life of seven

Happy Fall

Hello! Happy fall! Happy, happy, fall; it is so easy to be a in a great old at this time of year. So cozy. School starting- kids nestled down with their books, new ones starting for the first time, baking every single day, if not multiple times a day, boots and flannels, and knitting. Of course, the last one is a joke- I don't have to wait for fall to begin knitting. I never stop. It is true, though that new inspiration hits in the fall.

We made apple fritters last week. They were so delicious that they may be worth the work. Of course they were worth the work as a one time thing. Just not sure if I will do it again, haha! 

I  tried, once again, homemade mac and cheese, as well. Now, I love homemade mac, but I never can seem to get it right. Any favorite recipes I should try? This one was....just okay.

I have also made a number of (undocumented) apple pies in the last several weeks. The best crust, I've learned, is made with all butter and ice water- no egg. Also, be sure to add enough salt. The best apples to use, I've found, is golden delicious.

It goes without saying these days that I have also been making dolls. This sweet one has been so tolerant of the multiple times per day I walk by and pose, and admire, her. My love Icelandic yoke sweater knitting has, of course, translated into doll clothing as well. She seems almost human in her lifelike poses. Apparently she loves to read, too...

One day soon, I will try to take a picture of my children, instead of just dolls. But they move so fast. And the dolls stay where I put them.

The Story of Pat and Cuddles

****If you are anything like me, you may want to skip all the story telling and scroll down to the bottom to get the details about purchasing the dolls. I put it there for you nice and concisely.***

First, a super quick blog update- Sweet Blog, I have missed writing and taking pictures for you. But thankfully you are still here waiting for me, patiently, like a true friend (See, I told you that would be quick).

I went back to sewing dolls again, as should now be obvious. I returned to it for a number of reasons, but, as I knew would be the case, the more dolls I sewed, the more those reasons increased. I am once again utterly charmed by the entire process, just as I was when made my very first Waldorf  style doll 11 years ago. Doll making covers every craft I love. The textile ones: sculpting, drawing, designing, knitting, embroidery, sewing (machine and hand), toy making, just for a start. And even the non textile ones: story telling, writing, photography, imagining, and dreaming.

The idea for Pat first fluttered into my head when I began reading a book recommended to me by a friend, who knows how much I love L. M. Montgomery. Surely you can guess the book by now, right? Pat of Silver Bush. When reading about Pat, so full of life, and love for her home and all who lived in it, I wanted to make a doll who represented Pat in my imagination. For this, I didn't go through and reread all the descriptions or try to put in every detail about the fictional Pat Gardiner. Instead, I borrowed the name and tried to create the spirit of who I felt that Pat was. Thus, the light brown skin, since I picture Pat at the end of the summer, having played outdoors for hours with her friends every single day.

In my mind, I saw her as quite brown and healthy, from all the sun and outdoors. I gave her a green floral dress. In the book she wears a beautiful green chiffon dress for a wedding, and so I pictured her as often wearing green. The color and the floral motif of the Liberty fabric (Liberty of London fabric, naturally...so very, very glad I still have my stash) further represent how I picture Pat, playing out in the grass and among the flowers throughout the summer. I believe Pat enjoys fancy clothes and dressing up as much as any other girl, and so the flower headband was a must. I'm sure she wore it to her aunt's wedding. And when she goes to school, or does her chores, of course she must put on her blue pinafore to keep that gorgeous dress clean.

In the book, Pat has a baby sister named Rachel, that everyone calls Cuddles. This is just so charming to me. Nicknames are no strangers in our house, where everyone has some form of endearment besides their given name. Always, the youngest in our family has the most nicknames. Baby Boo, Boo Boo, Cwemmie, Little Sweetness, you get the idea. My doll Cuddles is much older than Baby Cuddles in the book. But I envision the two dolls as sisters and the very best of friends. In this, I was inspired by my oldest daughters, Cate and Grace. From the very beginning, Cate and Grace have been the absolute best of friends. You may not believe me, but the girls can't even remember the last time they had an argument. I know this isn't necessarily the case for all sisters, and certainly it was not for me and my sisters when we were growing up, but nevertheless, I know that it happens, since my own daughters are so sweet to each other. Rather than telling a story about two sisters who don't get along (perhaps a Beezus and Ramona doll set!), I wanted my dolls to be the very best of friends, and represent that precious bond that is only shared by siblings.

