Starlings' Sky Scarf

 As I was thinking about what to share with you this month I thought "What am I doing right now?" and the answer is Conceptual Art.  More specifically conceptual knitting and it is all I can think about right now.

Photo from whipup.net

I found this post about the Sky Scarf a while back and I loved the concept but wasn't sure what I would do with a blue scarf, but last week I realized I live in Portland, Oregon, I wouldn't have a blue scarf, it would be grey, my favorite color!
And so my friend Paula and I are impatiently waiting for our order of grey and blue yarn to arrive so that we can start knitting.  In the meantime we have begun diligently recording the color of the sky each day.
Paula is knitting a sky shawl and is being a bit more methodical than I am, she has a palette of 6 colors, plus white for snow (which will be MAYBE one or two rows) and has specific criteria for what weather merits what color. She will decide the color for the day at 12:00pm.
I, on the other hand, am knitting a scarf an have a palette of 9 colors, plus white, and will be mixing the colors as well.  I will choose the color of the day when I wake up in the morning and will sit and knit the row after I say my morning prayers and wait for my eyes to "wake up." I don't have a strict criteria for the colors as I prefer a combination of matching the actual color of the sky as well as the mood of the weather.

Not everyone will knit this project but wouldn't it be fun to do this with your kids to record the  color of the sky each day, or record the mood of the day, or the color of sunset or the sunrise? One gal I read about is knitting the high and low temperatures of the day.  How about using a box of crayons and some lined paper?  Just color in one line each day. Or color the box on the calendar?  You could cut out squares of colored paper and glue or tape them on each page of the kids journal or daily school workbook.  The possibilities abound.

To learn more about the Sky Scarf and Conceptual Knitting visit Leafcutter Designs. Watch the video too!

Ordinances, New Baby, Vew Crafts and 2 Fairies

Boba Fett was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints last weekend.  It was a good time to spend with my family and get a great family photo.

See how I got Moose to wear a tie?

Boba Fett requested that we go out for ribs at Applebees.

Blech.

I have been spending a lot of time millinering getting ready for the Boutique at the Barn. 

But I have had time to make a Halloween wreath that  I found here.

 

I also managed to make a nightgown for Kristen's sweet adorable new baby girl who is the most beautiful baby ever.

  I had to make it, the baby was 2 weeks over due and I was going stir crazy waiting to discover if it was a boy or a girl!I am so happy she is a girl.

Today we had sweet Bella over to play with Nutmeg and they were awfully cute.

I need to re-enact this up at the Gardner's place in the woods.

Aren't they the cutest pair of girls ever?

Today was a glorious autumn day.  I hope we can get a few more weeks of weather just like this as payment for our awful rainy and cloudy summer.

Things I Knit

Everyone had a new sweater this spring.

Moose in his Secret Agenda. He hasn't worn it anywhere yet.  I am offended.
 
Since I was tired of seeing the boys in the same sweaters every winter Sunday for the last 5 years they got new vests. Each chose his own color pattern.

I made this vintage Victory Jumper.
 
 And, because I could, a matching beret.

For Nutmeg I made this Raspberry Shortcakes.  My own pattern because I couldn't find one I liked. She is the cutest model.

Trifles

The little one I babysit is turning one this weekend so the kids and I made her this kitten for a birthday gift.

The pattern is Pointy Kitty from Wee Wonderfuls and it is free.  Boba Fett christened her "Raspberries."

I also knitted up this darling heart for a Valentine gift, 

 

the pattern also free can be found here.

I have been having fun doing a 30 day photo challenge on Facebook.  Today's photo was to be a picture of my biggest insecurity.  I immediately

identified my biggest insecurity but just couldn't find a photo to capture it so I got out the Petite Blythes and staged a lonely photo shoot.

Pretty adorable, pretty sad, pretty lonely.

This was so much  fun I think I should do it more often.

Speaking of Petite Blythes, I found another one that I just HAVE to have.  I had thought that we were good with the number of Petite Blythes we had because "Janie" (above) looks like me and "Greta" looks like Nutmeg and we also have 3 others to play with.  But over Christmas vacation I saw this little darling and she REALLY looks like Nutmeg.

