Yarn Along

I've knit several hats over the past few weeks and I've noticed something. I'm getting ridiculously quick at knitting all kinds of hats (cables, eyelets, color work, etc). If someone asks me to knit them a hat, I always oblige. I'm always happy to knit for other people. I haven't added many of these projects to my Ravelry page because my project list would be overflowing with all kinds of hats. Actually, my Ravelry page is already overflowing with hat projects. I like small projects like hats because a hat can pack a lot of challenge into something manageable.

Anyway, I organized my knitting bag again this week. I do that a lot. I am determined to stay focused, but already in the back of my mind, I know that I will lose that new year's resolve and cast on many projects at the same time. I knit like I read. I get a new book and I'm all excited about that book, but then I set it down and start reading something else. As much as I have tried to change this behavior, I realize that it works for me and why I am I fighting it? Will I really feel more disciplined? It also works for me to have many knitting projects going at once just as it works for me to be juggling several different books at once.

I did narrow down my projects list and I have plans for two sweaters for Tess. The Bulle sweater and this cute sweater I stumbled onto last week. I am currently working on the Mini Mochi Fair Isle hat for a friend, of course (which I blogged about in my previous Yarn Along post). The Mini Mochi Fair Isle hat is taking me more time than most hats, but I did set it down so that I could knit six other hats. I also cast on Declan's hat for Sammy. It's full of fun twisty cables and it will look delightful in orange yarn. Sam looks really good in orange.

As for reading: I am reading Pippi Longstocking to Sammy. I really enjoyed Pippi as a child and I think I have finally found a good read aloud for Sam. He's usually a little tougher to please in the read alouds department than Luke was. For book club, I am reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time. My book club leader recently watched the movie about Temple Grandin and decided she wanted to read more about the autistic experience. So far, it's an interesting account of how the autistic mind functions. I also finished reading Jesus Land last night. It's a harrowing memoir of growing up in staunch Calvinist home. I just reviewed it on Goodreads. I've got a lot to say about it there. I am currently waiting for my new bible to arrive from Amazon. I ordered the C. S. Lewis Bible and I am excited about reading the bible along with commentary and quotes by C. S. Lewis.

That's it for this week. Hopefully, I will reach the decrease section of the fair isle hat for next week, but who knows? Some other project my get me distracted from this one. For more yarn adventures, please go visit Ginny.

The Year of Learning Dangerously

A while back, I finished The Year of Learning Dangerously:Adventures in Homeschooling by Quinn Cummings.  I reviewed the book on Goodreads, but I thought this book merited some more thought. I haven't mentioned home education on my blog in a very long time. I suppose it's because of a combination of things. The twins might have something to do with it, but honestly, I have grown a little apprehensive as Luke, my oldest child approaches the high school years. How did he get to eighth grade already? He was in second grade when I started this blog in 2007.  I've been on the fence about sending him to the local public high school or continuing on here at home. Both options have their merits. I went to public school and I truly enjoyed my high school years. I already have one foot in home education and the other public education (My son, Sam, 2nd grader attends public school) and they are two entirely different worlds. Luke tells me that he's enjoyed these years learning at home and  I'm saddened that they all went so quickly. Luke asked for another year at home before heading to high school. He wants to complete some more higher level math before going off to high school. It's needless to say that I'm conflicted. Very Conflicted.

I'm more distracted and interrupted these days, but such is life with five children. As I look over my blog over the past year, it seems that I've spent more time thinking about knitting and sewing than anything else. This isn't entirely true. I suppose my silence might suggest this, but on the contrary, however, I haven't lost lost my passion for education. I still gravitate to books about the brain, reading, learning, and education. I'm constantly telling my kids that the good life is life-long learning. I believe in the curious life, but I have learned some things about myself in my home-educating journey.

I'm not a purist to any one educational theory. In my experience, I have gravitated to Charlotte Mason and her approach to education, but as my oldest son gets older, I find it difficult to translate the Charlotte Mason method to an older child. I suppose it shouldn't be hard as we live and breathe good books here. We're constantly at the library. We are steeped in literature here. At one point, early on,  I thought that I would just follow the curriculum outlined in The Well-Trained Mind. I was attracted to the rigor of the classical approach, but I soon learned that I didn't like feeling trapped into any one curriculum. Home educating has given me freedom to pursue so many subjects. Home education feeds my brain too! What can I say? I'm a total nerd. I always have been. My friend, Elizabeth captured my thoughts exactly:

Our academic program has always been literature intensive. It's also delight-driven within limits. That is, my kids get choices about what to study within a certain parameter. Every once in awhile, I look at something known for its rigor (like The Well Trained Mind in its entirety or Tapestry of Grace or Robinson) and I think about how much I want that kind of excellence. I love school. I'm a total library person. I would have taken any one of those curricula as a child and absolutely loved it. But it doesn't suit my household.