Cuddles has a bitty sweater and hat, for extra warmth, and extra cuteness. If she lives in Canada, like the Cuddles in the book, she will need them. 

Pat is a 13" doll, the first time I have made that exact size. And, oh my, it is such a huggable size. It gives Pat such petite features, while still feeling like a substantial doll that can be involved with all kinds of play.

Cuddles is a wee, tiny, 10" doll. There is no way you can see a doll this size and not squeal. It's impossible. I've set up all kinds of scientific experiments to test the theory. And, every single, time: "squeal."

Both dolls are made using the same pattern: they can sit up on their own. They can stand, if propped. They can be posed in many ways. They have knees, belly button, neck. They had long, extra soft, extra lovely hair made of Suri Alpaca. It is as soft as down. My daughter Grace has learned to brush the alpaca locks into soft wisps and sew them into a long weft on the sewing machine, that I then crochet into a wig. It is a time consuming process, but so worth it. However, the softness comes at a price: The hair is very delicate and a little sheddy. What I have found is that it can be very gently brushed as long as your hand is gripping the roots tightly. As far as play is concerned, if the hair is braided, it is actually quite secure. Nevertheless, this type of hair would not be good on a doll that was to be given to a young child. Both dolls have small parts and pieces. I haven't made them baby or young child-proof.

Both girls have dresses made out of one of my very favorite Liberty of London prints. Oh, what on earth am I talking about? They are all my favorite. Each dress includes a pair of matching bloomers. Pat comes with a pinafore and a floral wreath. Cuddles comes with a hand knit cap and sweater, knit of one of my favorite yarns, Brooklyn Tweed Shelter. Her hat and sweater feature a simple floral design. Both girls have crocheted shoes that button.

I did a bit of sculpting for the faces of both dolls. Enough to accentuate cheeks, chin, mouth, a nose. I use needle felting for this, and it has the added benefit of causing the face to retain it's shape over time ,and when washed. I don't recommend hand washing, however. Spot cleaning is best, if possible. 

About the price: I'm sure you've read a number of explanations similar to this before, but I'll put it in here, anyway. Each doll takes many, many hours to make. On top of that, I make them using handcrafting skills I have been developing my entire life. Doll making alone is something I have been doing for 11 years now. I have been a regular knitter for 15 years now (though I learned when very young). Sewing has been an on again, off again skill for me since I was 10. I love sewing, and I hate it. And I have made dolls and toys of all shapes and sizes since I was a child. I put all these handcrafts together into one entity, a doll, that have taken years for me to learn. My sister, Amy, has been a seamstress as long as I can remember. She makes the doll clothes for me, and they are sewn with such detail and perfection. I'm proud to be able to offer clothing of this quality on the dolls I make. After putting so much time and detail into every single doll, and after using the absolute highest quality of materials that I can find, you may be able to understand why I need to charge what I do to make the dolls. Anyway, that's all I have to say about that for now.

I am asking $425 for Pat, plus shipping. 

Cuddles is $400, plus shipping.

Shipping is $16 in the US, $40 worldwide. Your doll will come to you beautifully packaged, with some fun treats of various types included. Please email or message me on Facebook or Instagram if you would like to purchase either doll. Thank you!

 

Lots and lots of flowers

Well, first I was going to write a blog post about this darling little pony I am knitting (Here's my project). This is gonna be a pony, not a unicorn, okay? With a floral saddle blanket and all. Why am I knitting a pony? Because sometimes you've just got to. I love Claire Garland's style, and knitting patterns. They are just absolutely whimsical and delightful. So, when taking a picture, I threw in those flowers I got at Hobby Lobby to make this a darling little staged photo. But, wouldn't you know, I couldn't leave it at that- I needed to show you what I planned to do with the flowers:

But those beautiful flowers were beckoning to me and the kids, and we couldn't wait a moment longer to finish our project. I just love this idea. It was so easy to make and it's so bright and cheerful.

The bunting/banner was Gideon's idea, who spied the letters at Hobby Lobby. And I just feel so absolutely clever adding that leafy apostrophe in front of the S. That lack of apostrophe was really bugging me, because I am a homeschool mom who worries about silly stuff like that. But now I don't have to have one more sleepless night thinking about it. Haha.

What was I saying? Hobby Lobby?