 

I HAVE to have her, but she cost $75 at that time who knows how much I will have to pay if I ever am able to buy her.  She is called "Matryoshka Maiden" and if anyone ever sees her on a trip to Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, where ever please get me one!

If we ever do get a Matryoshka Maiden she will be "my" doll until Nutmeg is much older.  We will probably name her Katya after the heroine we found in this book.

Kindred Spirits

We have reached the point in Embroidery class where we stitch and chat for a period of time. The girls know the basics now and are diligently working on their projects.

Today, in conversation I mentioned Anne of Green Gables and the majority of the girls looked confused and said "Anne what?"

The girls didn't know who Anne of Green Gables was.

A quick consult of the local library database proved that Washington County Libraries do not have enough copies. They had some but not enough for a system with 13 branches. All copies were checked out. So I rummaged through my boxes and my shelves and came up with enough copies for all. They were sent home with my precious volumes and a vow, literally, to be well into the book by Tuesday.

Anne has now become required reading for embroidery class. How could we proceed with out a basic common background? We can not. Anne Shirley is essential to Beginning Embroidery.

I am dead serious. Next month's knitting students had better prepare.

The Kindness of Strangers

Monday I popped into Target to deliver 24 rolls of Advantix film canisters to have the images put on a CD.
Advantix was a film fad of the early 2000s which we were a party to much like the disk camera I had as a tween which I earned by selling greeting cards door to door. I have lurking suspicion that in 10-15 years (or maybe less) no one will know how to get those images off the rolls and my son's babyhood will be lost!

They wanted $100 for the job which was not something I was going to spring for so the gal at the counter did some fancy trickery with her calculator and said she could do it for $45 but I would have to come in on her shift and she also loaned me an obscure battery so that I could get free the final roll (which includes the first moments of Boba Fett's life which have never been seen) from our broken camera. She was SO NICE. Thank you Target Lady!

On Monday, the guy in the produce section of Albertson's said that he would save me some boxes to pick up on Tuesday. On Tuesday, the guy who looks and talks like Chris Rock was there instead and knew nothing of any boxes for me. Hopelessly discouraged I went to Trader Joe's where after a preliminary "We crush our boxes as we go" they found me a dozen wine boxes which are perfect for packing books of which I have 750 so you know, boxes are important. So nice, why does anyone shop anywhere other than Trader Joe's? Thank you Trader Joe's!Today, I was having a morning where everything was going wrong, the climax was when I was rushing to the car with a piece of peanut butter and jelly toast balanced on each hand and then they toppled and landed face down on the gross garage floor.

No breakfast for us.

On the drive I hear "Goody Two Shoes" by Adam Ant on the Radio and it changed my whole attitude. Suddenly I was no longer thinkng about all the bad thing that had happened but was thinking about dancing instead. Thank You 97.1 Charlie FM!I then stumbled upon a knitting group that meets in the rec center while Nutmeg has her ballet class. They were so nice and friendly and loaned me a tapestry needle as I had forgotten to bring one. Definitely a better way to spend the day. They said I should join them. I think I will. Thank You Knitting Ladies!

Making a List, Checking it Twice

I have been crossing things off of my list this week. Finishing up the ends of projects and packing things up to send them away, or wrap and place under the tree.On Monday I made the fantastic contents of this box which I can not post because the recipient is a reader, she is going to love it and on January 13th I will show you what is inside so you can love it too.
I got the idea for this little guy via One Pretty Thing and made up my own pattern and whipped one up for my Little Latin Lover who turned one this weekend. He loves it as do my kids, they were a little jealous.
La Keira got a hand warmer and Calorimetry set for her Birthday
I think I am perfecting the rag curls. I love, my friends love and Moose loves the curly hair.
It has been below freezing here for about a week. This is unusual for us and people have frozen pipes and broken furnaces and all sorts of tragedies. We have been blessed and our biggest challenge is bundling up before we go outside. Here you see Boba Fett ready to play.And Nutmeg in the hat I whipped up in no time. I LOVE super bulky yarn.
There has been a whole lot of crafting going on from home made Christmas ornaments and pictures to fantastic Lego creations.

