It is convenient to be able to put it on without slipping over the head, though. Ravelry notes here.

Reading lately has been a hodgepodge of parenting/child-development/labor prep, and for bed-time--Helen and Scott Nearing's Living The Good Life. I had never read this classic of the self-sufficient, back to the land movement and have really enjoyed it. Lots of practical tidbits as well as food for thought on the personal character and community cooperation required for such a lifestyle. I find myself chuckling affectionately now and then at their eccentricities. Since finishing Middlemarch, I've felt the absence of a really good novel in my life...any suggestions?

And on a completely unrelated note, we ate our first massaged kale salad of the season tonight, with fresh succulent giant leaves of Nero Di Toscana Kale from the garden (we get our seed from here). So delicious and hearty--whenever I eat this salad, I feel that I must be infusing my body with nutritional super-powers, and yet it tastes so good! We had it along side some fabulous nut burgers--both recipes from Feeding the Whole Family, a favorite cookbook of ours. Feeling grateful for the life abounding in the spring garden.

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yarn along: basket, eggs, and a pebble

 

Ah, finally a week of knitting progress. I played copycat to Ginny and made a very quick felted basket and set of Easter eggs just in time for Sunday morning. (Ravelry notes here.) Loved the patterns for both--very simple and satisfying. And they met approval by the littlest resident of the household, which is most important.  I've also been working on the Pebble vest and enjoying this yarn--feels almost like a handspun. 

Does anyone have favorite soaker or longie patterns that really work (i.e. stay on and don't leak)? I've never used wool diaper covers, but would like to try on this coming babe.

I just started re-reading Fukuoka's One Straw Revolution after finishing From the Land and Back--what a great read. Has me thinking about community, simplicity, sustainability, and the value of useful, satisfying, physical work. About how our modern culture got to where it is now, and wondering whether/how it's possible to change the course we're on. Topics I think a lot about...and this book articulates many of my thoughts so well, and provides a historical context for them. I've seen a few good movies relating to these topics over the past few months--

Learning from Ladakh

Alone in the Wilderness

The Amish

Maybe one day soon I'll be ready to do a post to articulate all the thoughts swirling around in my head on these topics...for now, happy knitting!

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Easter booties

 

I finally finished these little pink Saartje booties and sent them off to the Easter babe for whom they were intended. I also decided to try the Pebble vest, and have knit a few rows. The yarn is rather bulky and the gauge is larger than called for. I do want a larger vest, but I'm a little worried it will be way to big to fit our babe in the proper season...ah well--one nice thing about baby knitting is that if it doesn't fit now, it may fit later, and if not later, then there's another babe somewhere who can wear it. 

I've been reading a lovely book that has been on our shelf for a while, inherited from my in-laws, called From the Land and Back: What life was like on a family farm and how technology changed it, by Curtis Stadtfeld. It looks like it may be out of print now, but I think it discusses a topic that is still, or again, timely and compelling for many young folks interested in traditional skills and local food/goods. The author's writing is honest and poetic, a pleasure to read. Definitely worth searching for at your library.

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first yarn-along of spring

I've been remiss in my knitting lately. Somehow I just can't convince myself to finish the last few stitches and seaming on these little Saartje booties. And I've got this wonderful locally grown yarn in the color "spring sage" calling out to be used, but I can't decide on the pattern. I'm thinking of something to keep a 3-6 month-ish babe warm next fall...a little vest would be nice--maybe a Colin, or a Pebble? Any votes?

Reading-wise, I finally finished Middlemarch, and I am sad to part with it. Such a good good good book. I love the last paragraph so much--"...for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts, and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life and rest in unvisited tombs."

I have a stack of child development/parenting books to work through now. Positive Discipline, Your Three Year Old, and You Are Your Child's First Teacher. We're going through some significant developmental changes in our house, with a toddler becoming a preschooler, and I've found these books to be quite helpful. And for my own personal development, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. (Oh, did I forget to mention that 3-6 month-ish babe in the first paragraph would be our little babe?)

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snap pea for my sweet pea

It's official. I absolutely loved knitting this cardigan. (Ravelry notes here). The yarn (Quince and Co.'s Lark in snap pea) is a dream--light but durable, stretchy but strong. We'll see how it holds up to the wear and tear of a wiggly preschooler. The pattern was just the thing I needed--so simple and fluid, with only one set of needles, no seems to sew, no little extra steps to slow things down. Just knitting. It only took me a week, which for this pokey knitter is quite quick indeed. Thus, it was finished in time to be a real birthday sweater for my little sweet pea. (Though it turned out to be big enough that it might fit her better on her next birthday!) No pictures of the model today, though, as she always takes a while to warm up to a new article of clothing. She has allowed me to help her try it on (twice!), and she kept it on for nearly a whole minute, which is quite a success. I attribute that to the cupcake buttons, a sweet little find at the fabulous Stash. I was privileged to visit this beautiful shop while I was in town for the Oregon Small Farms Conference over the weekend, and it was such a treat to meet its gracious owner Sonia, whom I had previously only known via blogland.