Incidentally, three boys really aren't the ideal shoppers to take to that store, in case you were wondering. Evie, Grace and I could have stayed all day looking at darling projects for Evie's shed, and the rest of the house. The boys love it, but it is really not a great store for them to be quiet shoppers in. I feel ya, boys- I want to touch and play with it all.

Hobby Lobby is deceptively expensive. You think you aren't spending much because everything is 50% off. We kept putting back fake flowers, reluctantly, when we realized that even with the discount we had like $100 worth of fake flowers in our cart. One by one we sadly put the least lovely blooms back. Thankfully, we really did end up with plenty for this project, even though my original idea had been to cover the E with blooms. This looks just as nice, I think, with the leaves added and some of the letter underneath peeking through. Anyway, this was a fun, easy, sort of cheap, project. And I think it really does add a lot to Evie's shed.

 

Evie's shed

Remember a couple of years ago when Cate and Grace fixed up the old attic? Well, that inspiration got the wheels in my head turning, and I decided I wanted to convert our shed by the garden into a special place for Evie, as well as make the surrounding areas of the garden extra nice and fun to be in. We have so much land, and so many overgrown areas, that getting the yard into shape is actually quite daunting. But I think I've realized that, no different from house cleaning, I needed to just tackle one area of the yard at a time. We currently have three outbuilding that are currently stuffed full to overflowing with junk, filled with hornet's nests, and overwhelm me if I think too much about the work that needs to be done. However, spending the weekend on this little project for Evie, and the garden has given me a little momentum to keep forging ahead and plotting how to tackle some other outside areas that need work.

This shed really wasn't too bad to begin with, and it is still not done, but so far it has been a fun project for the whole family. Pinterest has proven to be its usual help, or danger, depending on how you look at it. After deciding to make the shed into a fun, cozy house for Evie, I looked to see if Pinterest had and ideas for me (Ha!). Well, apparently making sheds into charming, feminine spaces is a thing? They call them She Sheds. Hahahahahahahaha, I know, right? Anyway, I for one find that hilarious. But, thankfully, there was no shortage of ideas. I'm hoping to be able to sort through all that junk I was telling you about, and be able to make the shed super charming just with things we have on hand.

I did have to buy paint, of course, and I'm sort of already regretting my economical decision to do everything, including the floor, in white. But I have found that floor paint really does wipe down well, so I am hoping it will work out all right when Evie and her friends play in there. I also painted the bike- an old, rusted one of Grace's. I plan to cover it with flower baskets. And, you may not believe me, but I did come up with the idea of painting an old bike for decoration, before peeking to see if anyone on Pinterest had ever done so. Yes, yes, indeed, they had. So much "painted bike covered with flowers" inspiration. 

We painted our old crib. It was Cate's baby crib. So many memories. Grace, Gideon, and Evie used it. After Evie, I'm not exactly sure what happened, but Jude, Truman and Clemmie never slept in it. We didn't live in a home that was big enough for a special, private baby nursery, and as infants they slept in our bed. After that, I moved them to a Porta-crib, because our house was such that I needed to move the crib in different rooms throughout the day so the baby could get a quiet nap. We converted the crib to a daybed a few years back and put it in the play room for cozy seating. But when I painted the shed white, I knew a gleaming white daybed/couch would be perfect. So the crib got painted, too, giving it new life from 17 years ago.

We also needed to purchase the flowers (though the random assortment of pots were all things we had on hand). The flowers were very fun for Evie to get to pick out, her own special choices. I hope she will find them special enough that she will keep the flowers watered and alive.  But anything else I plant out there I hope will be perennial, so I don't need to buy more flowers every year. I did buy clematis, to get started on the more long term picture. Also, I really hope to actually plant a couple of trees out there for shade. If they are on the west side, they will not shade the garden at all, but will hopefully, in a few years, be able to shed and the other things in that section that are currently in the direct sun. It gets very hot. I'm not a very experienced gardener, flower arranger, or landscaper. So I'm sure it will be trial and error. But that's kind of the point of gardening, right? Year by year, adding and adjusting and learning what works and what doesn't, watching the area change with time? 

Okay, so, let me close this post by showing you pictures of what we have done so far.