I suppose the more I ponder education, good education, I learn that are so many avenues to good learning. See my review of The Year of Learning Dangerously on Goodreads. I have more thinking and pondering to do.

Yarn Along: New Year's Edition

 I have neglected my blog almost all of December. It's been a rough month. I never took into consideration that having Walking Pneumonia would really slow me down. The last time I managed to get a blog post up it was December 5th. If you go and look at my previous post, you can see where I was on this dress on the 5th. I had just started this dress for my friend's daughter. I managed to finish the dress on Christmas Eve. It isn't a difficult dress, but I still I amazed myself by actually getting it done in less than two weeks with all the other demands of the season.

Last night, I sat down to work on my Mini Mochi Fair Isle Hat. I'm not using Mini Mochi yarn, but some fingering yarns from Knit Picks. This isn't the greatest picture, but the lighter color morphs (Knit Picks Chroma Fingering) slowly from light green to darker green and the other color is a very dark green called Midnight Heather. I can't help it, but I'm swayed by exciting color names. I'm making this hat for a friend as I am usually knitting for someone else. I enjoy this easy diamond pattern and I think the end result will be delightful especially when the lighter green gets darker. At the moment, I made a mistake in row 6 of the pattern and I have to un-knit almost a whole round. So, I put my knitting down and decided to blog!

As for reading, I'm currently reading:

How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character. 

It's an interesting look at how it takes more than cognitive ability to succeed. There's much more to the intelligence picture than just smarts. Character matters.

Happy New Year, friends. I'm looking forward to an adventure-filled 2013.

Yarn Along

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. 

I'm knitting Christmas presents for a couple of very special girls. I thought I was done with a dress for my best friend's younger daughter, but even though I added a couple of inches in length, I knew it was going to be too short for her. I decided to give the dress to Tess although I'm bummed that it didn't fit it's intended recipient because it would have matched her blue eyes perfectly. Anyway, I started knitting the dress again in the same yarn, but pink and in a bigger size. I expect that it won't take long even though it's miles of stockinette. Ireally hoped that I could have crossed something off my Christmas list, but I'm getting to be a pretty quick knitter. Hopefully, I won't lose steam on the 17 inches of skirt!

I've often mentioned that knitting is like a tonic for the sould when I'm stressed. I had a particularly stressful week. I left my knitting out on the kitchen table. Every time I walked by, I'd pick up my project and knit a few stitches-maybe two or three stitches. Then, I'd set it down and continue on with all the other things vying for my attention. The strange thing is that I could tell that knitting a few stitches released some tension. Those few stitches here and there were little pockets of peace in an otherwise chaotic day.

As for reading, I'm currently reading The Light Between Oceans.

I admit, I was pulled in by the lighthouse on the cover. It's going to be sad, extremely sad,  but I guess I'm more interested in the life of a lighthouse keeper on a remote island off the coast of Australia. I've been reading a lot of novels lately.

For more yarn and books, visit Ginny.

Off My Game

I'm off my game. It's no secret that since the twins arrived, I've been way off my game. I can't just blame the twins. Life got bigger and fuller and busier and well, just more. My husband constantly tells me that "this too shall pass". I get a little sad because I don't want it all to pass too quickly. I don't want to wake up and realize that I missed it all hoping it would pass. It's the 5th of December and I haven't done much in the way of getting ready for Advent or Christmas. I'm going to sound like a total Grinch here, but getting all the decorations out feels like just one more thing I have to do. Of course, I don't want to Christmas to feel like a burden, but, right now, it does. 

The other night, I started reading our Christmas books to Tess and Sammy. This ritual is one of my favorite activities of the season. Sammy flipped out because I asked him to read one of the board books to Tess. He just didn't want to and well, it disrupted our book time. In my mind, reading to my children is one of the things that makes for an idyllic childhood. On the very first night we started reading, my ideal scene turned into a classic meltdown. I was more than disappointed. I felt like Advent was already a loss. Yes, you can say it. I'm very all or nothing. I tried to let go of the awful  frustration do something I struggle with. I hoped that our next reading time would be better. I tried not to dwell on the bad.

