Yarnalong: Out of the Woods and Knittin' Mittens (still)

Joining Ginny today at Small Things blog for Yarnalong:

Still knittin' mittens and will be for awhile. Soon I'll have some more completed ones to show you and I'm pretty excited about that. Knitting the mittens is satisfying but putting on the ears and faces is pretty fun.
In case you're wondering, the wool is Vanna's Choice from Lion Brand. Some excellent, soft acrylic yarn. Perfect for kid's mitts.
I'm reading Lynn Darling's Out of the Woods that I picked up a few weeks ago at the library. It's about Lynn's struggle with finding a new identity after her only child leaves home for college. Lynn decides to move her life to the country from New York City thinking quiet and solitude and time in nature would be just the thing to help her figure out who she is now and what to do next. Lynn's writing is almost lyrical in its perfect descriptions of life and wilderness. She is both funny and raw and this book is a pleasure to read.
I'm a long way from the empty nest stage of my life but I know how fast time flies. I do wonder what it will be like when my kids are gone and I am left with myself.
The wooden chair that was my prop for the above picture came from a booth at the International Plowing Match today. We took the kids out of school for the day and drove to little Ivy, ON to check out all things farm. Our first stop was the Stihl chainsaw booth where one of the reps chainsawed this little chair as a demonstration for the crowd. When the Em-ster asked if she could have it, he said sure. He was kind enough to let us store it at the booth until we were done for the day. I'll have more to say about our day soon including pictures of wool and spinning and bashful, long-lashed alpacas.

Makin' Stuff

Last night I climbed into bed at 9:50-all pleased with myself and my time management skills, with a plan to read for 40 mins. But a little voice in the back of my head quietly said "You're not done yet". I thought "Sure I am, I've been for a walk, tended to tomorrow's lunches, helped clean up after dinner, knit till I can't knit anymore. I'm done". The voice repeated "You're not done yet."
So I got up and wandered down to my little corner of the basement and began to listen to the voice.

Book-binding has been on my mind lately and I haven't made the time to give it a proper go. So I sat down at my desk, pulled out my collection of magazine pictures and pieced together a cover for a journal. I like makin' stuff but I'd prefer if the creative urge wouldn't hit past 9pm. Sometimes you have no choice but to feed the need so you can settle down all the parts of your mind and go to sleep.

This afternoon I found a couple of pins on Pinterest on how to bind a book, made myself a couple of practice journals and let my creative juices flow on the covers. That was satisfying!

I used a sewn binding with some old crochet thread I had. It was pretty easy. Now I need to nip down to the scrapbook store and get some washi tape to cover it up nicely. 

Gratitude Sunday

Joining Taryn at Wooly Moss Roots blog for Gratitude Sunday::

This week I have felt grateful for:
:: reconnecting with a good friend who I've had trouble finding the time to call for a chat. Our friendship seems to go like that-in fits and starts. We've always been able to pick up right where we left off and for that I'm especially grateful
:: having enough. Enough food, enough money. Not extra, certainly not in the money department but always enough for what we need.
::the sometimes rare moments of peace between my children when I hear them speaking to each other like a friend, when my daughter lets the little sister's love and respect for her big brother shine through. It gives me hope that they might actually like each other deep, deep, deep down.
:: a growing sense of abundance. I guess I'm more of aware of it these days but I feel like we have so much. I hang my laundry out to dry and am aware of how fortunate I am to have these clothes.

 I make a something-out-of-nothing dinner and am aware of how much food we do have in this house.
::knitting. Goodness, but I love knitting. I could knit all day if the dishes would climb into the dishwasher on their own and the floor would mop itself. I especially love knitting outside on the front stoop, watching the world go by.

::evening walks. I love going for a brisk walk at dusk when summer is turning into fall. I am that person peeping into other people's windows to see what it looks like inside. It makes me feel like we're more the same than different when I see dishes on the counter and toys strewn all over the living room floor. That and I'm nosy ;)
I especially like these fallish walks when I come back in and smell the baked chicken and potatoes we had for dinner. That is totally a comfort smell for me.
What about you? What are you feeling grateful for this week?

Still alive and knitting furiously

The computer troubles that have been plaguing me of late are nearly sorted out (thank God!) and I was able to download 2 pictures-no small feat, let me assure you. I have been knitting furiously away on mittens and managed to successfully assemble these guys:

I have a tendency to get discouraged if things don't come together just like in the pictures right away. I put together the first mouse and the ears were all bumpy and crooked, I didn't like the eyes and I couldn't get the nose the way I wanted it. He sat for a few days while I stewed about it. I realized I was being a perfectionist and no one is good at anything the first time they try something so I did up the second and was much happier with the result. It's been clear sailing ever since and I am all about the animal mittens right now. My annual craft sale weekend is coming up in 2 months and I want to have 60 pairs of assorted creatures ready to go. I'm thinking bears, owls, cats and mice in 3 different sizes. If I knit one pair a day I should be fine. Right. Not insane at all. 

So I apologize as my knitting news is going to be a bit boring unless you love unbearably cute animal mittens. That is until I get sick of sewing noses, have a small mental break-down and in rebellion start knitting a sweater or something.

It's good to be back:)

Frustration, Contentment and Some Words about Knitting

I've been pretty quiet here this week. I had things to say and I really wanted to join in with Ginny's Yarnalong on Wednesday but the thing is this old laptop of ours is full up to capacity with photos and whatever else takes up memory on a laptop. I couldn't cram one more thing into it and surfing the internet is taking forever. I'm feeling pretty frustrated this week. We need to update the operating system and get all these pictures onto an external hard drive but lack of knowledge, experience, time and confidence has been holding us back for months. I've said it before but this is the weekend we're just going to do this thing and hope for the best! Stupid technology.

While I've been feeling pretty frustrated at my inability to upload all the great photos I took this week at the beach I have been feeling pretty content with other aspects of life in general. Our monthly income has been greatly reduced by me not being able to do my former job anymore and I was really worried our day to day expenses would seriously eat into our savings. So far that hasn't been the case. Somehow, by the grace of God we've had just enough money to pay the bills, eat well and cover a few unexpected costs that have come up. Amazing. When I was working in a retail environment 5 days a week there were so many things I wanted to buy or felt we had to have but now that temptation is totally gone (except for the crock pot. I still really want a crock pot-does that make me weird or boring???). I feel content and satisfied and it's a nice feeling. I am apparently a lot nicer to be around too.
It's the knitting to be sure. I have time to knit. I wanted to show you a picture of the little, tiny heel and toe socks I finished knitting on the weekend. The recipients were happy with them too. I wanted to show you the mouse mittens I'm almost done. I knit the mittens months ago and the spirit finally moved me to make the ears and they are so very awesome. It is with great sadness and some relief that I've decided to frog the Kirin Shawl. I just can't get the rthym of it and its driving me mental. I don't know if it's me or the pattern but we need some apart time. Sometimes you just have to accept that some knitting isn't meant to be. I have a few ideas for the wool but haven't settled on anything yet.
If I could upload photos to this tired dinosaur of a computer I would show you the gorgeous scarf I found yesterday. It was in the lost and found bin at work, headed for the Goodwill store and I snatched it up lickety-split. It's a basket-weave pattern knit from sock wool in this orange-mauve-brown variegated colourway. Being a knitter I know that if I had lost a hand-made scarf I'd want to know that someone found it who appreciated the all of it. So, if you were in an outdoor store in Waterloo last winter and you lost a scarf matching this description you can thank your lucky stars it has found it's way to a knitter's house and is being well cared for. Unfortunately you can't have it back because it's MINE, MINE, MINE now (enter maniacal laughter)