The Dress

Here's one of those "sweater-sized" projects I mentioned last week. Here is the link to mine on ravelry, here is the link to the (free!) pattern on ravelry. The instant I saw the pattern, of course, I thought, I must make this while I still have a little girl to make it for. Clemmie loves dresses, and dressing up, and being fancy, so I was certain she would love this dress. Well, when I got about halfway through knitting it, and showed it to her, she was less than thrilled, and no amount of reverse psychology seemed to take effect on her. ("Maybe we should give this dress to Emmylou." "Yes, okay, let's give it to Emmylou!"). Bribery didn't help much either. ("How about if we get fancy shoes to wear only with your Easter dress?" "I don't want to wear that dress.") Guilt trips worked a little bit. ("Don't you like the dress Mommy made you?" "No, I don't like it." "Oh, that makes Mommy so sad!" "Okay, just joking, I like it." "Want to try it on, then?" "No."). I'm ashamed to say that all these tactics were tried multiple times. Probably shouldn't admit that, but my guess is that most mamas who knit have experienced this a time or two...

Finally, after the dress was washed and blocked, and I could see that the dress was a little too big for this Easter, even though I wanted it to brush the floor, like in the pattern photos, I gave up on the idea of it being a 2017 Easter dress. However, she was much more receptive to the dress once buttons and ribbon were added, and the lace design showed up so nicely. She's actually somewhat happy in these photos, and has tried it on a couple additional times, and grown more receptive to the long, fancy dress idea. However, after she went outside a couple of times and climbed on the swing and walked around a bit, I could see that it truly was going to be too long to wear for a bit, and in fact, the hem began to get dirty. So I've stowed it away for now. I hope she will get to have quite a few occasions to wear it in the future. One fun thing I thought of was to change the buttons and the ribbon color to match the season. Hopefully with a little more height, and a little more maturity on Clemmie's part, the dress will see some use. No matter what, I'm keeping it. One day, years, and years, and YEARS down the road, I may have a little granddaughter who may like it more than Clemmie does.

Making things, reading

Yesterday, Gideon and Evie asked if they could paint. Since they were in their little room away from the little kids I carelessly replied, "Sure." This morning they showed me the painting they had made. Maybe because most of my kids' paintings end up looking like mud, I was both shocked and impressed when they showed me what they had painted. Also, maybe because I also have a soft spot for all things British. Yep, I'm definitely an Anglophile.

Here's what I've been making:

Oh my goodness, this is the funnest knitting I've had since... okay, okay, since my last knitting project. I love everything I knit. I just love to knit. But, an Icelandic doll with traditional Icelandic knitting patterns sized miniature? I think it's hard to top that for absolute fun. The great thing about doll clothes is that they just knit up so quickly, and you are never stuck on one thing for a very long time. Also, it lets me search through the house for those tiny remaining scraps of knitting yarn and use them up in a fun, quick, colorful way. The funny thing is I have had those tiny granny squares for the blanket for years. I have a whole lot more, actually, stored in a bag, not enough to make a big blanket, and the girls and I are long bored of making them. Well, at least some of them are getting used, and I sure love the doll sized result. I've got many more little items and accessories planned before all is said and done. The Icelandic doll and doll clothes will be a Christmas gift for the most responsible child in the house. Which means Cate, the 16 year old. Not sure if even she is responsible enough. I may have to put it all in a locked glass case when everything is finished, haha. Just kidding. Pretty sure Evie will be the lucky one. I'll have to train her to "Look, don't touch." Hee hee. 

Last but definitely not least, look what said responsible 16 year old finished yesterday:

Isn't it just the loveliest thing? I do not enjoy cross stitching, but Cate and Grace both like to. This is Cate's second sampler that she's finished. Pretty sure this needs to happen next.

Clearly we are busy making things, that's how fall goes, right? Let me give you a reading update, too! We are still looooooooving audible, so much! Gideon and Evie and I are listening to Anne of the Island, our third, and my absolute favorite, Anne book. I have read it many many times. It's great to listen to after reading so many times, especially since I get to share it with Gideon and Evie! We have also listened to Cheaper by the Dozen. Such a funny and touching story- I highly recommend it. Cate and Grace and I are almost done listening To Kill a Mockingbird. No words for that wonderful book. I'm too clumsy of a writer to do it justice. Harper Lee's writing makes me never want to write another word again- while at the same time inspiring me to want to do nothing but write, write, write. What else? Evie is discovering Encyclopedia Brown books. How I loved those growing up. The short stories are great for her to get through quickly. Cate recenly read The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. It's probably my favorite Christian book. Another one she and I would both recommend highly. Now she is reading Freedom's Forge. Grace is reading No Compromise, the story of Keith Green. Gideon is making his way through an Agatha Christie book. We are getting together with a group of friends weekly to read The Chronicles of Narnia series out loud, something we have done as a family as well as with friends quite a few times before. I think this may be our fifth or sixth time hearing them read out loud. But it is a worthy series to read and reread. I'll probably never tire of it. I love the big concepts C.S. Lewis conveys in the story, which is so entertainig to children. And yes, his use of words is second to none as well.  All this talk of great writing is making me want to end this blog post quickly. My sloppy, rushed writing is making me feel ashamed. But, It is just a blog post after all, not the next great American novel.