The bookshelf hasn't changed much in the last few weeks--still happily working my way through Middlemarch. The farm conference got me thinking about a few permaculture-themed books I'd like to look at-- Gaia's Garden, The Woodland Way,  and Farmers of Forty Centuries. And I'd like to revisit the work of Masanobu Fukuoka and Wendell Berry. My husband also inspired me to check out Paul Stamets' Mycelium Running:How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World, after listening to this podcast.

What are you knitting and reading this week?
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snap pea spring cardigan

The much anticipated Quince and Co. yarn (Lark, in snap pea) arrived in the mail last week and the color was so inspiring that I started in immediately on my daughter's spring cardigan (pattern is In Threes, which I'm loving!). This has been such a quick and satisfying knit--the yarn is lovely (though my true test is how badly it pills once it's worn--any experience with the Lark yarn in that regard?) and the pattern straight forward and fluid. If I'm lucky, it might even be ready for a certain someone's birthday at the end of the month. I'd love to find some cute buttons--any favorite button sources out there?

I'm sharing another children's book this week, for I am still reading Middlemarch, and probably will be for quite some time. (Poor Dorothea--Casaubon just died, and proved to be as self-absorbed and dreadful in his death as in his living...) We checked out Valentine from the library simply because of the holiday theme, and found it to be such a treasure of a book. It's about a little girl who cares for a newborn lamb (and makes Valentine cookies) while she spends the day with her grandmother. Very poignant in the depiction of relationships between the girl and her mother and grandmother, and the range of emotions she feels as the lamb progresses from vulnerable and cold to warm and content.

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early spring harbingers

February in these parts always brings a few sweetly sunny days, to trick us into thinking that Spring is just 'round the corner. We've had a few of those days lately.

The daffodils are sending up green shoots.

The ladies have picked up their laying again, having completed their first molt.

We're allowing them a bit of scavenging time in the garden, with the people veggies safely harvested.

And this particular lady...she has made quite a recovery from her illness over the summer.  Recently we were delighted to discover that she had even resumed laying. We're glad we decided to keep her around.

The red flowering currant has just begun to send out it's tender leaves...

...and flower buds.

 We finally painted our bedroom, after five years of living with white walls, and oh it feels so much more cozy. 

 

And last week the mailman brought two delightful packages--one filled with seeds for planting and one with spring green yarn for knitting (more on that soon!). 

Happy dreams of spring!

yarn along: sweet and gentle

I was on such a roll with the Saartje booties last week that I decided to cast on for another pretty pink pair (so many babies being born around here lately!) while I await the arrival of yarn for a spring cardigan for my daughter. It's my first time ordering yarn from Quince and Co., and I'm excited to try it (the lark, in snap pea).

We've been reading and listening to Over in the Meadow, which we found at the library after my daughter fell in love with the song. I had never heard it before, but my husband grew up with it and recently started playing it on the guitar for my daughter. It's such a lovely melody, and Mae Robertson, the artist who sings so sweetly and gently on the CD accompanying this edition of the book, makes me feel that all is right with the world. Just the thing when you need four and a half minutes of peace and solace.

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Saartje Bootees and Inspiration

Could it be that I've finally found my way out of this lingering creative funk? I hope the completion of these little Saartje bootees is a sign of more productivity to come.  I do know that I'm starting to feel inspired to create again. The bootees definitely helped. As did my recent wool pillow project. Once I can get a little momentum going, it seems easier to keep the creative juices flowing. And now I am beginning to dream of projects again!

Have you seen all the fabulous patterns offered by Kelborne Woolens? And most of them free! I definitely want to make this hiker's waistcoat when it's time for a "me" project again. (And did you see the coupon for a free Fibre Company PDF pattern over at Soulemama last Saturday? What a great gift! I chose Perrin).

In keeping with the theme of creativity, I've been flipping through Living Out Loud  and finding it fun and inspiring. And still reveling in Middlemarch for my longer term reading relationship. I've been looking for good Valentine's Day books to read with my 3 year old daughter. Any suggestions? We checked out The Day it Rained Hearts from the library and found it quite charming.

Hope this week finds you feeling inspired and hopeful about the future!
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yarn along: out of the fog

The gray winter rains have brought me quite a case of the doldrums, and a state of creative inertia and mental sluggishness seems to have settled in with the fog. So it was with great relief that I finally found the resolve to pick up the knitting needles again today, after a trip to the yarn shop to find something suitable for a pair of Saartje bootees. I knit a pair of these for a friend's Christmas babe, and they really are the cutest thing ever. Even my husband couldn't stop commenting on how darling they were. So I thought I'd knit another pair for a February babe on the way.

And as an antidote to the mental sluggishness, I've started reading Middlemarch. I was worried that I might get bogged down by the 800 pages, but oh what a wonderful book--I have a hard time closing it each night before bed. (Great article about it in the New Yorker last year). George Eliot was a woman of such keen insight into human character and society. Highly highly recommend!

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