january bookstand

Thought I would start cataloging what I read this past month, if for no other reason than I have some way to track the books. (I do not care to count how many times I have started a book, and then about halfway through, think to myself, "Geez, this seems awfully familiar." Unfortunately, I cannot remember the ending so I end up re-reading the whole dang thing. Which begs the question: if it was such an unremarkable book that I can't remember the ending, then why the heck should I spend time reading it again?)

The House at Tyneford, by Natasha Solomons
Highly recommend, especially if you are a fan of Downton Abbey. A slightly different time period—this time right before World War II—but it highlights an interesting facet of British history of which I was unaware and held my interest to the end.

All Wound Up, by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Highly recommend, if you like to read about knitting. I have spoken of my love and admiration for the work of Ms. Pearl-McPhee before. I tend to gulp her essay books down in a few nights and then regret devouring them so quickly. This time I spaced it out by reading entire books between each couple of essays. Worked well to make me feel like I had really savored the book this time.

Ellis Island, by Kate Kerrigan
Recommend, especially if you are interested in Irish history or the American immigrant experience. It took me a while to get into the book, but the ending was not obvious and I did end up enjoying it.

Island of Wings, by Karin Altenberg
Recommend. Again with the British history! A very interesting look at the life of a missionary (based on a historical figure) in St Kilda, the rugged islands from which Soay sheep originated.

Proof of Heaven, by Mary Curran Hackett
Meh. I just couldn't get into this book. I did finish it (rare is the book I don't plod my way through) but it never grabbed me.

That's it for this month! I'd love to hear if you've read any of these, and your thoughts if you did.

knitting powers, activate!

I had one of those experiences this past weekend. You know the ones, or maybe you don't, but I get them all the time, when I am asked a "what are you doing these days?" sort of question. After explaining that I work from my home for my husband (acceptable answer, even if it is out of my field of training), then I got the trickier one. "No," she pressed, "For fun. What do you do for yourself?" Like all good moms, she knew that doing something for yourself is essential to your sanity.

I took a deep breath. "I knit."

(Insert crickets chirping here. Note that I didn't blow her mind even further by explaining that I also spin.)

Eventually she recovered. "Like knit one, purl two? I don't know how to do it, but I know what you are talking about," she said, although there was still doubt in her voice that it could possibly qualify. A list of otherwise acceptable answers that I could have given instead:

1. I golf.
2. I shop.
3. I decorate my house.
4. I bake fancy cupcakes.
5. I cook elaborate gourmet dinners. (Now that one's funny!)
6. I go out drinking with my high school friends.
7. I go out drinking with other mothers.

None of which are true, but I think they would have been greeted with more understanding. (I do think I would have an easier time justifying the knitting than the working for my husband to my women's only college professors, however, but I suppose that's another perspective altogether.)

Today, though, today I got the affirmation that I needed! Primo came home from school and asked to go to the craft store. Turns out the FFA is doing a fundraiser selling scarves, and he shocked the pants off his advisor when he said he would bring in a scarf as well. (Kid didn't admit to it for years, but he has known how to knit since he was 8 or so; he learned for one of his first 4-H presentations.)

I was quick off the mark. "Do the scarves have to be knit by someone from your school? Or can they be donated?"

"No," he replied. "Other people can knit one for us."

Did you hear the clarion call??!?! It can only mean one thing. To needles, to needles! Of course we only have one week until the deadline, because he is my kid and that's how they roll. But to his credit, his own scarf in FFA blue and gold is already rolling off the needles (after I cast on for him, because he refuses to do anything other than the knit stitch):

That much hasn't changed from when he first learned, nor has the facial expression while he knits, though certainly the face itself has!

a very belated christmas

Because of various circumstances beyond anyone's control, we weren't able to give my husband's grandmother her Christmas gift in a timely manner. Yesterday, faced with the prospect of pulling out a Christmas gift bag (blech!) to package her gift card, I decided on an alternate plan.

Voila! The sock yarn was left over from Secondo's Christmas socks, and the pattern was from Odd Ball Knitting: Creative Ideas for Leftover Yarn. The gift card fit perfectly inside the "leg" of the stocking.