But what was that you are asking? What am I reading right now? Oh dear, it's kind of embarrassing. I'm working through Patient H.M., a grisly book about the history of brain surgery, however, I have misplaced the book so it's been a few weeks since I've picked it up. I'm also about a fourth of the way through a huge tome called The Dollmaker. The first chapter took my breath away. It is the best first chapter of any book I have ever read in my life. But now I am in that place where I feel I have read so much that surely I must be done with the book by now, and unfortunately there are far more pages to go than what I have read. So I've put it aside for now, too. On Kindle I'm kind of reading The Woman in White, a book I started months ago and, again, yes, set aside. I picked it up again recently and can't really remember what is happening, even though, good old Kindle, my spot where I left off has been saved. I've also begun reading The Lion's Gate, a book I've heard is an incredible read. I believe the people that have told me this. But I just can't seem to get into it. Actually, it would also help if I knew where this book was. There are another three or four sad tales like the ones I have just told you, about other books I am attempting to read. I wish I didn't have such trouble focusing on finishing a book. That's life right now, though. Maybe my brain book (Patient H.M.) can explain to me why I'm having such concentration issues. But for it to do that, I would first have to locate the book.

 

 

Intarsia

If you look at the date on my ravelry project page, I started this in February 2013. That's a long time. I've taken lots of breaks in the knitting, of course, but I pulled it back out a few days ago, and decided I really, really want to finish it this time. I'm going to try try to not work on anything else until it's done, but I'm not very good with knitting resolutions, so please don't hold me to that one. But, despite the fact that this pattern is intarsia, and what's more, intarsia that involves painstakingly staring at the chart, stitch by stitch, the yarn is close to worsted weight and progress is not actually terribly slow. The real issue is that I can't really multi task while knitting this, unlike other knitting designs. At best, I can carry on a casual conversation when there are multiple other people in the room, or keep an eye on the kids while they play outside, or watch a movie I've seen many times before. 

Now, are you ready for me to give you a heart attack? Of course, yes? Then take a look at the following picture:

Yes. This is a fourth of the way up the back. All those ends. Hundreds and hundreds of them. Front, back, and both sleeves are the same crazy design. Brocade, like the pattern is called. If you wish to be cured of OCD, I have the solution for you. Try intarsia knitting. If regular knitting is like playing Mozart on the piano, even, predictable, everything where it should be, then intarsia is like suddenly switching  over to Bartok, where notes and rhythm sound where they really shouldn't sound at all, and the piano no longer sounds like a piano, but somehow the manic energy comes together and creates a of bizarre, yet somehow pleasing, piece of music (certain people, namely my older sister, would disagree with me here). Normal musical rules no longer apply.

The thing is, there is an odd freedom in knitting intarsia. You have to completely give up all control of keeping it nice and neat and being certain everything is in its proper place. Do not use yarn bobbins in an effort to keep it neat and organized. Goodness, no. I tried that years and years (and years!) ago, back when I first started knitting a and read a brief tutorial in a book about how to knit intarsia. Read it in a knitting book. How quaint. This was back before anything one could ever hope to learn was on the internet. After attempting it, I swore I would never, ever ever knit intarsia again, after about ten rows into it. And I kept my promise until February of 2013. I had read somewhere (this time on the internet) that one could just use strands of yarn, 18-24 inches in length in place of the yarn bobbins, and the yarn wouldn't tangle, you just pull each strand through as needed, knit with it, drop it, and go on to the next color or section. I saw a couple of youtube videos, and it didn't look bad.