Moose and I had a favorite, it was this:But then we saw this:
See how Picard is bald and Ryker's charisma comes through his black hair?The bridge of the Enterprise has never made us so proud...
I turned this unflattering and yet lovely Irish wool cardigan into this:
I felt very guilty purposely felting a lovely sweater to turn into a laptop bag. But I need need a bag and the sweater wasn't being worn...
It needs a brown belt for a strap, so if you have one lying around...
And then today La Keira helped me make these:
To spread the holiday cheer you know.I hope your Christmas preparations are as much fun as ours have been.

Gratitude parts 9, 10 & 11

I am grateful for my hands. i think about it all the time, if there were a body part I would least be willing to part with it would be my hands.

I am grateful for a house to keep my family warm, safe and that is our "Home Sweet Home."

I am grateful for Nutmeg, my best friend who, lately, has taken to calling us "sisters." Since she will probably never have a sister I am letting it slide.

P.S. These are our matching Calorimetries.

Knit One, Purl Two

Today was the first day of the Springville Ladies' Knitting Circle. I taught 3 to knit and purl, 5 to cast on and 1 needle felting. It went so well that we decided to do it again next week.

Later, my friend Kristen (who is also my visiting teacher AND we recently found out that our parents were friends back in the high school days) and I took our children to Multnomah Village to do some wool shopping at NW Wools. A great time was had by all, even Boba Fett who smashed his finger in the car.

Later, still giddy with knitting euphoria I carved a ball of yarn jack o' lantern.

Antler Damask in Sky

Another Margaret Bag this time 80% in Antler Damask Sky with Lattice lining and red rick rack trim.
I am not wild about the button, which is perhaps why I dreamed of the antique store with the "button bar" last night.
I have been trying to figure out a way to read while knitting for quite some time. A few months ago I decided that this pattern from Sew Liberated was just the thing. I had hoped to receive it for a birthday present but that didn't happen so I bought it for myself.
I used Antler Damask and Lattice along with red rick rack again. I appliqued little birds from Antler Damask onto the Lattice side.
It works okay, it holds a hardcover book like nobody's business, but paperback books not so much. Since I mostly own paperbacks because I find them easier to hold while reading, this is a problem. I restuffed the pillow to see if more batting would solve the problem. Gothic Tales would not be held under any circumstances but the paperback of Sense and Sensibility I read last night stayed in firmly as long as I didn't wiggle much.

So, I have mixed feelings about the pillow, it is cute, it works after a fashion but I find myself debating whether or not there are mods I can make to make it work better and the reason I spent $14.45 on a PILLOW pattern was so that I wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel and just a have a pillow that worked, to save time and frustration. I feel a little cheated. I never spend money on patterns and certainly not $14.45 for ANY pattern.

5 out of 7 thimbles for the Sew Liberated Reading Pillow pattern but I am not 5 thimbles happy.

In Which I Come Perilously Close to Becoming A "Look How Smart My Kid Is" Blogger

Last night Nutmeg wanted me to teach her how to knit. The thing about Nutmeg is:
1) She is very persistent as in "This reading lesson will not end until I can read the entire book."
2) She does not like to be helped, she wants to do it herself.
3) She is a perfectionist and gets frustrated and quits. I have seen her crumple up an entire drawing because she made an accidental mark and "ruined" it.
We started out last night with some worn size 13 bamboo needles and some bulky wool. It didn't go very well so I sent her to bed, dug through a foot of knitting stuff to find my very pointy plastic needles size 17 (I think) and some extra chunky acrylic yarn. A much more slippery combination .
Then I turned to that marvelous tool the Internet, looked up "How to teach kids to knit" and found this poem:

How to Knit:
In through the front door
Around to the back
Out through the window
And off jumps Jack

How to Purl:
Under the fence
Catch the sheep
Back we come
And off we leap.

It worked like a charm. She is knitting, alone, gets mad as a hatter when I try to help. One 10 minute lesson.
Watch out world there is a new knitter in town, age 3 3/4.

*At the risk of turning into a silly mommy blog can I just say I am so proud of Nutmeg? I have been looking forward to the day where I would teach my daughter to knit for a long time. Of course I thought that the day would be a little further along down the road!*