I had picked up the vintage pin at our church's Barn of Wonders & Delights (I'll have to explain in a future post) a few months ago, because it reminded me of her. It wasn't really enough for a gift on its own, but it was the perfect decorative touch for this little stocking, right down to the colors. Now she can choose to wear it as a pin or leave it on the stocking, it's up to her.

muddy paws

The weather this winter has been beyond odd. Today it was almost 60 degrees, and rainy (again). I hesitate to complain too much, as we haven't had to battle frozen water tanks, but I am starting to get worried. No frozen ground means no hard frost, and no hard frost means that nasties such as sheep worms and garden fungi are not getting hit hard enough to reduce their numbers. I hate to think what this means for the coming summer.

The other problem with no frozen ground and tons of rain is: mud. Mud everywhere. It is definitely more like March conditions out there.

This means that Dusty can't come along for chores in the morning because he just ends up covered with mud from head to toe, and then we have to rinse him off outside. He takes that cold water from the hose like a champ, but he reserves the right to feel very sorry for himself once inside.

See? See how sad the poor dog is, tied up while he dries off and reduced to using a smelly pair of boy shoes as a pillow?

In case you need a close-up to really appreciate the pathos:

Oh, the (in)humanity! Try not to feel too sorry for him. No chores means he gets a two mile walk/run every morning, so things are quite as bad as he'd have you believe.

by halves

Today was Halfway Day at Terzo's school: the school year is officially halfway done. The kids were encouraged to dress in a way that celebrated the spirit of the occasion.


He was quite proud of his outfit: half day wear, half night wear. Half camo, half plaid.

And the hair, of course, which he had come up with himself and I helped him execute (although he did try to quit halfway through the process).

I thought he looked like a maniacal leprechaun, but he was well pleased.

time out

My knitting is in time out.

I know I shouldn't be so angry at an inanimate object, but my current project is really ticking me off at the moment. Two separate starts, two minor rip-outs, and it still isn't right and must be ripped out yet again. All for a project (mittens to match my new red hood) that should have been easy-peasy-quick-and-breezy. Well, there was my FIRST clue, if only I had remembered to know better.

Rather than look at it, I shut it up in the pattern book and let it (and me) stew for a bit. It took me three days to look at it again.

See? See how annoyingly wrong it is, in ways too numerous to count? Perhaps you'll have to take my word for it. But trust me. It is. Or rather, it was. While I was distracted on the phone this morning, I pulled it out from its corner, bit the bullet, and unraveled the whole thing.

Take that, you stinking piece of knitting.

I guess this makes us officially ready to start again. I hope we manage to get off on the right foot this time.

red riding hood

I am trying to do better blogging about projects as I finish them—I missed so many last year!— but I need to find a dedicated fashion photographer. Things just don't look that great lying on the floor, and there's only so many pictures I can take in a mirror or by holding the camera as far away from myself as possible. The problem is that getting someone around here to take the pictures in a spirit of cooperation and assistance is nigh on impossible. When I do manage to coerce someone into the task, I find that they have taken pictures of me with my eyes closed, or with the actual knitted item halfway out of the picture, or (true horror of horrors lately) focused on the skin of my chin/neck instead.

As payback compensation for the Ethiopian boondoggle, I forced Secondo to come outside yesterday and take a few pictures with what I hoped would turn out to be a lovely snowy backdrop. Instead he took many many pictures of me with the garbage can right behind me, all the while assuring me that the blue spruce was all that could be seen.

I was able to trim out the garbage cans for this project. It is a hooded scarf with cables that is perfect with my dress winter coat, which suffers from a lack of hood.

The buttons came from a great vintage button merchant who vends at the NJ Sheep and Wool Festival. I didn't have a project in mind when I picked these up, but I couldn't resist the different patterns.

You know that when your seven-year-old boy looks up (because he has the perfect perspective) and says, "Wow! Those are really pretty buttons!" that you have some winners.

Speaking of the seven-year-old boy, he managed to convince his father that his foot was well protected in a snow boot, and would suffer no harm from a sledding expedition to the golf course yesterday. He had received a super duper sled for Christmas that was burning a hole in his imagination.

The crew had a great time, and the sled met and exceeded all expectations, until this happened:

And then this, when he fell off the sled and went face-first down the icy slope:

The foot is doing just fine, but his face looks even worse today:

With the bruises and missing teeth (unrelated to sledding), he now looks like he went ten rounds with Tyson. We told him to tell anyone who asks at school tomorrow: "You shoulda seen the other guy." The fact that he is still limping will only add to the mystique.