Well, if ever there was an intarsia pattern that tempted me, it was Brocade. Nothing less would get me to give intarsia one more try. The design had grabbed my attention when the magazine had first come out, way back in 2005. Wow, that's actually quite a long time. The yarn called for, long discontinued, I somehow managed to track down on ravelry destash. The colors, mossy green and turquoise, were just so lovely together. Yarn, pattern, and colors were just stunning together. And, sure enough, the technique I had read about worked great, and in fact was quite fun. Even though the back was just a crazy mess, like a plateful of spaghetti. All those ends. I've never been one to complain about finishing, or weaving in ends, in fact, it's actually one of my favorite things to do in a knitting project, but I admit those ends are pretty daunting, even for me. When I glance down at them, adding more to weave in just about every single row, I shrug my shoulders, remember Bartok, and move on. Sometimes you need to just embrace the chaos. 

Merriment Bonnet and Cardigan for my Clementine Merriweather

Here ya go, folks: Merriment cardigan and bonnet. You can probably tell from the delight I had taking the pictures that this project was a winner. I used Drops merino, which was a great price, and definitely seems like it will hold up well to a two year old's antics.

One thing that bugs me is the way the yoke pattern ended up lining up. I'm sure had I not mentioned it to you, you would have never noticed it, but now you can't unsee it, can you. Had I foreseen this issue I would have messed around with the pattern to make it line up better, but I just assumed that all would be well if I followed the pattern charts. No big deal for a little girl's sweater, really, but if you are knitting the size 3/4 in this pattern I suggest you double check what the chart looks like and maybe change the number of stitches so that the pattern lines up a lot better.

The bonnet, as you can see, is too cute for words. So, no words. Other than to say, I ran out of gray yarn and so I got creative in using the other colors for the back of the bonnet and the ties. I think it worked well, and again, had I not mentioned it to you, I bet you would have thought that's how it was supposed to go. I can see myself making more of these bonnets, in different sizes. I think they would make wonderful baby gifts. It knit up so quick, and there are so many great color combinations you could do.

I did not steek this sweater; no, I simply knit the small areas of stranded knitting back and forth. It was no big deal, really, since only the few rows for the yoke are stranded. Of course, had I added in the dots I would have needed to steek it. I saved myself a lot of time not knitting the dots. It turned this into a super quick project that way. But, again, I can see myself knitting other versions of this, and perhaps I will try steeking them and adding all those little dots. I can imagine lots of different color combinations for this pattern, and indeed, a quick check on revelry will reveal many, many different color iterations of this design. One of my favorite things to do is to group different colors together, just for fun. Especially when it comes to balls of yarn. For this reason, I am pretty sure I will want to knit another one of these, just because choosing the colors would be such a delight.

Well, I think that's all there is to be said about this pattern, for now. I'm definitely looking forward to dressing my little girl in this once it is not August, and the temperature still determinedly insisting on reaching 90 degrees each day...

Knitting, turning 36, and life

Ooooops...totally meant to post before another week went by but that's the way life goes sometimes. Well, gear up because I feel like writing today. An organized blogger would put all these thoughts and photos into two or three posts, but I never said I was an organized blogger. Or an organized anything. 

I'm feeling the knitting pull again, not that it ever goes away, but when we head toward fall (finally! hooray!) the knitting needles and the wooly stranded patterns and thick cables begin to call my name louder than ever. I am not much of a summer knitter, not meaning that I don't knit in the summer, I do, always, always, but I mean I hate knitting with cotton or linen or anything that's not from the fleece of an animal. The biggest compromise I will make when it comes to summer knitting is to use fingering weight yarn (love it, just takes so much longer) and I try not to knit huge projects that will cover my lap in a wool blanket. But, sometimes that happens anyway and there's nothing for me to do for it but to grin and bear all the sweat under my knitting. I know, did I make you cringe with the water balloon photos on an obviously suffocatingly hot morning, mixed in with photos of stiflingly hot stranded wool knitted projects? It's wishful thinking- fall is surely almost here!

Oh boy, so many projects going on. Love, love, love how Merriment came out. I need buttons still, and need to weave in the ends and sew up and block the adorable matching bonnet, but how cute did that pattern come out? Like always, Alicia's been inspiring me with her talk of stranded yoke sweaters and how fun they are to knit. I thought that already, but she has gotten the wheels turning in my brain as I scramble to remember the yoked sweater patterns I have been wanting to make for a while now besides Merriment. Should Alicia ever happen upon my blog, here you go Alicia: not sure if you yet discovered these yoked patterns yet. Like my sister said to me when I showed her Alicia's blog, "Um, why are we not best friends??" Um, right?? I just love checking out what she is up to in her adorable little Scandinavian-inspired house!