I've ranted a lot (on Facebook) about my absolute dislike of the 24/7 Christmas music radio stations beginning in early November. Somehow, the Christmas music seems less magical when it gets nearly two full months of constant air play and don't get me started about how depressing some Christmas music is. Yes, Christmas comes earlier and earlier every year.

Life move pretty fast. If you don't stop and take a look around, you could miss it. Ferris Bueller said that. There's wisdom to be found in Ferris Bueller.I expect that Advent will move quickly, but slow down? Seems impossible.

  I think about that quote a lot. So, maybe finding a way to experience deep joy even in the midst of chaos is the path to choose rather than constantly telling myself that this too shall pass.

We celebrate St. Nicholas day in my house and typically, I get each of the kids a new ornament and some chocolate coins. This year, I wanted to knit ornaments, but I didn't. It's not like I haven't been knitting because I have been knitting in every spare second of my days. I just didn't get to the ornaments. I still might try and knit them, but instead I ordered each child a Christmas/Advent/Winter themed book to add to our holiday collection. I discovered that it's really difficult to find the perfect holiday book for a 13 year-old.  I ordered The Best Christmas Pageant Ever for Luke. I remember reading it when I was about his age and enjoying it. It wasn't my first choice. I think I will dig out our copy of Letters From Father Christmas by JRR Tolkien for him as well. 

Before I started writing this post, I knew that it was going to be kind of a downer. It turns out that I'm not alone.  Christmas can be overwhelming and yet, we're supposed to be joyfully and peacefully awaiting the baby in the manger. My good friend Elizabeth has been posting all kinds of good stuff about Advent and Christmas. She's been my inspiration for years and this year, I honed in on something about gift-giving in her recent post.

Gift-giving is a whole other source of stress. I love choosing just the right gift. I spend a lot of time searching for the best gift. I love buying supplies to make just the right gift. Any excuse to buy yarn or fabric, right? I used to go with the three gift rule for each child. Since the Wise Men brought Jesus three gifts, I thought three gifts per kid seemed reasonable. I think many people use this rule of thumb for selecting gifts for their children. I usually give something that they need, something to read, and something that they want. Five children multiplied by three equals brain overload. I can't do it anymore. Our house is small and the things that go here have to be meaningful. Elizabeth mentioned selecting one gift that really speaks to the child. What a burden lifted! Even with three gifts per child, Christmas started to feel like it's all about the gifts. Gifts are great and gifts are fun and gifts can be magical, but gifts aren't everything. 

So, I'm changing some things this year and I hope that these small changes give me some peace and hopefully, the less-is-more approach will make for a more restful, peaceful, and happy Christmas. Hopefully.

I know that this rant isn't organized and well-crafted. I just let the words come and I didn't try to fix them much. 

By the way, here are the books that ordered for the kids. Board books for the twins. Fancy Nancy for Tess.    

Lighthouse Christmas for Sam. I am enchanted with lighthouses and I hope he will like it as much as I think I will. 

Birthday Girl

                            She's 4 today! My little pink-obsessed princess girl is wearing blue. 
                                                  Happy birthday to my darling little girl.

November Knitting

Amazingly, I've finished three knitting projects this week, but I didn't get a post ready in time for this week's Yarn Along. I'm finding less and less time to blog these days. Life is very full.

 I realized that I have at least three different knitting bags filled with various projects in various stages of near completion. I had at least two projects that had been hibernating since last year. I finally decided to get serious and finish Sammy's sweater and a Christmas stocking. Although I knit the body of the sweater longer anticipating that Sam would grow a lot and knowing that I'd probably take forever to knit the sleeves, (I don't like knitting sleeves) the sweater fits perfectly right now. I mean, this sounds all well and good, but it really means that I waited too long and he grew too much and he won't get to wear his sweater very long. Okay. Lesson learned. Kids keep growing. Don't let projects for your children hibernate so long!

I knit this little hat this week. This is the Pippa Toque and it's a free pattern on Ravelry. This was a fun and very quick knit. I surprised myself by knittting this hat in less than a week. I'm really enjoying color work right now and I have several Fair Isle hats on my favorites list on Ravelry right now. Color work is like painting with yarn.

Has all this knitting this week made the three knitting bags smaller? No There are still three knitting totes. I don't know how this possible. No matter how much I knit, the bags of yarn always seem remain full. I suppose this is a good problem to have.