Back to knitting: I just hit the point (yet again, for the hundredth time) where I have to tell myself to slow down and not start so many things. Just when think I am getting burned out on knitting, or making things in general (like where I was a couple weeks ago), something or other always gets the ball rolling in an unexpected way. Maybe it will be with some sort of decorating project, maybe it will be something totally different, like sewing or cooking, but more often than not some new inspirational knitting project will call my name and I will be amazed that I ever felt the need to take a break from knitting.

For my readers who aren't knitters, don't worry, I have more to write about. I turned 36 a couple of days ago. I am so okay with it, in fact I have loved being in my thirties. Each year of life that goes by gets better than the last. I am not just saying that, I mean it with all my heart. Life takes so many unexpected twists and turns. So many bad, but so many of them so, so wonderful. I didn't realize watching my children grow up and seeing them experience the same things I experienced at their ages would be ten times better than when those things happened to myself. It's as if I'm living my life, plus seven other lives at the same time. Good thing I chose the right name for my blog.

There's so much joy and emotion I wonder if I will ever explode. I'm sure I entered the doll playing stage when I was two, like Clemmie is in the thick of right now, and I know watched my other kids love dolls as well, but that does not dampen my delight in watching Clementine discover her love of playing with "babies." In fact, it is perhaps more fun watching my last almost-two year old than it was my first. Now I know how much to appreciate it. I worry less. I am well aware now how quickly that stage, and all stages, pass. Before long, she won't sing "Hiya-Hiya" in the same sweet way she does now ("Hiya, hiya, Jesus hiya, Hiya, hiya, hiya, Lowa, lowa, Jesus hiya!"), or say with delight, "Shoe-y! Toad-y! Snake-y! Monkey!" quite the same way next month. And I use Clementine as the example because she changes so fast, but oh my, how proud I am of each child as they achieve each new accomplishment. Last night we watched what was my favorite movie growing up, in honor of the Olympics. When it was over, Cate asked Jude how he liked it (I wouldn't think a six year old boy would like a gymnastics movie). He gave a deep sigh and said, "I loved it." Ah, Jude. There is nothing more wonderful in life than sharing your favorite experiences with your children.

In five years my life will look so different from what it is now, and I am more than okay with that, in fact, I am delighted and I absolutely can't wait to see what life will bring. Though things don't always go well and many days, weeks, months, and years have been hard, I know for a fact that God has blessed every single day of my life. I'm so thankful that He loves and delights in His children every bit as much as I do mine.

 

Another Week

All in a week...You can see a sneak peek of the craigslist purchase I told you about, though it isn't finished yet. Stay tuned for another post about that. I can't wait to show you.

Um, Clementine, feeding her baby in the high chair? Makes my heart melt. "Hungry, Baby?" I love how she feeds her baby cheerios, makes her wave to us, reads her books, helps her dance. And, then, a nap with "Gwace" on the couch? A privilege that is doesn't happen often nowadays. Rarely does Clementine fall asleep anywhere but in her bed. Grace enjoyed this shared nap as much as Clementine.

So, yeah, that's the Merriment cardigan. Naturally, when I noticed Alicia Paulsen was knitting it for her daughter, I had to drop everything and start knitting one for Clementine's birthday. I'd plan to knit her a sweater anyway. This one is just perfect. From what I can see from Alicia's, she is leaving off all those "lice" stitches, the contrast colored dots. I am following her lead on that one, too. I have knit sweaters with those stranded dots before, and while I do love them, it forces me to have to make a steek, and the knitting is kind of a pain. Those little lice stitches get pretty monotonous. I want this one to sweater to knit up  pretty quick, especially since I plan to also make the knitted bonnet, as well. Oh right, and I'm knitting Clemmie this baby doll and matching wardrobe, too. All for her birthday on August 10th. No big deal. Haha. Around birthdays, this is just how I roll.

I knit the amount you see here yesterday, mostly while waiting with a friend at the hospital. I love the way fair isle flies along. I love knitting this size sweater, too. So small and quick. Yes, Clementine has way too many sweaters. I'm okay with that.

Oh, goodness, it just occurred to me. A Merriment cardigan for my Clementine Merriweather? It surely was meant to be.

This week... I'm glad we are coming to a close. Fridays are always wonderful, and some I am even more ready for than others. I think this is one of them.